March 14, 2024 – Phoebe and Elijah’s puppies are home! They left a few days ago and we are hearing great reports from everyone. We’re so happy. Just a few of the updates we received:
Jesse slept over nine hours the first night with no problem and was adapting really well, doing her potty business outside as expected and sleeping quietly in her crate. Dolly adapted quickly and is already ringing the bell to go potty outside (she will be doing therapy work when she’s ready.) Her family says she’s doing “phenomenally” with house training. Wynonna is now “Tilly” and is also sleeping through the night and is already ringing the bell to go potty outside. We love these reports! It make all the work we do feel worthwhile as we see the difference it makes!
We’re thankful to all of the great families that adopted from this litter. Because of Phoebe and Eli and these pups, and the families that trusted us with their new family member, we were able to donate $2,100 to Operation Underground Railroad to rescue children from trafficking. Because of this litter and these families, funding will continue to rescue children that are without hope unless someone intervenes on their behalf. Thank you all!
If you want to see more of our pups, check out our Instagram page.
Here are the pups with their new forever families!
February 29, 2024 – We took some more pictures of the pups to help with puppy selections – it’s almost time! And also, we’ve noted some personality and temperament traits we are able to see here. All of the pups did very well at their temperament testing this week, and their scoring confirms for us that every pup is ready to leave us soon. They’re conditioned for a great life!
During temperament testing, pups are tested on intelligence, following, submissiveness, confidence, sensitivity to sights and sounds, connections with humans, and more. Since we started testing and scoring of all the work we do here several years ago, we see that pups test very similarly within each litter. There may be different energy levels and some are just a few days behind another (so typical as they develop from birth on) but all test out to be confident, socialized, intelligent pups that will stay close, bond fiercely and are highly adaptable and intelligent.
At seven weeks of age, personalities are just beginning to show, and their personalities will develop more at home based on the environments they go home to and the energy and training style of their forever pack leaders. Their families will have a lot to do with their continued development of their temperament and personalities (continued crate training will be critical) as they will go in and out of fear stages throughout puppyhood. We’ve laid a great foundation for each and every pup! Below are some notes on their personalities/temperaments at this stage, as much as we can see.
Also, we’ll post official weights from the vet when we have them later today. Fanny and Jane are the smallest in the pack and will probably be about 35 lbs, slightly smaller than their siblings. Stetson, Wynonna, Dolly and Ellie Mae have been a little bigger than their siblings. Probably reaching 40-45 lbs full grown.
Overall, all of the pups are social and friendly, love humans, confident, intelligent and eager for human affection. Every pup will be a great addition to a family, whether just as a companion, or for service or therapy work. Jesse is just a little less confident and wants to observe more than dive into something new. She just takes a minute or two to think about it. She’s been the smallest in the back from birth! This tells me she will catch up quickly, no doubt!
Stetson – Stetson is friendly, engaging and confident He loves to play, yet, when he’s called, he will usually come readily and is eager to please. He’s very affectionate.
Reba – Reba is intelligent and eager to please. When we approach pen, she is usually the first to come over to greet us humans. Her wheels seem to be turning, trying to figure things out (like her mama who can turn latch door handles and open doors, cabinets and maneuver things to suit her needs.)
Dolly – Dolly is spirited and fun. She plays hard and after a hard play, she sleeps long and hard too! She puts all her energy in what she’s engaged in. She also loves laps and snuggling. A well-balanced dog that will love activities and have the energy to do service work but also she wants to always be at her pack leader’s side.
Ellie Mae – Ellie Mae is very loving. She loves human interaction and always wants to be picked up and snuggled.
Fanny – Fanny is sweet. She is playful and spirited and also very affectionate. She’s curious and wants to be close to her humans (this goes without saying, as they all are snugglers and want to be close to their humans!).
Jane – Jane is well-rounded. Jane goes with the flow. A totally “whatever” pup. Whether it’s playtime, settle-down time or snuggle time with us humans, she adapts and changes gears with ease.
Jesse – Jesse is so content. Jesse is usually in the back of the puppy pack and while she enjoys play, she is the first to settle down and lose energy. She has been the easiest and fastest to settle in a crate as well at this point. Jesse was the smallest in the pack from the beginning, and maybe that plays into the fact that she’s more of a follower than a leader. She goes with the flow.
Wynonna – Wynonna is gentle and often the first pup to sit and calmly wait for an affirming pet when approached. She is adventurous but also seems to enjoy cuddles.
