Rubbish Blogger!

It's not until I logged on here this morning that I realised how long it's been since my last update! - Almost a month has come and gone. Crazy.

Anyway, I have a quick 5mins now to come on and apologise for the lack of information and I will be back soon with full updates on the days and events of the last month, but it has been crazy hard work trying to keep my life and the puppies in order; I have had very little computer time - All of my emails and facebooking have been done via my phone and unfortunately the blogger phone app is just ridiculously difficulty to get on with.

But I will be back soon, when I next have a sleeping puppy, no paperwork and no-where to dash to. Right now I am dashing to the field for lessons so I will catch up SOON!

Sorry
x

Putting faces to names

Tango

Voodoo

Dean

Hoody

The Pick

For the first 2 weeks which we had the puppies I honestly didn't have a favorite; I'd think I did, then change my mind the next day. I loved all of their markings; Mimic's matching his Mum's, Beast matching his Dad's and Gambit's unique spot in the middle of his neck. I loved the individuality each of them was starting to show; Beast liked toys, Gambit liked people and Mimic liked dogs and games of any sort.

I was pretty certain Clive would pick Beast, in fact everybody I spoke to was, he is the spitting image of Snooky. Rubbing him in the operating theatre a matter of minutes old I remember looking at all that Black and saying to myself 'not this one, we can't lose this one, it's Snooky's son, it's Clive's puppy', but as he started to cry and had the strength to pull himself (forceps and all) out of grasp and nearly to the floor - I thought 'wow, what a trooper'...as well as 'stupid puppy!'

I tried to force myself off Beast, thinking that I had no chance and spent my time pondering over the other 2, Gambit was becoming the biggest and strongest but was the last to walk and open his eyes, Mimic remained the smallest, but doubled his own weight first and was the best mover.

But as the pups became more mobile, Beast kept grabbing my attention; he would be the first to raise his head when he heard my voice, he'd greet me with a tail wag/bum wiggle to match his Mum's (well, nearly), I'd sit down when they were playing and start to type an email or text and look down and there he'd be looking up at me from down below - solid eye contact. When I sat on the floor he didn't want to curl up on my lap like the others, he wanted to crawl up my chest to give me chin kisses and then relax into my arms for a sleep. His siblings would be in bed, he'd be watching me through the stairgate when I went to make a cup of tea. The other boys were both attentive and loving and full of cuddles but Beast was so intense. When I told Mum, she told me not to pin my hopes on him, I told her I wasn't, HE was the one pinning his hopes on ME!

When she saw us the next day, as much as she wanted to deny it (as she still believed Clive would want him), there was something about the way he responded to me being around and how he looked at me.

And then to top it all off, HEX picked him! She started a game with him one morning and the gambled around the whelping room, I managed to catch some on video (below), he wasn't interested in her Milk, he wanted her and she was treating him as a little dog, a companion.

I text Clive to let him know that I was becoming attached to 'a' puppy and that I hoped it wouldn't be long before he picked, he came round a couple of days later, unbeknownst to me it was to make his pick out of the 2 he was drawn to... but he left drawn between all 3 and unable to decide, he returned a couple of days after that to make his final, final pick.

I had felt sick all weekend and was wondering if he picked Beast would I be able to say something?And if I couldn't bring myself to, how heartbroken would I be? I still thought Gambit was the most active and playful puppy so he'd have to be my 2nd choice, and Mimic was such a sweety; a confident young man with great responses, just slightly overshadowed by his crazy siblings, but there was just something about Beast and he'd worked so hard to let me know that we could have something special.

I watched as Clive entered the whelping room and all of the puppies gathered eagerly around his feet 'pick me, pick me' this yipped and yapped, dancing round his ankles, Beastie snuck around behind Clives feet 'stay there I thought, out of sight, out of mind' and then Clive threw me a complete curve ball... he asked me to pick up the one I wanted, I had to check I'd heard right, he confirmed and I dove straight round behind him to give my puppy the biggest hug. I couldn't believe he had handed over first pick, I could feel myself welling up but held it together to allow him to pick. We all left Clive alone to pick his special boy and he came out holding Gambit - definitely the right choice for Clive, such a strong willed pup, full of mischief.

Clive later explained that once he knew I had a favourite and that he found them all equally appealing for different reasons, he felt it unfair that he might pick the dog that I wanted, so he wanted that dog out the equation to make his decision easier, and me happy. I tell you, there are not many people out there as selfless and kind - these dogs will play a huge part in our lives, our worlds revolve around them and Clive let me pick mine first. Words cannot express how grateful I am for that gift.

On the Monday, Anita came to visit Mimic and it was love, very much on both parts. He sat in her lap, licking her fingers and giving her his best 'look'. I am so happy that I have the peace of mind that my puppies will go to homes that will love them first and foremost at pets, but also give them an enriched life with great walks, lovely furry friends, mental stimulation and the fantastic benefits of life as an agility dog.

