Day 57--Good byes

This is the time as a breeder that I both love and hate. It is time for the puppies to start leaving the nest. I won't miss all of the piles of laundry, all of the messes, all of the very early mornings and so on, but I will miss their sweet faces and puppy kisses and their crazy antics. Two have flown the nest and Eve is scheduled to head home with Chris later today.

 

Otto, now known as Flash was the first to leave. I typically take a photo of each new family but somehow missed Dave and Mellissa. Dave was kind enough to send me a picture they snapped from home. What a wonderful life this handsome puppy will have with all of his many furry siblings. Dave has so many plans for him. I can't wait to see what all these two accomplish.

The next to leave was Bonnie who will be called Kimber. Elaine and Paris came for her but she will be joining other family members too, as well as their Dalmatian boy Brady. Paris has done a wonderful job showing Brady in conformation; he just needs one more major for his championship. Kimber will follow in his footsteps in the ring. I wish them much luck and can't wait to sit ring side and cheer them on.

So tonight Eve leaves, tomorrow Jewel will finally meet her family and Sparrow will head north with her family too. Saturday Eiven and Atz Lee will spread their wings and fly off on their new adventures. Nikos and Findlay will remain another week to keep Charlotte company. Speaking of Charlotte, I think she finally has a new name. We have decided to use a name that Holly suggested. She is being named for an award winning deaf actress, Marlee Maitlin. Marlee has not let her deafness stop her from accomplishing great things in her life and that is what we want for our Marlee too. So here is our little Marlee as she wears her swim vest and experiences bubbles for the first time.

I placed the crate back in the play yard yesterday, I had taken it out for the car ride to the hearing tests. They all tried to squeeze in it for a nap but some didn't fit.

 

Day 56--Enrichment

Part of the Puppy Culture program is to teach the pups to be enrichment seekers. It teaches them to not fear new sights, sounds and textures. I have worked hard to give these Kidz plenty of new challenges and they meet each with great enthusiasm.

As you can see they all thought the new slide was a great enrichment feature.

Eve thought it made a great resting place. 

Another new toy has lots of gadgets to push and a key board for music playing; there are many colored lights that flash on this one too. 

The saucer brought great fun too. You have heard of a cage match, well this is a saucer match. These guys love a wrestling match.

Manding for my attention.  

Jewel takes a turn at the top of the slide. 

We had more visitor yesterday that included a two year old. He liked the puppies and didn't want to leave. It is so good for the puppies to meet people of all ages. Charlotte was taken down by the pool and seems eager to try that out. I purchased a swim vest for her and will be teaching her the joys of swimming soon.

 

The Kingdom Kidz will be 8 weeks old starting at 10:30 tonight so will be leaving for their new homes. It will be a happy and sad time here on the mountain. I have given my best effort to give them the best start that I was able. I am excited to watch their progress as they start on their new journeys.

Day 55--Stories from the mountain.

Our little Charlotte still doesn't have a permanent name. I will learn to not leave those decisions to others. We finally got the final results from the hearing tests and I am pleased to announce that all of the puppies, except for Charlotte, are bilateral hearing. They would like to retest Charlotte but my observations tell me that she does not hear and if she does it is not much. It doesn't seem to matter at all to her, nor does it matter to us. She is a beautiful and happy puppy.

Yesterday I decided to give each puppy a Denta bone to try. I had tested Charlotte the day before with one to be sure they weren't going to cause any issues. The puppies each grabbed theirs and headed to their own spot to chew.

 Atz Lee thought a safe place was in one of the potty boxes.

I spend a good deal of time each morning cleaning "the pit". The puppies are all placed out in the pen on the deck to play while I work on the inside play yard. They love playing out there and often crawl up on the bed for a nap while they are there. I remove everything, sweep and scrub the floor. I empty potty boxes and scrub them out before putting in fresh pine shavings. New bedding is put down and any toys that have become soiled get washed. I also change the bedding and potty box in the whelping pen. It always looks and smells so nice when it is done. One of the harder parts of this job is scrubbing out the bottom of the potty boxes. Yesterday I got the bright idea of placing newspaper on the bottoms before putting in new shavings to make the clean up easier. WELL, that was a mistake. It seems some little monkey discovered the paper and what I found in the pen later in the day was a big fat mess. I will say they had a grand time ripping and dragging paper and pine shavings everywhere. I first had to remove paper from everyone's mouth and close them in the whelping pen so I could clean up---AGAIN!

Well, little Miss Eve decided that she wasn't finished with the paper and over the top of the whelping pen she came. She has been an escapee from nearly the beginning and I suspect she will keep Chris on her toes. This is just a portion of the mess after the newspaper caper. 

My other story involves Daddy Gage. He has always been such a good boy. I had noticed for the last couple of weeks that after ten and a half years he was trying to drink from the toilet. That is just something he has never done. I just try to remind everyone to put the seat down. It was all very puzzling. Yesterday it finally dawned on me that where I keep the dogs water bowl is over near the puppy pen and he would have to walk past them to get to the water. The poor boy is afraid of these little monsters. I have moved the big dogs water bowl and he spent a good deal of time drinking from it yesterday.

