April 24, 2026 – Update: the pups all checked out 100% at their vet exams, as expected! Their weights are noted below with their pictures. At this age, we start to predict the adult size of pups and the pups that are smallest in size now, based on parentage, will probably be 18-22 lbs. and the largest pups like Arthur, will probably be closer to 25-30 lbs., and the other pups somewhere in between. Although this isn’t definite, as smaller pups can have a growth spurt, or larger pups can slow down. Also, the two girls have been selected to be held back as breeder picks to go through extensive testing in coming months to see if they qualify to become part of our breeding program.
April 22, 2026 – Ava and Watson’s puppies had temperament testing today and we also sat down to evaluate and make some notes on their personalities. This is helpful since puppy selection time is this Friday! The temperament testing revealed that we haven’t missed anything and every pup is on target and exactly where we want them to be.
In most categories they scored exactly the same. In the most important areas like socialization, tracking, following, and dominance, they scored identical. There were slight scoring differences in sensitivity to sights and sounds, but that is normal. Some pups are more confident and are the leaders, while others are more of the followers that like to observe first before diving in. Confidence develops in varying stages within a litter, just like some get teeth first sooner than others. They are all doing well!
All the scoring and what we are seeing shows each pup to be intelligent, eager to please and follow, highly adaptable, socialized and confident. They all thrive on human affection and connection, they will all stay close by and only want to be close to their humans. There wasn’t one that we are concerned about regarding submission, intelligence or socialization! They are all ready to go on to become therapy dogs, or great family companions. Every pup is right where we want them to be at this point.
We’ll post all of their weights with their pictures below once we have them officially weighed by the vet (they have a much better scale than we do here at home.)
Keep in mind that personalities are just beginning to show at this age. Their families, training guidance and environments of their new homes will impact and help shape and form the personalities they will develop throughout puppyhood. Protect them from trauma, keep socializing them, keep helping them through each new fear stage that develops and continue a great balance of human interaction and alone time in their crate to form a great dog for life!
Here’s what we see so far:
Andy is playful and is very affectionate. He likes to please and is one of the first to sit for attention. He thrives on human interaction! He’s slightly more sensitive and has had a little harder time adjusting to separation, but he’s getting better every day! All of the pups are doing well on leash and adjusting very well to their daily naps in a crate.
Arthur is very sweet and might be the most gentle pup in the litter at this stage, even though he’s probably the biggest pup (pups will be weighed at the vet this week.) He blends easily with the pack and is more observant, perhaps less confident, but likes to check things out slowly, and let others lead. (Sometimes at this stage it is very difficult to know if we are seeing shyness or calmness.) He acts very calm. Either way, he like to observe and will probably never be an alpha personality.
Aiden is playful and loves to run and chase, yet calms and snuggles immediately when picked up. He’s fun.
Adam is spunky and has some real personality showing already. He is already playing fetch! He is confident and very willing to engage. “Let’s go!”
Ally is very sweet and seems overall, very well rounded. She is trying to catch up with some things like sitting for attention and she’s learning to keep up with all her bigger, more confident brothers. She wants to be held and is more of a follower. Definitely not the leader of the pack.
Anna is very small with a big personality. In spite of her size, she is tending to show the most confidence at this stage. I think she had to be confident and strong to get fed and to compete with all of her bigger siblings. She’s got an “I got this!” attitude.
April 19, 2026 – We fell a little behind this weekend on posting photos, sorry! It was puppy pickup time for Mabel’s pups and it was an exciting time of happy families here. Ava’s pups are doing great! They got more socialization with all of the people in and out of our house. So good for them! Ava and Watson’s puppies are growing up fast now. They are eating entirely on their own and they are great at the litter box, on leash and improving daily on their crate time. They are getting cuter and cuter every day. We love seeing their coats fill in. They’re completely used to a lot of new experiences – like the lawn outside, a vacuum brought into the room, meeting our dogs, and more. Here they are at almost seven weeks old! This week is their temperament testing and a trip to the vet for vaccines and microchips and a full check from the vet.
