My oh so horribly neglected blog

I could make up some grande excuse why I haven't updated this...but I haven't got one. Reading back on MARCH's (how is it that long ago?) blog from 4 months ago, wow how much has changed!

So, many plans have fallen aside in the dog plans this summer, but there are also new exciting additions! First of all, Argus' CD is on hold for a little bit. I hope to get him in a class this fall and start trialing in the spring of 2011. The reality is - I don't train enough on my own. Never have.

Impulse started an exciting new venture, that of conformation shows. The first weekend out she was a bit bored, but played along. Second weekend out she realized how incredibly cool this game was, all you gotta do is stand around and get pets and cookies. What could be better? Well, she wasn't thrilled about the necessary bath/blow dry prior to. First two days Impulse took the back burner to her brother Gunny (Turner's littermate) who took breed both days. The next weekend there was actually bitch competition and Impulse took WB for a point the one day she was entered. She has matured nicely and looks pretty darned good out there. She'll hit the ring again this fall at our local show in October. Less than two weeks till our trial and hopefully Impulse finishes her HS with nice scores. We've been working on take pens and I think we both finally feel comfortable with this exercise. She's working really nice lately and I'm excited to get out of started and move on to the next level.

Turner is...Turner. He is also entered in the CKC herding trials in a week and a half and has also been doing take pen work. Turner is also doing really nice work...though I think his sister is consistently a better worker. I'm also hoping to finish his HS with a nice score, it would be nice to finish it with one more High in Trial so he finishes with three HITs, however I know there are going to be a lot of nice working dogs there this year. He is one of them though, so you never know!

Porter. Well, Porter's full name is Porter Piddle Pants, so that should give you some idea how he's doing in the potty training department. Good for the most part, but he and I fail and reading his body language to tell me when he needs out. The result is a puddle on the floor. Sadly from this, Porter has picked up the nickname of Piddle, or just Pid. Between Pid and Pants he is rarely called Porter anymore. The plan was to get this kid in the conformation ring maybe this summer, but he has gone undershot which is a dq in our breed. This is HUGELY disappointing as he won't be able to be shown and is a nice nice little boy. It also eliminates him from my breeding program. Porter has been on stock a couple times and he is going to be a firecracker! I'll wait until spring likely to get him started for real at the first clinic of the year next year. Porter is a sweet boy and I enjoy him more and more as he grows up.

I had a few big decisions to make this spring, and one decision helped the other. The first was to not go to Nationals in the fall. This was an extremely hard choice to make, but we're in an awkward spot for MVA (not ready for agility or obedience, both dogs done their HS but not ready for HI), and I have no one competatively ready for conformation. It just seemed like a lot of money to go out and visit with friends and be surrounded by aussies for a week. I also decided not to go to the ASCA trial last weekend and will focus on ASCA next year when I can do conformation and stock in one weekend at a couple shows in WA. I'd also like to have the dogs ready for OTD so they can move up as/if they qualify.

The next decision was a dog decision. Porter wasn't to be my next show puppy, and so other than Impulse who may be tough to finish - we'll see - I had no one to show. Also, Argus will not be bred again, Impulse I'm trying to decide and Porter will be neutered. So, with the emergence of nearly half the Argus x Impulse litter being undershot I'm at a crossroads with what to do with my breeding program. I'll likely breed Impulse one more time, but I may not. So, I was trying to decide if I should start looking for a show puppy or try to find an older bitch. I looked at a few litters and ultimately decided that I did not want to do the baby puppy thing again so soon. Maybe next year, but not right away. I would have much prefered to find an older bitch puppy. But who ever lets go of their quality girls? Also, did I really want five dogs? I inquired on a couple that either ended up being not available or just weren't quite what I was looking for in the end. Until I sent a quick msg to a fellow aussieboarder about her red merle girl that if she were ever serious about placing her to please send her to me! Well, arrangements were met, and we welcomed Cat (Shalako's Hello Kitty) to the house last month. I have loved Cat forever in pics and I would have MADE the timing right for her to come here. She's made having an extra dog easy and has fit into the pack really well. She is an awesome dog, absolutely drop dead gorgeous, works stock like a hot damn and is just a cool dog. I am still in disbelief that Cat is here to stay! She and I will take some time to get to know each other and she'll likely get her start on stock this fall at the next clinic. We'll fit conformation in there sometime when neither of us have nothing else to do. ;)

So, life continues on this summer same old same old. Busy with dogs, looking forward to trials and advancing in levels in the "older" dogs and getting some young dogs started in the months to come.



