Wednesday 31 August 2011

Happy Birthday Ilo and the beach!

This week has been incredibly frenetic with a stream of puppy visitors - must be the end of the school holidays methinks as numerous parents have guided their children to the house. Its all been great for the pups and my thanks to the Hopkins' boys who have really helped out with socialising the brood.

Thursday saw an eventful trip for KC/BVA eye screening and the pups all passed with flying colours :-) - it was a long day in the crate for them and a lot of travelling and most were sick, but subsequent car trips have been both quiet and dry ;-)

Carol (Heikki's owner) and Lou came for the weekend and brought the puppy buggy. This meant we could start external socialisation in earnest and they have all been around Rye, crossed the level crossing several times and visited the allotment. Lou you are buggy-pusher extraordinaire :-) - oh, and kitchen maid too, while Carol busied herself with nails and furry coats - thank you both so much for all your help.

Sunday was Carol and Ilo's birthday and we took the opportunity to use the buggy to visit the lovely clean washed sand at receding tide with the pups and Ilo and we even managed a video of them all in action:






The pups met their first Rastafarians on the beach and were kept most amused by the dreadlocks. They have also been to play around various gardens without dogs and learnt how to dig (sorry guys!) and run up and roll down mounds of earth and get used to uneven surfaces:




Their food experimentation has continued with the introduction of ox heart, chicken and liver to the diet plus more produce straight from the allotment, and as you will see from the shots on the Muohta page, coats are coming along nicely. Carol and I did our best with standing and sitting shots but the little sweeties are less cooperative subjects now....even the official photographer had trouble yesterday...they are not still for an instant! Six week updates on Muohta page :-)

Tuesday 23 August 2011

More visitors and ...

Its halfway through week five and the strain is beginning to tell, mainly as the weather has been horrid and the pups are inside for most of the day...which has made their visitors even more special - and helpful. Today's visitors had to help me with worming. Guess who complained the most? (answers on a postcard LOL) Suffice to say, I am now covered in Panacur paste...

Dreaming
Jacob and Ollie helping with worming


Rellie and Josh in a cleanish pen(!)
When Liz, Rell and Josh came yesterday, there was just time to take some profile and headshots before they had to head off, all is revealed on the Muohta litter page...

Monday 22 August 2011

Real (little) dogs now

It is practically impossible for me to keep up with the daily changes in this litter - they are developing very rapidly and two are tipping the 3kg mark at 5 weeks already.

Ilo is seriously stalling at more than a comforting midnight nightcap for them all as the teeth are fully erupted and sharp as needles. Chewing has started in earnest and as all tummies seem to have coped well with the weaning, I have upped the ante this week and added raw carrots, cabbage leaves and runner beans from the allotment for them to chew on. These have caused much fun and Ilo is jumping in and out of the pen seeking the remainder - partly as I'm cutting back on her lactating diet steadily and her brain is still saying 'more please'.

Socialising has continued apace with trips to meet Liz and Chris' cat Mango and more fun and games with Emma and Andy's sons, Nicholas and Josh:

Just about sitting still for long enough
 Andrie, Annemarie and Tania (sans Magic and Norppa, sadly) arrived midweek and Ilo and I joined them for a picnic on the beach - Ilo's and my first decent walk for weeks  - and boy, did we both appreciate it.  Andrie took some fab shots as always and the following put mine to shame:

At the trough

Quite nice that cottage cheese and kibble

I'm handsome, eh?

Zoomies
 
Six years since Annemarie's last puppy fix
 
Wrestling

Rugby

Pensive

Helping tidy up

Daddy's white collar

Manure smells grrrrreat!

Plotting something

More zoomies
 
Thank you so much Andrie!


I have discovered to my cost, the more stimulation they receive, the more they demand. Brulee, Blaze and Tips demand alot of everything, alot of the time! My near neighbours have been exceptionally tolerant. Stripe, Sox and V are quieter (at the moment) but every bit as curious and playful. I am immensely proud of how they are all flourishing and am amazed at how rapidly they are gaining weight. Due to so many visitors this week and a lovely judging appointment yesterday, the formal shots will be updated in a couple of days. If Liz and Rell don't get here as planned the chimney sweep will be helping me round them up.  Check the Muohta page from Tuesday!  Here is just one more pic of Thomas and Sophie with the babes while their father was sorting out the chimney....


