The long awaited 'pupdate'!!

Well, I finally got round to snapping some pics of Kitten’s pups last night, they're not great but I was single handed and that's never easy with 5 week old puppies! Tania is coming over next weekend so we will hopefully get some nice stacked pics of them while she's here. I am really pleased with the whole litter, they're lovely little pups and exactly what I would have hoped for from this combination. I have however decided which girl is staying and in light of her very adventurous (slightly kamikaze!) nature she will be called Dora, since she has been nicknamed 'Dora the Explorer'since she was 3 weeks old! lol (that will mean nothing to those of you that don't have young children, nephews, nieces etc).

here she is...

I need to think up some registered names for them all now, am still awaiting inspiration... lol

These pups are all noticeably smaller than I'm used to seeing in my litters and there is a vast difference in size between them and Lori's litter but I am confident they will all grow on and be decent sized adults. While Kitten is obviously on the small side, her parents and the rest of her littermates are not and Sea is big lad! Viggo was also a very small pup and he's grown up into a good sized boy now with plenty of bone and leg (it's just his brain that doesn't seem to be growing quite as fast as the rest of him! ). They're all weaned and eating well, complete kibble, tripe, raw lamb mince, chicken wings and lamb bones...they'll eat anything!

Another thing I've noticed with these, and Lori's pups is that some have developed puppy tear stains, it's not a problem, I have seen this before in other peoples litters and it does of course dissapear very quickly but it's not something I've really had before. I am wondering whether it is linked to the fact that these two litters have been in the house the whole time. Usually I have my pups out on shavings at 4/5 weeks old in a large pen where they have lots of room to play and they stay nice and clean and dry on the shavings (their coats also smell much sweeter, like freshly cut wood!). I can't really see any reason why that would make a difference though? Since the utility room at the new house is easily big enough to accommodate older litters I had intended to have them inside all the time but I am thinking that I may build an outdoor pen in one of the garages for future litters. It does just give them more room and they do definitely stay cleaner.

A busy weekend at home...

Had another busy weekend with one thing and another. Tania came over from Belgium to collect her new puppy from Norman, 'Hummer' is the chocolate and white boy from Oz and Brackens litter.
Archie, Hummer and Drift...3 naughty boys!!

(I'll add some stacked pics of these later)
This is Norman's youngster bred by my friend Laura Cunningham up in Scotland, CorrieDhu Bute

a very gentle and affectionate boy.

Tania also took Sea home with her (very sad face)...very hard to see him go after he has settled in here so well but I'm looking forward to seeing him again at the European Flyball Championships in May.

We also went to Batleys to pick up some more puppy food but ended up spending a fortune on a load of new toys (as usual!), at least the toy box has been replenished after half of their Christmas toys have already been destroyed! I was very careful choosing things that aren't so easy to puncture/shred/disembowl and the new 'oinky' pig is only allowed out for supervised play! lol I'm most impressed with a couple of 'wiggly giggly' minty dental dumbells, they make a fun noise but are sturdy and fairly indestructible, I bought two sizes but of course Squirrel only wants the big one!!

We had lots of visitors to see Lori's pups, they are really developing into great little characters now, you can imagine with 7 boys in the litter there's quite a lot of 'rough-housing' going on now! Tania helped to take some stacked pics of this litter, they're a bit young but it gives some idea of overall body shapes etc. The little red boy number 4 has a blue eye so he is not going to be suitable for the showring but will have a lovely agility home instead, he's a real sweetie. Girl no. 2 is almost the spitting image of Lori at the same age...it's quite uncanny!

Kittens' pups are growing nicely but still too young to be showing any personality. The smallest in the litter, the little 'mini Kitten' girl is the first to open her eyes at 12 days old :)) the others should all follow suit over the next couple of days and they should be up on their feet and getting ready for starting weaning over the next week too.

Have done very little packing at all this weekend! Less than 2 weeks now to D-day!! lol

A wonderful timewaster...

never tire of watcxhing young puppies play and interact with each other...
Here's Loris' lot now 4 weeks old...

Doesn't time fly!

Loris' pups are now 3 weeks old and very active. They are now down in the kitchen in a large pen when there can soak up the sights and sounds of our busy house. They're enjoying playing with their toys and each other. They are also now well on the way to being weaned, eating 3 good meals a day.

Here they are during their pre-breakfast play...


and here they are eating breakfast...

An odd sort of training session...

Didn't do much training last night but did sit around nattering a lot! lol We just did some chute work with Pip, Haze, Squirrel and Sea...they were all really good! Now we have them making the sort of turn we want it's all just about repetition to 'program' that movement into their brains! Sea really is picking it all up very quickly and I think he could be pretty quick, he's got bags and bags of drive but he's easy to handle, he's just so willing!! Bless him! (if he carries on like this I won't be wanting him to go home!! lol). I'll try and get some pics/video of him training soon. We're off down to the Wirral this weekend for a big training day and mass blood sampling session, all the dogs that are being passported for the Europeans next year! Sea should be up and running long before then so that will give us an extra dog to take to Belgium too!

It was also Faith's 2nd birthday yesterday (where does the time go??)...I'm so proud of her...she's come on so well in her agility training with minimal input, had a cracking first season in flyball competition and qualified for Crufts in breed again. I just love her to bits and the prospect of Sea-Faith puppies is positively mouth watering...I can't wait!! She didn't have any cake but she did get some pepperoni pizza (in fact, it was much posher than that....'chorizo and sun dried tomato' no less! lol) although I must admit, we did eat most of it during training (along with dough balls and a rather nice Chardonnay!) ;)

Meet Sea!!

As well as bringing Mouse over, Tania also brought Sea (Pol JCH Lux JCH Pol CH Slo CH Alderaan Seabiscuit), Sea will be staying here for a while where he will be standing at stud and hopefully attending a few shows, we'll see how he takes to flyball training too. He's a really lovely boy, very cuddly with a super laid back temperament but with lots of drive and 'bounce', he's already settling in really well and I'm really looking forward to spending some time with him and also seeing what he produces with my girls. I'm very grateful to Tania and Francine for allowing us to have him stay.

A couple of pics of him taken at the flyball yesterday...

...gorgeous boy!!