7/22/2016 Vet appti know our vet appt was literally 12 hours ago but I'm just getting a chance to sit down and write. On a good note no one got sick! This is fantastic news. However they all cried their eyes out in the car. They were not pleased to be in the crate with each other so close while moving. I have a video but it's pretty sad. They all did very well at the vet. No crying for shot or microchipping. The microchip needle is very large. So they do have a scab from that. But all of them handled it well. They all got a clean bill of health. All boys have dropped. All girls looked dry and no signs of juvenile vaginitis. All hearts and lungs good. Hips feel normal. Eyes look normal. I sent 2 samples of stool away for testing. Someone still has loose stool. The vet gave me forti flora in the mean time to give them all. It's great for digestive track. I'll wait and see if anything comes back unusual. I will give them the dose of revolution tomorrow. Didn't want to give same day as shots in case of any reactions. I have copied all paper work and put in folders.
The only other topic I need to discuss is the microchipping. This is the first litter I have microchipped all of them. In the past I have left it as an option and let the buyer decide if they want to pay for it. When you purchase breeder microchips they come in a group box. The box has been registered to me the breeder. I'm listed as primary contact. And the new owner will be listed as secondary contact. Now, the only thing I ask is that if you move or change your phone number that you must let me know so that I can update the registery. This policy also helps me in force my contract that states you may not re home a dog with out first letting me know. Thus the microchip info can only be changed by me. I don't want to sound harsh about this. But I take re homing very serious. Each of you has been selected for a reason. I trust you. But I also understand things happen in life. So if for any reason you need to re home your pup, you first need to contact me and let me know. And if at all possible I will take the pup and do the re homing. 7/20/2016 Puppy food issuei have a problem that I can't correct. It's not a huge deal but I want to let everyone know. I feed merrick puppy food. They make 2 different puppy food lines. I feed the back country line. It has freeze dried chicken in it. There is not a big difference in the two other than the added freeze dried pieces. I pick out the chicken and use them as treats for the puppies. When I placed the order on chewy I ordered the regular not the back country. I can't send back 11 bags of food. I've attached pictures to show the first 5 ingredients are the same. It's not a big deal. But what ever you decide you can continue. If you want to keep feeding this you can, or you can buy the back country when this runs out. It's up to you. My girls love the freeze dried pieces. That's why I buy the back country. They go nuts over those pieces. I have even bought bags of just freeze dried chicken but it's really expensive. It's cheaper for me to buy the back country than add it to the regular. But I wanted to let everyone know what I did. I'm sure they will get lots of treats the first couple weeks and not miss the chicken one bit.
7/20/2016 Updates 8 weeks oldtoday they are officially 8 weeks old. They love for me to leave the slider open for them. So they can go in and out as they want. It's too hot to stay out. So they take turns in and out. They come in get a cold drink and cool off and head back out. I'm having issues with the girls. They want to dig holes. They figured out that locusts live in the ground. Now they are trying to dig them up. I tried to deter them with a cardboard box but it didn't work. They are having too much fun. The pictures I just took show the boys resting inside and all the girls and orange digging holes. I'll keep deterring them. Other than the holes they are doing great. Mastered the steps. Love treats for sitting. And I walked grey down the street. We made it about 100 feet till he said no more carry me home.
Vet appt Friday. I do need to have the vet check out red and orange. Both have very very soft stool. It's been 3 days with no change. So we will see why. Sometimes it's the food because it's so rich and has no grain. Each pup is different. But I don't think it's that. I'm not sure what it is yet. I'll keep everyone posted. 7/16/2016 Outside todayhere are some pictures from outside today. I did them as a slide show because it's so many. We played in the sprinkler at lunch and went back out for another hour at dinner. This was in addition to 4 or 5 potty breaks outside. I did weights today and I have attached the pic of that. We also did toenails using the dremel instead of clippers. I dont think they are as sharp now. 7/15/2016 Who is left, website updatedred is the only one left. I have not heard back from the last pick. She wanted a tiny female. I do not have any runts in this litter. So I'm assuming she is not interested. I've updated the available pups page. I will wait to see if I have someone interested in her before I advertise. I prefer not to advertise unless I have to. Word of mouth and referrals ensure she goes to a good home. Advertising is a pain and attracts people I just don't know.
7/15/2016 Updateits been a busy week. We are going outside now about 4/5 times a day. Everyone has mastered steps up and down. And I notice a lot of them pee as soon as we get outside. Bella is teaching them outside is to potty not play. She runs them to back of yard and pees then heads back to steps. Of course curly thinks everyone should stop and play awhile too. Curly loves being outside. Bella thinks it's dog abuse if you are not going to let her right back in. What I've noticed is orange loves to explore. He goes the farthest. He walks along looking at everything. White still hallows at the steps and prefers you take her down. Once down she heads for the fire pit and sneaks under it. She likes to jump out when someone walks by. Green and black like to take their front feet and dig in the water bowl till its empty. They love playing in the water. Pink likes to take a rest on the bottom steps when she is done playing. She usually falls asleep there if we are out long enough. Yellow hates being outside. She would be just happy if she could go back in with Bella. Unless I want to sit with her and talk to her. And that only last so long too. Brown and grey like to come sit with me on blanket when they are done playing. Purple just loves to play. She will play with who ever will play with her. Blue is everyone's buddy. He goes from group to group to see what everyone is doing. I'm sure I've missed someone. I'm just going by what I see. Other than outside play we are using the pee pads and litter and doing very well. Next step is learning to sit when we come in. I'll start this over the weekend. And learning to walk on a leash. This is very difficult. I teach them to follow curly down the sidewalk. This will take days and days. I start with who ever is leaving first. And I work down the line. So don't fret if you don't see your pup doing what I'm teaching. I'll post pics as we go.