Thursday 18 August 2011

The great escape....

There has been criticism of this blog on my FB profile. Not enough pics apparently, according to Liz. Well, this should help a little. Now, we know FL are bright, forward pups, but this is what I came down to this morning:
So this is the way out



This is a premium DogHealth bolt together puppy pen for vigorous litters. The bolts are held together with nuts and tightened with a key. I had noticed them chewing away at the fixings but thought nothing of it. Luckily the large pile of papers prevented more exiting with ease. Brulee was found in the middle of the sitting room floor with a fir cone (safer than the computer leads I suppose).  Now all the bolts have been turned around, and will be checked daily....moments later all was calm  and much later on in the morning when more visitors arrived, they were still crashed out after all the excitement:

I'm an angel really, this halo has just slipped a tad

Monday 15 August 2011

Lots and lots of visitors!

Its really hard to imagine that we are more than halfway through the first stage of this litter's life. In four more weeks they will have all four paws firmly situated in their new homes. With that in mind - the pups met some of their potential new owners this weekend: the remainder will be visiting them during the course of this week. I can say they enjoyed the attention and fuss as they have cranked up the volume and activity today! Although tired from answering questions/offering advice, I thoroughly enjoyed the visits - and hope you did too :-)
I am on semi-permanent bluebottle alert, which involves regular application of disinfectant, shutting doors repeatedly and pacing up and down for much of the day with a tennis racquet shaped electric fly swat. Roll on OCD, all the ingredients are there already.
Ilo is slowly weaning the pups quite naturally and I am stepping in to substitute with meals that are guzzled in seconds. Their teeth are getting sharper by the moment and jaw pressure is increasing, won't be long before we try some raw carrots and runner beans. Some real play fights going on now, the girls get their own back by biting the boys' equipment while they sleep and they have started to dance backwards - love it!
I have been poor with photos this week but once again, one of my visitors brought a super machine so head to Muohta page for shots and weights....thank you David Greenfield :-)

Sunday 7 August 2011

Bye-bye whelping box, hello world!

What a wonderful week...the pups have continued on their rapid developmental journey and I have finally made it to a half-century...there is no nicer way to mark such a milestone than with puppy watching!

Weaning introduction has continued this week with salmon mousse, raw lamb and beef mince and scrambled egg...all eaten with gusto, if not finesse. There is a good deal of stomping around and dancing backwards through the food, plus Tipps and Blaze have found out they can bark!

The litter have had plenty of visitors this week and handling has begun, and all have enjoyed their first experience of the real wide world.


Mock wrestling and exploring everything in sight is all part of the experience as this short video shows:


They are all moving so fast now that photography is proving harder by the minute,  but luckily Susanne visited for the day on Saturday and helped with the official week 3 photies...the results and the weights are as ever, on the Muohta page.


Monday 1 August 2011

Eyes, teeth, sitting up and worming

Its all happening this week at a rate of knots. The first to open her eyes at 9 days was the little cream girl (AKA Brûlée) and the first to sit up and demand seconds was the first born male (AKA Tips). It has been a battle between Tips and the fourth born girl (AKA Blaze) as to who would try to pile on the weight fastest.  The third born girl (AKA Sox) and the second boy (AKA Stripe) seem to love having their nails clipped - everyone else put up a fair old battle so I had to resort to mummification in a handy towel,  just as is frequently required when giving a cat a pill. The nails are tiny and my goodness its hard not to get it wrong and clip the quick

All tolerated the Panacur worming treatment well.  The first born girl (AKA V) is the most adept by far at eating the salmon mousse and soaked puppy kibble  - something we tried today for the first time as the pups are hungry in between feed sessions, especially in the mornings. What a mess, and most wound up eating more from each other than the plate...Ilo continues to be a fab Mum, and has, after a slow start, realised the joy of salmon mousse-impregnated puppy fur.

They are beginning to mouth and play bite with tiny emerging puppy teeth this week, although they are not too serious about it yet and still appear slightly inebriated.

The markings are really coming out now and I have put some 2 week headshots (huge thanks to Rob and Karen Goldthorpe) with weights and names at last(!) on the Muohta page  - enjoy.