July 29, 2012 7 weeks!!

Took the pups that were here and the pups that were local and went out to Kim and Sandy's for the after noon of training......

Miss Colorado, now known to her followers as AJA, Miss Atlanta, known to her followers as Journey, Ari, Mr. Ontario, known as AIK, Above the Law and Kassi all went out to play with Eh, Vader .... it was a family reunion!!! 

For Aja, Journey and Aik it was their first car ride. No one threw up, big bonus for me!!! They walked out of the crate and out to Vader's run like they owned the place. Truly clones of each other!! Puppy squabbles, agility equipment, hanging them in a harness and a glacier run off creek were in their immediate futures.... 

And the documentation speaks for itself..... 

Aja started her new life experience traveling back to Colorado. I can hardly wait to share her antics with you as she grows up. Cheryl has her hands full with Aja and half-brother Talus!!

Hope you all enjoy as much as we did...

July 24, 2012 Silence is golden!!!

Hi All,

So how did your crate training experience go???? Sunday night for me was brutal. I think Ari has got to be the longest and loudest little one to crate train!!! OMG, sleep was in 20 minute intervals.... it was a challenging night....

See, the rumor you heard that we give away all the noisy ones isn't true.... We fix 'em!!!

Monday, Ari seems to be getting the play pen and crate idea... noise is down a great deal. Monday night - wait for it - she went to bed at 1030 pm and 'whimpered' for 5 minutes, rolled over and went to sleep. I had to get up at 430 am to travel into Vancouver to support friends with a very sick adult child, and she didn't wake up when I got up and left. Whose jealous of that????? I know I am. I would have dearly loved to catch up on my sleep but that was not the destination of the day....

As it turned out, this 30 year old child, had emergency open heart surgery and heart valve replacement today. Had they not taken him to the OR this morning, he more than likely would have died this afternoon due to complications of a blood stream staph infection. It was a tense day. I am happy to share that he has survived the surgery and the small bleeds (strokes) to his brain (also a complication of the staph infection) did not re-bleed. He was able to move all his body parts and nod his head when asked to.  Step-mother/father/sister/brother and friends cannot ask for more.

Unless, I get home to find that Ari is being an angel.... did you know that 'quiet' can actually mean quiet? And in my kitchen? YES!!! It's true!!! I am a little happy that she has decided that she can do this.

I hear that Pink Collar, got up only twice on her second night of training which is fantastic (I hope it was matched with when the baby woke up to eat and not in between).

Red Girl went home today and I will find out how she did tomorrow. Anyone else out there wish to share their successes?

Well, I'm off to finish laundry and clean up before my kids get here for an overnight visit ;-) This day makes me appreciate my kids even more. If you have them, give them a hug. If you don't, find some (and not in a creepy way) and give them a hug. You never know what waits for us around the next corner of life.....

July 21, 2012 .... and then there were 6....

The first proud parents have taken home their new charges....

Dark Blue boy, known to his new family as Rip and on paper as Abraxas, which means.... (oh no, I forgot, but it sounded fantastic. new family send me the meaning and I will post it.) left yesterday afternoon. I'm sure they are half way through crate training today.... fingers crossed

Pink Frill girl (pink and grey collar), known as Lika to her new family and on paper as Alchira (again, didn't write it down so... forgot it ;-(  ) went home Friday afternoon as well... here's hoping it will be a good night for them...

Vader, Green Boy, went to stay with Kim until the weather cools down in Iowa. Apparently, he sang all day and only when Sandy gave him a stuffed snow man did he hug the snow man and go to sleep. Awe!!!

Solid Pink collar went home today too. Tony was home and didn't get the names... Sorry, not much to report there....

Ari, came in this morning and sang, opera style, loud and long for most of the morning. I then had an out of town friend with a family health emergency, which took me to Vancouver General Hospital for most of the day, so she went back out to the kennel to join her siblings. The ICU admitted sick child is stable tonight so I will be back at the crate training tomorrow. I work Monday so I am highly motivated to get this done so I get some sleep Sunday night. Tony won't hear a thing so even if he gets up with her, i'll be a wake.

Spent much of the evening cleaning out the double kennel that the puppies have been in for the past couple of weeks. Did I mention that would shavings are great for absorbing messes? It's true. Not so great at cleaning up though... I think I'll be chasing around wood chips for the next several weeks. I also closed the door between the kennels (so they are now in a single kennel) and set up their obstacle course differently this afternoon. We will see if they figure out the long tunnel tomorrow.. Hopefully, Tony will video tape it and share it with us all...

