Five & Six Weeks

November 20, 2020Leave a comment

Oops, I told you weekly updates. You may have noticed the lack of an update last week. What can I say? 🙂 But here we are today. Better late than never, right?

Duchess’s Irish Setter puppies are now five weeks old, and Mia’s Mini Goldendoodle puppies are six weeks old. They are both fully interactive and playful, and we are having so much fun! Now that they have reached this age, they are almost developmentally the same. Mia’s puppies are just a bit closer to being fully weaned.

On the warmer days, the kids and I spend time outside in the yard playing with the puppies. Puppies just love romping in the grass! They are really enjoying some of the new toys in the play pen, and they never get tired of being snuggled. They have gotten to hear and see some new things- like a fire siren, traffic, my husband’s old tractor, etc. I’ve been focusing on outdoor noises this past week. Next week, I’m going to give them more experience with indoor sounds like vacuuming, TV, music, and other household noises. The more they hear and see now from the safety of a familiar place, the better they will handle frightening things in the future!

The two big things that we have been working on are weaning and potty training.

For the first weeks, momma’s milk gives puppies all the nutrients they need. After that, they begin a slow transition off milk onto solid foods. As puppies come off of momma’s milk, they are no longer receiving her antibodies. They still have some of her immunity, but it fades quickly in the coming weeks, making it much easier for them to pick up parasites, bacteria, viruses, etc. That’s why a quality diet is so important. It makes all the difference in a puppy’s immediate health and ability to ward off illnesses, and it makes a long term difference, because good nutrition helps their bodies to grow and develop well. (Of course, good nutrition does not prevent every disease. But there are a lot of health problems, some major and some minor that really can be prevented by good nutrition and exercise. No different than humans, really!)

I’ll post links to the food and supplements I use at the end of the post!

I feed our dogs and puppies Life’s Abundance dog food. High quality ingredients, especially the proteins, and no questionable ingredients. Dog foods made with lower quality ingredients are very telling in a dog’s health- dull fur, more poop (since the lower quality ingredients aren’t as easily absorbed), more cases of vomiting, diarrhea, and food allergies. Excellent quality dog food may be more expensive, but it prevents so many other things, that’s it’s fully worth the cost!

I also give the puppies NuVet Plus, which is an immune system supplement. I like to begin this once the puppies have been weaned from mom’s milk, because of that loss of immunities. I use supplements as they are needed for my dogs. I use it when they are young ( I recommend from weaning until 2 years old), and during pregnancy and nursing. Those are the times when a dog has the highest nutritional, immune system support needs.

The puppies are LOVING their food, especially the Irish Setters. It’s funny watching them eat. The Mini Goldendoodles carefully chew their food and it takes them several minutes to finish a meal. Meanwhile, the Irish Setters devour their food in blink. I’m sure they barely chew!

Along with weaning, comes deworming, which is done at 3, 5, and 7 weeks old. Both litters have been dewormed twice, and they will receive one more round prior to going home. Keeping on top of parasite control in puppies is so important! Their young immune systems aren’t ready to ward off parasites, so they need regular dewormings for the first few months of their lives.

And for the not so fun part of raising puppies… potty training! I’ll be honest, puppies are messy sometimes! But that’s why I work so hard to get these guys started on potty training and crate training. The better I can get them trained, the less messy poo clean-up I have to do! The Mini Goldendoodles are doing very well. They certainly aren’t perfect, but they have been keeping their bed very clean, and the majority of their pottying has been going outside where it belongs. (Yay!) The Irish Setters are coming along nicely, but they need some more practice. (This is one area where I can see the age difference. In another week, the Irish Setters will have learned a lot more in the potty training arena.)

Next up for the puppies will be vet checks and vaccinations. I’ll do my best to keep my promise of a weekly update for next week. 🙂

Here are the links to the food and supplements that I give the puppies.

Life’s Abundance Small & Medium Breed Puppy Food: https://lifesabundance.com/Category/DogFood.aspx?realname=20552921&cat=0&hdr=&Ath=False&crt=0

NuVet Plus: https://www.nuvetlabs.com/order_new2/nuvet-plus-wafers.asp

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Three & Four Weeks

November 4, 2020Leave a comment

Good afternoon!

