Maternity Leave is Over!!!

Cinders and I went and visited the PSA club in Cincinnati last night.  Cinders was glad to get out of the house and get a few bites in!  She is still nursing the pups some, but she is more than ready to be back to work!!  Its been 2+yrs since Cinders has seen a bite suit and then only once or twice, but she was more than up to tackle a decoy who didn't have a sleeve.  We both had lots of fun.  I am hoping to enter Cinders in their upcoming trial to get her PDC (Protection Dog Certificate).  We only have 2 weeks to train and Cinders still has pups at home, but I never doubt her abilities, only my ability to show her what I want from her.    The pups are doing excellent!!  One word sums them up .... MONSTERS!!!!   Of course... BRATS!!!  is also fitting.  They are VERY spoiled.  They want what they want when they want it.  Mostly what they want is to terrorize me, Cinders, and the house anytime they are awake.  New pups are emerging in the limelight.  Some pups are making a point to prove my initial assessment wrong.  It teaches me, yet again, not to pigeonhole puppies too soon.  One pup that I thought was a happy go lucky kind of pup, has spent the 3-4 days growling at me when I pick him up after I said that.  Another pup that I told someone was had less pack drive and may be better as a pet,  has spent the past week clamping like a vice on whatever part of me he gets a hold of and he does it a lot because he has started following me everywhere!!!  It just serves as a reminder that there is a reason we don't select puppies until they are 7-8 wks old.  They are changing too rapidly right now.    Ultimately, they are TONS of work and very DEMANDING, but I just love them all.  My favorite thing is to take the quilt and all the pups outside when its warm and just let them climb all over me and go explore the yard.  I want to keep them all, but I could really use some more sleep!

5 week puppy weights

5 wk puppy weights: yellow 8.64, Red 6.88, Orange 8.91, Green 8.38, Pink 8.73, Light Blue 7.98, Black 9.44, Purple 8.39

Puppy Invasion!!!

The puppies are becoming more and more active.  I have to turn them loose in the house when I go to clean their pen.  Otherwise, they are constantly underfoot and grab my pant legs and shoelaces.  They don't have any prolems exploring the house and chewing on whatever catches their attention.  They are starting to pay attention to toys more and I am seeing some nice grips!  I need to puppy proof my side yard this weekend so that I can let the have more outdoor time.  I have some more video to upload this weekend and I want to get some more outside pictures of the babies.

Babies are growing up!

Everyone is getting so big! Every day is seems like they get more active.  This morning they were really playing hard.  They have started grabbing my pant legs when I go to clean their pen.  So now I let them loose in the house (thank goodness for hardwood floors!) while I clean up their home.  They have no problems running around and exploring the house.  These little guys are really stable.  I drop stuff near them have load noises etc and no one shows any adverse reactions.  They all have excellent recovery.  I am very pleased with everyone.  I took them outside by two's a couple days ago.  Everyone had a lot of fun!  I am hoping to get my small side yard puppy ready this weekend so that I can put the babies outside for a couple hours everyday after I get home.

Escape Artist #2

Escape artist #2.. Burgundy girl! This just proves how smart this baby girl is. She may be the smallest, but she doesn't let that stop her! Just went in and found her roaming the bedroom floor. Meanwhile Cinders is in the whelping box nursing the others. She wasn't crying or upset or anything- just exploring!

Yellow Ventures into the Great Outside the Box

I just went to see what was going on because Cinders is being very fierce about guarding the bedroom from Porsche and ... Surprise!! the YELLOW pup is the first to escape the whelping box. Not a bad achievement for a 19 day old! I just ADORE the little burgundy girl.  She has such awesome eye contact for one so young and she always seeks me out when I am near and comes over to me and looks up at me.  She seems SO intelligent.  She is such a thinker.  She is also very sweet and rarely fusses, but she tackles her monster siblings and always seems to hold onto a teat during feeding!  I just love her.   new weights: Yellow 66.3 oz, burgundy 42.6 oz, orange 69.4 oz, green 62.4 oz, hot pink 73.7 oz, light blue 64.2oz, brown (changing to black) 81.4 oz, purple 64.5. Today yellow and light blue tied for weight gain winners gaining 4.3oz each

Eyes Open and Walking

The babies are adorable right now.  I love how they stumble as they learn to walk.  All eyes are open and the last few days have seen some large weight gains.  I am trying to get a good video of them all walking around, but its for such short spurts of time that I keep missing it.  Its usually when they are all hungry and mom comes into the box.  However, she keeps them so well fed that its pretty rare to see them hungry.  Some of the pups are quite fat!  I have caught pink puppy sitting there and looking over the rails of the whelping box.  I am betting she will be the first to escape!  I can already see her thinking "I wonder whats over there"   Cinders is such a good mama.  Its amazing how she knows to rotate the pups.  She often keeps them in 2 groups.  She nurses one group, takes a short break, and then comes back and takes care of the other group.  Sometimes she lines them all up in the middle for "group bathing".   The brown boy is a mama's boy.  You often see him under her front where she can keep track of him.  He was very upset this morning.  Apparently, he didn't get enough to eat, so he started howling (I have NEVER heard a pup this small howl- but that's what it looked and sounded like).  He was definitely telling her what he thought!    The little burgundy girl is quite the trooper.  Because she is smaller than the others I always make sure she wakes up and gets to mom whenever mom is in the box.  Lately, every time I go to check on her, I find her already nursing!  Her big brothers and sisters come along and try to knock her off, but she holds on and usually they move on to a less determined sibling!  From what I saw, she was also the first to start walking.  The light blue (was the smallest boy) has also been making a push lately. I think we may see more and more from him as he gets older.   Its interesting that people often worry about the "runt", but I find that they often turn out to be very feisty.   I remember Rain had a rough start.  Rain was actually sick a lot as a very young puppy (in contrast - Burgundy has been very healthy).  She was a C-section baby that had been revived by the vets.  She was also the smallest.  By the time the pups were 5 weeks old, no body messed with Rain.  Cinders used to pick on Rain and play rough with her.  Rain would get angry and chase Cinders out of the room.  Cinders would look at her like she was a monster!  I wonder if we will see that with burgundy.    Its interesting to me to watch the pups and compare them as they grow to the last litter.  Right now pink reminds me A LOT of Tessa.  Purple reminds me of Porsche and Burgundy reminds me of Rain.   Well see if that holds true.  Last time Porsche was a sleeper, but I always looked at her and thought she would probably be the one I kept.  I always felt like she was the quiet type that was going to burst forth.  She was highly compliant even as a very young pup.  Never complained.  However, you could tell by watching her that she was the thinker and problem solver.  Later I saw that she had the ability to be calm at times but ultimately had extreme energy and drive.  I''ll be watching purple closely.  For now she is  the quiet puppy that likes to eat.   Green and yellow are my quiet boys.  They always make sure they get their meals and they can hold their own, but they don't fuss like orange.  Orange has been a complainer since he was born.  He lets you know what he is thinking.  He LOVES to eat.  For the most part Brown is pretty quiet.  He is either eating or sleeping.  He usually just plants himself on a teat and doesn't get challenged by the other pups.  He is not really fussy.  Probably because he is usually fat and content.  But he does have the ability to complain. He also seems to get around the whelping box a lot because you ALWAYS find him wherever mama is.    Its going to be fun to see how they turn out!