The entire crew enjoying a "swim": From the back and clockwise: Cat, Impulse, Porter, Argus (in the middle), Turner.

Time to buckle down

And get training these dogs! Argus has sat here for years being on the verge of being ready for his CD. He breezed through his Rally Novice and Rally Advanced titles no problem, so really a CD shouldn't be a stretch. Will have to wean him off talking to him though, he's still a little unsure when I'm not at least giving him verbal praise and is constantly trying to fix what might be right becuase I haven't told him he's good yet. Impulse and Turner need to get ready for Nationals this fall and be polished and ready for their Novice work as well.

The aussieboard has a CD Challenge group, which I conciously didn't join last month (bad me!) but have decided to put it out there publicly and post my goals. Maybe it will give me a kick in the pants to get to work.

Overall, by the end of 2010 my goals are:

Obedience
Complete Argus' CD
Get started, if not complete Impulse's CD
Get started, if not complete Turner's CD
Teach Porter to walk on a leash. Seriously, that is the sum total of my goals for him for obedience stuff. I am horribly neglect at teaching my dogs to walk nicely on a leash becuase they rarely have to. They run in the yard, are not walked on leash for exercise and make public appearances only at classes and shows generally. They are pretty typical farm dogs (though without the "farm", maybe "acreage" dogs is a better term). Maybe Porter will be different, we're not off to a great start though, he would rather be a sled dog.

Herding
Finish Impulse's HS (one leg to go)
Finish Turner's HS (one leg to go)
Finish Impulse's STDs (no legs yet)
Finish Turner's STDs (no legs yet)
Attempt Turners STDcd
Attempt Impulse's STDd
Compete in MVA with both Impulse and Turner at the Cdn Nat'ls

Conformation
Finish Juice's (really need to see if they've definitely changed his name or not) Championship
Show Porter to get some ring experience and maybe pick up the odd point or two

So, I have some work ahead of me. Luckily for herding Impulse and Turner just need to work on skills they already have, and maybe actually get some stock time in. They have not had much time on stock since the trials last June. Will aim for at least twice a month in the months leading up to July (trial month) and then through the summer to prep for Nat'ls. The pressure is on for them to be ready for Novice competition as we are starting from the ground up. They both know very basic heel position, and down, but that is about it.

Am trying to put in some time every night with each dog. I am starting a rotation, the first dog gets 15 minutes, second dog 10, third dog 5, and Porter just gets a few minutes of some basic stuff, nothing serious for him. Right now we are workign on how to stand still as he has his first sanction match on Sunday. He is doing great, but that is with no one going over him, and he does love people, so he could turn into a wiggly mushy not standing for anything puppy on Sunday.

Barriers here are definitely access to classes. I found classes in town (that is relative I guess, it is waaaay on the outskirts of town, but at least does not involve me drivign through a mtn pass, through a forest and around a lake to just get on the main hwy to then drive another half hour to class) but unfortunately there is no indoor facility so we train outside, which means we only train in the summer. And then because of lack of people doing doggie things in this town there isn't a lot of space to move up in levels, so will be forced to look into private lessons, which would still likely be cheaper than driving to other classes. I have also found some classes a little closer than others (but still involve the nature drive), I'm not convinced I'm liking them though. Fine for puppy socialization, we'll see how the advanced class goes. To find a class, and then find one that trains similar to what I'm looking for is next to impossible...until summer.

So far this week I've been working on polishing up Argus' heelwork and his stand stays. Heeling is coming along quickly and we've moved on from the basic position work to getting him started on nice sharp left turns. Made some progress there tonight, but a long ways from where I need him to be. NEXT STEP in heeling: starting figure eights. He is also getting his kick back stands about 98% of the time, not moving any feet about 80% of the time. Am starting to pull slightly on the leash for proofing and he is doing well. NEXT STEP in stands: Once he can hold that while I pull in various directions I'll start moving a foot out of "natural" balance and ask him to stay. At some point I will need to get him in a class so he gets used to the touching part of this...not that I'm concerned, he's an old hand at exams from conformation. Just started doing some basic drivey recalls, running for a piece of cheese thrown through my legs. He caught on to this VERY quickly and I think I'll have very nice fast recalls from him. NEXT step in recalls is proofing his "here" command and working it the same as heel position.