7/13/2016 Taking good carewell you all know by now I'm pretty old fashion. I know times change. Technology developes. People evolve. But I still believe in being cautious. Over protective. We went out this morning for about half an hour. They all begged to go out again when Bella went out at 1130. I so I gave in and let them out. The air is very heavy. And it's sticky out. With in about 10 mins most wanted back in. I could tell they were just too hot. They wanted to play at the door. In and out onto the top step. I let them for a couple mins but decided it was just too hot for them. So they are in and sacked out on the cool concrete. Heat exhaustion in a puppy can happen so fast. So I don't take chances. We will go back out later if it doesn't rain. I know they are 7 weeks old. But I don't push puppies. They will grow up fast enough. No point in an unsafe situation.
7/12/2016 Couple questions answeredin case you haven't figured this out yet, I majored in math subjects. And my degree was in that field. Not English. I actually took remedial English 101 my first semester in college. I stink at English. Writing is not a strong subject for me. But any way. I like doing these blogs and keeping you guys informed. And I'm sure entertained with my grammar as well.
I had a couple people ask the same questions. So I wanted to answer those for all. What you need when you get puppy home. A crate. I like the 26x30 size range. Or a larger one with a divider to make smaller. Before we start, every puppy is different. So go with your gut or ask me. I'm here to help. I would not put down the crate mat in crate the first week. I would only include blanket I give you. Just in case we have an accident. After that put the crate mat in if the puppy is doing fine with potty training. I like the cover I bought off amazon. If you don't have a cover use an old towel or blanket to cover the crate. That way it feels like a cave. They like to feel protected. I also recommend picking up a pack of pee pads. Put one at the door you use to go out. That way if they need to go hopefully that's where they will have the accident. I also like potty bells. They learn to tap them with nose or paw to tell you they need to go out. Bella has used them since she was 10 weeks old. Again every pup is different. Some you know when they have to go. They dance, they run in circles, the start smelling the ground, ect. Some do nothing. They squat and pee. I start to teach them the bells. All ready they will ring them. They don't understand yet that means they have to pee, but they want me to open door. Potty training with this group is going slow. I don't know why. I'm still having quite a few accidents out on mat not on pad or in litter. But I'm working really hard with them all. Next I would recommend picking up a bottle or jug of natures miracle. It's an odor remover. If they have an accident clean it up with this. This eliminates them smelling the same spot and going again. Next I recommend a bed of some sort. Either a flat one or one with sides. Each pup has a preference. You will know by how they lay. Do they curl up mostly or do they stretch out. Next I will send you home with a collar. You will need a harness and leash. What I give you they will out grow with in a week or two. Size small should be what you want. Leash should be 5' or 6' long. 1/2 is plenty thick. 3/8 works as well. You will need a water bowl and food bowl. I do like the elevated type. But remember if it's not adjustable you want to wait till they are bigger to buy. My girls prefer running water. We use a water fountain instead of a bowl. Other than the stuff I have listed that's all you really need. I send you home with toys, treats, and food. Pups are like toddlers. Just remember that. I rotate toys each day. That way it's something new. They also love simple things like empty water bottles. Or wrap it in an old sock. And remember they have the attention span of a toddler too. They get bored easily. And tire out easily. So take a couple mins to play with them or play them out. 7/11/2016 Busy morningi have started placing orders for all the goodies that go home with puppies. Of course I have the folders and totes already. I have the training books puppy primer. I ordered the 11 bags of puppy food. Balls. Nylabones. The mini holee balls. The loofa toys. The rope toy. And the stuffed hedgehogs. And the Charlie bear treats. And the 50x60 fleece blankets. Chewy actually sent an email and would not place my order till I called them because they thought the order was a mistake. The girl on the phone kept asking if I meant quantity of 1 or I really did want 11. Amazon is use to my crazy shopping. But chewy is cheaper on some items. Not all though. Last I called the vet about microchipping. I did my first litter for an added fee if someone wanted. I have not micro chipped any litters since. It's expensive. I think it is. But with the lower vet costs this litter and the cheaper "litter" and not pee pads I have been thinking of spending the saved money from those two things on micro chipping. So if everything works out, all 11 will be micro chipped when we go to vets on 22nd. I have researched many brands. I don't see a difference. As long as the person scanning is using a universal scanner and its 15 iso digits it's all the same. So the brand I'm looking at is smarttag. And it's a lifetime registration. No need to pay any additional fees down the road. I don't know how different data bases work. So you can elect to register it with any additional ones you want. That's up to you. The only thing I don't have ordered yet is the snuggle puppy. They will work with me on a bulk discount. So I'm still deciding what color. And last litter I sent small antlers home. I wanted to do water buffalo horns this time. I found them at petco a couple months ago for $6. It was just a 4" piece. I've searched and searched the Internet and can't find that size for that amount. I don't want a whole horn. And trust me you don't either. They will drop them on the floor and scare you half to death. The 4" piece was perfect. And no odor. Lasted for months. They were not real thick either. So my search continues. i took these pics at lunchtime when they were eating.
7/10/2016 Sunday afternooni have some great photos from today outside. We were out about an hour and a half. I will be honest most of the pictures are from the girls and blue boy. The boys and purple decided that it was just too hot to play and they preferred under the steps. They napped for a long time. My goal was to introduce them to the neighbor kids and sites and sounds. But I think being lazy on a Sunday afternoon trumped my plans. Curly and Bella played for awhile with the ones that were awake. The only exciting things that happened were brown mastered the steps up. He went up at least 7 times. So I barackaded them. Red got mad that she couldn't get in her spot because of the barackade and knocked it down twice. And when the heat pump kicked on pink took off running so hard. So now I know we have to work harder on loud noises.
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