Play fighting and learning bite inhibition

I will not be posting puppy updates until Tuesday as I will be away at field trials in New Jersey. Hence so many pictures being posted on Friday.

Puppies are doing great, and it is going to be hard to decide who is going where as this litter is so uniform. Right now there is a lot of play fighting going on in the pack, and it is a completely normal process.

Blue male

Green male

 

Green male

 

Pups turn eight weeks old

Today it was raining almost all day  so pups spent some time indoors. We introduced them to raw turkey necks, and oh boy, they acted like little piranhas.

Tomorrow pups are going to be eight weeks old. Yesterday they worked a fresh liver drag and all of them were really good.We are very happy with this litter.

Genti and Beth meet Paika's puppies

Yesterday Genti and Beth Shero visited us and had a chance to meet Paika's puppies. All I can say this is a bunch of pushy puppies. They mobbed Beth and Genti and did not ask for invitation to their laps.

 

 

Tommy as a puppy-sitter

Paika has not had any contact with the pups for the last three days as we got serious about weaning them. Next weekend there is a field trial in New Jersey, and I would like to take her along. She is not happy about not being able to be with them but we have no choice. At this age pups certainly are able to be weaned completely. Now they get three meals a day - for breakfast it is raw meat mix, afternoon it is a canned food and in the evening they eat dry kibble. This way they will be able to handle a variety of foods.

Yesterday I asked Tommy (FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst) to spend some time with Paika's puppies. Even though he is three and a half years old, he is still very playful and puppy-like. He was really good with the pups and they had a ball. There was a lot of running, chasing, digging and jumping!

Paika's puppies turn seven weeks old

Anybody who knows John and me well also knows that we don't go gaga over puppies. We both love the process of breeding and raising puppies, but as I said many times "being a cute and pretty puppy" is not good enough for our pups. 

Well... I have to admit that I have fallen completely in love with Paika and Moose's puppies. This is a good looking bunch - all their coats are perfect and it looks like our plan of mating Paika (who is homozygous for the F gene) to Moose (who is smooth out of wires and homozygous recessive ff) has worked very well. This is one of the most uniform litters we have ever had and all five puppies will have perfect wirehaired coats. Pups' heads are very nice and strong with good pigmentation of eyes. They have all their teeth, and the males have their testicles. No umbilical hernias. There is a range of dispositions here with the female being probably most feisty and yellow male most easy going. We will be learning a lot about the pups in the next few weeks. Today they went for an hour long ride  in the country.

Blue male won this standoff over the deer tail.

Blue male is the smallest and weighs 4 3/4 lbs at seven weeks.

Green male is 6 lbs.

Red male is 6 lbs too.

Red male

Pink female is 5 lbs

Green male

Yellow male is 5.5 lbs

Puppies' first walk to the pond

Today is warm but wet - a perfect weather to get puppies run through wet grass and get them to the pond. It was a fun experience for everybody.

Puppies are moved outside

Puppies have outgrown the old lodging arrangement (my den), so for the first time they spent a night outside, on their own. We have a good setup for them, which was described here. When I was preparing the shed for them, I was really surprised how resourceful they were. They were not concerned at all. Very curious and uninhibited  they investigated without showing any fear - climbed into new dog houses, and they also crawled under them. Then they settled in a large house, where I put their blanket and toys. This morning when I went to check on them and opened the shed so they could go into adjacent pen, they were fine. Today it is going to rain so it is a good thing that they can be in a dry shed (if they want to) on wood shavings. Now I'll have a chance to reclaim my working space! Today pups are turning 6 weeks old.

Puppies are learning how to relate to other dogs and people

I have not had time to post in the last few days. I am taking Suzanne Clothier's course CARAT and underestimated amount of time that I had to spend working on the last assignment. So on Monday night I stayed up until 4 AM! It reminded me of how it used to be when I was a graduate student.

We continue to socialize puppies and started to work with them on liver drags. The below pics show their rich social life. So far we could not be happier with the pups!

Puppies met other members of our canine family. I think Tommy was the one who was the happiest playing with them. The picture shows Bella with the pups. She can be rough so when she plays with them, it needs to be done under our supervision.

When the weather is good pups spend a lot of time outside, but we bring them inside when we have meals. They need to be accustomed to the noises of every day life. Here they take a snooze in our kitchen/dining area.

Paika is a very good mom and still spends a lot of time with the pups.

Our neighbors Kevin and Paula brought their kids to play with the pups.

Logan was a big hit with Blue boy.

Mackenzie is high-spirited and the pups loved her.

I have some really good shots of Paula, which show a nurturing side of her character.

Red boy took a liking to Alicia's flip flops.

Puppies at five weeks

Yesterday was a first sunny day in  a long time, and puppies had a chance to be in the sunshine outside. They really enjoyed it. It is important now to spend some time on one-to-one basis with pups. It takes time but this way you can learn much more about the individual pups than when you watch them in a group.
Our neighbors' kids came to visit so puppies had a chance to socialize with them too. Every day pups get exposed to new items to play with - yesterday they got  fresh deer legs, a big cardboard box, and a brick (various textures, smells). They like to investigate and are drawn to new objects. To get more insights about it, I highly recommend Temple Grandin's book "Animal Makes Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals". You can read the first chapter online by clicking here.

When I look at these pups it strikes me how uniform this litter is as the pups are very alike in their conformation and body type. Their coats are almost identical. I don't recall having ever had such a litter. Pups' personalities will be different, and I can see the differences emerging now.