The puppies have left and the pen is empty. Always a bit of an absence felt in our home! We are at peace knowing each puppy went to a wonderful, loving family. Because of these families and their adoption from us, we were able to give $1,200.00 out of this litter to Amazima Ministries so that some kids in Uganda can continue to live! Four of the pups were adopted and one pup, “Sarah” will go through testing to hopefully become part of our breeding program next year. Thank you for the team that cared for this litter with us and helped these puppies be prepared for a great life! xo, Mary
March 12, 2021 – The pups had a great report from the vet and here are their official weights: Sadie 6.2 lbs., Sophie 6.8 lbs., Sarah 4.4 lbs., Samuel 4.4 lbs., and Sebastian 5.6 lbs.. By the weights at this stage, we can be fairly accurate in predicting approximate adult size. Sarah and Samuel will grow to be about 22-25 lbs. like mama, Sophie will probably reach papas size at around 40 lbs. and the others will end up in between.
Personality notes that stand out at this early age: Sadie is the most playful and confident. We think she was born this way! Super fun, inquisitive and showed personality and quirkiness by only a few weeks old. Sebastian is most reserved and needs to take things slow, observe more before jumping in. His brother Samuel is more confident at this point and ready for anything without much hesitation. Sarah and Sophie are easy going and just willing to blend and go with the flow. ALL of the pups are scoring identical in submissiveness, intelligence, socialization, and being calm and non-reactive. All of the pups are exactly where we want them to be in their conditioning. Though Sebastian is a little more shy, in every litter we see that and he may always be slightly more sensitive, but most often we see very quickly the more reserved pups gain confidence and that sense of adventure by the time they leave us or shortly after adjusting to their new homes. There’s always at least one in every litter that is more of a follower than a leader.
March 11, 2021 – Next week is our final weeks with Stella’s puppies so we are now honing in on all the final preparations and conditioning so that they are fully ready for their forever families. They’re doing very well and they are exactly as we expect and want them to be at this stage. We just got home from the vet where they had exams, nails trimmed and microchips. They’ll get their vaccinations next week. They did amazing in their crates, and on their car rides, and the vet tech commented on what an excellent litter this was. She said, “It was SO easy to trim their nails! They are so good.” She left telling me she wished all the breeders did conditioning with their pups. So, we’re feeling a little proud over here, especially since this technician deals with many breeders and puppies all the time.
We started leash training today: Yes, those little butts stay firmly planted on the ground as we initially put a leash on them try to coax them to walk on leash. Pups usually HATE a leash at first. But we know within a couple of days, they’ll be prancing around and walking nicely on a leash. They only cried five minutes during their morning crate training, then settled down for a nap. We are testing temperaments and all is well! New pictures posted very soon!
March 4, 2021 – It’s been a busy week here and everyone is doing great. This week, we’re focusing more on “manding,” and that means pups have to sit to get attention. They’re now totally chilled out with any scary sound we introduce them to, and tomorrow we will start some crate training. They are right where we want them to be with their focus on humans, their affection and their confidence. They’re carried around the house daily on their backs as we believe it really creates a trusting and submissive temperament (we’ve been doing this since they were only days old.)
They are separating more from mama, and mama spends more time away from the pen now. The pups are eating mushy kibble for all of their meals now. Their teeth are just starting to come in (they are sharp at this age!) and it won’t be long before they can eat better and chew on bones. They had a bath and blow dry again today, as it’s another part of their conditioning to help them be comfortable with the experiences of life.
Here are the pictures we took of them today, at five weeks old!
February 25, 2021 – Oh boy, these pups are really cute! They’re wobbling around more and really starting to play. It’s fun to watch them run around in their sloppy form at this age! They want to run and chase, but are not very stable. As my friend says, they look like drunken sailors. 🙂 We’ll post some video on Instagram this weekend, now that they’re becoming active. Here are the cutie pies, sitting nicely for their picture after their play time.
February 17, 2021 – Stella’s puppies are three weeks old now and not hearing yet, but won’t be long! They’ve started on mushy kibble to give mama a break and they are doing very well. Since they are walking well now, we introduced them to litter box training today. They should be litter box trained within a few days. Their weights are good and are weighing close to three pounds now. We took pictures of them today and they sat quietly for their photo. 🙂
February 14, 2021 – Stella’s puppies have opened their eyes and they’re wobbling about and beginning to wrestle and play! They’re doing great. They will be able to hear soon and then we can start the next phase of conditioning. We’ll take more individual pictures of them in a few days, at three weeks old, so you can really see who’s who. They are beautiful pups!
February 7, 2021 – Stella’s pups are almost two weeks old now and doing very well. They’ve been going through the bio-sensor steps daily for conditioning (so important) but not much is happening except eating and sleeping. No action. No eyes open. Not moving around much, other than wiggling to get to mama. They can’t hear yet.
Mostly, just eating and sleeping. All. day. long. Mama continues to be a champ. So loving and attentive.
At this point, our main job as humans is to keep them warm (pups can die if they get cold as they can’t regulate their body temperatures yet), keep mama well fed, work on holding, massaging, and the bio-sensor program daily, and keep pups and the pen super clean and free of bacteria. Bacteria can be deadly to a young litter. But we got this! And we’re so proud of our sweet Stella.
In honor of Stella, we’re naming this litter the “S Litter.” Welcome to our world, Sadie, Sophie, Sarah, Samuel and Sebastian.
Here are some pictures to see the sweet babies up close. Their coloring is beautiful!
And here’s the lineup of the sleeping babies. Please wake up!
February 1, 2021 – We’re excited to announce Stella’s first litter! Stella’s pups arrived on January 26, and it was a smooth and easy delivery for mama. Stella was all done bringing five new pups into the world in less than two hours. All of the pups are doing very well, with good weights . All are nursing well. Stella is a great mama! We expected that she would be, but it’s always great to see a new mama step in to mothering like a pro. We now have three new girls, and two new boys, all the same red color. Here’s a picture taken just hours after delivery, and another one taken today. Mama and the pups are with our friends at their house nearby, as they do a lot of the whelping for us. They’ve helped us for years. As we prepare to send off the puppies that we have here right now, Stella’s litter will receive all the daily care they need, along with their bio-sensor steps, until they come to our home in a couple of weeks.
We’ll start posting individual pictures of the pups at three weeks old. We will post various group shots each week, though. Keep an eye on this blog, and as pups get older, we’ll post videos of them playing on Instagram (it will be a while for that!).