April 10, 2026 – Ava and Watson’s puppies are over five weeks old now and they are using the litter box very well, they are starting to get comfortable with crates (as long as they’re together at this point) and they started eating mush this week. They are fully sound conditioned to all kinds of scary noises and they are totally nonreactive and calm. Here are the pictures we took of them today after their bath and blow dry. We do bath and blow drying a couple of times a week here, even though they don’t need it, all as part of their conditioning. Here they are, they’re getting cuter all the time!
April 3, 2026 – Time is flying by here! Ava’s puppies are starting to play and romp, but they’re still pretty sleepy and wanting to stay close to mama and to each other. They’ll be chasing and playing more soon. We finished the bio-sensor program and they have had lots of sound conditioning and baths and blow drying at this point. They’re pretty laid back and chilled out about all of life’s “scary” things. We keep bringing them out to play and explore (helps build confidence) and they are held and massaged and socialized daily. We took pictures of them and they’re getting cuter every day! Here they are at over four weeks old.
March 28, 2026 – Ava and Watson’s puppies are growing up. They are going to be four weeks old in a couple of days. They are learning to use the litter box now. Still nursing and staying close to mama always. They mostly just sleep in a pile still, but we’ve started bringing them out of their pen each day to explore and learn to play. They’re not quite sure what to do and they really don’t play with toys yet, but it won’t be long and they’ll be romping around! We finished the bio-sensor program steps and now we focus on conditioning them to “scary” sounds each day to get them really relaxed and used to thunderstorms, vacuums, fireworks, blow dryers and more. Their temperaments are already so relaxed. We walk around with them carrying them on their backs (with loud sounds going) and we massage them daily for more temperament conditioning. They still get baths regularly and we’ve been blow drying them too, to get them really used to that before their fear stages start. All so important! Here they are at almost four weeks old! Time is flying here.
March 20, 2026 – Ava and Watson’s puppies are doing great. They opened their eyes this week and are already getting so comfortable with humans and human touch through our daily massages, baths and through their daily bio-sensor conditioning steps. They still mostly sleep, and we don’t get to see their eyes open too much yet, but we took pictures of them so that you can see them at two weeks old. Here they are!
March 12, 2026 – Ava and her puppies are doing very well! Ava continues to be a great mama, and we do believe that plays into the temperament of her babies. She’s quiet, calm, attentive and she always remains close to her pups. The pups continue to gain weight daily and are thriving. They can’t see or hear yet, so our main connection to them is through touch. We massage them daily, and they love the soothing feel of warm baths. We’ll try to post a video of that soon on our Instagram page.
Most important, we do the critical bio-sensor steps on them daily. If a breeder only does one thing for a litter, this is it! We daily take them through the steps to stimulate them neurologically and this also begins the temperament conditioning that we do here. Today, mama let us pull them away briefly for photos. Here they are at ten days old! They are sleepy, as usual, but still so cute.
March 4, 2026 – We’re excited to announce Ava’s first litter! She brought us a litter of six healthy pups, and they arrived on Tuesday, March 2. We have four boys and two girls. All of the pups (and mama!) are doing well. All of the pups are nursing, gaining weight and thriving.
Ava is a wonderful mama and she’s doing a great job. Here are the first pictures, taken in the earliest hours of life. (As you can see, there’s no bedding in the pen yet, and that’s for the safety of the pups. We won’t add bedding until they are a week old, to prevent anyone from getting buried, tangled or suffocate under bedding. ) We’ll be updating this blog post about once per week so that our families can watch their litter grow and see what’s going on here. We welcome to our world Ava’s “A Litter”, and here they are: Anna, Ally, Adam, Andy, Arthur, and Aiden! Also keep an eye on our Instagram page to see videos of the puppies as they grow.
