Entries by Darlah (284)
Personalities
I so love this #3 gal. She is really smart. She is fun and engaging and she so loves being around you and then she sleeps. LOL
The gallery is of 2 visits upstairs. After the blogs are done, I will take them upstairs without a camera or my ipad. This way I can play without being able to fully engage with them. I get to know them best when I can do this. It is also plain fun!
Tonight, I am busy. Tomorrow is setting up Sage's whelping box plus a slew of grooming. Monday, Tuesday the same if sage holds up. We shall see.
Sage has been in this room and you can catch her kissing the pups. The pups kiss her back.
The pups are calling me to go upstairs. :-)
Smiles Have It
Short blogs today. I get crazy before pups coming with grooming and I must get Sage used to being in here and Misty and Raven used to it. So far, so good.
We also have to find room for 2 whelping boxes. It is going to be interesting but that's not about this. This was just to explain a short blog.
If you look at this puppy, she is smiling. Yes, they do smile and Misty's smile the widest. It's like an infectious expression of how they feel about life.
Now off to upload the videos.
First Upstairs Without Moms
The pups had their 1st night without moms upstairs. As you will see in the videos that are up now that we check often. LOL
Poor Misty is looking ragged between pups and rain but she is slated for another bath after this daily rain stops.
How did the pups do? They mostly slept. They rarely ate and was excited to see moms in the morning and we were as well. I call that a success.
Pups have started to escape, walk in their water dish and tell us they want out. LOL
The pups are great!
I am updating this blog early to reduce my work and to give you an early view of what occurred last night as we have the vets to go to today for Sage.
I hope you enjoy and laugh. Before we depart for the vets, we will have the pups out and take more videos and folders.
Outside Fun
This one was staying warm in Nathan's jacket. It was a tad cool but also nice depending if the sun came out.
The pups are funny now. This is a very athletic crew. They jump with ease over the backs of each other without touching.
They so look forward to going outside, upstairs, halls or getting carried around to see new sights. Today I took one out in my arms to look at teh chattering squirrels. She was fascinated.
Upstairs and Escape
Who was the escape artist out of the xpen today. Can you guess who?
Well, it was 3rd born gal and she had no issues climbing out. We are going to have to close the doors, I suppose. No complaining either. She just explored. The pups are truly special.
We also went upstairs to expose them to the hall and new toys. They never missed a beat. Oh new place - let's explore and it didn't matter if it was the older ones or the younger ones.
While we were up there, Nathan cut their nails and I caught it on video. Videos are getting uploaded now.
We may be placing them upstairs at night tomorrow without their moms. Why do we do this? We start them on their journey of independence. We have cameras and we can hear them and I so watch and listen from my ipad. It's a time I hardly get any sleep but we do this so they are used to learning to sleep at night, not eating from mom but they will have solid food and water and then at 7am they are back downstairs with moms feeding them. How they do tells us if they are ready for this stage in development. They always seem to be. There is much for Dennis to get ready. We shall see if tomorrow is it.
I had pups on my lap laying on their backs. It was wonderful. They played with the toys and they had a blast upstairs. Not a single whimper. They just embraced the experience.
A Bit of a Blip
A mother's love...
Our breeder vet has told us she can't do the checkup till May 11th making them late for shots. We are exploring options. If we have no choice but to do this late, it means I will be scrambling so I ask of you to have a boy and girl name ready ahead of schedule. Start thinking now. I know some say I can't do a name till I know which pup but these are trying times. I will be scrambling the last few days if this 11th is all we can muster.
Between our usual visits that are interrupted due to covid and then this - I am very stressed. I feel like I am letting everyone down but it's not something I have control over. I hate these covid times.
Here is today's gallery. There will only be one gallery. I will put a link to the video on Raven's. It is raining much too much to get them outdoors. So maybe 1 gallery and one video link as you will still have it all but just consolidated and it is not like other litters where you can't tell whose pups are whom.