Here are some shots of the pups in their pen. Never mind their messy faces right after lunch!
February 25, 2024 – It’s been a busy week here! The puppies are growing so fast, and the last three weeks with us here is always more work as we hone in on lots of daily time with each individual pup to make sure we don’t miss a step in any of their conditioning. They’re all doing great! We’ve been working on crate training, leash training, and lots of exposure to new sounds, people and experiences.
With the nicer weather (finally) we’ll get them outside a little bit to be exposed to grass and wood chips. They’re all doing so well at using the litter box and we never see an accident in their pen any more. They’ve learned to respect their sleep and play areas and this makes potty training at home so much easier! The crate training we do helps them not only learn to be content alone, but to hold their bladder! Obviously, very important.
They are so calm and relaxed for baths, and blow drying. They are drawn to humans and track and follow us as we expect. They are no longer fixated on mama Phoebe and they are learning to become independent. All good! Here are the pictures we took of them yesterday, at six weeks old!
February 16, 2024 – Phoebe’s puppies are growing up fast! They are almost fully eating on their own now, independent of mama for three meals a day. Mama stays nearby, jumps in their pen to visit and nurse periodically, but the pups and mama are beginning to separate. The puppies are changing fast now! Their coats are filling in, they’re gaining weight and they have turned their focus almost entirely from mama to us humans. Exactly what we want! They are doing great at using their litter box, hardly any accidents ever in their pen, and they are conditioned to all kinds of “scary” sounds. They are gaining in confidence daily and are ready for all of their visitors at our open house tomorrow! Next, we will continue to focus on socialization and new experiences, including crate training so they learn to be content on their own, separated from the pack. So important!
Here they are at five weeks old. They get cuter every day!
February 10, 2024 – Phoebe and Elijah’s puppies are growing up! They are becoming more active and are beginning to notice us humans. and the next step is bonding with us, as they begin to separate a little from mama and each other. They are still getting regular baths and blow drying, listening to “scary” loud sounds to make them unafraid, and they are using their litter box regularly now. They come out for playtime daily, and they’re learning to wrestle and play! They don’t have much interest in toys yet, but we get them out to explore some new space. They’re wonderful pups and we’re enjoying them here! Here are the pictures that we took of them today, at four weeks old.
February 3, 2024 – Phoebe’s pups are doing great! They are becoming more alert. Still, they mostly eat and sleep, but we do occasionally catch them wrestling and walking around the pen! We are giving them warm baths twice a day (keeps them free of bacteria, but it’s also great conditioning for them.) We massage them regularly, they are being exposed to “scary” sounds daily to condition their temperament as we expect them to be able to start hearing any time now. We have them listening to loud thunderstorms, fireworks and traffic sounds to start. They are learning to use the litter box already and this is another good and important step in their development of learning to respect their sleep and play areas. We took pictures of them so that you can see how much they’ve changed! Here they are at three weeks old.
January 27, 2024 – Phoebe and Elijah’s puppies are doing very well. Their eyes are open now! We still can’t get great pictures yet, but here’s a shot of each so you can see who’s who. We welcome to our world, our Country Western Litter: Stetson (our solo boy), Reba, Dolly, Fanny, Jane, Ellie Mae, Wynonna, and Jesse!
January 19, 2024 – Phoebe and Elijah’s puppies arrived right on time, as expected! Phoebe is doing a wonderful job as a new mama, and is very attentive and loving toward her babies. The pups are all gaining weight and thriving and we’re excited to make this announcement. A litter of eight pups arrived on January 12, seven girls, and one boy. All red or caramel colorings. Here’s a picture of mama with her new pups. We’re very excited for this litter!
And below, you can see them now, at a week old!
Mama doesn’t like us taking her pups away from her for pictures yet, so we limit pictures until she’s not quite as nervous about her babies.
You can see the guard rail around the pen, and that is to keep mama from accidentally rolling back on top of her pups. We keep a heat lamp on them because they can’t regulate their body temperatures yet. Also, we keep bedding out of there for a bit so that pups can maneuver around easily to get to mama for milk.
Pups can’t see or hear yet, so touch is our main connection to them. They are already getting massaged, held, baths under warm water, and the bio-sensor steps daily. The biosensor steps are the most significant thing we do. So critical for breeders to do this in the earliest days! This is how we stimulate them neurologically to produce puppies with the BEST temperaments! 
