3 weeks, 1 day (April 15)

Field trips

We left bright and early for Parque España this morning to catch up on dog socialization!

Meeting new dogs

Green caught up on his snuffle deficit: last week, he got to sniff 6 different dogs while everyone else got 7. This morning, he got THREE! For everyone else, I’m counting two: one official helper and one unofficial one each.

Our official helper Pulque (named after a delicious fermented drink.)

For the first time, all puppies voluntarily left their carrier, partly to crawl on me and partly to explore a little, and peed outside! Look at Purple’s courage and the waggy tail as he observes the other dogs! I LOVE that puppies this age are physiologically unable to experience fear. It makes all the difference between needing to protect your dog and making sure you go at their pace (once you take a puppy home with you, this is going to be the case) and just letting them do their thing! Green, not on this video, ventured even further and I had to get him back to make sure he was within arm’s reach in case I needed to keep a rambunctious dog from getting close.

The video below is NOT a dog park in case you were wondering. This is just a Mexico City park on a weekday morning, where people take their dogs before work. There is a dog park too, but this isn’t it – this is the human part of the park. It’s a city of dogs!

The puppies didn’t go to sleep right away when we got home and they had eaten (first goat milk, then Game’s milk.) For the first time, they stayed up a little and played/Black explored the upside-down metal bowl I had put in the blanket fort. They went to sleep soon enough after, but this is an interesting change. I suspect it’s partly because today, we left and got back even earlier (it was significantly cooler than yesterday because of the hour, and overall, the day has started out a bit cooler so far) and partly because they’re another day older.

Human visitors

A few weeks from now, Black or Blue will be going home with Irving!

Tonight, Irving – who will get one of the girls – came by and everyone got held by a new human. Irving recently lost his heart dog. Whether it’s Black or Blue who’ll go to him – they will have a very active life running and biking, be a go-everywhere city dog just like Mina used to be, sleep in Irving’s bed, live an off-leash life, play lots and hardly be home alone. Mina was one very special dog. Remembering her still brings tears to Irving’s eyes. There aren’t enough tears in the world for her. A new puppy won’t replace her – no one ever will. But whoever follows in her pawprints will go to exactly the kind of home I want for them. Not only that – they will make one human VERY happy. That human feels like he was waiting for THEM. You know how your gut tells you something is right? This is one of these things for both of us. Irving was turned down before because he couldn’t afford the crazy price tag on a Belgian puppy. That other puppy missed out big time. It’s a sad world in which we sell living beings.

The senses

I removed the concrete rock from the blanket fort, but let in the glass surface (scale). I added the oven grid thing (whatever this is called) and an upside down metal bowl. Black has already taken an interest in the bowl, and several puppies have walked across the metal grid without caring. I’ll move the mirror to a different spot a little later today: mirrors will just keep showing up in unexpected places.

We heard traffic noises and dogs barking at the park, and we saw lots of different dogs running and people hanging out. People talked to me, too – something else I love for the puppies to experience while they are young. I know a few adult dogs who are fine as long as their humans don’t stop to have a conversation with someone. Hopefully, the rebels are going to learn to take this in stride!

In the evening, they heard Chai banging her wobbler against the tile walls of the bathroom. Red was curious and walked up to the door!

They’ve been excellent goat-milk eaters. They don’t finish the tray, but everyone eats a bit by now. Tomorrow morning, I’ll start adding a small amount of soaked puppy kibble. They will all keep having access to Game for as long as she and the puppies want; I just want to be able to soon feed them on adventures even when Game isn’t around, which is why I’d like them to also learn to eat independently.

We heared our neighbors’ excellent Cuban music floating in through the window, and the various sounds involved in cleaning and preparing barrels of mojito (they are vendedores ambulantes and sell mojitos in the street. Really good ones – I don’t usually like mojitos, but they’ve make mine light, cold and very minty on request.)

Green got angry at the barrel I keep ready to mop up today and then proceeded to make his way all through the mattress tunnel (it’s about two meter long and narrow – it just happens to be part of the environment because my mattress leans against the wall during the day.) Today’s trademark move on Green’s part is complaining while choosing to do brave things.

Handling and snoozing

Purple promotly fell asleep during her extra hangout session in my arms today. Check! Yesterday, he was the maverick … today, it’ll be someone else’s turn.

Everyone was partly sleepy and partly curious in Irving’s arms.