Turner I'm realizing is a lot farther behind where I thought he was. He has no concept of his back end, and we're right back to square one teaching him where heel position is. He is catching on quickly though, and is working nice and close to me. Turner can be a funny duck and does not like to sit close to me, so the fact that I can get him in heel position with him touching my leg is big progress. NEXT steps in heeling: We'll work on heel position over the next week or so, so far just doing right turns, one or two steps, pivots, and starting on about turns. Also working on his stand stays. Because he's not a fan of being touched by those he doesn't know this will be Turner's biggest downfall. I need to get him SOLID on his stand stays before we get to the point that someone attemps the exam so I can go back a few steps, support him through the big scary strange hand that wants to touch him and then help him work through it. I'll teach him absolute focus for this exercise so hopefully he can just zone out on my face. NEXT steps in stands: dropping the treat some of the time, and hopefully being able to get rid of my jab in the flank to get him to stand...giving him that opportunity to do it on his own. Once we get that, then starting with some short stays.

Impulse. What a little dream Impulse is. The slightest pressure on her collar and she hops her bum into the direction I want it. She is a bit farther along than I was thinking. We are still doign some position work, but will quickly progress to actual walking and proofing I'm sure. NEXT step in heeling: longer stretches of walking, tougher heeling position exercises, circles and left turns. And again, working on the stand with her. She will be the opposite of Turner and have a hard time not throwing herself at the judge to lick their face, so again, a solid stand and absolute focus will be essential for her. NEXT Steps for stand: same as Turner.

Porter: let's focus on not peeing in the house this week.

The Big Dog Series - Part Two

Time to continue the big dog series, today, Argus. Argus (aka CH Caitland Eyes of a Hawk RA, ADC, DNA-CP) is my third aussie, and my third aussie from Cathy. I had known that I wanted my next puppy to be one related to Jurny somehow. I loved Jurny's work ethic and everything about him really, and wanted to be able to continue on with a dog similar. When I heard that Cathy was doing an awesome breeding of Jurny's half sister Deuce to a working dog Bayley, I had to think long and hard. I wanted to jump on the litter, but at the same time, I was starting my nursing degree in the fall. In the end, I decided to put my name on the list and sometime in March 2003, Argus arrived on the island.

Argus has the same traits as Jurny as I was looking for. He has great work ethic, incredibly biddable, but has a bigger sense of humor than Jurny, and I often call him my "peter pan" dog, as he will never grow up. Argus loves like, he loves everyone, and he loves to bark. I could do without the latter. I dabbled in some agility with him, he took to it like a duck to water, though he did also enjoy leaving the ring to visit with kids who were watching. Argus' true love in life is obedience. He LOVES it. He thrives on the rules and knowing exactely what I'm asking of him. The grin that is always plastered on his face gets bigger and bigger when we practice obedience. Sadly for him, I had lost my desire to do obedience and needed to take a break from it. As I feared, school did take up a lot of my time, and there is so much untapped potential in Argus it makes me sad that I didn't have the time that I needed for him.

Argus and I have recently compromised on the obedience aspect and are working on rally. Our first trial and I had never even watched a rally trial, let alone take classes, he only vaguely knew the commands, and off we went. The first trial was not stellar, which him scoring somewhere in the 80's...I never knew how much you could coach them! For the rest of his RN and then RA (finishing in 6 straight trials for both titles) Argus and Jurny jockied back and forth for who would place higher than the other, with one or both of them always in the top three. Argus loves rally. This year we'll try working towards Excellent...which means I actually have to work with him and teach him some new exercises, and I just might go for his CD.

2009 was a big year for Argus as he finally got to be a dad! He was bred to Impulse, my dark red girl and they had six beautiful babies, 3 blacks and 3 blues. There was a slim chance that Argus was red factored, but it appears he is likely not. Oh well. Argus very much threw his type in the boy puppies, where Impulse is stamped all over the girls. His one baby, who is available, Juice is Argus all over again, especially in temperment. He is going to be a lot of fun for whoever ends up with him!

