Nita x Stormy , from 3 to 5 weeks.

     

  

     

 

Sky x Roy puppies, 2 weeks.

Eyes are open! I always waiting for this moment, and my heart skips a beat when I see a glance through their not completely open yet eyelids and know it will be shortly now when we can look at each other. 

We do take some pictures of puppies to capture this awesome step-stone time.

This is our light boy:

and his darker brother

and our 3 fantastic little ladies

Today was last day of ENS and ECI programs for these little ones. Everybody's favorite scent in ECI was Clove -  it was active and long interaction and following the scent from every puppy and it was exciting to see ,as Clove  is used as one of scents in AKC Scent work trials. Surprisingly , another one is Cypress, and -  all pups  but dark boy  loved to smell a little branch of it.

Desensitization for vibration of nail grinder also was in program last week. Nail care is a big deal in dogs life, and starting it in right time and correctly is important.

Nita X Stormy litter, 3 weeks old.

Today Nita's babies are 3 weeks old , transitional period is over , we are stepping in Socialization period , and it is very big and important step.

A lot of things happened in the short  7 days , from 14 days old to 21 days old. Little ones what  started the week from opening their eyes and  yet crawling around, with very basic , instinctual behaviors - and now, end of week , we see   wobbling on their legs, moving , starting to interact with each other and pay some attention to their humans puppies.

They look almost like dogs now, too.

 ENS and ESI program are finished , but daily individual cuddle sessions ,of course, continue. They all accepting handling very well , and we were able to let them  cuddle with  few new people  ( love the fact that we can use family help on it - as it is safe way to start socialization without the risk for pups health with outside people ).

New experiences were carefully introduced, one in a time - items and bedding/footing  with different structure in the nest box to walk on, to touch and interact with,  little " excursions" to different corners of the house, and even traveling in the big plastic tub as a choice of transportation to another room .

Nest area looks slightly different from mid of  this week - as we started the potty training , nest is still kept small, but now is divided on "sleeping area" and "potty area" . We do see some attempts from pups to go potty in designated place.Good start!

We did hear first bark, too! And one funny growling sound. I think , puppies are totally amused by their own ability to make new sounds - one bark, and everybody is getting very,very quiet , trying to figure out where sound came from. 

We will be setting up extension for the nest box today. Puppies are growing - and so does their little world, until they are ready to be out and make a whole big world their playground. Busy time ahead for us

 

Few days late with announcement of  very exciting litter born. Roy X Sky babies are finally here. DOB 1/24/202. I will post later about why this litter is so special. So far just want to share our joy with you all.

Salt/pepper girl

Black/silver girl

Black/silver girl

Salt/pepper boy

Salt/pepper boy

Healthy ,active, pretty big at birth weight puppies - the first boy was 9.5 oz at birth , Mom Sky had to work  really hard to bring him into this world. Other 4 came quick and easy - they seems could not wait to get out and were not happy with their brother taking his time.:-) But ,hey, in his defense - it is not always easy to be the first to take a step in unknown. Here he is.

By now I can add they all are pretty active,  1 boy and 1 b/s girl being the calmest , another boy somewhat calm ,and s/p and small b/s girl being the squirmiest. :-)

ESI - favorite smell so far is cinnamon-  big boy was neutral to it , small b/s girl did not want to interact with it and turned her nose away(  she did not want to with with other scents we offer so far), but 3 other pups were very interested to smell  ,following it ,and we let them do it for whole 30 seconds.

I can't get enough watching these babies !

First puppies of the new year.

 It is January, 2022.Happy New Year ,everybody.

Here is what's new in our place.

January,7th  Nita (Shazzam of Oz Seven Notes in Black) presented us with our first litter of this year.Active , wiggly ,nice bones and heads puppies, Sired by our Stormy (GCHB CH Shazzam of Oz Solar Storm )

Nita is truly fantastic mother, very natural,and knows how to do things right. Here - pups are fed,cleaned, and it is time to take a break for her in the cool corner,while little ones are on the heating pad. Not sure  if everybody knows, but neonatal puppies can't maintain their body temperature very well, thermoregulation forms as they grow.And if they are chilled- they can't digest any food.So it is very important to keep them warm, but Mom always has to have an "escape zone" from heat. In Nita's case there is nothing in the world will make her to leave her babies for more then 2 minutes or take a rest outside of nursing box. Therefor , this is her way of chilling.:-)

January,13th individual pictures : 

little black princess, and then her 3 salt/pepper brothers

   January,20. 13 days old. Everybody almost triple their birth weight , we have it from 16.9 to 21.6oz now.

 Eyes are open, our girl was the first one to look at us in the morning yesterday, followed by boys.

ENS and ESI programs still performed.Today's scent of eucalyptus in ESI was a big hit.

In the nest box we adding a couple of big toys to challenge puppies movement and stimulate their rapidly growing brains.  You can see on video on a top of post how each pup taking different approach to the problem on his way to milk bar - go around it or climb over.

Tomorrow pups will graduate from Neonatal period to Infant , or Transition, period. More fun ahead! Stay tuned!

Zoe x Eddy , 4 weeks

Our Valentine litter puppies are all grown up and big dogs now. At list they think so. :-)

Using whole diapason of sounds to communicate , started to play, run - in puppy understanding of this word, and enjoy time with their humans.

We are on Socialization period officially. Classical music ( Beethoven Symphony #7 seems to be favorite ) , regular household noises - as we are in living room set up now instead of my bedroom, startling sound response protocol, first challenges and visitors.