Red and Black were awake and especially chill during their nail clipping – they seemed completely relaxed. Left front paw clipping was planned for tomorrow, but I had downtime today and their front paws are getting spikey again, which is probably not comfortable for Game.

Getting more mobile

Green and Red tried running today for about half a meter each! It is SO cute. They have also ranged further from the blanket fort: Blue made friends with the vacuum and Red and Green went under the couch. No one has made it into the bathroom yet.

They have also learned to scratch themselves with their paws today! I haven’t seen this before – and today, all of them could do it!

3 weeks, 2 days (April 16)

Field trips

Since I got up a little later than expected, we went to a closer park than we had planned: an old favorite, Parque Las Américas in my favorite neighborhood, Narvarte. Everyone got to sniff a new dog. Black got barked at by Labi, but got a second dog to make up for it. Green and Red even got three dogs each!

We heard the music of an exercise class in the background and everyone got held by me for a few minutes.

By the time we got ready to leave, Green was moving out of the carrier and would have been ready to explore his environment – but we had to head back for a meeting.

The senses

I placed some fun new stuff I had around in the living room: a paper ball, a balance disk, two paw pads and four hard spikey little balls. In this picture, everyone is on siesta – we’ll see how they respond when they wake up.

Chai is pre-testing the enrichment items!

Blue and Red confidently walked over the balance disk with all four paws on it. No big deal! Green put one front paw on and then left. A little later he came back and stepped on it with all four paws!

Purple dove into the flat plate I put out today with a little water (shallow enough to not drown in, but I want water out there just in case; it’s SO warm!) and then tried licking twice.

They’ve all climbed into and out of the empty metal bowl I’ve sitting around by now, and most of them have ventured under the couch. Red walked into the bathroom for the first time and felt cool tiles under his paws!

After waking up to the new objects, Green touched the blue ball with his nose twice, making it roll! Red and Purple followed suit a few hours later, and even later so did Black! Funnily, all of them touched the blue ball (there are 4 different colors.) This isn’t goal-directed behavior yet – just coming across objects, bumping into them, sniffing them, trying to move on or through them. Over the days, it’ll become more and more goal-directed as not only their physical abilities, but also their sense of sight are getting better. I’ll leave the same set-up of fitness equipment out for at least one more day to give everyone time to come across the various objects/surfaces. The only thing I’m changing around for now is the location of the mirror.

A compilation of today’s social and object interactions! The upside down chair is curtesy of Chai: she likes to climb on the chair and from the chair on my desk when I leave the apartment and probably kicked it over in an attempt to do so when I headed downstairs for a minute.

In the video, you can also see that today, the puppies discovered the art of scratching themselves with their paws! No, they don’t have fleas – they’ve been Frontlined and re-Frontlined. Scratching just feels good – and in Green’s case, he may have have inherited Game’s always-itchy collar feelings.

… and here’s part 2 of today’s ultra-long video. This really is just for my records (and the future puppy homes/those addicted to watching 3.5 week old puppies be cute!)

Today is also the first day I added a little bit of squished up soaked kibble to the formula. After a few goat milk days, we’re back to formula, trying a different kind this time: this one is based on cow milk.

In terms of noise, we had me shaking open a big plastic trash bag and Chai banging around her wobbler and throwing the little balls (they are hard and loud when they land on the floor) all over the place. Also two video calls and TV show noises: we’re still watching The Blacklist.

Speaking of senses, I forgot to report in about the trembling I had seen Green do when outside the warm blanket fort. It has completely disappeared (it is extremely hot and he is older, too.) It’s hard to tell whether it’s getting older and being able to regulate his temperature or the overall temperature increase that took care of the trembling – but I suspect my suspicion of it being temperature related were correct.

It’s been in the 30s C (90s F). After finding out that evenings are still hot on Sunday’s subway adventure, we mostly keep our field trips to the early morning. I’ll reserve evenings for friends visiting or just chilling. We’ll go back to Parque España tomorrow (it’s the best one, socialization-wise) and if we get out early enough, I’ll also throw in a round of metro-bussing and/or coffe shop socializing.

Heading to the school next door to listen to kids schreming will have to wait until tomorrow as well – I wanted to go today, but had a video consult at the time the kids are playing sports in the court (prime screaming time.)

