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.

Day Twenty-Eight 

I don't have a lot to say today. I spent all day cleaning up after the puppies and watching them play. They got their weekly weigh in, and Shiver is still the smallest at 4 pounds, but Blizzard has overtaken Tundra as the biggest one. He is now 5.1 pounds and Arctic is a big girl at 5 pounds. All the rest are somewhere in between.

I don't know how the day got away from me but sorry for posting so late. Here are some cute pictures. It seems Chill was in most of the pictures I took today. He is such a love. 

I gave them some new toys to have fun on today and they enjoyed them.

Day Twenty-Seven 

The pups got the nails clipped again today and it was much easier this week. They are getting used to being out of the ex-pen for some time to discover lots of new things to inspect. They also have teeth now and they are very sharp. Poor Tiffin is spending more and more time away from them, but she still will lay down and sleep with them for a while, but she mostly feeds them standing up. 

Today when they were being their cutest, I was sitting on the floor with them and of course I didn't have my camera which would have involved getting up. Getting up off of the floor is not something I can do very easily and once I am down; I stay there. So, no cute pictures today. I did take some of them sleeping. I love to watch them sleep. Heck, I just love to watch them no matter what they are doing.

One thing I notice for the first time today the puppies have started shaking toys. They look so cute doing that. They shake the toy so hard they fall over doing it. 

 

Here are a couple out-takes from yesterday when we were attempting to get stacked pictures.

 

 Here are some short videos from this afternoon. Notice that when they come out little Shiver makes a pee stop. She was the first to use the potty patch and hits it most every time. She is the smallest but she is very bright. 

Day Twenty-Six 

Grammy Chris came for a visit to see the puppies. It was a good visit, and we are learning a little about the personalities of the puppies. Little Shiver seems to be the one to do things first. She is inquisitive. She was the first to use the potty patch and also the first to figure out how to get on things. Of course, in the middle of all the fun she curled up among the toys and took a nap. 

Chris checking out Polar.

We decided to put the pups on the grooming table and take some stacked pictures. Taking stacked pictures of 26-day old puppies proved to be an exercise in futility but here they are anyway.

 in birth order as always.

Chill

Tundra

Blizzard

Arctic

Shiver

Polar

Avalanche

Day Twenty-Five 

The puppies had a visitor today, but Tiffin thought that Haley came to see her instead of the puppies. Haley has a Dalmatian named Pepper and Pepper and Tiffin are BFF's. They did a lot of Fast Cats together and Haley released Tiffin for her runs. I think Tiffin would much rather be running Fast Cats. I promised her that she could do that again in the spring. 

The puppies are eating Pro Plan puppy food and Kefir, and it seems to be agreeing with them. I've always had good luck weaning with Kefir. 

Avalanche is getting cuter and sweeter every day.

Here are some videos of Avalanche and Blizzard disturbing the peace.

 Day Twenty-Four

We got some snow on the first day of the New Year, so I loved staying at home and puppy watching. 

I think it is time for the pups to start to see some different faces. Tiffin and Maks both disagree. Tiffin does not want anyone looking at her puppies and Maks feeds off of her body language so this should be interesting. I changed the pen again to give them less room, so they make it to a potty patch. I believe I am expecting too much from 24-day old puppies. They are interacting with all the new toys that I am giving them. They are starting to develop their own personalities. None seem to be cautious of the new things I am giving them.  I have a couple pictures and some short videos today. Enjoy!

 Day Twenty-Three

As 2023 comes to an end and I think back over the past year the most enjoyable times happened because Tiffin was the center of it.

• January 6 - she finished her Championship with her 4th major win.
• March 11 - she became Farm Dog Certified
• March 12 - she passed her AKC Temperament Test
• April 23 - she got her Coursing Ability Test Title
• May 28 - she got her Coursing Ability Advanced Title
• June 5 - she got her Fit Dog Bronze Title
• July 8 - she got her Fast Cat DCAT Title
• December 8 - she presented me with 7 beautiful babies

When we weren't out competing, we were in different types of training classes. At home she followed me as I mowed the grass or went from room to room as I pushed the sweeper. Words can describe how much she means to me, so I won't even try.

So today in puppy world I made some changes. I expanded the pen by adding 2 ex-pens. Also introduced them to some different kinds of toys. I put in a wobble board which didn't really phase them. Here is Polar getting on it.

They are learning to eat out of a pan more each day.

So, it took Maks all of 45 seconds to open both latches on the ex-pen and go in with the puppies. Neither Tiffin nor I was happy about that.

Here is a picture of how much more room they have now but I realize that I don't have enough potty patches.

Arctic is just sitting back and trying to figure this all out.

All of us here at Rim Rock are wishing all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!