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.