Husbandry and handling

Everyone got handled. Green and Blue started out awake. Green and Red chilled through their turn, trying to lick my fingers. Blue and Black fell asleep in the middle of their turns and Purple towards the end of his. It’s safe to say my handling protocol has become soothing to the rebels! Purple, last week’s most rebellious rebel, has been a chill pup today!

3 weeks, 3 days (April 17)

Field trips

Dogs at Parque España

We went to Parque España again because there was such a nice balance of different stimuli the other day. Today was less interesting though – we went even earlier, which probably was part of the reason. We did, however, hear and see water trucks watering the park, someone sweeping the leaves of the paths with a twig broom making scratchy noises, and saw someone sit perfectly still and meditate in a ray of sun a few meters from where we set up. Two dog walkers with about 10 dogs each showed up and let their dogs into the dog park nearby, so we also heared barking.

Everyone got to sniff a new dog:

Left: sniffing Rodolfo. Right: hanging out at Parque España in the morning sun.

Everyone got held and snoozed and/or looked around in my arms for a few minutes. Green got two turns!

Traffic noises and a bus ride

We went back home for a little over an hour, and then the heat was still bearable enough to briefly head out again and spend a few minutes on a bus (mostly being stuck in traffic.) I also held everyone while waiting for said bus, giving them all a few minutes of exposure to traffic noises, lots of honking and motorcycle engines roaring near a busy intersection around the corner.

Left: waiting for the bus and listening to/watching traffic. Right: on the bumpy bus!

As we were waiting for the bus, another stranger approached and asked me to regalar them a puppy. They were disappointed to hear they already had homes. Yet another person who’d have taken teeny tiny, way-too-young puppies home with them! People’s impulsiveness is fascinating.

On the walk home, we passed the construction site nearby and briefly stopped to listen to the asphalt-cutting machine. We couldn’t go very close due to hazard tape – but listening from a distance is a start!

The kids’ noises will have to wait another day (or more.) In any case, at the latest, we’ll hear kids at the playground next weekend.

People socializing

We had a tiny puppy party at BLOM. Thank you, Miguel and Ulises, for letting me use your space to socialize my puppies! We hung out from 7 to 8:30, past closing hour at 8, because everybody was loving on the puppies and having a good time talking. I’m counting three new people per puppy, but we had 6 people in total interact with them. They also wandered around BLOM café and Green, Black and most of all Purple (various times) also made their way onto the sidewalk.

It’s like one of these magical evenings where you bring your puppies and it is as if you set up a tent and invited everyone into the warm glow of your bonfire, and the ones who come are exactly the kind of people you want to spend that very evening with, and you talk about everything under the stars and there’s guitar music. (Not really; there was mache and sparkly water and dog and life talk – but that’s besides the point. It was good.) So good. On days like today, I feel lucky to be alive. As Shuli said the other day: pool balls kissing in the universe, and then going their separate ways again. In those 1.5 hours of connection, the magic happens, and then everyone continues their journey, smiling at that memory – no expectations, no strings, just soft puppies and humans being real for each other.

Increased mobility and exploratory behavior at home

Handling and husbandry

Blue struggled during handling today: everyone else had just gotten to the milk bar, and she would rather have joined than be handled. By the end, she calmed down – just in time for putting her down for milkbar countercoditioning! While Julie Daniels’ relax-to-be-put-down protocol may not be working for puppies this age, for now, what I would do anyways – only put relaxed puppies down whenever possible – does the trick!

I picked up Green when he took a break from drinking – but he decided he wasn’t done yet after the first bit of handling. We made it through the protocol, I waited for him to calm down, and then put him down at the milk bar again, making one Mr. Green very happy.

Purple got rudely woken up during his post-drink nap and complained through most of his handling today. He’s back in maverick mode!

Red and Black did not fully wake up for today’s round of handling. Good puppies!

I made everyone’s collars a little wider again today – after just having done so yesterday! And during the lips handling procedure, I saw that what had just shimmered through the gums and felt hard earlier this week has s turned into little teeth tips! They aren’t razor sharp yet – but they sure will be!

Thoughts on puppy testing …

I know with human children, parents pretend not to have favorites. (I don’t think that’s actually true, or not for everyone anyways. How could it be? But I digress.) With puppies, I absolutely get to have favorites. Currently, it’s Purple because he puts up such a good fight and is SO opinionated. I also have one puppy I think is the most handsome, and that’s Black. She is as dark as Green, but smaller and slimmer, and I love dogs with a light build.