All of the puppies continue to grow, and they are all doing very well. Here’s what we are up to this week!

Mia’s puppies are now four weeks old. The one month mark means that we begin the weaning process! This is probably one of the periods of puppy raising that takes the most work. I begin by soaking small amounts of food and giving the puppies one meal a day. Then, I gradually increase to three meals, and then I begin feeding them larger amounts at each meal.

During that time, I also begin allowing momma to be away from her puppies for longer periods of time. Up to this point, momma has been allowed to eat as much as she wants, but I will soon begin to measure and limit her calorie intake. This will encourage her body to slow its milk production. Over-production of milk during weaning can lead to mastitis, so I take a proactive approach in helping mom’s milk supply to dry up in a slow and comfortable way.

The puppies, of course, will be eating Life’s Abundance Small & Medium Breed Puppy Food. The quality ingredients and excellent nutrition works to keep them healthy from the inside out! I have been feeding my dogs and puppies Life’s Abundance for about four years, and I love it! My puppies and adults have always done so well on it, and I was so impressed with the changes I saw in my dogs when we switched to feeding Life’s Abundance several years ago. Seriously, it’s one of the best dog foods you will find.

A few of the things I love the most about this particular kind of food (and I have tried several brands in my years as a breeder) are:

*It contains only high quality proteins. Protein is essential for all bodily functions (brain, heart, muscles, skin, coat, bones, etc), and not all protein is created equally. Life’s Abundance has quality controlled protein sources of chicken meal (which is more nutrient dense than whole chicken) and eggs.

*It is enriched with DHA and contains guarantee probiotics, prebiotic fiber, antioxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, and a complete array of essential vitamins and minerals.

*It hasn’t been sitting on a store shelf for months! Life’s Abundance makes their food in small, weekly batches. This means when I order food, I know it is as fresh as possible, and fresh food is more nutrient rich.

*It has all of the good stuff and none of the bad! No artificial flavors or colors. No corn or wheat or corn/wheat glutens. None. Ever. Corn and wheat are very difficult for dogs to digest, meaning they can irritate the digestive system and provide very little nutritional benefit.

This isn’t just “puppy food.” This is a top-of-the-line, nutritious diet. I have seen the positive effects of good nutrition, and I simply cannot overstate the importance. A healthy momma and healthy puppies begin with a good nutrition. Their bodies’ simply cannot grow and function well if they are not given the high quality nutrients they need.

Here is a picture of Mia’s puppies enjoying one of their first Life’s Abundance meals. Getting them to eat took no encouragement! It was warm and sunny this afternoon, so the puppies got to spend time out in the yard.

And now for Duchess’s puppies! They are three weeks old, and they are quite the lively bunch. I had to move Duchess’s food bowl up on a stool, because her puppies were eating it! They don’t have teeth yet, but they were getting into her bowl and gumming her hard kibble.

The puppies are now getting fairly steady on their feet, and I am beginning to see some tail wagging and hear some little yips and barks. They still sleep a lot, but they are definitely interested in the big world around them!

Today, Duchess and her puppies moved to our outdoor pen. It was time for them to have some more space. The small temporary pen off my kitchen wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Most times, my puppies spend their first 3-5 weeks inside where I can keep a close eye on them. Then, I often move them outside where they have much more space. Our outdoor pen gives them inside and outside access at all times, which greatly helps with potty training! It’s warmly heated in the winter, and cool and ventilated in the summer. (And just for my peace of mine, we have a camera on them all the time, so I can peek in on them during the night or when we are away from home.)

The puppies will still be spending a good bit of time in our house, though, to continue their training. I bring them inside to practice crate training, and to continue their exposure to sounds like vacuum cleaners, children, TV, etc.

Next week, Duchess’s puppies will begin weaning, and Mia’s puppies will be old enough for the waiting families to begin choosing their puppies. Check back then for another update!

Two & Three Weeks

October 27, 2020October 27, 2020Leave a comment

Hello, all! Today Mia’s puppies turn three weeks old, and Duchess’s puppies turn two weeks old. The past weeks have been full of newborn puppy squeaks, puppy naps, snuggles, and lots of growing.

