Long time no see

I've been crazy busy lately.  And it's so stinkin' hot that when I get home all I want to do is stay inside in the air conditioning...not the best place to get puppy pictures.  I finally got a few minutes to take my camera out with them today and get a few photos before it started to rain....ah Florida, the "sunshine state."

First of all, Shaka went to his new home a couple of weeks ago.  They have reported that he is such a good puppy, sleeping most of the night and doing so well with his potty training.  I'm so proud of these puppies and so happy that their families are happy too.

Shaka with his new mom Cathy

And here are a couple photos from today.  The puppies are just adorable.  We are still having so much fun with them but hope Tank and Little Man get their very own homes soon so they can be very, very special to someone.  Their personalities have blossomed and they are very playful.  They are starting to learn little obedience commands like, sit, come, lay down, etc.  They love training time because they get yummy peanut butter dog cookies!

Looks like Big Brown has been eating some dirt, doesn't it?!

Tank found a nice wood chip to chew on.

Handsome Little Man who prefers to be called Manly Man now,

since he not so little.

Big Brown chewing on something again...they love to find 

stuff to chew on outside.

and cutie pie Tank

Still here and having fun

We still have 5 puppies here.  Little Bernadette will be staying forever, but Mr. Fluffy Head, now known as Shaka will be going home this Thursday.  He is a funny little boy who has learned how to climb :)  He was routinely meeting us at the door when we'd get home.  Getting out of the 24" ex-pen was no problem for this little monkey so we had to go to the really tall ones we have for the adult dogs.  Little Man is doing great!  Tank & Big Brown just keep getting more and more handsome.

Handsome Tank

Beautiful Big Brown

Little Man

Shaka loves to play with his mom and his grandmom.  The older girls are so good with the puppies.  Marlene still loves being a mom.  She plays chase with them, tug games and gentle wrestling.

Shaka's new mom sent a sporty new collar for him.  I put it on for a picture, but the other puppies thought it was a new toy and were pulling on it, lol...so it had to come off.  He'll get to wear it on his way home.

If any of the puppies end up being therapy dogs, I can promise they'll have no problems around wheelchairs!  Daniel's wheelchair is a favorite place to play.  Sometimes one will get in the net under the chair while the others pull him around.  I'll try to get a picture of that. This is Shaka.

Starting to go home

This week we had two puppies leave the nest.  First was Spike, now known as Shadow.  He went to a very nice family that lives close by.  I'm so happy that I'll get to see him sometimes and watch him grow up.  He'll have two other dogs to play with, lots of property, a pool and a lake!  Lucky doggie!

The next to leave was little Laia.  Her family lives in Mexico City.  The father of the family and their teenaged daughter flew over to take her home.  Laia was very good at the airport, she wasn't phased by any of it.  Several people came up and asked to hold her which she thought was pretty cool.  The sad thing is I probably won't ever see her again, but she is in an excellent home and they love her already.  They had a Flat Coat previously who lived to be 12 years old. 

I'm getting good reports from both families.  Of course the puppies are a bit lonesome at night, but it sounds like they are being good puppies, their housetraining is going well and they have worked their way into everyone's heart.  Laia's family told me she wanted to get IN the shower with the mom!  Does that sound like a Flat Coat or what?!?

7 1/2 week stacked photos

I hate doing stacked photos!  When my husband & I try to do it we get nothing usable and usually end up bickering!  So, I had my Dalmatian friend, Mary Lynn come over the help me.  She has a way with teaching little puppies how to stand like show dogs.  But, as luck would have it something still went wrong.  It was soooo humid that my camera lens kept fogging up and the majority of my photos were blurry because of it.  These are the ones I could salvage.

Big Brown

Bernadette

(she's staying here with us :)

Mr. Fluffy Head

Laia

Little Man

Spike

Tank

My mentor, Claire Koshar came over today to evaluate the litter for me for the conformation (show dog) potentials.  She was very pleased with the litter.  She said they all had lovely heads, very nice fronts and very good coat.   She especially liked Big Brown and Tank and said she'd have a hard time letting either of those go....we are pretty fond of all of them and will have a very hard time letting any of them go.

Puppies Gone Bad

I had gathered all the poopy shredded paper out of their "potty box" into a garbage bag, left the room for about 10 seconds and came back to this!!  Hmmm...do they look innocent to you??  But could you be mad at those faces??

or this one??  Bernadette pulling on my camera strap...