Both Purple’s emerging personality and Black’s size are likely to change over the next months – they are puppies, after all. They may be different tomorrow! But today, Purple is the one I’d take home and Black is the most handsome.

As an aside, I remember reading that puppy aptitude testing was not a reliable predictor of adult personality. It is merely a snapshot of a moment in a puppy’s life and more like a horoscope which feels true because it leaves room for interpretation, and because we tend to see what we are told there is – a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I did a quick search to see if I could find the study I had read on puppy testing. I did’t find the exact one and don’t have time to keep digging, but I’ll link to two of the articles I came across just now: a study puplished in Applied Animal Welfare Science in 2016 that found that puppy tests have little (more than none, but little) predictive value for adult temperament and a meta-analysis in Applied Animal Behavior Science from back in 2005 that found that – at least back then – we didn’t know much about the reliability and validity of puppy temperament testing.

Performing the Volhard test, a test developed for guide dog puppy evaluations, on pets is en vogue, but I doubt it is an accurate tool of assessment for who a dog will grow up to be. It’s fun to perform or read your puppy’s evaluation, of course – but that’s pretty much the extent of it. I would pick a puppy based on it if I was given two or more tests and there was nothing else to base my decision on. Unless there was extreme behavior, I wouldn’t expect it to tell me more about the puppy’s future than a coin toss though. But yes, of course I’d pick the puppy who seemed most confident, food motivated and interested in toys. Even knowing it’s a snapshot – who wouldn’t? We need to base our decisions on something or we couldn’t make any.

Many of the check points future puppy homes are encouraged to look for in order to find “a good breeder” are based on just-so stories – as far as I can tell, ENS and Volhard testing are examples of this.

I suspect that the most reliable indicator of adult personality is the behavior of the parents’ and their adult offspring. So when looking at what puppy to get, it makes sense (I believe; this is a layperson’s opinion) to look at the parents. Are they the kinds of dogs you’d like to live with? If you like the parents, you may just as well pick your own puppy rather than have the breeder play matchmaker: pick the one who is prettiest or who approaches you first. Only extremes may already stand out in puppyhood, and in most litters, there is no extreme.

3 weeks, 4 days ( April 18, 2024)

Field trips

While the puppies were nursing in the morning, I re-Frontlined them. Since I’m only using a few drops to not put them off by the intense odor, I’m using it more often. No fleas for these puppies, thank you very much! I also treated the empty carrier with anti-flea and anti-lice spray for the first time; by the time they get in again, the smells will hopefully have evaporated.

We started the day with an early field trip to one of my other favorite parks (they’re all in Narvarte): Parque de las Arboledas. We found one of the few patches of grass left in the city (most of it has turned to dirt and dust), and the sleepy puppies got to feel grass under their feet for the first time:

We got there briefly after 7 and it was still quiet, plus we were tucked away behind a hedge. I hadn’t made plans to meet anyone but was going to use whatever surprise dogs we crossed paths with today. By now, the puppies are old enough for this kind of adventure.

Right after we got ready to leave, someone showed up with a dog. Once they were here, standing upright and cooing over the puppies, they caught the attention of other dog people and we soon got a little party started:

Five adult dogs participated altogether, but I’m counting 3 per puppy because not everyone interacted with everyone. The puppies chose voluntarily when and if to leave the carrier to meet the dogs.

Green and purple even made play moves at those new adults! They are absolutely adorable! Black had a lazy day today and mostly dozed through the interactions. I made sure she got to sniff from my arms, but she fell right back asleep. I’ll have her go first on our next outing tomorrow!

It is funny to see people attributing characteristics to the puppies based on what they see in a snapshot moment. For example, today, folks agreed that Black was timid – even though she was simply doing what all of them do during some outings: sleep or lazily open their eyes now and then to observe and then doze off again. Folks are quick to identify, “This is going to be the most active dog when they grow up!” or “This one is going to be the smartest!” based on the briefest impression. I believe the only thing that may be possible to tell right now is that Green is the biggest – but even that may change. The biggest puppy of the litter doesn’t necessarily grow up to be the biggest adult.

It was absolutely beautiful to see the little ones confidently appraoch people and dogs on a new surface (grass) once they were awake. It made my day – I can’t stop smiling watching puppies like this! They feel safe and ready to take on the world, no matter where I put their carrier down!