Since this is the first time I have had to balance caring for two litters at the same time, I decided I need to have a schedule for posting pictures and updates. Here’s what I have decided to do:

I will do a weekly blog post with updates about the puppies on Tuesday or Wednesday. When the update is posted, you can also look for updated pictures! However, since taking individual puppy pictures is surprisingly time consuming, I decided to alternate which litter gets updated pictures each week. This will help balance my workload a little better. 🙂 This week, Mia’s puppies get new pictures; and next week, Duchess’s puppies will, and so on. So you can look for a blog post and new pictures on Tuesday or Wednesday each week until the puppies head off to their new homes!

You can see the puppy pictures on the Available Puppies page.

So here we go!

Mia’s puppies have had their eyes open for almost a week now, and they are beginning to test out their unsteady little legs. Their lives have so far been very uneventful- mostly sleeping and eating- but they are spending more time awake and are slowly becoming aware of the sights and sounds around them. I have started playing music near their pen for a couple hours each day. This background noise helps get them acquainted with a variety of different sounds. For now, it’s gentle, quiet music. When they are older, we will practice with some more intense sounds like thunder and fireworks. By exposing the puppies to these potentially frightening sounds at a low volume when the puppies are very young, it gets them more comfortable with the sounds. This will help give them more confidence and less fear when they encounter the sounds in real life.

In the next week, we will begin potty training and weaning, so the busy work will be starting soon! Thus far, I have been changing the bedding, weighing the puppies, and taking care of momma. And, momma, of course, has been fantastic. Mia really is the best mom to her babies!

My children were very excited when the puppies’ eyes finally opened, because that meant they could finally hold them! My daughter does very well with holding them gently, but my little guy needs quite a bit of guidance! But his enthusiasm is bursting at the seams!

Duchess’s puppies have been doing excellent! All six Irish Setter puppies are growing well, and they look beautiful! Their eyes have just peeked open in the last couple of days. It’s interesting to compare the two litters. Although Mia’s puppies are older and have had their eyes open longer, Duchess’s puppies are more active. Even though they are a week younger, they are already walking/crawling/moving as much as the Mini Goldendoodle puppies. This is very normal, since larger breed puppies tend to grow and mature faster, but it’s so interesting to observe side by side.

Since Mia’s puppies are in the specially built whelping box in the basement, Duchess and her puppies are living in a temporary set up right outside my kitchen. It’s been working well, and they are already used to hearing the normal clanging and banging that happens in home with two young children!

And that’s a wrap for this week’s update. Check back next week for new pictures of the Irish Setters and an explanation of the weaning and potty training processes!

Fun Times Ahead!

October 14, 2020Leave a comment

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

As some of you probably saw on social media yesterday, we welcomed a brand new litter of Irish Setters on Tuesday, October 13th, exactly one week after Mia’s puppies were born! We are feeling quite blessed!

You can see updated pictures of Mia’s puppies, and a group shot of Duchess’s puppies on the Available Puppies page.

Duchess safely and very quickly delivered six puppies yesterday afternoon- three boys and three girls. (She even decided to deliver them during my children’s nap time! I couldn’t have planned it more perfectly than that!) So far, momma and babies are all doing well. All of the puppies are nursing well, but not all of them gained weight in the first 24 hours. This is not unusual for the first day, but it does require me to keep a very close eye on the ones who did not gain. Most times, they all start gaining after the second day; but occasionally, there are one or two who need some supplementing to help them get started. Based on the puppies’ behavior, though, I doubt I’ll need to supplement. They are all vigorous and nursing well, so I fully expect to see weight gain by tomorrow.

As for Mia’s puppies, they are fat and happy little guys! Their eyes are still closed, and they spend all their time sleeping or eating. They are growing quickly, and I hope to see some peeking eyes in the next few days. My children are excited, since open eyes means that they can finally hold the puppies!

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

The Promised Announcement!

September 5, 20202 Comments

I hope you are all having a happy Saturday! Last week I promised a blog post with a surprise announcement, and here I am!

