its so hard to believe these little guys are 5 weeks old already. They are loving growl. They are using litter pan. They are finding their voices. And they are still nursing. Bella weans slow. She reduces the number of times a day. But it will be at least another week till she stops. It's her bonding time with them. She still cleans their rear ends. Washes their faces. I know in some states pups can leave at 6 weeks. But Bella would probably attack me if I took a pup from her right now. She knows the benefit of the milk and the regurgitated kibble. Sissy curly is teaching them manners. You don't bite legs and tails. She scolds them. I'll be doing weights today. Sorry I have not been posting in the mornings. It takes awhile to feed and get everyone and everything cleaned up from the nighttime. I sanitize every morning. If you have been following the blog you know how mad they were last week at me taking away the box. Well I gave it back to them now that they can get in and out on own. Now they won't sleep in box. They use the box as a wrestling ring. They go in to play with each other and come out. It's so cute.

they all love to eat. I'm still feeding individually. For now I prefer this. I can control amount and who gets what. But as they are waiting they cry. This picture they were all getting impatient and wanting to be next.

im snuggling with orange tonight. He has really came out of his shell. The last couple days he is so excited to see me. His tail starts wagging. As soon as I pick him up he sniffs and sniffs for food. He loves food. Here are a couple pictures of us. The last one he is sound to sleep on my lap. What a cute little happy guy.

good morning everyone. All 11 are doing great. I can't get over how much they change in one day when you start feeding cereal and growl. They are so lean and lanky while on milk. When you start growl they instantly get little bellies. Rolly Polly. I started cereal this morning and will do again tonight. Up until now it was once a day. Now it will be twice a day. I do have to watch amounts. Because Bella regurgitates for them I can't feed full amount. We had a little over feeding this morning. 2 got sick. So I need to back off the amount a little. This is common when a mom is doing this. She still isn't thrilled with me giving them cereal. She wants them to eat the regurgitated kibble. Teeth are coming in. But the cereal has extra nutrients that they can use that kibble doesn't. Plus she is getting really thin. Everything she eats she is giving to them. She is the best mom. But I don't want her over doing it. She would starve herself to feed them. Other females are selfish. Or they don't clean up after pups. I couldn't ask for a better breeding mother. Curly is a close second. She is more about keeping everyone clean. So the more I can make them eat what I give the less demand on momma. I did nails again this morning. They grow so fast at this age. And they are sharp. And last we have the first escape artist. There is always one in every litter that's stronger and smarter first. This litter it's grey. Funny last litter was grey too. I've added some space to pen. And today will modify the whelping box so that will become there sleeping area. I usually use a crate but with big litter think the box will work better. Here are some pics from this morning. As I've said I usually filter what I post. Only the pretty pictures with no mess no poo ect. But what fun is that? I decided this litter to blog from beginning to end and everything in the middle. So you all can follow the journey. It's not always pretty. But it's real. Until I can figure out a way to do live video cams this is the next best thing.

and here is the escape artist.

its with a heavy heart that I let you guys know that Lilac passed last night. I was with her holding her the whole time. I'm still pretty shaken up.

they really are starting to be like little dogs. They are picking up the toys. They are wrestling with each other. They are starting to bark. This is what I notice so far. Blue is the happy greeter. He greets each pup when they wake up wagging his tail. Like hey play with me. Yellow is a little shy. When I pick her up she stares at me. Like she observing me. Orange is very laid back. I can put him in with lilac and know that he is gentle with her. And he won't cry to get out. White likes to tell me to pick her up. She likes to be held and snuggled. I know I didn't touch on everyone. I will post more. I just added a water bowl to puppy pen. They are doing good with it. Only a couple of them walked through it. A couple more days of cereal and I'll start growl. I feel tiny teeth popping through in front. I'm sure Bella will tell me if it's too soon. They are eating her regurgitated kibble so that's why I added water to pen today. They need the water to digest this.
On another note. My address is 306 Taney heights dr Taneytown and 21787 for those that plan to visit and for pick day and pick up. When you are map questing or following gps watch the road names. There are multiple Taney drives and Taney courts around me with address 306. I'm a stone rancher with an rv in the driveway. If you get lost just call or text me. I'll help you find me.