A note on “random dog” interactions and the onset of fear responses in puppies

If someone reading along is a puppy student of mine, you’ll know that I advise folks to be careful about what dogs to introduce their puppies to: don’t go to the dog park. In puppy class, make sure free play isn’t a free-for-all but that the puppies are matched up according to size/play style etc. Basically, if you’ve gotten your puppy after 8 weeks of age, I will help you curate the safest possible interactions for your puppy, making sure they don’t get scared by a bigger dog or have averse experiences such as being barked at. Today, one of mine got briefly barked into their face. The other week, one of them got (gently) play-nipped by a leashed friend. They all just continued developing their curiosity of dogs, no worse for wear.

So why am I treating these less-than-8-week-old-puppies SO differently than my slightly older student puppies? Because if you get a puppy from someone else (and don’t have the dam), you probably won’t get them before they are 8 weeks old. Even if you get them at 8 weeks, you will likely give them a day or two to get used to your house and any other household members before heading out to have them socialize. Then I’ll usually advise you to take that first week to get to know your puppy in different situations: what are they like? How do they respond to sounds, sights, different environments and social stimuli? Based on what you find out, we’ll make a socialization and environmental exposure plan that is tailored to your puppy’s needs. By the time you’re ready to implement it, they are likely older than 8 weeks; maybe already 9 weeks. In most breeds and mixes, the sensitive socialization window will has closed at this age. This fascinating study compared the onset of fear and avoidance behavior in German Shepherds, Yorkshire Terriers and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. For Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, it was at 45.8 ± 2.74 days (that’s 6.5 weeks), in Yorkshire Terriers, it was 43.6 ± 2.48 days (6.2 weeks) and in German Shepherds 39.4 ± 1.60 days (5.6 weeks.) That is to say that even in the breed with the latest onset of a fear response, it happened WAY before these puppies would have gone to their new homes. It happened earliest in German Shepherds (who tend to grow up to be comparatively suspicious of strangers) and latest in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (who tend to be the most social adults.) Mals, of course, are most similar to German Shepherds and probably have a similarly early onset of fear.

We can’t confuse the first sign of a fear response with the hight of the fear response – it grows slowly; the first time you see it is only the beginning. So the younger the puppy, the easier they will be to socialize, even after they are able to experience fear. In any case, by the time your dog is home with you, they are most certainly able to experience fear, and you as their new home will have to be more careful when socializing them than the human who had the dam and interacted with the puppies at a younger age. That is, in a nutshell, why I treat slightly older puppies very differently than puppies whose fear response hasn’t yet appeared.

Unless you KNOW that the breeder introduced your puppy to lots of social stimuli, I’d advise you against throwing a 9 week old puppy into the deep end with any random dog: if one of their earliest social interactions with their own species leaves a negative impression, they will be much less likely to enjoy the next one. At the same time, the longer you wait for your new puppy to meet dogs and people, the more cautious they will be because the further away that window of opportunity, of learning that “these creatures and their odd behaviors are all normal in my world,” disappears in the distance in the rearview mirror. That’s why I encourage new puppy homes to focus on socialization to humans and dogs over anything else, and prioritize whichever is more important (for most dogs, this is going to be humans) if you don’t have time or access to both.

My 3 weeks and 4 days old puppies, on the other hand, have no physiological fear response yet. Of course they would feel pain if they got bitten by someone, but it is relatively easy to screen for dogs who would do that kind of thing and not let them approach. Being barked at or pawed at, on the other hand; even having your tail stepped on or being pushed over by a curious nose or randomly picked up by one of the random dogs’ humans? It’s no big deal at this age, especially with these puppies who at this point have already met and had neutral or positive experiences with at least 23 non-household dogs and as many people.

Even with these puppies, we’ll have to be a little more careful and make sure THEY get agency in whether or not they want to approach a person or dog in a few weeks. In a few weeks, once they are able to experience fear, we will focus on agency and creating a safe space for them, just like I advise my puppy clients to do. The difference I am hoping for is that Game’s puppies will be more ready to leave their safe space in order to seek new experiences and need a little bit less protection because they already trust that the world, and everyone in it, is safe. If we manage to get to this point, not only will the puppies have an easier time being out in the world – so will their humans. Instead of making careful decisions of when it is okay to take a puppy to a particular place, they will be able to simply have fun with their dogs, and the puppies will take it in stride. That’s what I hope for!