Twenty-twenty has been quite the year- to say the very least, but I hope this post finds you all doing well. It was a whirlwind of a summer around here, equal parts fun, frustrating, and exhausting. I’m sure many of you have felt much of the same. Since we didn’t have any litters this summer, I decided it would be a good opportunity to take a break from blogging and just soak up the summer with my family.

I felt like we practically lived out of our camper, as we did a lot of camping trips with family and friends. We have several campgrounds in the state that we like to visit that are dog friendly, and we usually take one or two of the dogs with us. Mia does so well traveling, so she almost always came along, and we occasionally had a new face tagging along, too.

And that brings me to the secret we’ve been keeping!

I’d like you all to meet Nova- the newest member of our crew!

Nova is an Irish Setter from Iron Fire Setters in Colorado. We put a deposit down for a puppy from Iron Fire at the very beginning of the year, before Covid swept through. When the litter was born in February, we were so excited! Then March and April came, and we weren’t sure how we were going to get a puppy all the way from Colorado with everything shut down. However, the details worked out; and in mid-April, this sweet little face showed up in our home!

So we have been working on training this little pistol all summer and getting her adjusted to life in the Martin household. She’s a little firecracker! She keeps the other girls on their toes, and they sometimes get tired of her wild antics. But she has found a dear friend in Timber, my wild old man, who is just tickled pink to have an eager buddy who will race him around the yard all day long.

Nova recently graduated AKC Star Puppy classes, but she certainly has a lot more training to do. She’s such a beautiful girl, though, and I am very excited to add her bloodlines into our puppies. She’s exceptionally good-natured and affectionate and always on the hunt for butterflies to chase. We love our new little setter, and we are enjoying experiencing the puppy stage again- most days anyway. 🙂

Some days when she is overly boisterous, I have to remind myself that it will get easier! The puppy stage is full of ups and downs and new challenges, but it’s always worth it once you have a mature, well-adjusted adult. I look at Duchess, who at five years old, is a well-mannered girl, and I remember how she was a wild and cantankerous young thing, too. When we take her to the cabin with us, she usually roams off leash all weekend and lounges by the campfire with us. She wasn’t nearly that trustworthy when she was only a year old. Then I look at Nova, who can barely keep all four feet on the ground at the same time, and I remind myself that puppies will be puppies!

And in other news, for the first time ever, we are expecting two litters at the same time! We are hoping for a litter from both Mia and Duchess in October, due about a week apart. Neither pregnancy is confirmed yet, but we hope to know within the next few weeks.

I hope you all enjoyed your summer, although I’m sure there were some things that were different. And I hope to have some adorable puppy pictures in another month or two to brighten up your fall!

Mia’s Puppies- 4 Weeks Old

March 25, 2020Leave a comment

One month! It’s great milestone for puppies, and I view it as leaving the newborn puppy stage and entering the puppyhood stage. (See updated puppy pictures here!)

This past week has seen more potty training, puppy teeth beginning to pop out, yips and barks from the puppies’ pen, sound training, and, the most exciting part, weaning!

Weaning

The puppies will begin eating a little bit of softened Life’s Abundance Small & Medium Breed Puppy Food. They start with one small meal a day, and I gradually work them up to three meals a day. I like to wean slowly, over the course of 2.5 weeks, so that it’s gentler on the sensitive puppy tummies. Because of this and the fact that they are on such a great food, I very rarely see any puppy diarrhea or vomiting. The quality ingredients and excellent nutrition works to keep them healthy from the inside out!

A few of the things I love the most about this particular kind of food (and I have tried several brands in my years as a breeder) are:

*It is enriched with DHA and contains guarantee probiotics, prebiotic fiber, antioxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, and a complete array of essential vitamins and minerals.

This isn’t just “puppy food.” This is a top-of-the-line, nutritious diet. I have seen the positive effects of good nutrition, and I simply cannot overstate the importance.

Socializing & Sound Training

In the next weeks, the puppies will get to hear, see, smell, and experience a wide variety of different things both inside our home and outside. This wide base of experiences provides them with a solid base of socializing. Obviously, new families will have to continue this socializing process, but the earlier it’s started, the better! It helps puppies to develop temperaments that are less reactive or fearful and more calm and confident.

