Taking puppy pictures

You see some great photos of puppies out there on various websites. They look so calm, serence, and poised.

In reality, for every photo like this one:

You get a dozen or more like these:

 

or like this:

or even like this:

So next time you see the perfect puppy shot, be aware of all the hard work that goes into them!!!

Outdoor doods

To help our puppies become comfortable in a variety of environments, and to learn about the wider world, we have started to take them outside whenever the weather is decent (i.e. not pouring rain, in this eternally rainy and somewhat miserable spring we've been having). Over Easter weekend we had three very nice, warm, and mostly sunny days, so we got the pups out into nature for at least a short walk every day. We have a small pond and urban forest close to our house, as well as some open fields, so that is where we tend to go.

It is always risky, taking young unvaccinated puppies into "wild" environments where they could be exposed to viruses, bacteria, and germs, but they do receive some immunities from their mother's milk, which they are still drinking though in smaller quantities than before. We also try to prevent them from drinking from puddles, keep them at a distance from other dogs whose vaccination and health status is unknown, and just keep an eye out for any dangers. Overall I think the benefits outweigh the risks as it gives them freedom to explore and become familiar with new environments. We do some simple training exercises in the nearby open fields, like "go find" (one person hides behind a tree or bushes and the puppies need to "find" them - first they can see where the person hides and eventually we'll have the person hide without the puppies watching), and "come when called" (always a good one to start as early as possible!).

Garnet's ultrasound

I've been getting more inquiries about Garnet's litter, so decided to get an ultrasound done so that I could tell people with at least a certain amount of confidence how many puppies we are expecting.


Garnet's Guardian family dropped her off at our place on Sunday afternoon and the ultrasound was done on Monday afternoon, so she had a day to play with us and the puppies and enjoy some of the outdoors near our home.

And the number is... (drumroll) - 4! Or maybe 5.


Of course, ultrasounds are virtually never dead-on. Our sole previous experience with ultrasound was that it overcounted (predicted 5 or possibly 6 and we got 4), but other breeders report that in their experience it generally undercounts far more often than overcounts.


So I am moderately certain we will get 4, hopeful we might get 5, and would be ecstatic if it turned out to be 6 (or more??!!!?). Garnet is very petite, so I wasn't expecting more than 3 or 4. Five (or more) would be a definite bonus.


The four very visible puppies were a good size - close to 3.5cm at half-term. At full-term they'll be around 15-20cm, but most of that size is put on in the final 2 weeks. They had strong heartbeats and looked healthy, according to the vet.


On Easter Monday afternoon we drove her back to her Guardian family and we all - Amore, puppies, kids, and Garnet - had a chance to play at her house for a few hours.

 Puppy frisbee

 Puppy love

(tired puppies taking a nap in Garnet's bed)

So the count down in on!! Just four weeks to go!

Socialization

Proper puppy socialization is very important. Being raised in a family environment goes a long way towards helping with puppy socialization, but it's definitely not everything. In addition to being handled a lot (something family raising certainly provides!), they also need to be introduced to unfamiliar dogs and other animals, have plenty of meetings with strangers (of the human variety), and make strides towards learning proper dog manners (obedience, bite inhibition, etc).

With our first two litters I wasn't as aware of the requirements in all the areas, or of the need to undertake some of this training/socialization during the very impressionable 5-10 week period. Now, however, I have done more reading about puppy socialization (in particular the book The Breeder's Guide to Raising Superstar Dogs by Jerry Hope, a certified dog behaviour consultant) and am implementing some of the exercises the author recommends with our current litter.

Hope notes that for a puppy to get used to being around strangers and not react in fear to the presence or approach of strangers (which would include their new owners initially), it is recommended to introduce the puppy to at least 100 strangers by the time they are 10 weeks old. So far, our puppies have:

(a) visited two school classrooms, where they met about 30 kids and another 10 or so adults;

(b) gone to the vet's for a "well puppy visit" (before they go there for their check-up and vaccinations) where they met 5 adults;

(c) visited Garnet's guardian family, both at our home and at Garnet's, where they met about 6 children (including a couple of friends of the family) and 2 adults; and

(d) been introduced to some of the people in our neighbourhood (roughly 4-6 people).