At 7, Argus shows no signs of slowing down, or accepting the fact that he is officially a "senior" now. He is always ready for whatever he might be presented with, whether going for a run, working on some fun little exercises or hanging out on the couch. Although sometimes I wish he could just stop. think. and then do. I wouldn't trade him for the world. He keeps everyone here on their toes and makes you smile all the time.

So many changes

Haven't had a chance to post anything as life has been full of changes, both good and bad lately. The bad was the worst. On Jan 26 I let the big dogs out to pee when I got home from work and when I let them in 15-20 minutes later I knew something was wrong with Jurny. He was listless, depressed looking and just not right. Even at 11, Jurny was a happy, bouncy, busy dog. I took a peek at his gums and my heart broke. His gums were white, his body was colder than it should have been after a few minutes in the house, and it was like a reinactment of when I lost my first Aussie, Quest to hemangiosarcoma of the liver/spleen. Called the vet and took him over and to my absolutely devestation we found he had a hemangio in his heart that had burst. He went literally from healthy to dying in minutes. Even at the clinic I could see him going downhill second by second and chose to euthanize him then. Jurny was my heart dog, he was my right hand man and I'm not sure I've even begun to accept the fact that he's not coming back. I have to say, I am endlessly grateful to have found the vets that I did years ago, and so so glad that they do their own emerg calls (many of the vets around here rotate, so you're not guaranteed you'll actually get your vet in an emergency...the time when you want someone familiar). Both Jeff and Louise came to the clinic to see Jurny when I brought him in, and it was obvious they really cared about my little goober dog too, knowing him well enough to give him the bowl of liver treats to snack on in his last few breaths. Jurny lived according to his stomach. So, the last few weeks has seemed a bit empty around here, counting three dogs as they come in, three dishes to prepare, three dogs to crate up and let out, only three dogs on the bed at night. I take comfort in knowing that he didn't suffer and had no pain. It's just going to take some time to adjust to not having him here.

And on to some happier news. The puppies have been doing great! On the 31st I packed all the dogs up to Comox and with the help of some good friends we did the Puppy Aptitude Testing and conformation evals. Turns out...I was doing pretty good in deciding who was going where. Except for my own puppy, but more about that later. Everyone scored mostly 3's, with Eva scoring mostly 4's. I took last week off for vacation time so I could get everyone vaccinated, tattooed, do some crate training etc and off to new homes. The week was busy and helped keep my scatterbrained self occupied and not dwell on the sad week prior. By Saturday I was bathing Boston (now Bizi) and getting him bundled up to head off to his new home in Edmonton. He arrived safely and is settling in well. That night I got a nice little email from a friend who had finally been swayed to inquire about Chatter. By Sunday we were meeting and Chatter was heading to Campbell River to live with her new family, which includes one of her uncles, Habenero. Chatter is now Savina. Monday was back to the grindstone and only four puppies left. I have to say...it was nice. Tues had us all up in the middle of the night to make it to the airport by 5am so Luna could make her flight to Ottawa via Calgary. She has also arrived safely and is now in New York and on her way to Kansas tomorrow. And finally little Eva was delivered to her dad and is settling in. She has no doggie family to keep her company so she will have the biggest adjustment to make, but it sounds like she's doing just fine.

So. I'm left with the two boys. In the last week or so the house has been turned upside down with teh busy busy puppies. Turner took up residence in the spare room, Impulse avoided everyone, and Argus was really barky adn clingy. Things were not going with ease. Yesterday afternoon we got home and apparently the big dogs think that two puppies is acceptable. Impulse played with the boys most of the afternoon, and Argus let them crawl on him. Even Turner was brave enough to sniff puppies and not jump up when they got close to him. It is so nice having a small bit of normalcy back.

