W eek Five

They are five weeks old already. Time is flying and it won't be long until they can go to their new homes. I am growing more attached to them every day and figuring out who is the best puppy for each home is overwhelming at times. I want to make sure the right puppy goes to the right home. There is much more to consider than spots. Today was weigh in time and they are growing nicely. Tundra is still the biggest at 6.7 pounds and Shiver is still the smallest at 5.7 pounds. All the rest are over 6 pounds. They are getting more playful and much braver. 

They are asking to be picked up by sitting in front of me. It usually works because who could resist this face?

They are getting most of their nourishment from me now as I am only letting Tiffin with them two times a day. I am hoping her milk will start to dry up soon. Like wild dogs she will throw up for them to eat. Not all dogs do this, but it is not uncommon. I hate it though. That is another reason I keep her away from them. She doesn't cry to be with them, so I think she is tired of motherhood. She is only concerned when a person she doesn't know comes in the house. Then she acts like a crazy dog which is so out of character for her. 

I set up a tunnel for them to play with, but it didn't go so well. They wanted to go through it, but others would jump on it and got it so twisted up they couldn't go through it. 

They really enjoyed playing in the wobble disk. They liked it when I spun it around.

I added a scent (anise) for them to find. I just sat and watched them to see if they could find it. It wasn't on the ground so that made it harder as some of them sniffed the ground but couldn't locate where the scent was coming from. Here are some pictures of them finding it and a short video.

 Day Thirty-Four

Busy...that described today. Chris came out today to help me keep my sanity and it worked. Tiffin is a wonderful mom but I can't seem to get her diarrhea under control which is stressing me out. I had a fecal test run and there is nothing there causing it. Dr. Mellissa gave me some meds that should help. Fortunately, this is not affecting the pups at all. Thanks to Chris Maks got a long overdue pedicure. It is a two-person job because Maks doesn't like it. The puppies also got their nails trimmed. We had a lot of fun playing with the puppies but I forgot to take many pictures. We managed to facetime with Wyatt's owner so she could get a better look at the puppies. 

This evening Dr Mellissa and her mom Judy came to see the puppies. The puppies are starting to really enjoy all the new faces they are seeing and all the new toes to bite with their little razor teeth.  Today, the puppy you will see the most is Polar. She is the heaviest marked puppy. Here she is on the Stability Disk.

                                        

Here she is sleeping in the wobble disk.

Video of her playing with a toy.

They have moved up to the big flying saucer bowl. I am not letting Tiffin with them as much because I want her to wean them. 

Here are three of them manding to be picked up.

Day Thirty-Three 

We had a wonderful day today. The puppies had visitors and had some new experiences. Grammy Chris came and brought new fun things for the puppies to play with. She brought a tunnel which Avalanche and Polar had fun running through. She brought some other things too, but we will get pictures of those at a later date. Then good friends Elaine and Paris came to see the puppies and visit, and I really enjoyed the company, Paris who is a wiz at taking pictures and setting up puppies gave us a glimpse of how the puppies look stacked at 33 days old. They are getting better at it! I didn't realize how much I needed to see friendly faces. It certainly helped the puppies to have other people see and handle them.  Here are some pics from today.

  

 Photobomb

Chill

Tundra

Blizzard

Arctic 

Shiver

Polar

Avalanche

And now a couple cute videos of Avalanche and the fish.

Once again thank you Chris, Paris and Elaine for all the help. Much appreciated.

Day Thirty-Two

The puppies are changing rapidly now. I am starting to get a sense of their personalities. The are also getting cuter everyday. Tiffin looks pathetic and Maks hates them. Both adult dogs are hoping this goes away soon. 

Tundra is trying to steal my heart. He is my velcro dog. It doesn't matter where I am all I have to do is look down and there he is. 

Today the puppies got a new fun toy. They got a snuffle mat. For those who are wondering what that is don't feel alone. I never used one of these with previous litters. It is a Fleecy cotton mat with lots of places to hid treats or kibble. They seemed to really enjoy it. 

Here are a couple of pictures of Blizzard.

Shiver wanted to sleep but she was afraid she would miss the fun.

No more treats to be found.

 

 

Day Thirty-One 

I am starting to see differences in the personalities of these pups. Tundra is usually very close to me. He is the only one so far that knows if he comes to me and sits he will get either a treat or picked up. He is trying very hard to worm his way into my heart. 

They got some new toys and I set up some challenges for them. I put a barrier between them, and the food bowl and they all managed to get over the barrier to get to the food. They are little chow hounds, but I am thinking I am feeding them too much. I am going to cut back a little because over feeding causes loose stools and they have a bit of that. Poor Tiffin looks like a walking skeleton since she was sick for a couple of days. I wish she would start to wean the puppies, but she keeps asking me to let her in with them. She is a good mom, but this has not been easy on her. 

I checked all four male puppies to make sure they had both testicles. All the equipment is there even at this early age. One more thing I don't have to worry about. Here are some pictures of them just being cute.

Avalanche had a trying day. When I opened the ex-pen to let them out to play on the new toys he got barricaded into a corner. This video shows him trying to figure out how to get out of this predicament. He figured it out, but it took longer than I thought it would. I then put Tundra in the same situation, and he figured it out instantly.  

This second video shows Blizzard playing with a toy that has a pop up when you step on a button. It makes a loud bang when that happens. The bang never phased Blizzard, but it scared the bejeebers out of Avalanche. He went running for the pen. I will watch him to see if he is having a hard time with loud noises. I hadn't noticed this at all before. Also, on this video watch Shiver on the right of the video. she is searching for a couple kibbles I dropped. She has her nose to the ground searching.

Day Thirty 

Today was a much better day than yesterday. I believe both dogs are feeling much better although Tiffin thinks I am trying to starve her with this bland diet. Puppies are getting new experiences every day. Today I challenged them a bit. I put the bottom rung in the pen opening so they had to figure out how to get into the pen to take a nap. It took some of them longer than others but all except Tundra got in quickly. Tundra didn't want a nap. He wanted to stay with me, so he didn't even try. Also, I got Tundra and Avalanche to sit for a treat. It took some time because they thought jumping on me would get them picked up. When that didn't work, they finally sat at which time they got the treat I was holding. I did them one at a time. Tomorrow I will try a couple more pups to see how they react.

They got to experience some new toys today. One was quite noisy, but they didn't seem to mind.

Sweet dreams Blizzard and Polar

New Toys

Tiffin is such a good mommy.

Thirsty boy

Here are some videos so you can see them in action.

 Day Twenty-Nine

Today has been a challenging day making wonder why I do things that are against my better judgement. I posted a while ago that the puppies were eating Purina Pro Plan puppy food. I was then made aware of a doomsday FB page that warned everyone that Purina was killing many dogs and making many more dogs and cats sick. I seldom buy into conspiracy theories but for some reason I read all the posts and in hindsight I should have just done my own research, but I didn't. I stopped feeding the dogs Purina and switched to another brand. I now have two adult dogs with bloody diarrhea because I switched too fast. They are on a bland diet now with lots of probiotics and pro-pectalin. Tiffin seems to be much better but poor Maks is miserable. Good news the puppies are fine. I didn't get to take many pictures this morning. When I sat down to play with the pups after dinner thinking I could get some more pictures to share, the battery in my camera was dead. I do not have much to share today. 

This first picture is Avalanche. He couldn't get any cuter.

I added some new toys today but I only got a picture of this one and Tundra.

They do seem to like the giant ice cream cone.

I did manage to get one video of them playing.