August 11, 2023 – Zoe and Gunner’s pups are home and settled in with their forever families! We’re hearing great reports and we pray for happy ever after for all! Because of Zoe and Gunner’s litter, and these families that trusted us to raise their new family member, we were able to give $1,800 to help fight for the lives of precious children that are in extremely difficult and vulnerable situations. With this litter, we chose to donate the funds to Operation Underground Railroad, and Amazima Ministries, to help rescue, feed and educate children in dire situations. Thank you to all of these special families for adopting from us. We know that each pup went to a wonderful, loving family!
July 29, 2023 – Zoe and Gunner’s pups are almost ready for their forever homes! They’re doing wonderful and their vet exams went well yesterday. Everybody is in excellent health! We also completed temperament testing yesterday and every pup is conditioned and all scored very similar. There are some personality differences that are just beginning to show, but all are equally submissive, socialized, and intelligent. There are slight differences in their weights, and as adults, some will be slightly larger than others. All pups are still expected to be around 30 but some will be a few pounds small or larger than that. Zebedee and ZuZu are the smallest, and have been from the beginning. Zelda and Zinnia are just slightly larger and the others are right in the middle. There won’t be significant size differences as adults because both parents are similar in size.
We’re working more on leash and crate training this week and we turned a corner yesterday and the pups are getting really quiet in a crate. Usually they will now only cry for a few minutes (if at all) and they have learned to settle right down and they are learning to be content all by themselves. This is a big hurdle and so important for their overall temperament for life. It will be critical for families to continue this crate training for naps and night time at home throughout puppy hood. They learn that their crate, their den, is their safe haven, and it helps them learn to be okay by themselves and helps them learn to settle quietly with a favorite toy (and it helps them learn to hold their bladder!). Can’t stress this enough.
Below are the pictures we took of them today! Experts say that personality traits are just starting to show at seven weeks of age. We agree! But we made a few notes from what we can see on our end. Please know that all of the temperaments are solid! And their personalities will develop much more over the coming weeks and months as they pick up on the energy level, training style and environment in their new homes.
Here is a little personality info we see so far:
Zinnia is well rounded, she is a snuggler (they all are!) and also very playful. She’s affectionate. Zelda is an observer. At playtime, she will often find a place to watch from the edge of the room for a while before jumping into the fray. Zelda is also very loving. Zariah is a sweet girl. She listen well and is very affectionate. ZuZu is laid back, and goes along with whatever is going on without hesitation. Zachary is somewhat more laid back, but also very playful at play time. Zebedee just goes with the flow. Like the other pups, he reflects the energy of the atmosphere but he seems to adapt a little more quickly to new situations than others. He was the tiniest pup for a while and he had to navigate his way for feedings from mama and go with being moved out of the way by the other pups. It’s made him slightly more adaptable perhaps. Ziggy is the most playful and energetic, but also the most confident it seems and runs to greet every new stranger and is often the first to run to greet us. He is friendly and loves his humans with confidence.
July 26, 2023 – Zoe and Gunner’s pups are getting ready for their forever families! Time is flying by here. This week we’re continuing with all of their temperament conditioning, socialization and crate training. Busy week! We get them outside periodically to experience new surroundings, pavement and wood chips. All new things! Yesterday we started introducing them to the vacuum. They were startled at the big monster they saw, but quickly recovered and bravely came to inspect. Just what we like to see. We soon start leash training, and they’re now eating three meals a day without mama. They love to wrestle and play, yet immediately settle into our arms when we pick them up for snuggles. We’re also working on following us and commands like “Come!” They are all doing very well! Here they are as they head toward seven weeks old.
July 18, 2023 – Zoe and Gunner’s pups are doing great! They are exactly where we want them to be. They track us, follow us, live for snuggles and are conditioned to so many “scary” sounds. They’ve been socialized with so many different people, including children and toddlers. They are growing daily in their confidence. We love their “whatever” attitude that seems unaffected by new sights, sounds and people. All this is our goal to produce anxiety-free puppies for life, provided their forever families follow through on the foundation that we’ve laid for life. They sat nicely for their photos today, after their bath and blow dry. Here they are at almost six weeks old!
July 11, 2023 – Zoe and Gunner’s puppies are getting so much bigger and they’re starting to play a little and interact more like pups! Their coats are really filling in and they’re getting cuter every day. Some updates this week: they’re getting more comfortable with blow drying after their baths, they are eating mushy kibble to supplement mama’s milk, they’ve learned to use their litter box and they’re having playtime daily outside of their pen. We’re introducing them to new surroundings, toys and they have lots of people to interact with here.
Soon, we’ll post some video footage of them on our Instagram. Here they are at almost five weeks old! (Don’t forget their open house is this Saturday from 1-2:30- hope to see all of you here. Stop by to see the pups!)
July 6, 2023 – Zoe’s pups are growing fast! They are alert now and starting to play more. Not really chasing or running yet, but it won’t be long. They still sleep a lot and don’t have a lot of energy yet. Mama Zoe stays nearby, always ready to nurse them when they wake. Later this week we will start them on mushy kibble to start giving mama a break and help them start the first phase of separating from her. We took photos today after they had baths and blowdrying (it’s good conditioning!) and here they are at four weeks old!
June 29, 2023 – At three weeks old now, the pups are starting to hear! We started them on sound conditioning, and they are listening to loud fireworks and thunderstorms today. All good! They are relaxed and learning to be anxiety-free pups. Lots of new sounds will be introduced this week including vacuums, blenders, blow dryers and more. They are very relaxed and calm in our hands and are non-reactive during their baths. We know that they will continue to go in and out of fear stages throughout puppyhood, but the more we can condition them to, the better off they’ll be. . . for life! They are on their way to becoming life-long, great family members. Here they are!
June 23, 2023 – Zoe’s pups are two weeks old. Their eyes are open! Welcome to our world Zinnia, Zelda, Zariah, ZuZu, and our boys . . . Zachary, Zebedee and Ziggy! All of the pups are doing well and being massaged, bathed and snuggled daily. They have continued in their bio-sensor steps since day four and we can see how relaxed they are now in the hands of humans. Here they are!
June 19, 2023 – On June 8, Zoe delivered a litter of beautiful red pups and all are thriving and doing well. They’ve all been gaining weight, and Zoe is a good mama. We welcome to our world seven new pups: four girls, and three boys. We’ve already started them on the bio-sensor program, the first and most important step in the conditioning of their temperaments. They are also massaged regularly and getting daily baths as we run their bodies under warm running water. They love the feel of all of it! Touch is our primary way of connecting with them at this young age (they can’t see or hear yet), and is so important. We have this window of opportunity, where the bio-sensor program we do has to be done in the earliest phase.
They stay in a pile and it’s hard to get good pictures yet. They love to bury their faces into each other.
We’re excited for Zoe’s first litter and will be posting here every week or two so that you can see them grow!
