Jubal

Our pup Jubal is coming along real fine. He is very smart and seems very confident. At 15 weeks he is a lean 45 lbs

Hi Kiri,

The playing tug won't encourage biting - what it will do is give him an appropriate outlet for his need to bite (a normal puppy thing, like you say..) - you can have the 'biting object' around and give it to him, play a little tug and let him have it. This new squeaking thing I bought Noche' works well in that she'll bring it to me (great for later on when I want a retrieve) ~ she gets to play a few seconds of tug and then she gets to have it and will amuse herself, forgetting that she thought she wanted to bite on my legs or the cushions on the chair I'm sitting in, etc. After this biting phase goes away you'll have a great reward tool in the tug. ** If I were going to pursue bitework with her, I would do this differently - the reward tug in the foundation training for ringsport is never just left around for the puppy's enjoyment, it is specifically used as a special reward item. But that's not what we're doing here with Cooper.**

Having said all that, he's your puppy - you need to do what seems to work for you.

Looks like the Heat and Humidity is back! Hope you're not running a race this weekend!

Sun

Hey Sunny,

Oh, I thought I would mention that Cooper is really into the retrieving thing! Toad was SO not like that, but Cooper will run after toys and bring them back and give them up pretty easily. Last night he did it ten times in a row for my friend Dianne.
Actually I'm relieved to hear your thoughts on the tug issue - it will be nice to do that with him since he likes it and gets exercise from it.

No race this weekend, but trying to get back into the running habit. Just gotta get through these days...

Kiri

Tilly

Hello Sunny,
I sent you a postcard yesterday. Tilly is doing amazingly well. I just said tonight to John (my husband), "she is our dog now. she feels at home, knows the ropes, has a routine and seems soooo happy". Sunny, we love her. She is a character to say the least. She loves Wally to pieces and keeps trying to get Gus to play with her. It will happen eventually. She loves to be around all the friends we have around and knows the territory. All in all we are completely in love with her. She sleeps through the night in her crate across from our bedroom with the door open. I need to email you pictures. I will try soon. I'm kind of a dope at that.

Love,
Tilly and Co.

Misha

Misha is doing great. She is a very warm, loving and sensitive dog. We don't have any issues with barking, she is very quiet. House breaking is coming along well, we are almost there. She is doing excellent with commands. We have two crates set up for her, one on the main floor and one in our bedroom. She likes to lie either in our near her main floor crate when she is napping during the day and she sleeps through the night in the crate in our bedroom. She usually wakes up around 5:30 and needs to go out immediately.
She is biting quite a bit but I have instructed the kids to always have a chew toy in hand before starting to play with her. This has helped a great deal. She's a puppy and she needs to explore the world with her mouth so it's really a non-issue.
Nothing else to report except we are overjoyed with Misha. Thank you for everything.

Brio

From Joanne:

Saw Brio again last night. He is so cute, very inquisitive and playful. Will do anything for food. Martina has had to curtail his barking. At first she thought it was cute but now it is getting a little out of control. She said when he wants something he wants it now! He has been great about the housebreaking thing. Sleeps in his crate from 10 until 7:30. So far he has also been really good when he is out loose as well. Goes to the door if he needs out.

Must have learned that from his Daddy:

Cooper

Cooper update: he is basically housebroken. He's VERY good with the bladder control. He definitely is smarter than Toad. He's still a puppy, though - all about the biting. I've been struggling with that (and my feelings about it) because I don't like it but I know that he's a puppy and he can't help putting his mouth on things (including me). We try to discourage it with yelps. We went to puppy class last Saturday, and he was kinda shy, but had opened up a lot by the end of class. Over the last week he has seemed better with dogs that we've met - more interested and less scared. He has walked all the way around the block with me - is this too far for a puppy?
Do you have any suggestions for brushing a puppy when he's constantly trying to eat the brush?

I wonder if I'm reading too many sources of information; puppies need to play for exercise, but wrestling and tug are bad games, and they can't walk far... what's the best exercise for a puppy? Almost seems like another puppy is the best thing! If only we knew one!