Our second subway trip

After our park adventure, the puppies came on a bank errand and we took the subway again, listening to train noises and the hustle and bustle of busy street corners. It’s not fun to be in a hot subway car, but certainly useful.

At 8:30, it was already 29 degrees Celsius. We all were ready to melt by the time we got home briefly before 9. This is going to be our new “best before” time – there’s no point in staying out after nine, as no one, me included, feels like moving in the heat!

Speaking of heat and getting thirsty: when we got home this morning, Green saw Game lap water and followed suit! Go Mr. Green! I’m so looking forward to all of them being able to drink independently since this will make it a lot easier to take them on field trips and guard against overheating!

Husbandry and Handling

Everyone got the claws on their right front paws clipped, followed by the milkbar, and Red, Blue and Black also got their left back paw nails done because I wanted to share a video showing how good they are being:

Green’s claws grow more slowly than the others (as in, they grow at normal dog speed while everyone else seems to have inherited Game’s rapidly growing nails.) I forgot about this and cut into Green’s quick. He squeaked gently and pulled back his paw; then relaxed into my lap again for the remaining claws. Not a big reaction at all! Counterconditioning for the win! Mental note: make sure Green’s claws are long enough before clipping; otherwise just touch and scratch them with the clippers. The claws are still too tiny for the dog nail clippers, so we are sticking with the human ones.

Blue got the first handling turn tonight. She struggled a little and then started whining. I had picked her up just before everyone started eating, and she could see, hear and smell the others at the milk bar next to us. I was determined to wait her out: the puppies can be loud for their size, but not loud enough for me to worry about disturbing my neighbors. Blue kept at it though, so I eventually tried turning off the light. This helped her be quiet for a count of five – an opportunity I used to quickly put her down! She was too tired to head to the milk bar at this point and fell asleep. Suffice it to say, our timing wasn’t great tonight. We’ll live! Tonight, Blue taught me that I’ll have to time the handling protocol well to set 3.5 week old puppies up for success!

Mobility news

Green purposefully made the orange paw pad wobble today! He also tried interacting with the vacuum by yelling and pawing at it. The vacuum ignored him. Rude!

Mobility and the senses

We heard the camotes whistle today. Everyone slept through it!

At night, I accidentally dropped a shoe right next to the puppies – and they went towards rather than away from the sound!

Chai popped the first balloon I had blown up to make explode. The sound was surprisingly soft.

The paws touched grass for the first time; we walked on it and Green chewed on it. Green drank from the big water bowl and Blue stepped onto the water plate and drank from it! YAY!

As of today, everyone can run – and they are getting faster!

Night traffic watching

We went car noise listening and car lights watching at Avenida San Antonio at night. Purple was the only one who was fully awake when I took him out to hold him for a few minutes. Black was partially awake during her turn. Everyone else slept peacefully through their turns. Blue has clearly forgiven me after the handling faux pas; she was out in my arms.

On the way home from night traffic watching, we heard someone loudly close a garage door.

I won’t make “holding/sleeping in my/someone’s arms” a category anymore in the future. By now, it happens at least once a day every day anyways!

Alone time

It’s slowly getting time for the puppies to learn to be apart. If I find the time, I’ll start single crate training with the carrier today. This only matters for Red and Purple, one of whom may fly internationally. The others, since they will be staying in Mexico, don’t need crate training beyond being in the carrier with their siblings and eventually in the hard plastic car crate: it’s not common to crate dogs here, and if their owners want them to have that skill, they can take their time teaching it – unlike the puppies who may be flying.

Being without one’s littermates is still worthwhile, and tomorrow, I’ll try doing so for the first time: I want to do a happy vet visit across the street, bringing them in one by one.

Crate training: 2 minutes

I started with two minutes for Red and Purple each when everyone was asleep. Both boys continued snoozing in the carrier. Since two minutes is very little time and everyone continued being sleepy, I decided to work through all the puppies. As I’m building duration, I may not be able to do this – but for now, I can. Green was the only one who complained for the last 20 seconds or so. He woke up and didn’t fall back asleep when I picked him up to place him in the carrier. I let him out after his two minutes anyways; he wasn’t screaming, just complaining softly. Blue didn’t sleep either, but stayed quiet. Black slept just as well as Red and Purple had. Tomorrow, I’ll add a minute for Red and Purple, one of whom may need this skill in the future!

