6 Weeks Old

How are the puppies 6 weeks old already?! Time is flying.

They are getting alone time here and there and continue to practice their retrieving.  I'm heading over again tomorrow to get some puppy snuggles in and to meet another future puppy owner who lives in town as well.

I'm making last minute purchases on Pet Edge and Amazon for things that were missed on the last order. Today I received two balance discs to help the puppy with his proprioception. And the great thing is I can use them for my balance and core strength building, too! A friend has an extra collapsible soft sided crate she can give me! She mentioned it just in time, too, since just the night before I was googling Noz2Noz crates and looking for the best prices online.

A few of these pictures were taken a day or two before they turned 6 weeks, but I missed putting them in the 5 week post, so here they are.

Mr. Yellow gets top billing again.

But one of his brothers still may beat him out. Here's Mr. Brown.

Hardly noticing the wobble board. Just as it should be.

Are they being critiqued on their form?

5 Weeks Old

I had a great visit with the puppies this week. I left the family at home so I could concentrate better on the puppies. My daughter wasn't too thrilled with this, but the pup will be home soon enough and she'll get plenty of face time. My friend, Madeline Gabriel, and her family came up to visit, so the puppies still had children to interact with.

I braided a tug toy and brought it with me along with a huge bag of good stuff like last time. Last visit the puppies were too tired and only played with the toys a little bit. My homemade toy was a big hit! Several of the male puppies were grabbing and tugging with it (the girls are not allowed to tug since it could mess up their hunting work, but they were able to chew on it). And the adult dogs (mom and half sister, Christy) loved it as well.  Madeline's boys played fetch with Christy over and over again. I warmed my heart and really made me look forward to a dog who just lives and breathes to retrieve.

Another big hit was the rabbit and suede tug toy that my client Marilyn gave to Indi. Her dog, Lulu, just wasn't interested in it. Mom, Hannah, was obsessed with it and if I didn't zip by bag of tricks well enough she fished it out :)

Candy also told me that instead of her picking out the puppy she is going to let us decide (and I am first in line!).  Yikes! So much responsibility!! I have been really good not to form an opinion yet or get attached to any one puppy in case he wasn't the one chosen for my household. But now I really need to think about it and decide quickly. If I had to choose right now with no other input I'd bring home Mr. Yellow. He seems to have been the most adventurous and confident so far. The only down side is he's larger than the rest and Candy thinks it will be heavier boned. So for agility that is not ideal.

The great thing is that next week Teresa Rodney is going to evaluate the litter for agility potential. She had FCRs herself and competes nationally in agility with her dog Sprint. She also does field work as well. I'm looking forward to what she has to say and her opinion will weigh heavily on my decision. 

 

Hannah is such a great mom

Future Agility Stars!

Since this litter was made to produce a great field dog, Candy has been introducing the pups to decoys, wings, and such.

4 Weeks Old!

Now that the puppies are bigger and exploring more of their environment, Candy has been introducing more items for them to interact with. She has a cat tunnel for them to crawl through and built a very tiny ramp for them to climb. These dogs are well on their way to becoming agility champions!

Miss Pink thought the ramp was a great place to rest.

Yesterday we visited the puppies. Even though Candy has been sending pictures almost every day, I was still amazed at how much they have grown. Mr Yellow is around 7 pounds (at 4 weeks) and to put them into perspective Indigo was just over 3 pounds when we brought her home at 8 weeks of age. They have their baby teeth now but luckily are not chomping down too hard. Although they do love to really bite down on each other which results in much squealing. This is a really good thing though since it will help them learn bite inhibition which is critical.

The puppies were napping when we went over but woke up a little bit to try out the wobble board I brought over. They also loved chewing on the milk inflation (rubber milker) and a few were fascinated with the raccoon tail. They were pretty beat though so they mostly slept. If they are active next time I'll get some cute videos.

Here are the pictures I was able to take. Most of the ones I post are Candy's pictures.

Day 26 & 27

Anyone sick of puppy pictures yet?  No, of course not.  How could you be?!  These are just the cutest little things ever.  And it's only going to get worse once our pup comes home :)

House training and crate training already?  Woohoo!

More sibling rivalry

Day 27

Yesterday, Day 27, the puppies were taken outside for the first time.

Day 24 & 25

Candy reports that the puppies figured out to hop out of the whelping box (their sleeping room) to pee in the weaning box.  Woohooo! House training is already on it's way.

They are really starting to look like little dogs now!

Day 24

Agility ramp introduction

Day 25

It'll be our little secret *wink*