Kiri

Hi Kiri,
I'm making a little video with Noche' and her newest toy - she is also really biting me which I actively discourage - not so much with yelps as "HEY! Stop That!" and then I try to have something else to cram in her mouth asap. I know she'll get over it but it isn't a lot of fun with those little needle teeth. I can't say that Noche' was shy at class - she's an enigma to me - I thought she'd be more retiring in public than seems to be the case. She has gone probably a half mile at a time on pasture walks with me and the dogs - she doesn't swim yet but she's thinking about it; she fell in the creek last week and was determined not to use the bridge so fell back in as we returned. hey, she's a dog!

I use a grooming table so brushing isn't generally an issue - do you have string cheese handy? If you can get Ross to occupy him with something while you brush, that might help and don't be afraid to correct him if he's being a butt. Tug is a great game - these dogs generally love it and you can use it as a reward tool....yeah, probably best you stop reading all that puppy stuff and just do what comes naturally and seems sensible!

I'm amazed at the bladder control on my pup also - she sleeps in the kitchen (alone!) and you'd never know she was there she's so quiet and clean. Thank god.

Sunny

Noche's newest and favorite toy

Puppy Class

Noche' went to class last night at "Waggin Tails" in Menomonie - it doubles as a doggie daycare during the day so was kind of interestingly set up - old, ratty sofas with a matted floor. There were 5 other pups - a basset x lab - a springer - a toy poodle - a chihuahua - a very little baby lab, I think he was 5.5 week old - and Noche' which is a nice size class for puppies. It was pretty much an intro class, getting the pups used to being in a strange place - Noche was quite the gadabout which of course made me glad to see. This was her first trip alone in the van (in a crate of course) and she barked the first 10 minutes - thank goodness that stopped as she has a very loud and forceful bark for a pup. She's quite the independent one - we used food to lure the puppies into a recall sort of exercise and she turned her nose up at the cheese (Wisconsin aged Colby, at that, from Eau Galle!) and preferred visiting the other people to me and my cheese.

I'll be very interested to hear how the other pups are doing at their kindergarden classes -

Feeding question

We are feeding Misha 1/2 cup of food twice a day (1 cup / day). Every time I feed her she gobbles it up in seconds. It always seems she is extremely hungry. Should we be feeding her more?

Yes, you'll want to feed her more - I'm feeding Noche' about a cup per feeding now - they're growing of course so you'll want to increase the food gradually until she's eating what fills and satisfies her. The recommendation used to be to just put down a giant bowl of food and let the pups eat until 20 minutes was up and then take it away - of course if she's extremely hungry she might overeat - but this might be a helpful gauge for you.

Also we are having a family discussion on the importance of eating first then feeding the dog to establish pack hierarchy. How important do you feel this is?

I don't think you need to do this - these are baby puppies - I think it is more important to be consistent and fair with pups - the pack hierachy will naturally develop out of this relationship. Sometimes I think that all this control can work in a negative fashion - where a 'master/subject' relationship develops rather than a 'partnership/friendship.' Ideally, you've chosen to add a puppy to your family so that she can be a family member - so what I try to do is to treat the pups as I would my own human kids when they were 2 years old or so. The life rules need to be clear and compassionate.

Misha

As promised here's a picture of Misha doing what she loves, sleeping.
She is doing great. She is extremely smart and picks up on things quickly. We've signed her up for puppy kindergarden. She starts next week.

AKC

True to form, Noche's AKC papers arrived today - they have a new (to me) service called CAR where they will, for $15, keep track of your puppy's information if you provide it for identification purposes with a microchip. They send along a tag to go on the collar. I haven't used this service in the past but am considering it.

Brio's new haircut

I haven't started any type of training, yet. I could do some scent pad imprinting, but I think I'll wait a few more weeks. I can already tell he's got a pretty good nose. Another thing I noticed, he jumps and dances around in front of you like Solo does. I think this will be harder to curb, but I will note it for when we start training next year.