Thoughts on the “raising puppies is SO expensive that I need to charge thousands of dollars and I still don’t break even” argument

The argument that raising puppies is terribly expensive has been made ad nauseam, and it is used to justify charging – when we look at the US anyways – up to several thousand dollars for a puppy.

The first bunch of prices listed in a breeding group on Facebook I am lurking in, from a post from 2020 (prices may have changed since): US$2500 (well known popular breed), $300-$500 (little known working breed), starting out with US$3000 as a new breeder and will then raise to US$4000 (well known breed), $2500 for show/breeding and $2000 for working/pet with spay/neuter contract (breed not mentioned), $1500-2500 depending on stud fee and breeding costs (well known popular breed), $2500-3500 (well-known breed), $3500 (well-known, popular), $2000 (well-known), $650 (cross of two little known breeds), $1500 (well-known, popular), $2500 (well-known, popular), $1500 pet home on a spay/neuter contract and $2500 to co-own/show home with showing and health testing requirements (breed not mentioned), $2000 (well-known, popular), $1500-$2000 (well-known), $1200 (little known landrace).

All of the above are from the US and by people who would consider themselves ethical breeders (given the group I pulled the prices from.)

People tend to say they spend thousands of dollars on a litter, and if they are very lucky, they will break even. (They would probably not say they make a profit even if they did because it is looked down upon.)

I’ve always wondered how a littler could possibly be THAT expensive. I get that there is health testing and a stud fee, and especially the former is likely quite expensive in the US. But beyond that? If you have a litter of 6 puppies (sometimes you have 1, sometimes you have 12), you’d make $1215 (average of the above numbers) times 6, that is US$7290. 6 would probably be one of your smaller litters, and at least in parts, health testing is something you’d not repeat for every breeding. If you do not charge for your time, I have a hard time imagining that you’ll spend that much, especially if this breeding only absorbs a fraction of your health testing costs rather than all of it because you’ll breed the dam more than once.

I’ve logged what I’ve spent on the puppies so far because I was curious what I’d end up with and what the hidden costs were. I’m not calculating the time I spend with the puppies, the prices of taking a cab to a socialization outing, Game’s usual food or her health testing or any educational resources I would have consumed no matter whether I’d breed dogs or not. On the other hand, I have expenses most people will not have because I live in a studio apartment and have short-term rented a house with a yard for the puppies’ second month of life, and I’ll count this. (Luckily, my little mutual aid project is just starting and someone is pitching in on my rent.) I’ll share my list of expenses once the puppies have moved out and I’ve finished my not-a-spreadsheet.

One thing I wouldn’t have done if I had a house with a yard is the ultrasound: I needed to know if the mating had worked in order to know whether or not to reserve the house. If I had a yard anyways, I would have just waited to see if Game was pregnant. And if I had more space and my washing machine wasn’t in the middle of the blanket fort, there’s no way I would have used disposable pee pads or the tarp set-up I used.

What I can already tell is that watching and reading Avidog and Puppy Culture stuff and following breeders who apply these protocols on Facebook or Instagram caused me to spend a lot of unnecessary money on things I bought during the preparation time (post ultrasound, pre puppies): I don’t usually buy dog toys, for example (part of the reason is that they are ridiculously expensive and my dogs have just as much fun with recycling and other less insanely priced objects we turn into toys.) Except for training toys, which I have a bunch of, plush toys and similar things are special and we mostly get them as gifts. However, watching how new objects, often toys, were placed in whelping pens regularly had me pick up a whole bunch. And seeing how litterbox training was stressed, I got that set-up as well. Retrospectively, I wouldn’t have needed to buy any new toys because I have all kinds of household stuff I can use as enrichment items. And I’m not going to litterbox train the puppies because I don’t see the point: if I did that, I’d have to reduce their freedom to make sure leaving their sleeping spot to pee or poop would cause them to go in the designated toiletting area. But I like letting them have the run of the house, so at this age, they have more than enough space to go in all kinds of places that are not where they sleep and no reason to choose a litterbox. I’ve never had a puppy that came litterbox trained, and housetraining has been the least of my concerns with the puppies in my past.

I have limited time, and I want to spend all of it on socialization and opportunities to explore the world as well as the apartment. The fact that breeders have whelping pens the size of which they expand ever-so gradually has me realizing that my studio apartment actually gives the puppies more space than they’d have in most self-identified ethical breeders’ homes. I like my approach better because just like “in the wild” (in the world of free-roaming dogs), there is no babygate keeping the puppies from exploring their environment once they are ready. If I did this again, I wouldn’t get a litterbox or extra toys.