Or this...Spike chewing on a box...

Definitely not this face...Little Man is always good.

But how about this...Mr Fluffy Head chewing on the rug...

I think not.

Isn't it a good thing puppies are so darned cute...if not, we might not keep having them :)

6 WEEKS OLD!

There have been no major changes this week.  But they just keep getting cuter!  They play so much with each other and by themselves.  They have really started to recognize people and get excited to see them.  When one of us gets home from work they are all over us, wagging their little tails and squealing with excitement.  What a good way to begin our time at home.

Spike getting ready to take a snooze

Tank again.  His white spot is getting much smaller.

A good game of bitey face between Big Brown and Spike.

Little Man is doing so much better.  He is getting bigger and he plays and interacts

with all the puppies.  He's cute as a button!

Grandma Olivia and Brandon watch the puppies play.  Marlene is relaxing

about letting the adult dogs near the puppies.  Just today she

decided it was OK to let Brandon in the house.  He was fascinated

by the puppies and happily wagged his tail when they

all came around him.  Brandon is such a loving, sweet dog.

Little Man looking for leftovers

I bought this nice, $30 puppy pee pan thinking it would be a nice

way to help housetrain the puppies....well, you can see how well

that idea is going, lol!

Bernadette

Leia. She has some big news to share,

She is going to live with a lovely family in Mexico City.

They had a Flat Coat for 12 years and have a place in their hearts to fill

and I know she will love them too.  She is very snuggly and affectionate, just like her mom

They love the box that our new ex-pen came in.  I was 

going to throw it out, but they like to play on it so much.

Mr. Fluffy Head

A Busy Day

The pups had several visitors today.  First was a family that will be buying one of the boy puppies and then their "other" grandma (Andy's owner).  They also took their first trip outside which got mixed reviews.  It was very, very hot and a bit windy.  Some seemed to like the outdoors and others were hot and wanted to get in the shade or snuggle with us out of the wind  A couple of them  made pees and poops while they were out...good puppies!  Marlene stayed close by the whole time.  Since there are a lot of hawks here we only took out one puppy for each person and kept them near by.  They're still so little we didn't want to chance anything.  Marlene was with us and very watchful of the whole situation.  One of the puppies wanted to nurse outside and he got a scolding (first time ever for that).  We figured that Marlene knew it could be a venerable place and not a good place to get comfy and nurse.  She is such a good mom, very wolf like in her behaviors.  At the end of the day I don't know who was more tired, the puppies or me!?!  I fell asleep for 2 hours on the couch!

"Mr. Fluffy Head"

They really interact a lot now, playing with toys and each other.  Marlene has started to play with them a bit too.  The puppies are loving their real food, but still nurse quite often.  Marlene is starting to look a bit worn out, her coat is getting sparse and we have to feed her tons to keep her weight up.  She is putting everything she has into feeding the puppies.

"Big Brown" or UPS as he was called today

"Mr. Fluffy Head" 

Notice the green dab of nail polish?  I needed a way to tell the black boys

apart when I saw them from a distance.  I don't like collars of any kind for 

constant wear on or around young dogs, we had a very scary incident with a collar once

...won't go into that here, but puppy families will hear about it!

"Spike"

"Tunnel Butt" (actually I think this was the black girl)

"Mini Me"

The "booby bar" is getting very crowded these days

"Tank"

"Bernadette"

 A big bitey face game

Marlene & Mini Me

a sleepy "Mini Me"

a verrrrryyyy sleepy "Spike"

named not for his personality, but his dab of nail polish often sticks up

like a spike on his back.

and last but not least, "Little Man," who is doing very well. 

He's getting fat and starting to

grow more each day.  He was among the ones who showed great interest in the duck wing 

his Grandma Liz brought for the puppies and he picked up the tiny puppy bumper

and carried it today.  After talking with other breeders, our hunch is that

he was perhaps conceived on a later date than the rest

of the puppies.  I'm not sure if that's possible, I'll have to 

research it, but that seems to make sense.  He is very vigorous and is

growing, but very slowly and he seems to be less mature than the

other puppies...but again, very healthy and strong. And oh so sweet!  

He will stay here a few extra weeks before deciding on a home for him.

I want to make sure he is doing well and gets a clean bill of

health from the vets before going to a family.