Brio is settling in just great. He is quite vocal, he barks at me....A LOT! I've started feeding him raw, but am cautious about bones. I gave him a chicken back split in half, and he had no problems. What other types of raw meaty bones have you fed puppies?

Brio had his first groom last weekend. No sooner time than now to get him used to all that. He threw a fit, like he was dying in the beginning. By the end he settled down, but was still quite fidgety, but we got the job done. Here are some pictures. Pretty cute eh?

BTW - that rattle ball, can't find it anymore. Its a hand me down of Vegas'. And I was just saying to someone the other day that I have not seen them for sale anywhere since I bought it 6 years ago. I will let you know if I see it again. I purchased it from a small now gone, pet store chain called Super Pet.

-martina

---

Tillie

Happy in Montana

Ollie

This morning I had Stanley leashed up and Ollie just followed along for our little walk. He has no trouble keeping up and they both get along very well together. He's a "cuddler" and likes to either be held or tucked in close. We are very pleased with him. He seems to respond to his name real well and we are only working on "come" right now. He has had a lot of new things to process in these 24 hours!

Earlier in the evening I took him outside to walk around the house so he gets used to his new surroundings. He just follows right behind. I've noticed I need to be more aware of him in the house because I'll make a quick turn around and he's right there behind me.


Al & Glenys

Margaret and I were reading the article by Leerburg and in his article under the section "your puppy needs exercise" he says that the puppies are never off leash in the house when they are outside the exercise pen until they can follow "come" command with distractions. He says this will take until they are nine months old. We have been playing with Samson off leash and only using leash when we go outside. Any thoughts?

We are finding a lot of conflicting information when we are reading. Shirlee Kalstone in her book How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days, says to go out and go potty then come straight back in so the puppy will know that going out is to go potty. In another article they said when you go out go potty then reward your puppy by playing outside with them otherwise they will doddle so they don't have to come back in.

We are just trying to do the best with Samson and getting a little confused.
Any thoughts would be awesome.

Nice concept to housebreak in 7 days but I don't know how realistic that is with babies. What I do is keep a schedule - get up, take the pup out of her crate and immediately outside. 99.9% of the time she'll pee - praise her, bring her inside while I make coffee and give her some food. Then back outside and again almost always she will poop with a little exercise. I'm home of course so it's a little different than when you need to leave for work - but after a few days of taking her out on a schedule I have it figured out for her - and you'll need to figure out Samson's natural schedule - but you'll notice that he likely only relieves himself 3 times a day or so (poop, not pee) and that will generally be

when he gets up from sleeping

when he's getting some exercise

after he's eaten

Other than at night he should only be crated around 4 hours maximum during the day, giving him plenty of exercise and mental stimulation is critical now for his physical and mental health. Praise him whenever he does relieve himself in the area you've designated for this - I wouldn't scold him for going outside ever since that's always better than inside but I'd especially praise him when he does go in the right place. Over the years I guess I've tended to scold less and less and praise more and more since most of what pups do that annoys us are things over which we, as humans, have control.

Cooper

Just a little puppy update!
Day 2 of Ross and me going to work; I go home at noon to let him out, feed, play etc, and Ross goes home at 4. Cooper has been doing wonderfully, although he doesn't like being left in a crate... but he gets over his complaints pretty quickly (faster than Toad did!). We have actually let him sleep loose in the bedroom (i.e. not in the crate) for the past two nights, and all was well! We wake up fairly easily when he gets restless, and then one of us takes him out.

He met Toad's BF Luka, and we just made sure it was a nice gradual meeting so Cooper was not overwhelmed - before long he was frolicking! He also spent time with my friends' kids (6 and 1.5 yrs) and it was great - kids loved puppy, puppy loved kids. We will start puppy class this Saturday. I'm looking forward to finding some dog buddies for him to play with. I'm so incredibly happy with this puppy, Sunny. Just wanted you to know that!