Valentine

Valentina

Candy ( yes, she loves to give kisses)

 

Misty x Stormy , 2 weeks old.

2 weeks old, have eyes, love to eat and overall are very cool kids. :-)

Here they all are : boy is on the left , then girls.

Little handsome puppy-boy, very active and can make it from the corner of big nest to Mommy's milk bar in a matter of seconds. Not vocal , but can you see unflinching  determination in his face? 

This girl.... Cooperative, relaxed in hands and sweet. Unless it is about food. Then you see a glance of original wolf instinct coming through .

Big salt/pepper girl. Very cool about life in general, can make herself comfortable in any position, no complains.And surely - opportunistic feeder as well. 

Another salt/pepper girl. Her favorite spot to take a nap is on Mom's neck. Misty try not to move her head when this little one resting, and it is very touching to see.

And here - the big black girl. She is a talker, and make sure you know if she is not pleased with you. Love to be warm and usually hogging a heating pad . She is a Royalty , knows it , and using it.

 

Misty x Stormy babies

Misty 's litter is here! DOB March, 3d.

Delivery itself was perfect. 4 1/2 hours , 5 puppies,  no breech positions , intense contractions , and no complications -  Misty is experienced Mom and know exactly what to do , when to breath , when to push. Though , before she decided it was good day to have her kids born to this world , she also made sure she plays a bit of pregnant Diva , tossing and turning and nesting , and everybody watching that performance few nights on a row. By the time of action we about forgot what does "sleep" mean. :-)

But it all was so worth it!

Pretty big puppies from 7.6oz to 9.3oz.  Active, healthy , and for sure know where milk is. 

Black boy , 2 black girls , 2 salt/pepper girls.

Zoe X Eddy pups, transitional period.

Everything is great in life of Zoe's little ones. We are on Transitional period - the period of development between time puppies open their  eyes and time when ears become open as well.

Candy was first to open eyes at 12 days old. She was the first to try out her little legs as well. Few days later Valentine and Tina followed. 

Here is Candy The Explorer

and Tina , trying to pull sophisticated look,

and handsome Valentine.

By now  their ENS program is finished. We will continue to play touch games and new smell introductions as part of Socialization  games , when all pups will officially be in the new period,called - you ,probably , guessed it right - Socialization period of puppy life.

Right now it is lots of  short handling and cuddles, and just sitting with pups few times daily to give them possibility to imprint on humans smell and start to interact with us when they are ready.

 

What is the world is ENS and ESI and why my puppies need it.

So , as promised, here is a little bit more information about ESI and ENS programs, what we use concurrently for neonatal puppies.

Early Scent Introduction program was developed by Gayle Watkins for the working Retrievers and then widely adopted by breeders of dogs involved in Scent , Field trials and Search work. There are a special protocol of introduction of different groups of scents to puppies from 3 to 16 days of their life.The idea behind it is stimulation  of areas of brain responsible for scent processing.

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears closed . They interacting with this world by smell and touch predominantly in first 2 weeks  period  .Therefor , we have unique possibility to help their brain build more neural connection for scent memories and develop better .

Once a day we introduce  new scent to puppies  and keep record of their reaction to each . Scents items can be natural - like grass in these pictures , cloth , metal , birds feathers ,  etc. Selection of scents for this program is  different then in our Socialization to Scents program what we will  run a bit later with these babies.

Another neonatal program is Early Neurological Stimulation  (ENS) - also known as "Super dog  program" and "Bio-sensor program". Based on  scientific research for military dogs , it was then  popularized by 

Dr. Battaglia . Method applies the series of specially formulated  holding positions or light tactile or thermal interaction , which provide right amount of eustress to stimulate  nervous system . Short, few seconds stimulation shapes neonatal development to give puppies more tolerance to stress , greater immune response and resistance to diseases and more .

It need to be done carefully and with individual approach to each litter and each puppy to avoid an over-stimulation. In case of this Zoe's litter - they were  great candidates for ENS to give them extra bonus in their development : this babies were born naturally , quick and easy, Mommy Zoe has plenty of milk and she is fantastic mother , cleaning and licking her pups , nursing with no problem , pups are gaining weight  right on schedule . There is no stress in their little life, therefor ENS is very beneficial  for them. Here is a couple of short videos for you , if you are interested how it is done.

 

Almost Valentine's Day babies.

 Our first litter of 2021 is here! 

We did not have puppies for awhile , and now truly are enjoying our time with them .

 It was textbook perfect delivery. When we have first-time Mom-to-be in our hands, it always is a bit worrisome as you never know how it will turn . This time we were blessed with easiest , cleanest and fast delivery : 3 pups born in 1 hour 22 minutes. Add to it it was morning time event - no breeder can wish for better.

As it was "almost"  Valentine's Day , February ,13th  - therefor the litter names theme .

We have Valentine , big boy with  the most adorable wrinkled face. Born at 10AM , 7.8oz weight

And there is Valentina -  "Tina" .  Born 10.12AM , 7.5oz . I think I see a lot of her mother in her .

                                        

And then - Candy , because there is no real Valentine's Day without candies , right? 

She was ,actually , born first , 8.50am .7.2oz. She has her Grandfather Chant's smile.

                                               

Babies are 10 days old today , and everything goes very well.  In my next post we will talk about puppies neonatal period , ENS and ESI programs , how these pups are doing with it and more.