Bad Dogs!

Do I ever have pictures today!

Why the title? Because the pups are at "that age". They completely trashed the pen last night, there was water everywhere this morning, they dumped the litter box and then rolled in the mess. Bath time again tomorrow!

I woke up at 5:30 am this morning to loud barking, howling and general mayhem. Looking for the source I discovered little Black Girl running round the house. She has climbed out of the pen and her littermates were alerting the household of the escape.

I put her back in the pen and within minutes she was out again, followed by Yellow Girl. I gave them their breakfast hoping maybe they'd all go back to sleep again after they ate and "forget" they knew how to climb out. But as soon as they finished, Black and Yellow were on the loose again.

Crate Dogs
The decision was made to change the ex-pen around and give it higher sides. We decided to wait until the pups could go out on the deck to do that, so the two escape artists were confined to a crate for several hours. They were surprisingly good!



Yard Dogs

The pups have spent a lot of time outside on the deck and have been out into the dirt street several times with a few wanderings off the side of the road into the yard. But today they got their first chance to run loose in the yard with Mama Raven.


The LOVED it! I have never seen puppies take to a new situation so quickly. There was no hesitating at the bottom of the steps, no desire to stick close to the house, they hit the grass running....


Purple and Red enjoyed checking out the flowers...


Raven watches over her kids proudly...


Black and Yellow had a picnic....



Deck Dogs

After a lengthy romp in the yard, they went back on the the deck (Yellow climbed the steps by herself!!) for a nap and lunch.





Meanwhile their pen has been made taller to prevent further escapes. And I think I'm going to only let them have the water bowl for short periods of time...SUPERVISED short periods of time! And I'm goign to start leaving the light over the pen off at night. Maybe they'll get the idea that they are supposed to sleep when it's dark.

Pigs Not Puppies!

The puppies are now eating 4+ cups of food 3 times a day.


Clockwise from Black Girl on the left...

Black Girl, Purple Boy, Green Boy, Red Boy, Yellow Girl with a spot of sunshine on her butt!

Decisions Decisions

Those of you checking in on the puppies via the Raven-cam tonight might notice the puppies are sporting extra colored spots tonight. This has to do with the entry I made earlier today.

In the comments, Danielle asked me to fill everyone in on which pups I'm trying to decide between. I was serious when I said I have NO IDEA yet.

So this evening before dinner my husband and I took all the pups outside to the street (we live on a rural dirt courtyard with only three houses) so we could really see them running around. Since, as I have mentioned before, these pups all really look a lot alike I wanted to mark them clearly so that if I saw a really good front or nice sidegait I'd know which puppy I was looking at. So they all got "painted up" on their heads, butts and each side. They looked like little go-karts running around out there. (Yes I SHOULD have gotten pictures....) For a change it was very easy to know who was whatever direction they were headed!

Did this little exercise help my decision making process? A little. Not much.

According to Pat Hastings, I should not be looking at them (as far as choosing a puppy goes) for another 5 days ("8 weeks" she says, "Only at 8 weeks!!") but we all do it. And even then she says it's all about structure, what you feel, not what you see.

Here's the situation... I think I probably should keep a boy. But anyone who knows me or has visited my website knows I LOVE THE GIRLS!!

There is at least one thing that each puppy has that is better than any of the others. That is what is making this SO HARD!

Stay tuned and watch me suffer over the next two weeks....

ARGHHHHH!!!!!

I am suffering here, really suffering.

I have NO IDEA which puppy I'm keeping.

This is so HARD!

I'm not even sure if I'm keeping a boy or a girl.

7 Weeks

I was looking back at the pictures of Aliy's pups at 7 weeks... these guys don't look anything like they did... but notice how similar the ear sets look!

(hmmmmm..... do you think that royal blue UnderArmor shirt is one of my husband's favorites??)

Bath Day

The poor puppies were traumatized today.

They got baths.

Here's Red Boy trying to escape the sink. Sorry for the bad picture, my husband for got to turn onthe flash....


Don't they look nice now that they are all cleaned up?

Another Ear Up!

As of this morning Yellow Girl has an ear up!

To those of you who are dedicated viewers of the Raven-cam during the night, my apologies for the lack of light. While I was gone my husband did not put the light on each evening, next weekend I'll remind him when I call in the evening!

6 Weeks Old

A Big Day For Little Dogs

The puppies entertained visitors this afternoon.... my friend Mary Jo and her daughter Lindsey came down to see the pups. Mary Jo and Lindsey own daddy-dog Riggs so they have a special interest in these guys.

We took them outside and they got their first chance to run around on dirt. They loved it! They also got VERY tired which accounts for the doped-up look some of them have in the pictures above.