Tomorrow, Teal boy goes home and Tuesday Kassi (red girl), on paper Assandra will be going home. That pretty much leaves the out of town group waiting for their new families to arrive.


Good night all!!

July 18 PS...

OK, I forgot an important message around vaccines and puppies.....

Puppies have been vaccinated but that does not mean that they have developed sufficient antibodies to be out in dog parks or other areas that are frequented by dogs.... This is the first in their vaccination series and they will not be sufficiently covered until the series is completed...

Please, keep your new puppy safe by taking sufficient time for their antibodies to develop until you take  them out into public areas.

cheers,

July 18, 2012 40 days

Hi all,

Puppies start to go home on Friday and so we had work to do .....

Puppies were wormed, vaccinated and microchipped. They were the quietest group of pups ever. I don't know if any of you have seen the gage of a microchip needle but it looks to me to be at least a 14 gage. Sizes of needle get smaller the bigger the gage number is. I would be crying if you stuck me with a 25 gage which is pretty standard for vaccinations for people too!!! Many of my dialysis patients use a 15 gage and I thought those were big. A 14 is even bigger!!!

So, who goes where????

Green boy, 'Vader' (toying with registering him as 'Eh, Vader)  is going to Iowa to join Cass Country Sheriffs department

Teal blue boy is joining a lovely local family with twin boys and a little girl.

Dark blue boy is also staying locally with David and Heather

Light blue boy, Ash z Canczech, is going to Ontario with the super star goal of training for the World's Schutzhund championships - best of luck on that!!

Black with pink paws (peach), call name 'Journey' and registered name to be determined,  is going to Georgia to be with Reghan ;-) all smiles there...

Red girl, call name 'Kassi', is staying local with two young girls and Uncle Kel, to play with.

Solid pink (mauve) is staying locally as well but has two young boys to play with.

Pink with black stripes (yellow), call name 'Ari' and her registered name will be Anarchy z Canczech, is staying right here and planning to play with Tony (I think she will raise a little more than cane!!!)

Black with pink tiger stripes ( dark pink) is going to be going to Colorado to raise a little h--- with her half brother Talus...

Pink with grey spots is staying locally as well.

Well, that is all my news for this evening. Hope all of you are getting as much sleep as possible before the weekend so you are prepared for crate training.

night ;-D

July 17, 2012

The kids continue to grow and are eager to come out to play. They are able to run all the way around our small yard. Vaccinations, worming and microchipping tomorrow evening and then they are ready to take on their new homes Friday afternoon!!! Got your crates????

Interestingly enough, no one has sent me a name yet. I've had thinking of this or that but no 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for their registration.

feeding has been cut down to three times a day.... they look like they are starving don't they????  lol
They are still being group fed which means that I need to feed a little more than I would an individual puppy to make sure everyone eats and no one truly fades away.

They are eating (for 10 puppies): 3 cups of Nutro - Natural Choice - Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal small bites puppy food, 1/2 cup of yogurt and about 1/2 cup pablum plus hot water just to mix it all together. The soaking time has been decreasing and they are actually eating solid food.  I am feeding their water and goats milk separately after they have eaten their solids. There is less and less milk being added to the water to transition them to just a water dish. Have to be careful that they don't dehydrate...

When they get home they will be eating (3 x per day) 1/10th of this recipe.... so 1/3 cup of dog food, teaspoon or so of yogurt (no pablum) and clear water on the side.

We don't feed at exactly the same time everyday to prevent them screaming in the kennel when they think it's feeding time. They have great internal clocks and they are amazingly accurate!!!!

That's it for this morning... off to work..

July 15, 2012 A day of rest....

Today Tony and I are spending much of the day catching up with house and yard chores. Perhaps not so many yard chores because of the rain but we do learn how to dodge rain drops up here. They kids continue to grow and eat and poop! Yes, that too is on my list of yard duties.

You all enjoy your last weekend of sleep and prepare for next weekend. Got your crates? Puppy food? Dishes? Decided on your commands? Decided where in the yard the puppy can do its business? Got your leashes? So many things to think about and only a week to get it done....

Yippee!!!!

We will be in the same place with 'Ari'. Crate training, house training and more.....

Stopped raining!!! I'm off to dodge the big drops and get the kennels cleaned!!

Cheers

The video at 5 weeks!!!!

Here you go!!! a video of the puppies outside in the back yard. These are our first puppy tests.....