So, in all this I've been rethinking my decision to keep Juice. He's a nice puppy, but ultimately I was seeing that Porter (was Billy) was the nicer puppy. He's nicer put together and has really come into his own little personality. He's a bit quieter puppy, and doesn't tend to get in the big dogs' faces much. He likes to play, and then he likes to go in his fort and hang out with his toy. A good friend of mine told me that she thinks a part of a deceased dog's spirit goes into the new puppy. Well, Porter could have chosen a different part of Jurny to channel. I found his ass end up, little stub wiggling as fast as it could IN THE GARBAGE! Really...the garbage at 8 weeks? I see a lot of Jurny in Porter, which shouldn't be too surprising as Jurny's mom is the puppies great grandma on Argus' side and great great grandma on Impulse's side. Porter has some awfully big shoes to fill! So now, my big goofy clown dog Juice is available. It was an incredibly hard decision to make, but looking at where I want to go in my breeding program, what will fit in the household temperment wise and the puppy as a whole...Porter is the one. Juice is looking for a show home (but one that won't be overly upset if his nose doesn't fill by a year...it's still pretty pink) on a co-own, preferably on the island or with someone I know, and preferably in a home where he'll get to do agility, obedience etc. He is a busy busy boy adn will need to be kept busy.

So, that's a brief summary of the last few weeks...some tragic changes, some bittersweet changes as the puppies leave, and some changes as to who will get to stay here. I look forward to seeing the entire litter grow and excell in whatever it is they put their mind to!

The Big Dog Series - Part One

Well, after focusing the last few entries on the puppies, I thought it was high time to introduce ppl to the most important members of the household, the big dogs who live here. Part one of the big dog series is Jurny
.

Jurny is my second Australian Shepherd from Cathy at Caitland Aussies. He is more formally known as C-PCH CH Caitland Jurney into the Crowd CDX, AGX, RA, HIC, AADC, NAC, NGC, NJC, TN-N, TG-N, GS-N. I had talked to Cathy to let her know that I was ready for my next aussie, and was thrilled to hear she was breeding Brooke and would I be interested in a puppy from that litter? Pretty much a no brainer, of course I would be! I had my heart set on a little blue boy, however, it was determined Jurny was the one to come home. And as soon as that little black furball strutted out of his crate and let everyone know he had arrived I fell in love.

Jurny started life on the island living in a motorhome with me and Quest while I went to grooming school. He was well travelled as we went up and down the island on weekends. He still loves his car rides, and would dearly love to ride up on the front seat...however all dogs are crated in the van much to his disappointment. Shortly after I finished grooming school I packed up my now 5mos old set of legs (I think there might have been some body attached, but not very much) and off we moved to Alberta for a new adventure. Jurny accompanied me on a few moves around town and finally we settled into our first house that was really ours! Through this time I kept willing him to grow and put on some weight so I could get him in the show ring and looking back laugh that I even considered him somewhat ready to show!

In the meantime I worked on his obedience with my friend who was also my boss at the time and her golden. We decided we'd better just enter a trial and maybe we'd get motivated to train. And we did. One weekend in Lethbridge saw both of us finishing the dogs' CDs with scores I cannot remember now.

While I was in AB Jurny had some experience with herding. He did very well and earned his herding instinct certificate, impressive considering I had zero idea what I was doing, need to pull out that tape and watch it now that I have a small understanding of herding. Unfortunatly I never persued the activity with him at that point.

Shortly after I decided a career change was in order and moved back to BC to go to school. In the two years I spent waiting to get into the nursing program Jurny and I got involved in as many different dog sports as we could find. He finished his CDX in short order, finished his Championship (my first champion!), and we discovered agility. Over the course of the years, Jurny trialed in AAC earning his AADC (is only one Q from his MADC), in NADAC earning his NAC, NGC, NJC, TN-N, and TG-N (not bad considering the lack of NADAC on the island at that point), CKC earning his AGX, and one trial in ASCA earning his GS-N. Jurny still loves to go and play on the equpiment and who knows, maybe he'll get to play again and try for that last Q on his MADC. The day Jurny earned his AGI was also the day he earned his PCH (performance champion) through CNASA. He was the second aussie in canada to earn this, second only to his half sister. Jurny also tried his hand at herding again when he was about 8. This might have been a bit too late. He really had no use for chasing sheep, but would work the ducks if I got him really really excited. A herding dog he was no longer, but he still had fun. Most recently Jurny has gotten back out into the ring in Rally. He LOVES it! He may not be the most precise dog out there anymore, but I dont' care. I just love seeing him have fun. He finished his RA with multiple high in class placements and in six straight trials.