Kiri

Noche

We're hanging out indoors today with the temps outside in the 90's - here's Noche who just decided that a spoon was a good thing to retrieve.

Names

The fawn pup is officially now "Cooper" The big brindle/fawn male pup is "Jubal", the dark brindle female is "Tilly" and the other black female pup is "Shirley" and, not to be forgotten, is "Samson" one of the black male pups.

My black pup is really officially "Briarlea Reina de la Noche" (Briarlea Queen of the Night.) We're calling her Noche'

I registered Noche' with the AKC using their online service - it's VERY easy - and if past experience is any indication, the papers will be here this week.

I also registered us for puppy kindergarden which starts on next Monday!

Training puppies not to bite podcast

There is a local dog training/video business in Menomonie, Wisconsin (about 12 miles from our house) that provides some very good information - here is one of their podcasts about puppy biting:

Training Puppies not to Bite.pdf

Misha

We've decided to name the pup Misha. She is fitting in just fine. This past weekend we went for walks, swims and played around a lot. Misha is already great at "come" and "sit". We are working on "stay" and "floor" (lie down).
While we were playing outside it made me wonder if you gave her any tick protection. I don't want to double up on Frontline if you already gave her some. We spend quite a bit of time outside so I want to make sure she is protected. Thanks.
Ps I'll send some pictures soon.

** The puppies are too young for Frontline -also fyi - we almost lost Trouble this past year from Frontline and have switched over to BioSpot which seems safer to us. It's great that she's doing little obedience but keep in mind that these are just little babies - it would be asking a LOT for her to 'stay' more than a few seconds...but have fun with her, it's great to keep everything positive (cheese!) and will help develop her brain for future learning experiences!

The big fawn pup

So what variety of puppy food have you been feeding? I picked up some "Solid Gold Wolf Cub" at this fancy place in Edina that carries a lot of natural human-grade stuff, not sure if he likes it too much. He's eating it, but not voraciously. Settled in reasonably well, very good about meeting people! Not scared of motorcycles!


We have been feeding NutriSource Large Breed Chicken and Rice (see below) - but you can switch over to any high quality chicken/rice food. I would caution folks NOT to feed the pups cow milk - the goats milk we feed is highly digestible and raw unlike the milk you would be buying at the store. I'm not sure the pups would do well on that change. We also feed raw chicken backs - bones and all since the bones are small and not sharp-shapes. They digest them well and I feel that they provide a better source of nutrients than kibble alone.

Tilly

First night a success. She was comfortable and exhausted to say the least. What a big day!!!!
This am started with a big breakfast, a bit of play, a little nap, a bit of weeding, the other dogs still ignoring her but Wally still prancing around her enticing her to try and grab his toys........... Nothing but love that is for sure. She is a beauty!!!!
Thank you Sunny.
Have a great day. More later.

Sally

Brio in his new Canadian home

Hi Sunny,

Here's Brio. He has been unbelievably amazing on the ride home, and any time he is in his crate. He didn't have a single accident, and can go through the nite without having to go out to pee. He sleeps a lot - puppy has got to grow. But when he's not sleeping this is what he's like....

Wellness visit to the vet

This hot afternoon we went to Baldwin, WI for a wellness check up at the St. Croix Animal Hospital with Dr. Dick McConnell. All the puppies were proclaimed normal and healthy after very thorough exams! The weights ranged from 11.5# - 11.7# - 11.9# - 12.2# - 12.7# - 13.4# - 13.7# - 13.8# with the 11.5# puppy being a girl and the 13.8# being the fawn boy who could stand to lose some hair if not weight in this heat!

The vet clinic has linoleum floors which are new to the pups but didn't stop them from exploring!

Microchips

If you would like your puppy to have a microchip, we can have it implanted for you. We use HomeAgain chips. You may want to go to their website at www.homeagain.com to help make the decision. Some families choose not to chip their puppies so I will defer to the owner's wishes. Another form of permanent identification is tattooing (Una has a tattoo)but they become increasingly difficult to read as the dog matures.

