C-Myste

Thanks to Tom for bringing out his camera.  I really needed this when I got home from a long end-of-month day at work.

Who let the dogs out?

Katie on a mission.

Come on out, Louie . . .

Puppy. Shoe. Need I say more?

Nate: "I have TEEFS!"

Precious Rosie

Olga-Opal

Poppy has a whole new way to use the exercise bike.

Tiny Cardigan rug in a sun beam

"Because I said so."

Watching the hooman mom clean the house.

Long suffering dog-mom

From Jenny, with the subject line including “PUPPY ENVY”:

Grandpa Klark

Buzz and Klark

Klark is doing great after the whole dental venture – had several teeth pulled – still eager for carrots. It is obvious now that he is nearly completely deaf: the bright side is that he can’t hear explosions/thunder – no sympathy-terror-ridden July 4th, for the first time in years! We started him on Lubrisyn (oral hyaluronic acid which did wonders for my OTTB – dog version of this) and I don’t hear a lot of popping/cracking any more. Rimadyl is off/on for him. His hind is maybe wonkier than it has been these years after his surgery, but he doesn’t seem to care or be in pain.

Buzz is … delightful Buzz, aka Bill’s dog. He’s doing great. You can tell in the picture who we haven’t taught how to beg. (Hint: it’s not the grey one)

In other “nature abhors a vacuum” news – after we had to put our 18 yo cat to sleep in March, we’d been waiting for our next cat to show up. Two weeks ago, a cat showed up, alright, after a neighbor witnessed a man kicking the then-pregnant cat, maliciously. Thus, we took in a young mother cat with four 3-day old kittens (now they are 2 weeks old): they’re quarantined in another room until I can have her/them tested for FLK and feline aids – so far, they’re healthy. Klark and Buzz often plant themselves in front of the door – Klark especially. (You don’t want a kitten, do you? ha hah ahahahhahahaha)

(Stacey: Klark is Flirt’s dad, and Buzz is one of her sons)

I have a couple of updates from the Pilot/Ell kids:

From Rich Janeczk in NJ, here’s Brodie:

Cute boy, huh?

And a new blogger on the block:

You can visit him at home on Scout’s Blog.

I have now remembered what a mess cedar shavings make when they get tracked all over the house from the extra bedroom. Yesterday we went ahead and moved the puppies to the “dog room”. That required some rearrangement of exercise equipment, but who was exercising anyway?

Perhaps they will look up and be inspired to future greatness.

I so don’t want to go to work today. I want to stay home and play with puppies.  Fat, warm, round puppies.

Going-on four weeks, so it’s time to start acting like “big kids”. I first tried setting the timer on the camera and then running to the table, but got mixed results. Thanks to Tom for helping with the chore.

Here's Katie. Pretty girl, and cute as a bug.

Show side. Doesn't she have bright brindle cheeks?

Off side. You can't see here, but her tail is black.

Louie is the "Cartman" of the litter.

Tom was calling him "Bubble Boy."

He's almost too fat to stand up. Pretty, though.

By contrast, Mason is the smallest of the boys.

He's got a decent topline, when I get him stacked.

And his off-side.

Nate is the other biggun' of the bunch.

He loves being held and cuddled.

I think he resembles Mom more than Dad, but that he'll be quite masculine.

Some times puppy pick their own names. She was supposed to be "Opal" . . .

But somehow she has become "Olga".

Very nice girl, in spite of one little thing . . .

And here's little Poppy.

Plainer face, but nice little girl.

Pretty markings otherwise.

You get a bonus shot of this one. Quinne is one of those playdough puppies that you can do anything with.

She keeps telling me that her name is "Elspeth", not "Quinne".

I'm not sure where she came up with that. Maybe she thinks it sounds like a Princess name?

Katie = Wally and Quinne = Hannah?

I really like Rosie. And she's more than just a pretty face.

Not bad for 3-1/2 weeks old.

It's ok: you can chew on me.

Yes, it's "SLIVER" like a bit of wood. Not quite "Silver."

Blue-eyed little boy.

His dad's blue and his mom's black. He's just a "muddy" blue.

Question: How many puppies will fit in a a small box?

Answer: Nine puppies

The puppies have been on cedar chips for the last couple of days. Cedar makes for nice, clean, good-smelling puppies. Once they start eating real food, they make more mess. In another week they will graduate to two 4′ x 4′ puppy boxes in the dog room: one with cedar and one with pads. The puppies quickly learn to keep the pad side clean and potty in the cedar. Our idea this time was to start them with a small box of cedar but that didn’t work out. Hannah was convinced that the small box was the bed, so that’s how we left it.

Speaking of eating: the puppies are still on Hannah though she is getting longer break periods.  They  have been being fed 2x per day, and I’ll increase that to 3x this weekend.  Each meal is now up to a 1 lb chub of ground turkey, 2 scoops of powdered goat milk, and warm water to desired consistency.  They have little teeth now, so will begin getting chewable things soon.

You will notice that the puppy cam is dark at night now.   The camera is still on 24 hours, but I turn the light off at bedtime which is generally around 10 our time.  The other night I forgot to turn on the lamp over them earlier, and the cam is fuzzy in low light.

The puppies are about ready for visitors now.  Jamie and Catherine are coming for the 4th, so they will get play time then for sure.  And by then, they will be able to make their first foray out-of-doors.