So far, they have heard normal household noises while they hang out in my kitchen, and they have also heard a video soundtrack played very quietly of animals, traffic, and household noises. Playing these sounds quietly for them off my phone or computer gives them non-frightening exposure to some noises that may be loud and startling in real life.

And, of course, they puppies get the wonderful experience of being handled by a child. My daughter is old enough to play very well with the puppies. It is so good for puppies to get used to the unpredictable and sometimes rough movements of children, as well as their shrill voices. My son is also very interested in the puppies, but he only gets to touch them briefly with his mama’s help. He is still in the “grasp and pinch” stage of babyhood. So his puppy interactions are closely monitored!

I hope you are all doing very well and staying healthy!

Mia’s Puppies- Three Weeks Old

March 18, 2020March 18, 20204 Comments

In the past, I have very intentionally kept my blog entirely free of politics, current events, etc. However, I am finding it hard to even sit down and begin writing a blog post about my puppies during the COVID-19 situation. I am struggling to find the motivation to write about my dogs when there are so many people being negatively affected by this global crisis. My blogging seems shallow and weak.

However, here I am. I am here because I believe we will get through this. Life must go on. Life WILL go on. I am here, because maybe seeing this post will be a pleasant break from the news. I am here, because maybe you need to be encouraged to live today in FAITH and not FEAR.

So before I dive into my normal blogging, I want to encourage each of you today to have a spirit of faith and remember that even though things seem wildly out of control, God is still in control. He isn’t surprised by anything, and “though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for You are with us.” (Psalm 23:4) Also, I encourage everyone to be responsible and respectful. Please respond kindly; and think of others, not just yourselves. Protect those who are high-risk by implementing the recommended social distancing. We will get through this!

And with that, I guess I’ll begin. Like I said, I barely have the heart to blog about something as light and carefree as puppies, but I will do my best.

To start off, here is a picture of Caramel. I hope she brightens your day! Also note those beautiful yellow flowers peeking out in the background. Forsythia are my favorite kind of flower, because they are bright yellow in March or April, a sign of hope that spring is really here! I cut some today off my bushes that have started blooming beautifully this week. (You can see the rest of the litter here.)

Things have been pretty quiet and peaceful here. Mia’s puppies are three weeks old, and they are doing very well. They are growing, and Mia has been doing a fantastic job. Mocha is the smallest puppy weighing almost 2 pounds, and the rest of the puppies are around 2.5 pounds. Hazelnut is the biggest, weighing in at almost 3 pounds.

Here’s a brief summary of a few of the things I have been doing with the Mia and the puppies.

For Mia:

During the first couple of weeks, care for the momma is exceptionally important. Mia has access to food and fresh water at all times. She also receives a daily supplement. Top-notch, dense nutrition is of the utmost importance for a pregnant and nursing mom. Without the proper nutrients, her milk supply will lack in quality and quantity. If I want healthy, growing puppies, I must be giving momma the very best.

Mia receives Life’s Abundance All Stages Food. This mix provides high-quality ingredients and robust nutrition. It’s made in small batches and tightly quality controlled and tested for safety, so I know each scoop I am giving her is fresh, full of nutrition, and free of unhealthy additives and fillers.

Mia also receives one NuVet Plus wafer each day. This supplement is to help support her immune system and provide an extra boost during a time when her body is working hard to care for puppies. Good quality ingredients is something I really care about. NuVet uses human-grade ingredients made in an FDA-registered facility. Quality ingredients provide better quality nutrition. This supplement is not available in stores and can only be purchased through veterinarians and breeders. (You can purchase it here using my order code 47834.)

For the puppies:

Mia has been giving the puppies 100% of the care they need during these first weeks. I have simply been handling them a little bit each day, and I have been providing clean bedding.

The puppies’ eyes have opened, and that means I have begun potty training. I expanded their pen a little bit to provide them with a space to potty away from where they sleep. Obviously, this will take a few weeks for them to master; but even now, they are beginning to seek out and use this area. Dogs have a natural instinct not to soil the area where they sleep. By providing them with a “potty area,” I am utilizing this natural instinct and building a good foundation for crate and house training.

In the coming weeks, the puppies will begin to be more active and alert, and they will begin exploring their small world. I’m very excited for the warmer weather, because the puppies always enjoy spending time outside. This is one of the reasons I enjoy spring, summer, and fall litters!