There were lots of visitors to play with

They follow and no one straggles

Their first ragging/tug toy experience

They eat in the dish while they are buzzed with the helicopter

and more!!!! 

HAVE FUN!!!

Friday the 13th, again!!!

Here we go again. July 13th, which was already done and then by a streak of genius, I deleted it. Go figure!!! 

I realize that it is a bit frustrating as I change out the colours of the collars. No one is more frustrated than me. Every morning I go out and find ribbons on the ground and have to sort out who is who and re-tag them. Petsmart had 10 different collars but they are similar in colours.... That means that once again we are forced to learn another set of collars for each of the puppies.  It does help sometimes because I have to look at each of them through new eyes and discover new behaviours for each of them. 

We are now at the 5 week mark and the puppies are playing harder and longer. They also know that they are in an enclosure and they want to be outside playing in the grass. Their characters are clearly starting to show.

Names..... It is time for you to come up with both your puppy's call name and the registered name. Litter registration should be arriving this week and I will try to get all of the individual registrations done before they go. Remember, the registered name must start with an 'A'. Can you believe this is the third 'A' littler for us? Where did the time go????? 

Tony getting ear tickles from the puppies. He looks like he's barely hanging in there!!1

GREEN BOY

Green boy has been showing me his need to work. He has been creative and mischievous. He has repeatedly shown me his desire to escape from enclosures and figure ways out of his situations. He will be going to Iowa to be closer to his half-brother, Mufasa, and work for Cass County Sheriff department. 

TEAL BOY

Teal boy was the smallest puppy at birth. He has repeatedly shown me that he has the will, want and desire to be more than the bottom of the pack. He holds his own in the group and often instigates mischief.

DARK BLUE BOY

Looks like he's tracking already. These guys noses are fantastic. They can smell me when I walk out on to the patio and they start going crazy... and yes, I did have a shower ;-)

LIGHT BLUE BOY

Is a bit bigger boned than the other boys. He has a gentle giant personality. Don't let that fool you, he doesn't put up with much and he is eager to get into his fair share of trouble.

THE BOYS TOGETHER

One of these boys will be traveling to Ontario with a goal of going to the World Schutzhund trials. Two of the boys will be going to home protection/family homes. They are so evenly matched I am struggling to decide who goes where. Oh yeah, and I'll be keeping Tony right here too.

PEACH 

(is now black with pink)

Peach has incredible drives. She wants to be out of the kennel and with us. She is willing to explore on her own and is a confident 5 week old little girl.

such eye contact, awe!!!

RED

(is now teal blue inside and black with white polka dots on the outside)

Kassi, will be staying locally and living with Nikki and Jessica. She is full of spit and vinegar. She will have high drive and get into a lot of trouble. She will be giving 'Ari', yellow girl, a run for her money on training days.

MAUVE

(is now the solid pink)

Mauve has a gentler disposition. Don't let that confuse you with being weak. She will sit and analyze a situation before acting on it. And such a pretty face...

YELLOW 

(is now the pink with black outside stripes)

Ari, is staying with us. It has been a hard decision to make because they are all so evenly matched for drives and abilities. So we did what we tell everyone not to do.... we picked for colour and body style to match both her daddy, Rush, and brother,  Xly.... 

getting ready for a nap 

DARK PINK

(is now tiger stripped pink)

Dark Pink is bright and sure of herself. She can be mischievous and is into anything she can. She is looking like she will prosper in a working home and Colorado seems to be in her future. She will not be as much of a handful as her half-brother Talus.

Look at this face and don't be fooled. Those are laughing eyes....

PINK FRILL 

(is now light pink with grey markings)

Pink Frill is a patient and quiet puppy. She will be easy to work with and reminds me most of Bobi when she was little. She gets into her fair share of naughtiness so not to worry there...

puppy kisses for Tony

oh look!!! they have teeth and are not afraid to use them!!!

Cassi and Peach

More tomorrow. Tony took video today so I'm hoping it will be ready for youtube tonight......

July 13 friday.....

I had the post and i deleted it.... yup! Friday the 13th.... Will need to do this again, ho hum....

July 11, 2012

These puppies are the luckiest! Kianna and Mataya are over to visit again ;-)

This means a trip into the back yard, following, chasing, chewing, tasting the grass, stealing leaves and sticks and so much more.....

The puppy doesn't need to be carried but that doesn't stop the girls from packing them all around the yard. They are careful to make sure that each of the puppies gets some 'packing' time. They are also careful to pick up the puppy the right way. 