i started to do a blog last night about personalities. I had a lot typed. Well I got busy and just came back to it and it's gone. I didn't save it :( The last 12 hours have been awful. Lilac has not been eating. I've been forcing her. I've made some calls, talk to some other breeders and decided to try something different. I'm giving her pedialite and Karo with her goat milk. I started that last night. This morning she had an episode and I actually thought I was loosing her. She was gasping for air and breathing through mouth. I expected her to pass at any minute. After over an hour of her doing this I tried something. I put wet rag on nose and then sucked with bulb. I sucked some mucus from her. It worked. She is back to breathing good. I'm still forcing her to eat. But she seems better right now. Because she is so small I went ahead and moved the other pups to the playpen today. They hate it. They have spent all day crying. They want back in box. They are old enough now that it's fine but they don't think so. While I was making them mad today I went ahead and de wormed with meds and changed collars. And fed a little cereal. So they really are mad at me now. So is Bella. A day or so and they will adjust. They are using litter pan. Doing great with that. And I noticed today Bella is regurgitating for them. She always does this. It's her way of feeding them hard food. She doesn't want them eating my cereal. I should have seen the signs yesterday. She ate her whole bowl of hard kibble. That's rare as she begs for her soft special stuff I feed her. I was all impressed with her. Now I know it wasn't for her. She was feeding pups the kibble. I'll try to post again tonight about personalities. It's been a long day. Oh and curly got groomed today too. She did fine with out Bella being there. She looks really cute.

im on the naughty list this morning. Bella is not pleased with me. With the large size of this litter I decided to try a little cereal before we start growl. Some breeders start growl at 3 weeks. To me this is way to early. They don't have teeth yet. And once you start growl they need fresh water. I don't feel comfortable with fresh water in the box at this age. So I wait closer to 5 weeks. Once they have teeth coming through. That's my indicator. Well. I mixed up some cereal and put in tiny shallow bowls. One at a time I took them out and tried a little. By number 3 she was mad. She stood over the bowl. She ate the cereal. Then she tried laying on the bowl to cover it. When all that failed she went in to feed them so they wouldn't be hungry. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. It went ok. Most are not quite ready to lap. Blue, white and green did well. The rest stuck their nose in it and tried to eat the edge of the bowl. I guess I better make up to Bella. I'm going to dehydrate some chicken liver today for her.

today we will talk about what is normal puppy behavior and what is not. At 8-10 weeks puppies are still teething. They are growing rapidly. They do not stop teething till 6 months. They love to chew. Give them stuff to chew on. They get bored. Change out toys. Make sure you handle there toys, take them away and play with there mouth. Get them use to you and not biting you. Hand feed them sometimes. Make sure they know they are not in control. You are boss. This keeps them from being aggressive with food or toys. Now, smaller children seem to get the brunt of the biting. This is because they are on the floor with the puppy. Puppies associate the kids play as litter mate play and bite kids. I see post after post saying help my pup is biting kids and needs to go. This takes time to out grow. You need to teach your kids as much as you are teaching the pup. If you run through house, the pup will chase and bite you. It's natural. If you are constantly over stimulating the pup it will become the norm to the pup. You can't expect to have hours of craziness and hourse play and then expect the pup to be a lap dog on the sofa. From the time the pup arrives home you are teaching it what is ok and what is not. You have to be consistent. With all this said, you choose to get a pup from me. My girls come from a long line of laid back dogs. The stud I used is laid back. Over all my litters, I have not had a "omg this pup is crazy hyper" Temperament starts with your breeding pair. The rest is up to you to tailor to your families lifestyle. When I help place pups this is what I'm looking at. Is this pup higher strung? What you need to work on. Will it work in your family? The majority of pups fall in the middle. It's the outliers that I'm concerned with. Is the pup really shy? Ok, needs to go to a quieter home and classes will help build confidence. Is the pup higher strung? Ok the pup can't be left in a crate all day. It needs activities or a job to keep busy. The one that comes to mind is penny litter 2. She was so outgoing. She hated being in the puppy pen. She just wanted out. The family that wanted her had a labradoodle that was scared of its own shadow. He wouldn't go out in public. They made a great pair. They fed on each other. They went on to train her for agility and races. She completed her good citizen cert and has won races. She is loving life. They chose her because she was so outgoing.

im working on folders this week. You don't realize how many hours goes into the prep of take home folders. lol.I include all kinds of things. Thank goodness I have a commercial copier. In their folder I include things like the contract, food recommendations, health insurance, all of parents bio like pedigree health testing, vet paperwork for deworming, shots, birth certificate, Revolution info. I think that's it. But it's a lot of papers. I'm thinking about sending folders home with deposit and pick instead of pickup date. It would give everyone time to review because once you have puppy you are so busy. Just thinking about making a switch. I'll still wait to send home puppy tote at pick up day. That includes this time around a puppy training book, scent blanket, toys, treats, 5lb puppy food, and I'm working on possibly providing the puppy love snuggle toy. It has a warmer inside and a heartbeat. The puppy sleeps with it. It's supposed to make the transition from sleeping with litter mates to sleeping alone easier. They are really really expensive. So I'm in contact with the manufacture about a bulk purchase. Fingers crossed we can work out a deal. And they will have a collar on for pick up day. I try to include harnesses. They grow so stinking fast that sometimes I they out grow what I have when I train them. They can go through 3 sizes just in the couple weeks we train.