Come back next week for another puppy update!

In the meantime, please stay safe. Pray for each other. Remember that God’s grace is sufficient and that He is the master of all. As a closing, here is a line from a song I listened to the other day that spoke to my heart. “Bigger than all my problems. Bigger than all my fears. God is bigger than any mountain that I can or can not see. Bigger than all my questions. Bigger than anything. God is bigger than any mountain that I can or can not see.”

We can rest in God’s hands, and we can be assured of His love and care for us.

Mia’s Puppies- 1 Week Old

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020Leave a comment

It’s been a full last couple of weeks! This is the first time I have had puppies from two litters overlap. Let’s just say, busy busy busy! So here is a very quick update on the little pups around our place.

Mia’s puppies are one week old today, and the last two of Jade’s puppies are eleven weeks old. Beau and Rose are soon heading off, though, and they get to go together to their new home! These two sweet pups are getting so big, and I think they will do very well together. Rose is a bit more mellow and calm. Beau is a social butterfly who thrives on action. They will for sure be a fun pair! Double the trouble, and double the fun!

And in a quiet corner of the house, Mia’s puppies are eating, sleeping, and growing. Mia, as always, is a spectacular mom, and her puppies are thriving.

This litter has such a beautiful variety of colors and coat types! I’m looking forward to watching them grow.

Thanks to all of you who offered name suggestions for this litter on social media last week! There were lots of good ideas, and you will likely see them in some of my next litters! I decided to use a coffee theme for these pups- Caramel, Mocha, Hazelnut, Vanilla, Brewer, Maxwell, and Espresso.

Six (Almost Seven) Weeks Old

February 4, 2020Leave a comment

It’s turning out to be a beautiful spring week! In February… I’m secretly wishing for one big snowstorm, but you certainly won’t find me complaining about this warm weather in the bleak mid-winter.

And there aren’t any complaints from these guys either!

The cutest stage of puppyhood has arrived! We now have nine bouncing, barking little pups! They aren’t as easy to tire out, and they just LOVE to interact! This stage of puppyhood is when we are building the foundation for the rest of their lives, and there are so many important aspects of a healthy, happy, and well-adjusted puppy. There’s nutrition, which directly affects immediate and life-long health. There’s socialization, which determines how a dog reacts and interacts to the things and people around it. There’s training, which affects how a dog behaves in response to its owner. I do my best to give my puppies a solid foundation upon which their new families must continue to build. With a good foundation and the proper continuation of that nutrition, socialization, and training, puppies can grow into happy, healthy, well-behaved members of the family.

In the last couple of weeks, the puppies have gone from fully dependent on Jade to almost fully weaned. It’s a time of big transitions for the little guys. Because the temperatures have been unseasonably warm, the puppies have been able to transition to the outdoor pen. For them, this means twice as much space, outside pottying, fresh air, and more interaction with our other dogs.

The puppies are now eating three meals a day of Life’s Abundance Large Breed Puppy Food, and they are doing so well on it! The high quality and multi-sourced proteins are so very good for young puppies. The large breed puppy food contains chicken meal (much higher protein concentration than whole chicken) and eggs as the two main protein sources. Healthy fats and antioxidants are also very important for growing puppies, as well as DHA, probiotics, prebiotics, and everything else that will help these puppies grow and develop properly.

I cannot overstate how important proper nutrition is for young puppies. All of their bodily systems (immune, musculoskeletal, digestive, neurological, etc.) are immature and still growing. Giving on-point nutrition during this developmental stage is so important! If a puppy is not well-nourished, its body cannot develop properly.

One of the most obvious vulnerabilities of puppies is their immune systems. After weaning from the protective immunities found in mom’s milk, puppies become very vulnerable to bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Most times, the immune system is fully developed and honestly quite hardy by 18-24 months old. However, during that in between time, I find it best to supplement puppies’ immune systems.

Now that the puppies are weaning from mom’s milk, they are starting on NuVet Plus Immune System Supplement. They each get one wafer every day to help bolster their young immune systems, especially as they get ready to head to new homes. The stress of a new home can often make puppies much more susceptible to infections, which is why supplementation can be so beneficial during this time.

