Socialize to storms. Check!

It wasn't exactly planned, but the puppies ended up experiencing their first storm.  Today I had to judge a WCX test so they were alone much of the day.  I got home and got them outside and it immediately started to rain.  Things didn't look too bad and I thought we were only in for a shower so we headed down to the barn.  We ended up being trapped there for over an hour!  First the bands of rain came though.  Torrential downpours one after another.  Did I mention the barn has a tin roof?  It was LOUD.  No one was bothered by it.  Then the thunder and lightening started.  I really would have rather been in the house for this part but there was no way to do that safely with 7 puppies, Jessi and myself.  So we stayed put.  Once again, no one was bothered....except for me a little bit when I saw the huge lightening strike followed almost immediately by the very loud thunder.  Finally things settled down and we were able to have a good play session outside.  We stayed out long enough for two naps!

Shortly after returning to the house, 5 members of the Houlton family came to visit.  The puppies were thrilled and put on a very good show of just how wonderful they are :)

There are tonnes of new photos from yesterday and today.  Enjoy!

Water!

On Friday I took the puppies on their first big road trip.  We went to Maxville and they were introduced to water.  What fun!  Mr. Blue was the first one to swim and Mr. White followed shortly after.  All of them waded and tried to get up their courage to follow Mom.  I took lots of photos...of course :)  And they are posted on Webshots.

Today we stayed home and they played in their puppy pool.  I took lots of photos of that as well but haven't had time to go through them. I did take some video though and have uploaded one to YouTube.  You will see that Mr. Black and Mr. Orange or very much their fathers sons - Trey does the same thing!

Enjoy!

Finally...an update!

A busy weekend followed by an even busier week kept me from the blog. I hope everyone has been following webshots though because I have uploaded many photos to their 5 week album and last night created a 6 week album.  6 weeks!  I can't believe they will start leaving in another two weeks.

They have continued to have a busy social life with many visitors and I have started letting them out with the adult dogs.  Their Aunt Jessi is fabulous with them.  She has just turned 10 months of age and instinctively knows how to play with them.  She has endless patience and they are learning a lot from her.  I uploaded a video of her playing with the puppies last night.  Enjoy!

Five weeks!

To celebrate their 5 week birthday, Fury started playing with the puppies!  She is such a wondeful Mother.  Still entirely dedicated to them.  I couldn't possibly ask for better.

I was fortunate to catch some video of Fury playing with the pups and I took a few photos and started a new album, though the camera wasn't happy with the outdoor lighing today.

Big walks, big bones and litter boxes

The puppies have been enjoying lots of outdoor time.  They are getting quite good about following me around and exploring the yard.  They truly enjoyed some huge (to them) beef bones - thanks Annette!  I've uploaded a video of them enjoying the bones.  Truly, can there be any doubt that this is what they should be eating?

I've been uploading photos even though I haven't updated the blog.  The first photo following the puppy cuddle is here.

I've now added a litter box to their pen.  They are keeping the whelping box clean now which is great!  The pen is lined with newspaper and has a litter box with pine pellets in it.  Some are using it....some are not.  I'm hoping over time that more will be using it than not!  I have seen Ms. Purple go to the litter box twice purposely to pee in it.  I'm thinking Ms. Purple might be my favourite :)

Enjoy the photos and video!

Puppy Cuddle and BBQ

The puppies had a FABULOUS evening!  Today was the first official Puppy Cuddle and BBQ.  Apparently all you need to do is supply puppies and some food and everyone you invite will show up!  There were 12 of us and way too much food which is typical of this gang!  Everyone cuddled at least one puppy and the pups also milled about among the chairs and had some great socializing.  I didn't see any of the puppies being shy about anything.  They all seemed to have a very good time.

I took a short video while we were waiting for everyone to show up and also took a few photos.  Enjoy!

More outdoor fun

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Trey brought his babies a ball to play with.

It was another beautiful day today and the puppies spent most of it outside in the new pen I set up for them.  They have a cake pan filled with water and most of them managed to get their feet wet....not quite on purpose, but it happened!  Fury remains the dedicated and protective mother and has to be put into the house for the other dogs to socialize with the babies at this point. They met everyone this morning for the first time.  Aunt Jessi is very interested and really wants to play.  Bizzy recongizes them as a source of food!  Rev is simply intrigued.  Trey thinks they need toys and Gambler wants NOTHING to do with them!

They got to hear all kinds of new noises and took things in stride.   They had more visitors and entertained us by playing with their toys.  They were also introduced to their first goose wing and found it very interesting.

Todays photos are here.