June 2022 – Gracie and Barkley’s litter is home! We’re so thankful for all of the families that chose us and our pups. We’re hearing great reports, and because of this litter, we were able to donate $2,400 to Amazima Ministries to help some kids in Uganda eat, learn and LIVE. Thank you to all of you! We miss the pups already! (If you want to learn more about what goes on here, check out our Instagram page.)
June 20, 2022 – The pups did great with their vet appointments today! We’ve added their weights to their pictures so you can see how they weighed in today. This is helpful because at this age, their current weights indicate how big they will be as adults. For example, the bigger pups like Cookie will be mama’s size (50-60 lbs.) and the smaller pups in the litter will be Barkley’s size (40-45 lbs.) Also we completed temperament testing and wrote down notes from the other humans here to try and let you know any personality traits we are seeing. Remember, that experts say that at seven weeks of age, their personalities are just starting to show. Their new environments at home and the training and energy style of their new pack leaders will have a big impact on their personalities in upcoming months. All of the pups were temperament tested to make sure we didn’t miss anything! Every pup scored identical in categories of socialization, intelligence and adaptability and quick recovery to “scary” sights and sounds. All of the pups scoring shows to be outgoing and friendly and will adjust easily with a flexible temperament that adapts well to different types of environments. Each and every pup is affectionate, loves to be held and settles down immediately when they’re being held by their humans. They will thrive on human interaction and will be loyal, staying close by to their humans. They won’t care about an acre of land, they’ll want to be near their humans! This is in their genetics along with the conditioning we have raised them with. Personality differences we are seeing at this point are below. They’re still so young, but we gathered our observations, as well as how they respond during leash training and thru their temperament scoring. This is what we see:
Cookie is the most reserved in the pack. Definitely a follower, not a leader. She likes to observe a little bit before jumping in to a new experience. No shyness with people though! All of the pups have been very socialized and will be affectionate with everyone they meet. Cookie is the only pup that hasn’t shown ability or interest in fetching/retrieving yet. She’ll definitely get there – she’s got a lot of lab in her!
Ghiradelli is most like Cookie. She isn’t a leader, very playful and affectionate. Slightly less reserved as Cookie.
Ambrosia is perhaps the most energetic pup in the litter. She loves to snuggle but will outlast the other pups during play. She is very confident and brings the “let’s play!!” attitude to the rest of the litter. Nothing intimidates her, and she’s a leader in the pack, despite her smaller size.
Godiva has been ahead slightly in obedience and desire to follow queues. She has a lot of focus on us humans and consistently is one of the first to sit for attention, shows patience and adaptability. They’ll all get there, but Godiva is a little ahead of her siblings in this behavior. She’s been consistent whereas her siblings still get more distracted and are a bit more excitable.
Mousse has been the one who bonds fiercely at this very young age. Almost seems a couple weeks ahead of the others. He wants his humans and he vocalizes his desire to be picked up and held. He’s a lover and human time comes first over play and food. He is focused on us humans! (Kind of the big baby in the group that needs to be with us, yet so confident at the same time. )
Nestle is much like Mousse. Mousse and Nestle are two of the male leaders in the pack. Very confident and focused. Yet submissive and affectionate!
Chip is another confident leader. Consistently able to retrieve and nothing intimidates him. (I don’t think we’ve ever had so many pups with retrieving capability at this young age!) All are retrieving already except Cookie. Chip is focused, tracks us and he’s similar to Nestle in Mousse in what we see so far.
Truffle is the one I’d label Mr. Chill. He’s the first to quiet down during play and go off in a corner with a toy when he’s had enough. He’s the one that will be first to stop all the chasing and find a lap to cuddle into. He’s a little more quiet and calm compared to the rest. But still full on puppy that can play and chase. He might be the couch potato in the bunch. 🙂
Brownie is also a little less energetic and settles down faster. He is most like Truffle. He has a quietness about him that doesn’t seem to enjoying all the rough housing as much as some of the other pups when we let them have their playing time to chase and wrestle. He’ll find a lap or a toy and let the others chase.
June 18, 2022 – Gracie and Barkley’s litter is on the home stretch and preparing for their forever families! They are doing great at leash training, and calming down more easily in the crate. They’re very affectionate and love us humans, but they’re also learning to be content all by themselves in a crate (very important throughout puppyhood for their temperament and well-being!) They love being held and are all very affectionate. They’ve gained in confidence each day and they are all well socialized. We’ll continue the work on our end as we prepare them for home, this final week. On Monday, we’ll post their official weights from the vet and some notes on any personality traits that are starting to show. We know their new families will continue all the work we’ve done here to raise great puppies. They’ll build on the great foundation already laid! Here are the pictures we took of them to show them off at seven weeks old!
June 11, 2022 – Gracie’s litter is growing up! They’re doing very well. Today they had a bath and blow dry (we do that often to condition them for future grooming.) They’re eating entirely on their own now without mama and they’re doing great with leash training. Crate training is still a bit of a challenge for them, as expected, but we continue crate training for naps to help them learn to be contained and also learn to be content when away from each other. All important stuff. Here they are sitting nicely for their pictures!
June 6, 2022 – Gracie’s and Barkley’s litter is doing very well. Crate training has been started here and though there’s some crying, we reward them when they’re quiet and we know that this is a significant part of their conditioning. They’re eating very well and they’re growing up! Here they are at five weeks old!
May 28, 2022 – Gracie and Barkley’s litter is growing up and starting to become a little more active. Still, they mostly sleep and eat, but things will be changing soon! They are now conditioned to lots of “scary” sounds and they recognize us and are attaching to humans more. They are becoming very affectionate! They love being held. They’re doing very well at litter box training and are now eating mushy kibble three times a day. Next week we will get them out to play in the play area and post some video of them on Instagram. Here they are at four weeks old! Our Chocolate Litter.
The Boys
The Girls
May 17, 2022 – Gracie and Barkley’s litter is doing very well. They are totally used to baths now, are calm when held and massaged, and are well into their bio-sensor conditioning steps. They continue to gain weight, and over the past couple of days, they’re eyes opened! They still can’t hear, but that will be next. Not much action yet, as they mostly just eat and sleep. Here are the pictures we took of them today!
The Boys
The Girls
May 7, 2022 – Gracie’s pups are now a week old and all the pups are doing very well. Time to make the announcement! Gracie just had her third and final litter and she brought us nine puppies: four black boys, one red boy, one chocolate girl, and three red girls. All beautiful babies with great coloring. Their birth weights were all good, they are all gaining weight and have now been started on the daily bio-sensor program to begin our process of conditioning pups for the best temperaments! Mama is doing well too. The litter is with our friends, Gracie’s forever guardian family, not far away from us. This way, Gracie could stay and deliver her pups in her own home, and she and pups will stay there for a couple of weeks until they are brought to our home to continue all of their conditioning and care.
Here’s a picture of the litter. You can see they have a guard rail around the pen to protect the pups from accidentally being laid on by mama. They are kept warm and massaged daily. Human touch is the key way that we can connect with them at this young age since they can’t see or hear yet. We’re excited for this litter! Welcome to our world, our Chocolate Litter: Cookie, Ghirardelli, Godiva, Ambrosia, Mousse, Nestle, Chip, Truffle and Brownie.