As Jurny grew, I realized I should have taken out pet insurance on him. I once added up how much I've spent at the vet on him and his injuries and accidents and mishaps and nearly fell over. That number is now blocked from my memory. He has some odd quicks, like his psychological polydipsia that cycles through from time to time, his INTENSE hatred of squirrels, to name a couple...but that is what makes him Jurny.

Jurny is "that" dog for me. He is the dog that has been able to do and succeed at everything I ask of him, even if he's not thrilled with it (ie being touched all over by conformation judges). Jurny is game to try anything, as long as he gets to spend time with me. When Jurny was younger I'd describe him as having perfect Aussie temperment. He was reserved with strangers, but as soon as he knew you, you had a friend for life, and good luck getting him out of your lap. Now as he's aged, he loves everyone after he meets them. Still needs to try the big old "I'm a big scary dog and I'll bark....oh wait, who cares" as he goes wiggling up to them for attention.

Jurny is now 11 and will be 12 in March. He doesn't look much over 8 years old. A little grey in the muzzle, but that's about it. He runs with the younger dogs and is always up for a good game of ball. Not bad for a dog sporting a grade three heart murmur...with no outward symptoms.

Plans for Jurny include rescuing him from sharp puppy teeth in the next months and letting him relax on the couch or under my feet as he wants. I do hope to continue with Rally with him and finish his RE title. He may come to Cdn Nat'ls with me as well and show off his youth in the various veterans classes.

Coming up next...Argus.

How do you choose?

Six puppies. Only one gets to stay. From day one I've been kidding myself that I will wait until week seven when final evaluations are done and that day I will pick my puppy. Uh huh. How do you not fall in love with one particular puppy when you see them every day, learn all their little quirks, see their strengths and their weaknesses. I think so much easier to get the full picture of a puppy in person than just through pictures, though a good still pic makes it easier to see what can be hard on a constantly moving puppy. How do you then turn around and pick a different puppy than the one your heart is set on because of one day of evals?

As each puppy was born I thought "oh, I love this one!" and on and on as each one arrived. At that point, I was dead set that I was keeping a female. Until a little blue and white boy appeared. Last one born and that thought "he's the one" hit me. I can't say what it was at that point, I mean, he was being ripped out of his sack, hadn't taken his first breath even...let alone knowing if he was correctly marked, what his temperment would be like or that he was even a he. I have to say, I have wanted a blue merle and white for YEARS, so it would be easy enough to blame his colour on the reason I wanted to keep him. But I've always wanted a blue with minimal white, and I wanted a girl. And, I have a puppy that fits that bill exactly. I love Fiesty to bits, and I think she is going to make someone an awesome awesome little puppy, but I don't feel the same connection with her as the blue boy, I'm pretty sure it's more than just markings, plus I don't like all the white generally. ;)

As the puppies grew, each puppy changed a little, I got a different view on their personalities and still, the blue and white boy topped my list. A lot of what draws me to him is his personality and temperment, which for me is key. I don't care if they are the most beautiful dog out there, or the top herding dog, or the fastest agility dog, at the end of the day temperment is what matters most. My dogs are my pets and need to thrive in my home with my lifestyle. He is his father all over again, but much quieter in volume (not busy-ness, he's a busy busy boy). He is a total ham, the class clown of the group who always has a grin on his face as he bounces over to me so I can pick him up and snuggle him. He's a bit of a wimp and can get his feelings hurt if someone roughhouses him too rough, but seconds later he's right back in the fray of things and grabbing and shaking someone's fur.

Is he the nicest conformation puppy in the litter? He's a nicely put together puppy, (needs to think some black nose thoughts though) but I'm not sure if he'll turn out as pick show puppy. Is he the top performance puppy? Again, he's up there, but I'm not sure if he would be considered the top one (and really, how do you pick that at such a young age...so many variables). Will he herd sheep? Who knows, based on his pedigree and parents he should, but no guarantees. Regardless, he is THE ONE, I've known it from day one and in the last few days I've finally accepted the fact that the blue boy is the one staying. I can't imagine sending him off to another home, where the rest of the puppies I've already picked what their ideal homes would be and figured out "short lists" for my waiting homes to choose from in a couple weeks.