Day 54--Balls and Bubbles

As I was thinking back over the last several weeks, I decided to go back and look at some of the early pictures of the Kidz. What an amazing journey in such a short time. This was not my first litter, though it may be my last; I have learned  much. I am anxious to see how these puppies develop over time to see how these early weeks have played a part in their development.

I came across this picture of Gavin and Jewel. I think it is my favorite of all that I have taken over the weeks of this litter. He is going to miss the puppies but he is glad that Charlotte will be staying and looks forward to helping me teach her.

Yesterday was all about the balls and bubbles. I placed the ball pit in the play yard and they had a great time. They now think that removing the balls and running around chasing each other is more fun than actually playing in the ball pit. It all became very colorful and took me a while to retrieve all of the balls.

The other fun activity was their first experience with bubbles. I had purchased a bubble machine and we gave it a try. They were mostly curious about what these new things were and confused about why they couldn't pick them up. I didn't run it for long because I didn't need sticky bubbles all over my kitchen; we will give it a try outside next time. 

Nikos was so tired after ball and bubble play that he fell asleep on the water dish. 

Day 53--Tug and Pounce

How excited we were to hear what Eiven's new name would be. One of Gavin's favorite characters is Dash from the movie The Incredibles. Eiven will soon be going to live with another young boy who has decided to call him Dash. Anyone who has lived with a Dalmatian puppy know that they do indeed dash about. What a great name for this great puppy. Congratulations Cole on picking such a good name for your puppy.

Yesterday was all about the new game of tug for these puppies. I dug out some tug toys from the big dogs toy box to see what the puppies would do. Off and on all day they played tug with each other. 

Many times there were multiple pups on one toy pulling in all directions. 

Who do you think will win this tug? 

The other new game was pounce. They sneak up on each other then pounce out at them. I wasn't able to catch anyone in a pounce but what fun to watch these guys in play. I will miss their antics. Here Jewel is thinking about pouncing on a game of tug. 

I have switched the puppies from four meals to three now but just before heading to bed for the night---well part of the night, I throw about a cup of dry kibble in the play yard for them to scramble around and clean up. It is a fun game for them.

 

As things start to wind down, the last of the things on the list were completed yesterday. The puppies were all health checked and vaccinations given. We are fortunate that one of the puppies new families is a local veterinarian who made a house call to take care of this final task. Thanks so much Mellissa. It was great not to have to load everyone up and head to yet another vets office.All were pronounced very healthy and have their health certificates. They did great for their vaccinations with barely a peep from anyone.

 

I spent yesterday morning completing all of the paper work and getting puppy packets put together. Now we just sit back, well not exactly, but I will certainly try to take time to just enjoy this final week with this gang.

Day 52--Swimming

This is Findlay, he will be keeping his name. Findlay will be going to a family near Syracuse New York. He will have a Jack Russell/Pug and an Airedale to play with. Wynn and Chris are very excited to meet him and take him home to join their family. Findlay is the next to the largest puppy in the litter and is a sweet boy.

 

Everyone seemed a bit tired yesterday from the big hearing test adventure the day before, but not so tired that they couldn't have some fun play periods. I decided to remove the balls from the ball pit and add water. This was done outside. I thought it was good to start introducing them to being in water. Not all Dalmatians are fond of water. They had a grand time splashing around and everyone eventually took a turn.

 

When they got out Jewel thought she would lick Eiven dry.

Eve and Atz Lee decide to dry off a little. 

Sparrow and Bonnie don't look thrilled about the whole thing but they did have fun. Jewel looks on from the rear.

I removed the pool and they all started gathering on the bed to dry off.

It wasn't long before they all ran out of energy.

I headed in to clean up the indoor pens and when I checked on them all eleven were on the bed sleeping. 

My day was spent trying to catch up on piles of laundry. Little dog bedding, big dog bedding and our bedding too. I must say I won't miss all of the laundry. I'm glad my washer and dryer have held up through all of this. Just received the current electric bill. OUCH! 

Day 51--Winding Down

Jewel finds a comfy spot to rest as she watches me gathering things up for the big trip. Three crates loaded in my vehicle--check, extra bedding for accidents--check, paper towels--check, plastic bags--check, water dishes and water bottles--check--paper work--check, credit card--check--eleven puppies loaded--check. We were off. I was fortunate to have one of the new puppy parents to ride along, thank you Cindy, you are a treasure. An hour and a half drive with one stop to clean a poopy crate. Chris met us at the vets office to assist, thanks Grammy Chris. The puppies were "downloaded" into a soft crate that was placed on a crate dolly and were all rolled into the vets office. 

Here they all are as they wait their turn. You new parents would have all been very proud of your puppy. They are such troupers to handle this whole ordeal so well. No one vomited for which I am grateful. They brought lots of oohs and ahhs from staff and other clients. Each puppy was weighed before the tests and paper work completed. My scale must be off because Otto/Flash weighed in at 10.1. I doubt that he gained a half pound over night but as fast as they are growing, who knows. 