All the puppies have been re-named with their new home names, including Beast who's new home, is actually already his home, right here.

Beast is now my Voodoo

Gambit is now Clive's Hoody

Mimic is now Anita's Dean

and Rogue is now Garry's Tango

Food Glorious Food!

On Monday the Cupcakes had their first taste of FOOD!

Since their escape from the Whelping box their confidence and mobility was quickly increasing and with them now having teeth, Hex was becoming a little reluctant to feed them. She would do her job still, but you could see discomfort written all over her face, and feeds were becoming shorter, so I thought it was time to step in and start the weaning process.

I have decided to feed them Fish4Dogs complete puppy food. Fish4Dogs is Hex's favourite so I knew if they were anything like their Mum; fish would really float their boat! And sure enough it did. Soaked for 20mins, mushed up and then mixed again with some warm water to make it warm again, they tucked straight in.

I decided to opt for separate bowls (Rogue = Pink, Beast = Black, Gambit = Blue, Mimic = Silver) so that I could see how much they were eating, but when they started getting full and slowing down I would let them switch amongst each other - it's never to early to learn how to share!

Rogue got the hang of it straight away, Beast just thought it's play time, Mimic takes advantage of the fact Rogue is still and tugs on her ears and tail and Gambit just wants to squish it between his toes!

They're all eating 10g each in one sitting now, 3-4 times a day plus Milk from Hex, I want them off her completely by Sunday (their 4 week birthday).

Little Dogs!

I am sorry for the delay in the updates but I haven't been very well, but I will reward you greatly for you patience with a video Mum and Matt took for me while I was in hospital so that I didn't miss anything.

Before I went to hospital the pups were really getting to grips with walking, they were recognising me; responding to my voice and smell and rough-housing with each other. They had taken an interest in the couple of toys we had placed in their box, but not yet done anything other than sniff and prod them.

I was so worried while I was away that they would forget me or that I was going to miss some big changes. At the bottom of this post is video Mum took on the 10th Feb.

Haven't they grown!

When I came back from hospital I was relieved to find they remember me and excited to see that they were now playing with toys AND that their little teeth were coming through.

Yesterday morning on their 3 week birthday Rogue got a leg up from one of her brothers and made it out of the Whelping box! Luckily I was there to catch her, but I decided there and then that it was time to open the whelping box up and give them FREEDOM! And so they now have access to the entire whelping room.

Here are some pictures of them enjoying their first taste of freedom! (Gambit, Rogue, Beast then Mimic)

Puppy Stats

As the puppies continue to grow, stumble around blindly and begin to look more like little dogs I took a look at the information I have been gathering on them. Yesterday they were 10 days old - by this time they are supposed to have doubled their birth weight; all apart from Beast have (he missed his target by 11g but let's face it he had a pretty impressive birth weight!).

I have also put together their BioSensor results to date to see how they compare with each other. They started the programme at 3 days old and only took a day off when I did their toenails as I didn't want to over stimulate them.

I awarded them 2 points per activity for staying happy, 1 point for a small protest (like taking away a paw when you tickle it or wriggling when put in the various positions) and I awarded them No points for a full on crying protest.

This is how they compared on a day to day basis:

And their totals:

I'm not really reading anything into the results as the point of the programme is to stimulate the puppies. In fact I'm not sure there are even supposed to be any results other than the end result of supposedly 'superior' puppies, but I did think it would be interesting to compare them. You could argue that Beast is the calmest most well balanced pup and see that as a positive or that he is passive and boring (not my thoughts! Just how some people might view them), the same as you could read that Rogue is the easiest to upset OR that she is the smartest and most responsive.

What goes on in their little puppy minds? As part of a veterinary research project Sarah Lindsey has been doing she will be performing Character assessments on a number of litters including Hex's when they are around 4-5 weeks old, it will be interesting to see how her results compare to the BioSensor results I have collected.

Finding their feet

Since my last post, we have seen some changes in the whelping room.

Hex's belly was starting to look very sore where the pups have not only grown stronger, but their toenails were also growing so we gave them their first pedicure on Monday the 30th with a torch and some nail scissors. I thought this would be really difficult but Mum held them and I cut them and it was relatively easy (once I'd asked my hand to stop shaking!).

The pups also started standing this week - they're not particulary good at it and their eyes are still closed so they don't go very far, but they do rise up on to four feet and have a little stagger before falling over and trying again.

They have also spent more time interacting with each other; they had just been sleeping together, eating together and wriggling around or over each other to get the best teat, but they now push each other around for no reason what so ever and clamber around and over each ither instead of just wriggling towards a food or heat source.

Their eyes will be opening in the next few days and I cannot wait! I watched a video of Gass's pups today (they're a week ahead of Hex's) and am really excited about ours getting to that stage. It's amazing to think of the changes a puppy goes through in such a short time.