So finally, I'm pleased to introduce: LookQuest Leap Frog "Juice", who regardless of if he is the "best" puppy after evals are done is the puppy who is meant to stay here, and will always be the best puppy in the litter as far as I'm concerned.

In Leaps and Bounds

For ease of describing the puppies from here on out, I'll be referring to them by their litter names, much easier than black boy #1 etc. That gets cumbersome.

Billy (black boy #1)





Boston (black boy #2)




Matthew (blue boy)




Chatterbox (black female....who I obviously need to get better pics of, this kid is a going concern and never sits still...even dreaming of going outside in the pouring rain)




Fiesty (blue female #1)




Angel (blue female #2)


I have been amazed since day one how fast these kids grow and develop. It truly is in leaps and bounds from one day to the next. It seems that one day they're little mewling vulnerable little souls in the whelping box, the next fuzzy bouncing, growling, barking, running puppies.

Some of the changes of late that I've been noticing is how they discover their world. Late last week I started opening their pen up when the big dogs went outside and I went in to clean up the mess in the puppy pen. Luckily, I think I'm having it easy, Impulse still cleans up the majority of the mess (she does like poo...I knew there would be some aspects of this job she'd like) and generally all I have to do is change wet papers and dirty towels a couple times a day.

The first day out Boston charged out into the kitchen, the stopped, surveyed and stuck pretty close to my pant leg. He was quickly followed by Matthew and Fiesty. The other three finally decided the great world outside the pen was okay too. They didn't venture very far from their pen that day. The next day, all six tumbled from the pen and explored the rest of the kitchen. From there it was the front entrance to the living room. Today, they conquered the hallway. Chatterbox even ventured all the way to the end of the hall and into the bedroom by herself. It's neat to see how they learn one day and apply the next. Yesterday they tried out the beginning of the hall, but stuck to the living room/front entrance to play. Today there was zero hesitation in going down the hall as they'd already learned it was safe yesterday. And there ends their freedom in the house.

Another recent and constantly progressing change is play. They started with simply playing with each other over the xmas holidays. I loved waking up and looking over the side of the bed to watch rudimentary puppy play. This was a bit difficult as they were just starting to stand and pretty unsteady on their feet. It started with chewing on each other's muzzles, then once they were up and walking, running into each other and pushing the other puppies over. This moved to pouncing and growling. Now it is full fledged wrestling and tussling, with a few arguments starting to arise. They are also realizing there is more to play with than just each other. Late last week the puppies started to notice their toys as more than obstacles to walk over. They started chewing on plastic nubs, sleeping on soft teddy bears, shaking wubbas. By the weekend they were stealing the big dog's toys (the wubba specifically which is double their size) and dragging them into their puppy pen. Then started the creation of toys. The paper, the blankets, pant legs, shoes, they are finding anything they come across can be a toy. Today I really notice they are purposely seeking out objects to play with, testing various objects to see if they're fun. Fiesty noticed a piece of paper on the floor, stepped on it, slid, sniffed it and realized it wouldn't be fun. Then she found the bag that all the new toys came in. MUCH more fun. It rustled and crinkled and I said NO, which made it that much more desirable. Puppies are also starting to play with me more. They love nothing more than when I push them away so they can rush back at me. They love the "hand of death" as I grab their faces and play with their feet on the floor. They are just starting to put together playing with me with a toy. I'm sure that will be the new development in the next couple days.

Another, fun(?) development is that they are starting to get on a schedule. They know that in the morning when the big dogs get up (who attack me when the alarm goes off...everyone's pretty scheduled in this house) and go outside, it is time for puppies to be fed. As in NOW. I have six puppies at the doorway to their pen screaming, barking, howling, sure that they are dying of hunger RIGHT NOW. They also need their morning attention. Often the noise level quiets down after each puppy is picked up individually and snuggled. They all look forward to this short time and then dive into their food. They have progressed in food from one meal of pureed kibble with goat's milk to two meals and quickly to today when they started three meals of kibble soaked in water and mashed. They know that at lunch it's a quick out and socialize and play and back in the pen in 10 minutes or so. They usually come out and play and easily go back in and eat their lunch and crash. In the evening is when they wake up. The big dogs go outside and the puppies are let out. They are up for a good hour playing and wrestling and this is when they are most active. This is my favourite time of the day with them. Watching how everyone is doing, how they've changed from the day before. After that they go back in their pen and have dinner and then everyone settles until the big dogs go out after their dinner. Out again for a few minutes until puppies start to crash around the living room them back in the pen for the night. So far, this is working well, though I'm not getting much done around the house.