Here is Bonnie/Kimber after she was hooked up and the test had begun. As you can see, she was more curious than stressed. Needles are placed at the back of each ear and one on top of the head that electrodes are then attached to. A sound apparatus is then placed in one ear and readings are done and then placed in the other ear and that ear is tested. 

This is Jewel as a needle is placed behind her ear. The vet was amazed at how well behaved this litter was and that the whole thing took much less time than she had anticipated. I'm sure you are all wondering what the results were. Well all except two are bilateral hearing. As we knew Charlotte is deaf with only slight waves on her scans and one of the puppies was equivocal in one ear and I won't have the results on that for a couple of days when I receive the official paper work. That puppies people have been informed of the possibility of their puppy being unilateral hearing, so if you have not heard from me you know your puppy hears from both ears.

 

The puppies slept all the way home and after being fed they romped and played for a long time after being confined for a good part of the day. Such good puppies. I made yet another change at bed time and it seemed to work better, we all slept until 3:00 this morning. I put seven puppies in the whelping pen to sleep and left the two big boys and Charlotte out in the play yard.

 

We are starting to wind down this adventure now and the puppies will soon be leaving their first home to start their new lives and on to new adventures. Micro chipping is done, hearing tests done and just vaccinations to go and of course all of the paper work and putting together puppy packets for each new owner. Today will be a day of rest for the puppies and hopefully me too.

 Day 50--Paper Towel Caper

Flash will soon be leaving to join Dave in whatever venue Flash seems to enjoy. Mellissa and Dave participate in many different performance sports and are even trying their hand at conformation. Time will tell where Flash best fits in. The dream is that he will fill his Great Uncle Beepers shoes as a demo fire dog for school children. Flash is a very handsome boy and has already formed a bond with Dave. Flash has been the largest in the litter from the beginning and continues to be. He weighed in at 9 1/2 pounds yesterday with Findlay coming in at a close second at 9 pounds. Charlotte is the smallest at just 6 1/4 pounds.

 

As the puppies get bigger, so do their messes. I try to keep on top of things and often remove something from their area that they have decided to destroy. I keep rolls of paper towels close at hand to do quick clean ups in the potty boxes. Well yesterday I left one on top of the crate so that it would be handy. The puppies were just fed and I went off to check on Gavin and Dalton. When I returned to the pen I was shocked to see they had pulled off the blanket from the top of the crate and with it a fresh roll of paper towels. What a mess! They had ripped up paper towels everywhere. I first started grabbing puppies to remove paper towel from their mouths and then scrambled around trying to get all that was scattered. I kept finding pieces throughout the day. Bonnie/Kimber says, who me, I never saw any paper towel.

Uh, is that paper towel I see in your mouth? Who me, not me. 

These Kidz play hard and then they crash just about anywhere to sleep it off for the next round. 

I made more changes yesterday after the awful night we had on Tuesday night. After feeding them their last meal of the day yesterday, I removed the crate from the play area and made a bed the whole way across the end of the pen. I filled three water bowls, left the whelping area open and then headed to bed. I would like to tell you that that worked but the noise started at 1:45 this morning. I refused to get up. I found a pillow over the head helps some (mine not theirs). I finally gave up around 2:45.

 

We have a big day today with their first car ride since they were two days old. I will load them up for an hour and twenty minute drive for their hearing tests. I was told the tests should take about two hours and then we have the long ride home. There isn't much about any of this that I am looking forward to.

 

Day 49---Tired

This is the beautiful Eve. From the first time Barb came to see the puppies her eye was drawn to Eve. She thinks they are all very pretty but Eve still has her eye. Barb has been breeding dogs for many years and has many champions to her name, so when she really likes a dog it means a lot. Even at this young age Eve moves like a show dog. She will draw many judges eyes to her in her career. She will soon be going to live with Hope's breeder and will hopefully become all that her promise shows now and someday pass along Gage and Hope's genes and the LUA gene to future generations.

Eiven looks like he is waiting for his boy to come get him. Eiven will be soon going to live with another young boy in Charlotte North Carolina. Gavin has done a good job getting him ready to be a great companion for Cole.

Jewel says is it time to meet my family yet? 

As you can see the Kidz are growing fast and will soon be coming over the top of the whelping pen. It is good that they will soon head off to their new lives with their new families.

I continue to put them outside on the deck each day while I go into "the pit" as I call it when it needs cleaned each day. You have no idea what a stinky mess their play yard can become even though they are nearly 100% making it to the potty boxes.  

You may notice that I just put some shavings in the little blue container not knowing if they would even use it but they had no trouble figuring out where to go. 

These are the best times. Tired puppies after outdoor play, a clean pen and all is right with the world. They have gotten so big that they don't all fit in one pile anymore.

 

You may notice at the end of this that it is even earlier than normal. We did not have a good night and I have been up since 1:30 am. I think the puppies are getting so big that there is not room for everyone to sleep comfortably. I will be making some big changes today or I will leave them free to be in the play yard for the night. I'm too tired right now to decide. Everyone is fed and pottied, including the big dogs and all is quiet----I am going back to bed.