3 Months Old

These puppies are all living separate lives now, but still have lots in common. We have had carsickness issues, but at least Cricket's seems to have gone away this last week as we took her to two fun matches over the last two weekends to socialize her. Now, when riding in the car, she pretty much sleeps comfortably in her oversized crate. Finally, at least two of the puppies can make it through the night without a trip outside to do their business, but the third puppy has had a urinary tract infection, so will hopefully work through housebreaking issues when that is resolved. Cricket and Cooper both weighed the same at 10 1/2 weeks - 19.5 lbs and McKenzie is about 16.5 lbs. Those all seemed like too much because of mom Skookum's small size. Little Cricket has now started obedience training and we have lots of homework to do. On August 14th, the 3 month anniversary date for this litter, we took Skookum to an obedience fun match and entered Cricket in conformation just for fun. She won the nonsporting group! That means she stood still and let me show her bite to the judge- small but important steps in her career training.

Twelve Weeks

As of August 6th, the puppies are now 12 weeks old. The remaining puppy, "Cricket" is now a work in progress. Follow our training and socialization adventures on her page: Red Girl aka "Cricket", as we work our way from puppyhood to adulthood. I will post photos of the other puppies on their pages if and when they come. This is a photo of Grannie Flojo and her granddaugher Cricket snuggled up in an undersized dog bed. It's amazing how fast she is growing.

10 Weeks - An Empty Nest

They are all gone now. After weeks of planning, socializing, training, cleaning up, there is only one puppy left to join the pack. Relative calm has replaced the continuous activity of the puppy group. Having one puppy seems like a vacation with time to sit back and reflect, and make plans for the future of the next one. This picture may seem strange to someone else, but it is what struck me as the combined character of my puppies when they were all here together. It is an old dog bed that had access to the outdoors. It is loaded with all the puppy treasures my little group could find as they played in the rec room and outside: toys, rags, cottage cheese carton, garden trowel, chewed up pine cone. They brought all of their treasures to this place and played with them and each other here. All of the puppies had the instinct to pick up things and carry them around- good signs of future performance and working dogs, and dogs that will interact well with their owners. It was what we were breeding for. Now the nest is empty, but my puppies have good homes and I am very content with that.

9 Weeks

Only 2 puppies left, and daily life is getting much easier, if not totally predictable. My puppy setup is in my downstairs rec room, adjacent to my office. With the nice weather we have had, I have put a screen curtain in the sliding door which allows the dogs to go in and out of the yard as long as I am home. The up side of this is that I can get lots of work done, sometimes. The down side is that lots of puppy treasures get hauled into my house, requiring a bit of extra cleanup. This week, I left the house for the first time for a whole 8 hours. A friend came over to let the puppies out of their pen and check on a plumbing issue for me. While under the sink, the pliars disappeared, stolen by a puppy. When getting up to retrieve the pliars outside the house, he met a puppy dragging the plumbing parts package outside, too. Needless to say, some things take longer when there are puppies around. Also, the puppies got some supervised time in the main part of the house, watching TV (how long has that been?), learning how to use the doggie door, getting new treats from the kitchen, and getting some minor training on manners. Here is a picture of the two puppies left hanging out with Grannie Flojo in a moment of domestic bliss, while I actually had time to read the Sunday newspaper.

I have posted a few photos of the individual puppies on their own pages for those who would like to see a bit better what this combination of parents produced. The conformation of all the puppies is pretty nice, I think, and the spotting is not as dark as you might expect, especially with a darkly marked Mom like Skookum. I hope my experiment will encourage other breeders to consider using good quality patches in their breeding programs, as I think the gene pool is getting rather thin and can use an infusion of excellent genes. My main reason, though, for doing this breeding was to obtain a truly excellent performance dog for myself, as it is very difficult to find Dal breeders who have any focus at all on breeding for this. At Skookum's age, I will not likely breed her again, but I would if both of us had the time. I wish I could take something from each of the three puppies and roll it into one individual, because they all have outstanding personality traits. The temperaments of these puppies, by the way, is excellent. However, in the end, I am keeping the puppy with the highest energy level and inquisitiveness, and probably the worst puppy for the conformation ring. Time will tell if this was the right decision.