Never pick up a puppy by the front legs!!!
Always pick a puppy up by gripping them firmly under the front legs and around the chest.

Puppies have soft bones that can easily be injured, especially as they grow, and a bad habit of picking up a puppy at this age and then a little older can have a devastating outcome.

It is important to pick them up though. They need the experience of looking at the world from different view points and balances out their experiences.

careful where their feet go so as not to step on anyone. It is important that kids are not left unsupervised with puppies as accidents can happen. We have personal experience and stories to tell of those that didn't mind this warning..... ;-(

encouraging following and distance from the pack develops confidence in the puppies abilities to think on their own.

Opera anyone?????

checking out the mint leaves....

Tunnel training

enjoy!!

July 10, 2012

They have been out in the kennel for 5 days now. They are eager for escape and exploration of their surroundings. They are so happy when visitors come by... they get to come out to play and chew on shoes and people.... YEAH!!!!

Chewing shoes is not really encouraged but at this age it starts to show each of their drives....

a face to go 'awe' over ;-D

Tony the puppy whisperer!!

princess in the back of the dog house

rolling over slightly to urge on her fans!!

eating and playing in the kennel

this was quick but I hope you enjoyed it....

July 6, 2012 Turning 4 weeks tomorrow

Hi all,

Here we are at 28 days. Toys are important developmental tools.  Different sizes, textures, noises and obstacles are introduced now. The puppies will learn to navigate around these obstacles to get where they want to and they are developing strategies to deal with different textures. 

Teal boy plays with a ball

competition starts early and it's always better if it can be stolen from a sibling....

eating from a bowl can be so much work ;-D

Had the weather here not been so miserable we would have been moving puppies in and out of the house during the last week. But as it is, the weather here has just decided to improve so Tony and I are out here preparing the puppy kennels. 

Here is our out door puppy kennels. Brother Xly is going to move into the house (he tells me it's a hardship, but I don't believe him). It's a double run placed on 2'x2' or 1'x2' concrete tiles. The tiles seem to be better to use than just a concrete slab because the pee just seeps into the ground between the tiles and there is less chance of pee pooling in areas that the puppies/dogs will run through. The kennel chain link walls sit on 2x4 blocks to allow the hair to be easily hosed out yet keeps the puppies safely contained.

Toys and obstacles. Here is a kids plastic play thing that I picked up cheap on Craig's list.  The puppies and the dogs chew on it so there is little point spending money needlessly.

When you're considering the location for your kennel provide an open area that provides good air flow and if shade is not available, provide it through natural sources like a hedge where ever possible. If harsh sunshine or rain is a constant companion make sure there is roofing and a dog house for protection.

Wood shavings, NOT CEDAR, is important to absorb any puppy messes.  Cedar is toxic to dogs and most other living creatures. Think about why we put it in our garden beds to decrease weeds. Look as Cedar clear cut areas and their water run offs, most are desert like. Manufacturers sell dog beds that are flea resistant... Cedar shavings are inside. Skin irritations, often looking like allergies, can be created as small cedar slivers get through their coats and into their skin causing them to scratch continuously.
Here we have fir and hemlock shavings. Sand will work, as well, if that is what you have lots of and it's cheaper. Wood shavings are easy to scoop when cleaning and they keep the puppies smelling great.

Momma's water dish is well out of range of the puppies (up on the roof of the dog house) so there is little chance that puppies will be curious, climb inside and drown. The bucket is also clipped onto the chain link to decrease the risk of it falling into the puppy mass and causing harm.

More toys and obstacles... here is a cheap cat tunnel I picked up at Petsmart in the cat section.... be creative with the items you put in there with them.... any old kid toys your not using? Somebody else's kid stuff they are not using????

Adding the final touch ... the puppies.... expect at this age that they will mill about and be a little disoriented... remember they do not have a great deal of experience yet with their outside world.  I will expect by the end of the weekend that they have explored the entire kennel area available to them. They should also have sorted out where we enter the kennel bringing them food.

Entering thier new environment and looking a bit overwhelmed.

A few minutes later, posture is already looking more comfortable on this little girl.

Place a piece of their used bedding (as well as clean) in with them when you are introducing them to their new environment. This will help them 'smell or track' their way back to the safety of the new den.

Oh yeah, almost forgot a picture of Bobi's water and food dishes placed inside a larger safer bin to prevent curious puppies from climbing in and exploring.

Celebrate today, it's Friday!!!