With this goal in mind, along with that of meeting strange dogs and going to new places, we took the puppies on Saturday to PetSmart. We kept them inside the shopping cart lined with one of our puppy blankets, to help prevent exposure to germs from potentially sick or unvaccinated dogs, and they didn't actually have contact with more than one or two other dogs, but did get to see lots of other dogs walking around the store and playing in the PetSmart PetsHotel and Doggy Day Care rooms. They also had a chance to see various other animals, from cats to birds to fish and small rodents. But quite a few human strangers stopped to pet them and say hello. During this visit Galena in particular displayed a lot of curiosity, standing up so as to see over the edge of the cart. looking around at everything. Malachite Teddy may have been a bit tired, as he joined Galena at the cart edge but shortly just curled up in the basket and went to sleep.

Six week update

The pups are now six weeks old already! Hard to believe that in less than a month they will be heading off to their new homes. They are growing well and they have TEETH!! Galena's are more advanced than Malachite Teddy's - she has all her canines and both top and bottom incisors are starting to poke through. Teddy just has his canines showing. Teething means they want to chew, chew, CHEW! We have several chew toys in their playpen and so far we have generally been letting them gnaw on our hands, seeing as the teeth weren't really out yet, but now that the teeth are showing and sharp we will start to work on bite inhibition.

About a week ago we took them outside (when we had some decent weather in this pretty cool, damp and miserable excuse of a spring...!). They were quite happy to explore the big wide world, running around in the grass and romping with Mama and kids up and down the back lane. 

They also experienced their first bath last week. My daughter (chief dog-washer of the family) said they didn't mind the water at all, and Teddy especially liked playing and splashing around in it.

Now that they have the beginnings of teeth, they are starting to eat more solid food. I take the puppy chow and soak it in hot water, then mush it up and add some goat's milk and/or yogurt, egg yolk, a bit of oil, and possibly some cooked sweet potato. That gets mushed all together and put in big batches in the fridge. When it's feeding time, we take some out, warm it up, mix in a few bits of solid kibble, and voila! Supper. As their teeth grow the need for the mush diminishes as they are more able to chew the solid bits. They still love to nurse whenever they can, but Mama isn't so pleased about it any more, especially with Galena who has more and sharper teeth!

The kids hauled out the play-time doll carriage a day or two back and rolled the puppies around in it. They sat for the most part, though tried to jump out a couple of times. By the time they go home, these pups are going to be used to all sorts of different  experiences and adventures!!

Frisbee dog

Mama Momo loves to play!!! Over the weekend we enjoyed some fine weather and took Amore out to the field to play frisbee for an hour or so. She had a ball!!! (And so did the kids.) Here are some shots of the action.

Four weeks - We're getting active

The pups are getting more an more active all the time. While a lot of time is still spent sleeping (it's hard work growing so fast!!), when not sleeping they are very alert, playful, and full of curiosity. We sometimes bring them out of the puppy pen and let them wander around the main floor (under supervision of course!) so they can experience some new sights and textures, and explore their environment. Last night Malachite Teddy was quite intent on trying to get at the interesting smells in the foot-pedal hold at the bottom of the garbage can - but he didn't quite fit through the hole! 

They are eating their puppy mush quite readily now. We can tell they are teething - they want to chew, chew, chew, and we can feel little bumps along the top of their gums that haven't quite broken through yet. Within a day or two they we will be able to feel sharp little teeth poking through. Then we can start adding a bit more "solid" (lumpy) food to their puppy mush. 

  Galena - dindin time!   

   Malachite Teddy - such a messy eater!     

We have blankets covering the floor of their puppy pen, and a bunch of stuffies scattered about. They walk over the stuffies, crawl under them, snuggle up to them, and even try to pick up the smaller ones and carry them around.

   Galena    

   Malachite Teddy    

For a couple of days now the pups have geeted us when we come home from school, work, or errands, with high-pitched squeaky barks, to accompany their mother's louder woofy greetings. This shows they are starting to associate the sound of doors opening and footsteps with our presence, and also that they are associating our presence with playtime and fun... 

Over the next few weeks we will be working more intensely at socializing the puppies, introducing them to new sights, sounds, and experiences so that they will become very accustomed to all kinds of new and different things. This will help to form their temperaments and make them accepting of change, new circumstances, and strange experiences - good characteristics for a family pet to have.