8 Weeks

It is absolutely amazing how fast the time has gone by. This time of year I am usually out at shows or trials a weekend or two a month. This year, my time has been devoted to producing a small, but wonderful litter of puppies. I am so pleased with these little guys, and very happy with the wonderful homes they are going to. If anything, these folks might be more passionate about this breed than I am! That is the most rewarding part of the whole process. I know my puppies are going have good lives with their new owners and likewise be part of a family. Here is a family photo of Skookum, the puppies, and Grandma Flojo on their last evening all together. The theme of Skookum's litter is in honor of my late husband of 30 years, Dave. In naming them, I decided to use things that meant something to him. Hence, Boiler Maker was his favorite drink, Cracklin Rosie and Peggy Sue were from a couple of his favorite boogieing songs. If it weren't for Dave, there would be no Skookum. He totally supported my decision to drive all the way to Kansas to breed Flojo to Daddy Newt, and constantly bragged about his "champions". Hey, Dave, we're just getting started!

Seven Weeks

First Time in the Car and it was no big deal. On Monday, I piled all four puppies into one of the adult dog's travel crates and drove to my vet's clinic for initial shots and microchipping. The puppies were not at all mildly bothered by the trip - no carsickness or fear. When I got to the vet's, I put two puppies in each of two pet travel bags, slung them over my shoulders, and headed in to the examination room. I was trying to be careful not to expose them to germs in the entry area. The exam room was nice and clean and I let them out on the floor to explore at the vet's suggestion. Several staff had to come in and visit while we were there. The puppies enjoyed being social butterflies. They were weighed on a baby scale, and hearts, ears, and bites checked, given a quick injection, and then had the microchip inserted. All pups are in good health. We gave them kibble treats to make it a positive experience. The vaccine was the DA2PP, with no Lepto, Bordetella, or Rabies- too much too early for all of those. A second shot will be needed in 4 weeks, rabies at 16 weeks. None of them were the least bit bothered by any of this, except to pile themselves on top of the carry bags for a short nap when they were finished. Because my vet handles the microchip paperwork, I needed to select names for the puppies. They can be changed later if their new owners prefer another name. I was very proud of my little guys.

Bad News on Thursday, the Patched Boy would not eat and seemed very disoriented. On Friday, I forced fed him soft food and water, and then made plans to take him to my vet on Saturday. After visiting the vet, I decided to take him to a Specialist on the same day. They gave him fluids and he started eating again, but he is definitely not well. I picked him up Sunday morning to watch him, but his prognosis is not good. I am very worried about the little guy.

On the plus side, the temperament tests were done on the remaining three puppies on Thursday. My observation of their personalities is pretty close to what the results were. They are all somewhere in the middle, with Red Girl being the most active "bouncy", Blue Boy being a close second, and Yellow Girl being the most calm. I will be sure to go over the results with their new owners. Also, all three were BAER tested on Saturday, with results to be given to the owners, also. I visited way too many veterinarians on Saturday, an experience I sure don't want to repeat. I will try to post some more pictures later when I am able to slow down!

These puppies crack me up!

Here are a couple of candid shots after a very busy play session. The cuddler bed is usually occupied by one of the adult dogs when I am working, but the puppies took it over, creating a classic puppy pile. Later, the two girls decided to hang out with Grannie Flojo, who just couldn't be bothered by the early fireworks going on around- sleep is much more important!

Well, it's a first attempt at a family photo.

We need to work a bit on the "stay" part of the sit exercise, but at least it is coming along.

We will try another shot later when we have a bit more time to spend.

Six Week Photos

The puppies are growing like weeds. Speaking of weeds, this week the puppies ventured out into my overgrown garden, becoming more bold and going farther each time. Being babies, they must put everything possible in their mouths to see what it is. Everyone of them has brought a dead leaf back into the house. They are getting more playful with toys and each other. While out in the yard with them, I have been carrying a pocketful of kibble and calling "Puppy, come!" when they are not looking. Right now, they all come running for a treat out of my hand when I call.

Indoors, I have moved their pen from my office to the rec room which has access to a fenced yard. They are quickly becoming potty trained. Indoors, at least most of the time, they do their business on newspaper; if they have access, they run outdoors to do their business. Also, they are now intermingling with the big dogs. My main concern has been a grouchy old foster dog I have had for awhile, who is male dog aggressive. Even he is accepting the puppies and all 3 adult dals now seem pretty comfortable with the pups. They do not hesitate to give the puppies a low growl and a curled lip if they aren't being civilized. Discipline is a good thing. Here are some photos of the pups on their outdoor adventures, and their subsequent discovery of the soft, cushy doggie couch in the rec room. Friday, they had their initial dose of worming medication.

Next week is a big week for the puppies. On Monday, they will have their initial set of immunizations and be microchipped. Later in the week, they will be temperament tested. On Saturday, they will be hearing tested. At that time, I will be making up my mind as to which puppy I want to keep. It's a tough decision because of all the things I want to do with my pick puppy. I need both good conformation and a very trainable puppy.