As for socializing and training, the puppies are soaring through things with flying colors. Now that they are transitioned to an outdoor pen and have outdoor access for the potty business, we have been 100% accident free for the last half week! (Yay for my laundry!) We are still practicing crate training, but the puppies have been doing well so far. They do cry some, but that’s still to be expected at this age.

They have also gotten to experience some new things, such as seeing and hearing traffic, hearing a fire siren, seeing and hearing normal household sounds, etc. They haven’t been phased by anything yet. They are a very confident and happy-natured litter!

In the next week, the puppies will get a vet check, vaccinations, another round of dewormer, and then… it’s already time for them to head to new homes! There are two super sweet gentlemen available yet, so if you or a friend need a little Golden Irish love for Valentine’s Day, give me a call!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of the puppies and my kiddos enjoying the 60 degree afternoons we have had this week!

This puppy was so proud of finding this big stick!

Believe it or not, this was completely unstaged! This pup crawled up into the back pocket of my stroller to hide from (and then pounce on) siblings.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Four Weeks Old

January 18, 2020January 18, 2020Leave a comment

Happy Saturday!

This week, Jade’s puppies had their one month birthday! We have left the newborn puppy stage behind, and we are diving into the teething and tail wagging stage of puppyhood. Today, I took updated individual pictures of the puppies. This guy here was being a real gem for his picture! You can see the rest of the puppies on the Available Puppies page. I will note, though, that the pictures are a bit deceiving! The puppies of this litter are all very close in color, but the lighting in the pictures makes some of them (like this guy) look deceptively lighter than they really are.

Here are a few of the highlights from the puppies’ daily routine.

Potty training

The puppies started with the Misty Method of potty training about a week and half ago. I gave them access to a corner of the pen with newspaper, and I am working on teaching them to ONLY potty on the paper. In the last two or three days, they have really started to get the idea. There are still a lot of accidents, but I am happy with the progress I’ve seen! I’ve tried a variety of different materials for the potty area in the past, but I always come back to using newspaper, especially for the training period. When the puppies potty on the paper, I lay a clean sheet of newspaper on top. This keeps the area clean, so the puppies aren’t stepping in any messes. However, it keeps the smell. Being able to smell it helps establish in the puppies’ minds where the potty area is! The flip side of this is that I have to keep the play and bed areas smelling clean to remind the puppies NOT to potty there. This means I am changing bedding several times a day, and I usually do one or two loads of puppy laundry every day. Potty training is a lot of work, but it’s worth it when they get it!

Weaning

Four weeks marks the time that I usually begin weaning. This week the puppies got their first taste of solid food, and they didn’t need any encouragement. As soon as their little noses found the food, they all dove right in! The puppies are getting Life’s Abundance Large Breed Puppy Food. As you all know, I LOVE feeding my dogs Life’s Abundance. It contains high-quality proteins, antioxidants, probiotics, prebiotic fibers, vitamins, minerals, Omega-3 fatty acids, and DHA. Of course, it has all of that, but NONE of the unhealthy things like artificial flavors or colors. You won’t find any corn or wheat. Instead of those hard to digest grains, Life’s Abundance uses other nutritious grains like brown rice and oat groats that are better for a dog’s body. Healthy puppies are happy puppies. 🙂

Play time

Now that the puppies are fully mobile, play time is one of the most important aspects of their training. A few times a day, I let the puppies out into the large section of their pen. (They will gradually get more and more time out here as they get better with potty training.) They spend time playing with each other and playing with myself and my children. They have been briefly introduced to my other dogs, but I’ll wait until they are a few weeks older yet before they are allowed to play with the other dogs.

Socializing

The puppies get to spend some time every day upstairs in the kitchen. This gives them time to get used to normal household noises, and this is also when I work on their crate training. The puppies did very well in their first time in the crate. There was one accident but very little whining! I also practice noise desensitizing with them by playing music, sounds of fireworks, thunder, traffic, etc. at a low, background level. This helps get them used to some of those potentially frightening noises. Of course, they get plenty of socialization with people (especially the little kind) every day. 🙂

I hope you all have a great weekend!