Impulse decided tonight that maybe her puppies are fun after all. She and Chatterbox had a couple little play sessions in the kitchen with Chatter chasing after her when she left to continue with the fun! This was a fun new interaction with Impulse and the puppies, and I look forward to seeing how she changes her parent role with them from "milk bar" to "teacher".

It's all about the FOOD!

In my work I talk to a lot of moms about breastfeeding and the ins and outs of feeding your baby. So, watching Impulse feed her babies has been particularly interesting to me. I love watching the stages of nursing. To me, it looks like four stages. Stage One: getting latched and working on getting that milk to let down. At this point all six babies have found their nipple and are kneading and prodding and pulling those nipples till I think they're going to pull them right off Impulse. They are working hard for their dinners. I also usually hear little grunts and whines as they are frusterated their meal isn't being served quite as quickly as they think it should be. Stage Two: The Letdown. The milk starts to flow with ease. All at once, every puppy stops moving and you know milk is just pouring out. All that can be heard is swallows as each puppy drinks their tummies full. No more whines, no more grunts, just soft little puppy swallows. Stage Three: The Slowdown. This must be when the bulk of the milk has been letdown and the flow lessens. Again, all at once as if on cue, every puppy gets panicky and starts fighting for a new nipple because the one they were on isn't giving up the goods like it was a couple seconds ago. Once they try out a few, they realize they're all the same and they settle down again. Stage Four: sleep. After each meal follows a good long nap. Some puppies are still latched on and start sucking again if you disturb them, others fall off the nipple in happy full tummy dreams. As they've gotten older feeding has become more efficient. It takes less time for the milk to let down, less time to get through the main part of the feed, and quicker to sleep. I was starting to find though that puppies were feeding more often and not sleeping as soundly after feeds. Partly due to the fact that they're getting older and have more wakeful periods, and I think partly due to the fact that they are monsters and Impulse is reaching her peak of being able to feed all the monsters.

I did a lot of reading on starting puppies on solids, and there seems to be no "best answer". I found this frusterating. Not only do ages that people start their puppies on vary, but the debate over what to feed and when to feed is huge. I opted to go with what I know and apply some of my infant feeding knowledge to puppies. First of all, no cow's milk. That seems to be fairly well accepted among breeders. Next was what the solid bit should be. I read about people giving puppies infant cereal, all kinds of concoctions of human foods etc. But these are not small people, they are puppies. So, the decision was made to simply grind up the food they'll be eating once they're weaned, which is also the food Impulse eats now. That is, Go Natural. I've raised all my puppies since Argus on Go once they've arrived home and have loved the food, so chose to use this to wean puppies on to. Picked up some goat's milk and was ready to rock. It should be noted, Magic Bullets are not made to grind dog food. Good thing I have an old blender to use. Soaked the kibble in the goat's milk, added a scoop of canned food and made it into a nice pastey slurry. Slopped onto a tray and ready to go. But not quite. I still want the puppies main calories to come from mom, and I want her milk supply to stay up for another couple weeks. So, after Impulse finished an afternood feed, I kept puppies up, put a towel down and one at a time introduced them to this new goop. They all thought it was quite fine, but didn't gorge themselves, due to being mostly full up with momma's milk. I think this will provide a nice easy transitition and as they get older they'll gradually need more and more filling up with the food, and need mom less and less. I'm starting with two meals/day for a few days, and then will up to three. I don't want to upset little tummies. So far, Impulse continues to keep her pen impeccable, unless I catch a poop between her times in with the puppies you'd never know they poop....so far. I know that will all change soon. And so, life with six puppies will get a little messier, but the fuzzy cuteness will mostly make up for that I think. ;)