Still here!

Whew.
Our puppies are all sold and all but one has shipped off to new homes in New Jersey,
Seattle, San Francisco, Texas and lots of other places.

I think I forgot how much work puppies are!  We had 13 dogs at our house for most of the summer.
Two words pretty much sum it up--pooper scooper!

Actually it wasn't that bad.  These puppies were really quick to learn.  They all used the dog door to go outside from 5 weeks on.  They learned to sit at the gate to be picked up or fed with very little effort.  Lots of our families were surprised that the dogs already knew how to sit.  Two families said their pup has had no accidents in the house.  Yea!  My goal was always to raise dogs the way I wish mine were raised.  Goal accomplished!

Jackson has been in an alarmingly naked streak.  He is hilarious with the pups.  When they were nursing he would crawl all around and under Paisley with the pups.  There is one picture in particular that my sister took that has my parents renaming Jackson Mowgli.

Yes,  they are all drinking out of the same bowl of water.

 He just got in there and pushed puppies out of the way and said "hey guys--move!"

I think it's safe to say that it was time for puppies to go!

We are into August which is one of my favorite times of the summer.  At least the first two weeks before football starts are my favorite. Once the actual start of school gets closer I panic for a minute.  I feel really unsettled when the kids leave.  I'm not kidding.  My heart beats faster and I get a little sick to my stomach when I think about it.

Some of our last weeks of summer plans:

Go camping with just our family.
Make s'mores.
Have a giant back to school picnic with all our friends.
Go to the drive-in--again!
Sort out closets and get school clothes ready. (okay this one is totally my goal...)
Throw away all the mismatched socks. (I can already feel the relief!)
Sleep in.

Whelping box plans

Our puppies are growing like crazy.  So far they have all survived living with Jackson which is no small feat.  Last night he caught a chicken, brought it in the house through the dog door and threw it in the whelping box with the puppies.  Sheesh.  He frequently 'accidentally' drops his toys on the puppies or stands balanced in the doorway while watching to see if I am looking.  I think he's trying to make sure that the puppies don't get more attention then he does.  

The pups are in a box in the big upstairs family room.  We put a piece of linoleum under the box and topped it with a rubber backed pad.  The whelping box has been awesome!  I mean AWESOME!  Darren helped me build it using my dad's shop and some wood we scrounged over there.  

Jackson had to test it out to make sure would be useful.

Have a mentioned that he has an obsession with lining things up lately? 

Everything from shoes to cucumbers to cars...

I'll have to post some pictures. 

I wrote all about the box design over at the Family Dog Blog.  

Spring has sprung...

I think we finally have spring. The flowers are growing and the nights aren't as cool. We moved the puppies upstairs yesterday and enclosed them in a big "pen" next to the dog door. Much to our delight, they are all using the dog door to go potty. Those of you who are lucky enough to get one of our last three puppies can thank me later! :) Actually I think we can mostly thank Molly who helped them learn that there are only certain areas to use for potty time.


The puppies are also much happier now that they have lots of places to explore and kids to run around with.



The running around wears them out! They usually choose to sleep in the kennel where it's nice and warm.

Little escape artists...

Houdini, Spiderman, David Copperfield, wonder woman...These are all the names we should have named these puppies. The little escape artists have successfully found every possible means of escape from their little room. They can climb, push, crawl etc. their way to the nearest back scratcher surprisingly well. I think I actually managed to block all the areas today. They are worn out from 'playing baby' with all of Jenna's little friends. Actually all of the pups seem to love being wrapped and held.

Molly has pretty much weaned the puppies. Much to their displeasure. Last night (at 1 am) Molly hopped in with them to get a drink and they all immediately made it known that they "needed" a midnight snack. They put up quite a noisy fuss when she refused. Thankfully (for those of us trying to sleep)she finally went in with them and let everyone nurse for a second so they would quiet down and go back to sleep.

Yesterday the puppies were all crying to get out and play when they suddenly became quiet. I came down to check it out and found Jenna sitting in the middle of the floor "singing the babies a lullaby". It worked because they all went to sleep.



Sleepy Little Guy--look at those long ears!

A whole new world.

The puppies have breached the whelping box. We were awakened at 5:45 AM Saturday morning to the sound of a crying pup who discovered that the big wide world was not so much to his liking. I laid in bed for a minute hoping my husband would run out of patience before I did. He just muttered "why do I think this is just the beginning?". We are newbies in the puppy whelping/raising world. We have a feeling we have a few fun things in store.

It's time to move the puppies out of the laundry room. Thankfully we have an unfinished room in the basement that is perfect. We used a couple of long lengths of plastic lattice (the holes are too big in just one) and we divided the room in half. We put a chair on either side so Molly can easily get in but the puppies can't get out. Then we cut the side down on the old whelping box so they can easily get in and out. They cried for about half an hour when we made the move. Once Molly joined them and opened the 'snack bar' they settled right down. They are busy learning to run around. It is, of course, adorable.

We are amazed at how the puppies are instinctively drawn to people. We haven't fed or otherwise treated the puppies with food but the minute they see or hear us coming they rush to the edge of the box. The kids are doing a great job of only picking up the pups who are not crying or are sitting. It's amazing how much they can learn at such a tender age. So far the puppies all love to be held and they will definitely be well socialized!

Exploring...

Testing out the carpet...






Must have a snack,

and time for a nap!

Week three

Pups are now three weeks old. We've definitely entered the toddler stage. We have teeth erupting and lots of playing. This is an important stage for the puppies as they are learning how their teeth affect the world around them. They will learn from each other and from Molly how hard they can bite without causing damage. They are also discovering their voices. They sound like a bunch of gremlins/guinea pig combos with their little growls and squeaks.

The kids still interact with every puppy every day. The puppies love to be held right in the soft warm spot at the bottom of the neck. They aren't ready to leave the box area as they and Molly get really anxious if separated from the litter. The boys took them all out of the box yesterday and put them on the hard floor to see what would happen. Most of them cried. Some cried and stumbled around (Little Guy and Arrow and Freckle) one sprawled spread eagle and whined (Underdog). The other two, (Mo and Sparrow) cried and tried to find litter mates or kids to lay on. We put them all back on their nice soft pad where they quickly piled together.

The puppies are now eliminating without Molly's help. This is creating a tremendous amount of laundry. Interesting note--even at this tender age they are leaving their soft pad to pee elsewhere in the box. In a couple of weeks we will introduce the crate. Hopefully that will make their transition to new homes a bit easier.

Freckle gets a bath from Mom...

and then finds a warm spot to snuggle.