Ignore: UPDATE
Ignore the feet but ouch they are teething in a huge way. Raven's is just starting but oh boy teeth everywhere for Misty's pups.
We took 2 Misty pups and 1 raven pup out today under the gazebo so they had the experience of the rain. Tomorrow we will take a few more out. We are exposing them to different sounds and visual experiences. No reaction but curiousity.
I am working on uploading the videos so you will find them here. I have a pup going home tonight so I must get her groomed.
I groomed. We took the puppies out. I will continue uploading videos but here is an outdoor gallery.
We Merged
Last night Dennis put the litters together and even though there is a size difference, they are doing well together. Maybe by weeks end they will be upstairs without the moms at night. We shall see.
All 8 pups thus far seem to adapt to all the changes and they are coming quickly. I am ever so impressed.
They played outside of the pen while Dennis sterilized everything and set it up. They did well as you will see in the videos. When morning arrived, I cleaned out the pen again as I truly believe if they are exposed to a clean environment, they will appreciate and enjoy this environment. If allowed to sleep with accidents, they would be difficult to train and learn that it is okay to have accidents where they sleep. I always check and wash as I go throughout the day. Eventually they learn you sleep in clean and you go on the pads and then as summer puppies they learn to go outdoors as well. Everything we do has a reason. They are actually already learning to use the pads - both litters. I am impressed with both litters.
The pups are starting to grow up and you are seeing the personalities spill out. It's wonderful and oh they love to play with you. How fun is that!
4 Weeks 3 Days Old
The pups went outside and Spirit snuck out to joing them too. The moms didn't mind and Spirit being the loving soul she is was delighted.
The pups have really grown and meshed well together. Soon we will have them all in one pen.
Be sure to check out the videos.
All the outside videos have Spirit in them too.
Inside Outside 4 Weeks 2 Days
We had a play session together, alone outside of the pen. We decided to get them used to the floor and they are doing well without blankets.
It means perhaps tomorrow I start leaving some floor space in their pens. It sure will cut down on washing machine loads. The pups also had their first ride in a sherpa bag outdoors and back in.
So many new things to get them be all they are mean to be.
4 Weeks 1 Day Old
They are more active than the Raven pups but one day soon you will not see the difference. At this stage 4 days makes a huge difference at this part of the development and as they get closer to 5 weeks, it all changes.
Several of the pups now have teeth. One of Raven's has teeth. Poor moms - ouch.
I now have the videos uploaded.
They eat rather well and no issues after feeding solids and that is why it is now in their pens.
Maybe tomorrow Nathan will give me some help at feeding time as it was interesting doing it myself!
4 Weeks and First Food
Well being 4 days older does make a difference. Most dug in repeatedly - not all and the boy bunny hopped all over the room excited to be exploring. Be still my heart. That boy has come alive and is fun, fun, fun!
They still have to wait overnight as the introduction of food can cause disgestive issues - either constipated or too loose and sometimes perfect so we wait before trying them on more. Moms get the leftovers though during feeding of the pups, Misty wanted to take her portion and then some. Now that the pups are done and it was left out for her, she has not touched it. So typical. I only ant it when someone else has it including my pups.
Pups - both litters are sleeping soundly after their food.
1 Day Short of 4 Weeks
Tomorrow this crew turns 4 weeks. How is that possible?
Their weight gain has slowed down which usually happens with more activity.
Tomorrow we will try them on water and solid food. We shall see how that goes. 4 days later we will try the Raven crew on food and then we start putting them together for bits of the day till they are together always.
Changes are coming yet again.
Size Difference
Okay Nathan didn't have the heads even so there is not that much difference but there is between these 2 pups.
Pups had lots of play sessions - both litters between Nathan and I. It is the start of their conditioning.
I have not put them on all day. I have allowed mom to do it all just like Raven has been. We will see how the weight gain is tomorrow. It is time that they find the milkstation on their own. In 2 more days we will try this crew on water and solid food. 4 days later we will try the Raven crew. We shall see how it goes.
Misty was making me laugh hard in one of our play sessions. I did have fun!