Mary Jo confirmed that it is not my imagination when I say these pups are exceptionally consistent. Kind of a surprise because although both Raven and Riggs are part Polar Mist, it really is a bit of an outcross. It's still too early to make any decisions on which puppies will go to what homes but we are starting to get a feel for their personalities. The next few weeks are going to fly by.....

Gone Again

Kelly, Babe, Kira and I are hitting the road again bright and early tomorrow morning for Cortez, Colorado so no more pupdates until next Monday. As always the Raven-Cam will be up while we are gone.

They GET It!

Those of you who read here regularly, or who watch the Raven-Cam, know that the puppies got a litter box in their pen about a week ago. It is a plastic box which is actually sold as a doggie litter box. It is very similar in shape to the bottom half of a plastic dog kennel. I fill it with a commercial puppy litter called Second Nature Litter. This is the second litter I have used this with and I continue to be amazed.

When I first put it in they do nothing but play in it. Aliy's kids even ate a lot of it, to the point where several made themselves throw up the first day it was in the pen. I almost removed it at that point. I'm glad I didn't.

The next stage is where instead of just playing in it, they occasionally go potty in it.

And now we are at Stage 3... where they almost always use it when they have to go. I woke up this morning and the litter box had about 6 poops in it and there was no trace of anything on the floor!! Yeah!!!

How do they figure this out??? One of the many mysteries of puppyhood.

6 week (can you believe it) portraits will be posted later today!!

Deck Dogs

The puppies LOVE being out on the deck all day!









I'm still trying to get a good picture of Black Girl with her ears up. I took about 30 pictures earlier today and these are the only ones that were not fuzzy blurs of movement!

And The Winner Is......

Black Girl!!

What did she win?

The Ears Up First contest. According to my husband when he got up Sunday morning one ear was up. I'll have a picture tomorrow!

It was hard being away from the puppies all weekend. I was really surprised how excited they were to see me last night when I got in about 2 AM. They jumped all over me and cried and howled - it was just precious. I have to say this litter is EXTREMELY people oriented. I've alway had very friendly puppies, but these guys are over the top. But then, Mama Raven is the original love sponge. This is a dog who would climb onto strangers laps at dog shows....

The puppies spent the day on the deck and this afternoon I took a break from work and just went out and sat on the deck with them. They swarmed all over me crawling in my lap and just licking and pawing at me. Of course there was some amount of chewing on my pants, t-shirt and shoes, but most of their attention was on ME.

The Name Game

Time to start thinking of names.... as always I never require the people who get one of my puppies to name the puppy anything specific, but I always like to suggest a theme... Boom'rs litter was the Tony Hillerman litter with 3 of the 5 puppies named after Hillerman books. Kachina's litter was the sled race litter, with all 6 puppies named after sled races. Aliy's litter was the female athlete litter with all 4 girls named after great female sports stars.

Raven's litter is the "Beyond" litter. Grandmother Reba's name is CH T-Snow Star's Above and Beyond BIS. Daddy Riggs is CH T-Snow Star's Tak'n It Beyond BISS. I thought it would be fun to put "Beyond" in the puppies names to carry on the tradition. I have two names picked out for my puppy, one for if I keep a boy and one for if I keep a girl.

My two names are... for a boy: WhiteStar's Beyond Thunderdome - call name Max (get it... daddy Riggs is named after the Mel Gibson character in the Lethal Weapon movies... Beyond Thunderdome and Mad Max are other Mel Gibson movies....)

For a girl: WhiteStar's One Step Beyond - call name Rio. In a rare move for me there is absolutely NO connection between the registered name and the call name..... I just really wanted to have a name starting with "R" in honor of mama Raven and daddy Riggs.

Now I need some other suggestions to give to new owners. Any ideas?

Gone Until Monday....

Babe, Kira, Kelly and I are heading to New Mexico tomorrow morning, so no new pupdates for a few days. My husband gets to watch the other dogs and take care of the puppies, which should be okay with Raven since she is such a "daddy's girl" anyway!

Hopefully the Raven-Cam will stay up and operational thru the weekend!

5 Weeks Old

The 5 week birthday always takes me by surprise. Suddenly I realize the pups will be gone in just a few weeks. that more than half the time they wil spend with me is done with. It hardly seems possible.





Raven seems to enjoy spending time with the pups now that they want to do more than just nurse.

Puppy Kisses....

... from Raven and the kids to Felicia who made That's So Raven her spotlight blog today!

Just Carrying on a Family Tradition.....

Okay, so I've just turned off the T.V. after watching the season finale of The Amazing Race. Grandma Kachina, Mama Raven, Cousin Babe, Aunt Kelly and Kira are outside.

Suddenly Ilsa, who had been sitting quietly at my feet jumps up and goes nuts, barking, howling and crying. This signals to me that *something* is happening outside.

I open the door and call the girls to come in.

Nothing.