Puppies and the kiddie pool

A week or so ago I brought this kiddie pool out, put some water in it and encouraged the pups to investigate it. No way! This morning after the dew had dried down, I dragged it back out and put water in it and yippee!!! The puppies are like a group of 4 year old kids!

You can see, in the background - our henhouse, part of the vegetable garden and the piggie yard - behind me is a gravel road - so a lot of interesting things happening!

Nutri-Nutro-Nutra - it gets confusing!

The kibble the pups are currently eating is Nutri Source Large Breed formula - chicken and Rice. Here's a link for you. I've copied the image from the Nutri Source website so you can see the package.

Saturday - hot and sticky!

Sugar and Spice

and everything nice :)

Airlines and the weather

I have begun to look at possible flights for the pups who are leaving via air - please keep in mind that with the exception of Continiental Airlines, it must be cooler than 85F in both Minneapolis as well as in the destination city in order for DELTA to accept pups. Delta/Northwest is the airline with the most flights from MSP. I generally use www.kayak.com to see what is available and then go from there. Many airlines no longer accept pets (USAir for example.)

I am approximately 1.5 hours east of the airport and the pup needs to be checked in two hours in advance so it is important to factor those times in when looking at flights.

More junk! What's she thinking??

Training props - like the empty water bottles in the tub - are one of the many things I think up to help the puppies understand the world. However, even I have to admit that the empty boxes and other piles of stuff were starting to look a bit junky today - Jim says it's the plastic potting containers that were getting out of hand but they've been great playthings!

.

Puppy Training

The past few days I have taken teeny-tiny bits of hotdog and cheese and begun having the pups make eye contact with me. I will sit with them and when I notice someone looking to me, I give them a little bit of food. Here is Jim this afternoon, the pups are cleaning out his ice cream bowl - very unsanitary, I think but what can I say??



Believe me, it doesn't take long for a feeding frenzy to ensue! Today I will take the pups out one by one and do the same thing - if it isn't too unbearably hot I will also make little tracks of bits of food to see who can focus on that task. ** I DID do the little tracking 'tests' and ALL of the pups put their little noses down and ate the little morsels laid on their 18" tracks.



No, it's not the Flying Nun - but you've got to love those ears!



It is almost 9:30 a.m. here and already very humid, the pups have eaten, cruised around for a while and are now taking their first of many naps.



This is the blue boy - he's a lover!

A few more pictures from yesterday

I am making chevre this morning and have a few minutes while the milk heats - here are a few more pix from yesterday.

It is humid here in the little valley today. I have the puppies in the kennel building - with its cement floor and many doors, it stays cooler than in our house or even in the shady parts of the yard. The puppies have figured out how to use the doggie door and I 'think' I noticed them going outside more than inside to relieve themselves. I also have this soft saucer thinggy that I tie in one of the doorways to the pups' kennel - they must go over or under it in order to come in - it quickly becomes a toy that they love to play with - either by climbing up on it (as here) or by using it for a tug object! We have a lot of puppy toys, mostly garnered from the kids department at various stores - this one has blinkling lights and sounds when it moves.

Assuming it cools down this afternoon I will take the pups outside into the shade for a while. They kept me company for an hour or so while I sat on the floor and attempted to read the paper - then while I did some little cleaning chores. They're sacked out now and I'm off to have a bite of lunch.

Solo's puppy blog

I had completely forgotten that I had started this little blog when Solo was a baby: http://bouvier-solo.blogspot.com/ - it is a lot of fun to review it now on this overcast, raining off and on day!

Our soon-to-be-famous papa

Joanne Fleming-Plumb has chosen Solo's picture for the cover of her upcoming dvd - how much fun for all of us! I will ask when the dvd will become available - likely through Canine Training Systems. As you all know, Solo is currently living with Joanne as she trains and trials him - currently they are in Canada but often in the winter they travel to Texas for a respite from the cold.

Fun in the shade!

