5 1/2 Weeks Old

My puppies have settled into a good routine. They continue to grow, I am in the process of weaning them (although I must admit early morning and just before bed cuddle time is still happening). David is going to weigh them later today, but estimates that they are all above 6 pounds now.

I love all the pups, but am growing particularly fond of my little fella (#3). He nurses and then makes sure he cuddles under my chin and gives me little kisses. Millie Jr. (#4) and T-Bone (#1) eat and run --- both of them are getting pretty fast, and together with Sticky (#2) they spend a lot of time playing hide and seek in the woods.

We will all be heading for the farm for two weeks starting on Friday. I will try to get David to post some new pictures before we go. There will be a longer than usual break on the blog because we don't have computer access on the island.

I'm looking forward to getting back to some sheep herding, swimming and fetch. It will be nice to spend some good quality pack time with all our friends there.

We will make sure that we let everyone know about all our experiences when we return.

Here are the latest pictures.

Mom, Junior (No. 4) and Silken

Sticky (No. 2) Carrying a Big Stick

Sticky (No. 2) Sticking to David's Shoe

T-Bone (No. 1) Allowing the Big Dog (Silken) to Sniff All She Wants

Belly Boy (No. 3) Taking a Sit Break

Exploring the Backyard - Day 29

Somebody, who shall remain nameless, forgot to put the pin in the x-pen gate yesterday morning before heading to work. When the puppy sitter arrived a few hours later, the puppies were out and about.

The good news --- they remained close by and there were only a couple of small "accidents". In fact, it appeared that they headed back to the paper in the pen when necessary.

The bad news. I was pursued for those hours by a marauding pack of sharp toothed puppies intent on power nursing. You would need to live that experience to fully appreciate my morning.

The somebody, who shall remain nameless, has apologized and promised that it will never happen again. I also received cod treats, my favourite, and an extra long tummy rub.

Following are a couple of short videos of the puppies in the backyard this afternoon.


Not quite the 100 yard dash but a good sprint nonetheless.

First Day In the Back Yard - Day 27

Sorry that I have been negligent on keeping the blog up to date. My typist complains that he has been too busy with work to assist me with this task. If anybody knows of a good voice synthesizer software package that translates barks to English please let me know.

The puppies are all growing and very active. Today was their first day in the backyard. They all were tired at the end of the play session, which allowed for taking pictures with minimal blurring.

# 4 and # 1

Sleepy #3 and #2

They are all eating solid food now, and I have cut back nursing to once or twice a day. I have had to correct Millie Jr. (No. 4) on a couple of occasions about not using teeth while nursing. The others have learned from these corrections.

The pups are also beginning to understand the concept of paper training. There have been no accidents in the whelping box for several days now, and the bathroom/paper area will continue to be decreased in size over the next few weeks. I hope to have them house trained and well mannered before they go to their new homes.

Not much difference in behaviours or personalities yet, but this will likely change over the next few weeks. All of the puppies are people oriented and big on tail wagging.

On Thursday we will try to make another little movie of the activity outside.

Day 18

It was a spectacular spring day in these parts.

As predicted, Sticky (#2) made it out of the whelping box today. I had to run to get David to collect her before she got too far down the hallway. She knew enough to keep quiet and met David with her signature tail wagging "I can wrap you around my little paw" look. When we got back to the whelping box T-Bone (#1) was also making a move for "the wall" but Millie Jr. (#4) was hanging on her tail which made it impossible to make it over.

You will notice that I haven't mentioned Belly Boy (#3) yet. Today, he fully experienced what it will be like growing up with three sisters. Any time he makes a move to play with any of the girls, all three respond "in kind". He spent a lot of time at the bottom of the pile today. By late afternoon he was applying a "I'll stay in the corner" defensive strategy --- flipped Millie Jr. who dared take him on with his back against the wall --- Sticky wagged her tail and waddled off to David for a pet instead of helping out. That was the first indication that my boy might have a chance.

This afternoon the puppies spent a few minutes on the back deck --- it was a very warm day and they loved exploring.

On Tuesday (Day 20) we will try them on a little puppy mush for the first time. That will certainly be special. Since we've had the whelping box great escape, the x-pen has gone up and the pups will have a bigger area to explore but an impossible (I hope) wall to climb.

Mom and Pups

No. 2 and No. 1

No. 2 and No. 4

Puppy Pile On

I've posted a little video. Sorry for the small size and poor quality --- dial up limitations.

The puppies are growing in leaps and bounds. In a few days I will ask David to start them on some mush --- little puppy teeth are starting to come in and ears are partially open.

Two weeks (and a day)

Sorry that I haven't been on the blog for a couple of days. I've been busy with busier puppies.

The puppies sleep hard, eat hard and NOW play hard. I wish we weren't on dial up so that I could upload some of the videos. It can be very entertaining.

Since the puppy eyes are newly opened, we haven't been taking any flash pictures. That makes things a little bit more difficult in getting any decent pictures. Action shots just aren't possible at this stage due to the light conditions. If you look closely you can see the little emerging eyes.

Puppy #4

Puppy #2 (and #1)

On the news front:

• when I return to the whelping box with the all day diner, I am being met by wagging tails. It is a welcome change from the "attitude" I was getting last weekend.


• all the puppies are peeing on their own (yippe ... and yuck no more). I can't wait for the "other thing" to also be handled by them on their own.


• they all can trill and offer barks befitting much larger dogs.


• puppy pile on is a very competitive sport (2 minutes of action is followed by an hour of sleep). Everyone wins and loses several times over the course of the two minute competition.


• they all continue to grow and we hope to do new weights on the weekend.

That's all for now. Back to the whelping box.