Zoe and Nelson’s puppies are home with their forever families! We’re hearing great reports from everyone. The pups are in good care with people that really love them, that’s for sure. Because of this litter, and the families that chose us, we’re able to give $600.00 to Our Rescue, an organization committed to rescuing children around the world that are trapped in human trafficking. We’re thankful to the families that trusted us with their new family member! One pup, Zeb, joined our guardianship program. Here are the pups on their going home day. May they all live happily ever after. 🙂
April 27, 2024 – Zoe and Nelson’s puppies all did great at their vet exams this week, as expected! They also scored very well on their temperament testing. We do the testing mostly for our benefit, to make sure that each pup is ready for a forever family, and to make sure we haven’t missed anything. Personalities and temperaments will continue to be influenced greatly by their families over the next 10 months. Puppyhood will challenge them with lots of various stressors as they go in and out of fear stages, and with continued socialization, crate training and positive reinforcement of all of their good behaviors, they will be set up for a great life! All are doing very well and we are so pleased with each of them.
This week, we are working on leash training and daily naps in a crate by themselves. They are learning how to be content, away from their siblings, alone. They cry a bit (or sometimes a lot) but we reward them by letting them out when they are quiet. They’re getting it! Soon they will learn to love their crate. It’s so important for their overall security and temperament to learn how to quiet themselves and be content all alone with their favorite toy and bone.
Here are some pictures we took of them today. They’re almost ready for home.
April 22, 2024 – Zoe’s puppies are fully weaned from mama now and are growing so fast. They are completely focused on us humans now, just as we want. They track and follow us, they play hard, but absolutely love being held. They love snuggle time. We’re happy with their temperaments and we’ll continue with conditioning them in these final days that we have with them. Crate time is still hard, and loud. But we don’t give in, and they’re fussing doesn’t last too long. We know how important crate training is for their overall temperament and lifelong security! Today, we start leash training and we’ll expose them to new things each day. Here are the pictures we took of them today. So cute.
April 14, 2024 – Zoe’s puppies are growing up! They are using the litter box almost 100% of the time now and we started them on mushy kibble this weekend. They’re loving it. We continue to introduce them to challenges, like vacuuming around them as they play, to introduce them to “frightening” stressors before their fear stages begin. They are becoming more and more attached to humans, and redirecting their affections toward us more and mama less. Another important stage of development. And they get cuter every week! Here they are at five weeks old. We are loving our time with them!
April 7, 2024 – Zoe’s puppies are doing great, as expected! They are learning to use the litter box now, are being conditioned to lots and lots of startling sounds of life, and are non-reactive to it, just as we like. They are starting to wrestle and play a bit more. We get them out daily now for socialization and play time outside of their pen, while mama watches from a distance. She’s learning to separate a little too. All is well. The pups are getting daily baths and blow drying (for more conditioning) and we continue daily socialization. Meanwhile, they are getting cuter every day! Here they are at four weeks old.
April 1, 2024 – The pups are so healthy, fat and chunky! They’re doing well, and mama dotes on them and they barely have to move to be cared for or fed. They squeak and she’s right there. Such a quiet, litter! They have become chubby and lazy, and this is what we would expect from a small litter of three. No fighting for milk, no having to wrestle their way to mama for every meal. So the opposite side of that, is we have to encourage them to walk and get up and move. Ha, ha! Today, we did lessons on walking and encouraging them to move around and play. They’ll be off and running soon, but unlike a larger litter, they need more encourage.
They’ve completed the bio-sensor steps and they are hearing now. So daily we are exposing them to “scary” sounds like fireworks, thunderstorms and more. In the comfort of our arms or their mama’s presence, we expose our pups to as much stimulation and stressful sounds before the fear stages set in (at five to six weeks of age). So important for the lifelong temperament!
We hope to be posting videos of them playing and move about in their play area in about a week. Here are the photos we took of them today. They’re precious!
March 25, 2024 – We’re excited to announce this litter – Nelson’s first, and we are happy that all of the pups are thriving and growing fast. The pups are two weeks old (born on March 8, 2024) and you can watch this blog spot weekly to see them grow and know what’s going on here. We’ve named this litter The Z Litter, and we welcome to our world: Zach, Zeb and Zoey. Here they are at a little over two weeks old, and their eyes opened today so it was good timing to post their first pictures!