It's hot here today and I have the pups outside in the shade - not only are they lazing about but they are also playing and snacking....

Betsy will appreciate the toy in this picture :) as it comes from her company! The pups love this one but the all-time favorite is the black panther!

The litter seems to be precocious - fast maturing in their interactions with one another, in their interest with toys and with their eye-toy coordination. I am taking them outside as soon in the day as it is warm and dry (the dew is very heavy down in this valley) making their lives more interesting than if they are inside.

3 weeks today!

Here are the pups - on the front porch where we go into the kitchen. They gets LOTS of attention throughout the day with visits from Ruby now that their teeth are starting to come through. She also sleeps with them at night. On the menu this morning is Nutra Source large breed chicken and rice with organic goats' buttermilk. They gobble it up!

Pups in a basket

Can you count them all???

9 Days old!

My granddaughter Crystal and two of the pups. She's very eager to handle them but only under supervision does it happen!

They have had a growth spurt and suddenly are seeming much bigger and heavier than only a few days ago! Ruby continues to take very good care of them, keeping them clean and well-fed. We are, of course, handling them often.

Saturday

One week old today! I weighed the puppies - they range between 1# 10 oz and 1# 14 oz - so nice, average size pups. Daddy Solo trialed today - news with the results to follow! ++ update! Solo did well, tracking under difficult conditions and attaining his title with scores of 89/81/91.

Snips and snails...

Anthony, my grandson, is 8 years old and has now lost 8 teeth. His own Bouvier, Birdie, is a great family dog but even he can't resist the new pups! Actually, Anthony was 2 years old when the pups' grandma Una was a pup - he called her "Una the Buna" - she thought he was GREAT!! This afternoon he and 'the Buna' went down to the creek where they both came home wet, muddy and grinning!

Friday

Ruby's puppies are growing almost visibly! They're plump and squirmy when I pick them up. Ruby's doing well, is in good spirits and seems to have plenty of milk and excellent mothering skills as she keeps her babies very clean.

My grandkids Crystal and Anthony are here today; I will allow them to hold the puppies under strict supervision. Ruby will need to be otherwise occupied while we do this so as not to stress her.

Tuesday

Last Friday in preparation for Ruby's puppies, I had planned to bring her whelping box into the kitchen where we generally have the pups. Jim was at work so I thought I'd drag the kitchen table out of the way by myself - unfortunately, in doing so, I snapped one of the legs off, it crashed to the floor breaking the apron on one side. The rest of the day continued along those lines but that's not the story here :)

Ruby's puppies are in a whelping box on our front porch - it is heated, we are constantly in and out checking on them and Ruby is very happy. However, we don't really want folks she doesn't know to come in - thus this sign on our front porch door!

Today was dewclaw and tail day (actually today is her due day!) We checked all the pups over thoroughly and I was amazed to see that the collar on one of the pups already needed cutting off. I will likely take the rest off tomorrow. All are eating and sleeping and feel good and plump as puppies should be. Ruby's doing well, eating and, as I say, in very good spirits.

The puppies are born!

Ruby decided that Saturday was the perfect time to have her puppies. Crystal had left for a week with her Uncle Seth, Aunt Bonnie and cousin Anthony, the house was quiet, it was raining - she figured, what the heck, might as well take advantage of all these things!



It was a long whelping with the first two puppies separated by almost 2 hours after which time Ruby decided to get with the program. We have 4 girls, 5 boys - with a lot of color in this litter. They are all eating well and vigorous, later today I will weigh them and look them over more carefully. Ruby is accommodating but not enthusiastic about me handling the pups and I don't need to stress her.

**** update - weights are between 14 and 16 ounces.








Here are the girls.









And here are the boys.

The colors are very unstable - the light puppies are not likely to darken but the dark pups are very likely to lighten. If you looked at Solo's picture with Joanne on our homepage - he was a dark puppy until he was around 8-10 months old.

Also - here is a link to a pdf file about the first two weeks and what the puppies' lives are like.