Click here to see the Puppies' Growth Chart.  This chart will be updated as often as possible to reflect the puppies' weights.

Click on any thumbnail photo to see a larger version.

June 16 (42 days old):

Tom & Lisa Hill and daughter Lacey came to visit puppies and did a great job of wearing them out for me!    In the center photo, Lisa was looking at a seen-better-days Frisbee, wondering how many years it had been around!  (Photos below)

Before they left, Tom, Lisa & Lacey helped me get a couple wonderful group photos, including Mom Keeper & Grandpa Tyler (until Keeper decided to take off for a run).

Thanks to the Hills for tiring the puppies out so I could update the website.   In the photo below the puppies are zonked out in their outdoor pen.   Notice the streamers hanging & blowing in the wind -- more stimulation & distractions!   

And before the Hills arrived, the mower men came to do the yard.   At first all the puppies were quite startled by the loud noise.   I sat in the x-pen with them to make sure everyone did okay, which they did.   Only Gold girl was upset...everyone else went about their business, either playing, sleeping or eating.   After a few minutes of cuddling, Gold was then happy to go off with her littermates and take a nap.

Time for Reflection

As we get ready to celebrate the puppies' 6-week birthday, it's time for some reflection and observation on puppy raising.   Thanks to a longer-than-usual nap, the puppies are even granting me the time to share the following thoughts:

1) In her infinite wisdom, Mother Nature made puppies totally dependent on their mother when they are born so the breeder has time to fall in love with them before they get older and turn the breeder's life totally upside down.   Raising puppies is a 24/7 job -- and then some!

2) Every dog in the breeder's household (not just the dam) must be obedience trained.   There's no way I could shuttle puppies from one outside play area to another, or from one inside play area to another, if I had to worry about my other dogs getting in the way, stealing puppy toys, eating puppy food, etc.

3) The speed at which puppies develop emotionally and intellectually is phenomenal.  Every day brings increasing inquisitiveness (they're always getting into something new!) and problem solving skills (just when you think you've blockaded an area, they find a way to escape).   The puppy whose screaming results in the desired attention and release from the x-pen when her littermates are still napping, quickly learns to repeat this skill.   Fortunately, the simplest household objects can captivate a puppy's attention for quite a while -- the empty Costco sized box of Milk Bones, for instance, is a great place to play hide and seek.   An empty can with rocks inside is a great object to pounce on, roll around and make noise.   

4) Physical strength and stamina increase, too.   Keeper can hardly get away when all 9 puppies are hooked on to nurse -- they weigh 10 pounds more than she does.   Puppies chewing on shoelaces and pant legs are barely noticeable at 4 weeks of age, but at 6 weeks they're little sharks capable of drawing blood through clothing.   And they learn quite quickly that sweat pants are much more fun to play tug-of-war with than jeans.

5) It's hard to believe than many so-called "breeders" let their puppies go at 6 weeks of age.   I cannot begin to imagine sending these puppies off right now.   There is so much yet to be learned from mom, littermates, me and the other dogs.   There is so much socialization and separation work yet to be done.   Any stress that might come with a new experience is offset by the familiarity and comfort of the pack.   Learning to spend time in a crate is a lot less traumatic when I can take a month or more to crate train the puppies, first in small groups and then individually.   

6) A breeder's life is turned totally upside down for a minimum of 12 weeks when she decides to breed a litter.   Twelve weeks is three months.   Three months is an entire season and one quarter of a year.  If that sounds like a lot, it is.   Yet that time is a small percentage of that puppy's overall life, yet it is critical to giving the puppy the best start to a wonderful life.

June 13 (39 days old):

The puppies traveled with me to Kirkland for a full day of teaching.   They did great -- playing and sleeping in their big x-pen and getting full run of the training center between classes.  They even had a young visitor,  Mr. Robert Dudzik, Jr. (photos below).   Thanks to mom, Christi, for allowing Robert to socialize puppies!

June 12 (38 days old):

Monday was the puppies' first time accompanying me to dog class.   I'm not sure who had more fun -- the puppies or the students!   The photos below are of Zoey Wilson, who spent part of class time socializing puppies for me while mom, Julie, worked their German Shepherd, Taz, in class.

These next two photos demonstrate the literacy of these puppies.   Purple girl is already scanning the yellow pages for pet supplies, while White girl and an unidentified accomplice go through my dog magazines.   Yes, they did succeed in pulling some off the shelves, and no, they were not upset by the magazines that came down on them.   They just chose one they liked (Clean Run) and tried to make off with it!

Yesterday I managed to find time to weigh all the puppies and trim toenails again.   Click here to see how much they've grown.    And each puppy received his/her first little hard biscuit to gnaw on.   It's always funny to watch puppies learn how to chew something hard.

June 10 (36 days old):

Week 6 started with the puppies' second field trip.   This time we went to visit puppy-owner-to-be Alda & Lucky Weaver.   Once again, the puppies were fine in their crates in the van and everyone had a great time at the Weavers!

The puppies meet Alda Weaver.
Many of Alda & Lucky Weaver's neighbors came to see the puppies.   Notice Sooner Rose & Whidbey (Alda's 14 year old Shelties) in the background of the photo on the left (above)...they know something's up!
Everyone spent about an hour outside on the lawn, having lots of visitors.
Inside the house, the puppies had lots of loving attention from several of the Weaver's teenage neighbors.