I call again, still no sign of anyone. I get the flashlight and I can see them way out on the far side of the yard. It doesn't look good and in an instant I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

***flashback to April of 2000***

Kachina steals a bagel off the kitchen counter. She eats half but throws the other half into the ex-pen for her five week old puppies.

***flashback to August of 2004***

Kachina's daughter Aliy catches a ground squirrel and brings it to her 5 week old puppies. She does it again when they are 8 weeks old.

Yes, I KNOW that they are hunting. I know they caught something. And they don't even have to get all they way to the house before I know what it is.

A skunk.

Both Grandma Kachina and Mama Raven are covered in skunk juice. Kelly, Kira and Babe only smell a little bit. Kachina and Raven smell a lot.

Luckily (for me, not the skunk) my husband (who went out to check) says it was a baby skunk. Apparently baby skunk juice is neither as pungent nor does it resist washing as much as adult skunk juice.

I know this because after bathing Raven (at 10:30 at night) with just regular dog shampoo, she no longer smells. I had to bathe her. Not only did she really smell, but you could actually SEE the skunk juice on her fur and all over her face. No way I wanted the puppies anywhere near her much less nursing off her until she was clean.

Kachina still stinks and has been banned from the bedroom until she can get a bath in the morning. I hope that marinating in the skunk juice over night does not cause it to "stick" better. I hope that when Kira, Babe and Kelly are bathed, the smell all comes off them. I'm sure the friends that I'm sharing grooming space at the dog show this weekend hope so too.

I've heard stories that when the puppies great great grandma Glacie had her puppies, she caught a mouse and tried to give it to her very young puppies.... so I should have expected this... Raven is just carrying on a family tradition...

A New Play Pen for the Puppies

The puppies are no longer living in a whelping box!

I'm going to be going away this weekend and my husband will be taking care of the puppies. He's been great about helping out with this litter this whole time, but having him watch them this weekend AND the following four weekends is a BIG favor to ask, so I'm trying to make things as easy for him as possible.

One of the things that makes life easier is setting the pups up in the ex-pen instead of the whelping box. So I did that this morning:


The pen is bigger than the whelping box, and the sides are higher, so I had to move the Raven-Cam to get better view. You can't see the whole pen but it's not too bad:


View from the Raven-Cam at 3:11 PM MT
While I set up the ex-pen the pups spent time out on the deck. They cornered Ravan as she came in from the yard and, good mom that she is, she let them nurse for about 5 minutes while she just stood still:


Then it was nap time:



Birthday portraits tomorrow!

Big Happenings for Little Puppies!

So what's new in the lives of the puppies?

They are now eating dry food although Raven is still nursing them. I haven't figured out what her schedule is... she seems to ignore them for hours and hours at a time then will feed them three times in two hours.


They now have a litter box in their whelping box. Do they know what it's for. Not really....


They no longer have any bedding in the whelping box. I'd have liked to have kept it in a few days more but they started pulling it up yesterday so out it goes.

They spent over an hour today out on the deck for the first time. That pretty much tired them out...




The next Big Change will be replacing the whelping box with an ex-pen. I'll probably do that about Wednesday or so when they are 5 weeks old.

The Great Escape

We had our first escape from the whelping box this morning.

Green Boy went over the wall twice.

At that point I put the side up and it was up the rest of the day to prevent further escapes. It has been down the last several hours and no further escapes, maybe he's forgotten he knows how to climb?

4 Weeks Old!!

Carolyn asked about the puppies personalities.... we are indeed starting to see some distinct traits. Over all, these are VERY quiet puppies compared to other litters I have had. I'll probably be sorry I said that in a week or two :)

Like all litters some of the puppies seem to develop certain traits that are easier to spot than others. For now, Red Boy is "energizer bunny" in the litter, always on the go, last to fall asleep, first to wake up and always bugging his littermates to play. (Mike R - I bet he will be the "Bonnie" in this litter!)

Yellow Girl reminds me of her Aunt Aliy (who was also the Yellow Girl in her litter) she seems to watch things a lot, taking it all in before making her move. Aunt Aliy is still like that today.

Green Boy is the eye-catcher in the litter - when you are watching the puppies play, and one seems to catch your eye for some reason, more often than not it will be Green. Not just his looks catch your eye but also the way he stands and carries himself.

Purple Boy is the "shyest" of the puppies. New things tend to worry him a bit and when picked up he will cling to your arm. He is also the most affectionate of the puppies, he really enjoys being held and cuddled.

Black Girl seems pretty fearless when exposed to new environments. When she experienced out ceramic tile kitchen floor for the first time she just acted as if it were nothing new, while all the other puppies were a little more hesitant.

As the days go by I'm sure their personalities will really start to emerge so much so that even watchers of the Raven-Cam will start to get a sense of them. I'll try to keep their colored spots nice and bright so you can tell who is who!