In any case, since I already got the litterbox and replacement fake grass, I’ll use the fake grass as a new surface tomorrow, and I may use the litterbox tray to contain other substrates that may be fun for the puppies – sand, leaves, water etc. And then I’ll make it part of my fledgling mutual aid project. It won’t go to waste or sit in a corner collecting dust, so it’s all good.

I’m finding that from where I’m standing, like ENS, items like enrichment toys and litterboxes look a lot like an artificial replacement of something that is just a natural part of a dog’s life, making it an unnecessarily costly re-invention of the wheel. If I wanted to be cynical, I’d say these items’ main purpose is for breeders to take pictures for their social media accounts and websites: it’s social signalling; you’re showing off that you’re an “ethical breeder.” Yes, I’ll sure as hell post these pictures as well since I already unnecessarily bought the things and of course the pictures will be cute and we’ll have fun with the toys. But is it money well spent? In my opinion, no. Not when that money could go to someone who actually needs it instead.

The fitness equipment you’ve seen at my place this week would be in the same category, but I already had it for a tricks class I took with Chai – so it wasn’t a puppy expense; I’m just repurposing it.

3 weeks, 5 days (April 19)

Field trips

Parque de las Arboledas

We got to Parque de las Arboledas minutes after 7AM and were back home minutes after 8 – this was perfect. By 9, it was waaaay too hot outside. I’ll have to make sure to head to bed early so I can consistently get up when it’s still a reasonable temperature. I would have loved to add another subway ride to today’s adventure, but the heat wasn’t worth it. Since I’ve already hit my dog and people goals for the week, I may do a subway trip tomorrow early in the morning instead – and still be back home by 8.

We met 4 puppy-loving strangers and 4 dogs total. Every puppy got held by two of them and sniffed two of the dogs.

Top: Green and Almendra. Bottom: Red and Blue with puppy Zula.

Everyone explored a little. Like yesterday, Black showed the least exploratory behavior and did a lot of watching from inside the carrier.

Happy vet visit

The vet across the street agreed to give everyone the gentlest of exams so they could develop happy vet feelings. I used the opportunity to take everyone in the carrier by themselves, one after the other.

Their little exams were:

1. Get placed on the metal exam table.
2. Have their lymphnodes felt.
3. Have their lips lifted and teeth looked at.
4. Being picked up by the vet and turned so they faced the respective other direction.
5. Have their hearts listened to with a stethoscope (placed on their chest and both sides.)
6. Have their paws touched and examined.
7. Get snuggles and gentle words from the vet.
8. Be allowed to walk on the table a bit.
9. Back into the carrier.

Top left: Green’s dental check. Top right: Purple and the stethoscope. Bottom: Red’s paw exam.

Green was sleepy and confident and chewed on the vet’s hands and took a few steps on the cool metal exam table. He started complaining once we were back in my building (maybe asking to be let out of the carrier.)

Blue first sat still on the exam table, but then turned out to be wide awake. She struggled a bit against her back paw exam and confidently walked on the table and pawed at the vet.

Purple complained while leaving our building and once we were back in our apartment; otherwise, he was comfortable and confident about his exam and also walked on the table.

Black only complained when placed on the table and when we were back in my apartment. She was a little stiff during her exam.

Red complained when I put down the carrier at the portón to my building and took too long to disentangle my key chain. He continued complaining as we crossed the street, and started up again when we were back home. He was wide awake and as confident as Green and Blue during the exam, walked on the table and tried eating the vet’s hands.

I’m REALLY happy how they did, especially given the metal surface of the table: I don’t know any adult dogs who like being on that kind of surface. It’s cold, slippery and weird. They all did really well and tolerated the vet’s handling like champs. Even Black, the only one who got stiff, did significantly better than I’d expect any puppy to do if they weren’t used to handling by more than one person. And they dared to walk on that table! Go ¡rebeldes!

I also handled everyone through my protocol today – except for Blue who already got a turn yesterday when none of the others did. Black struggled and complained through her turn. She was wide awake while the others were sleepy. I’ll give Purple, who has an extra turn on the schedule, another round of handling over the weekend. For the others, I’ll leave it at 5 rather than 7 times this week. I’m exhausted! Next week, I’ll go for at least 5 times each rather than aiming for 7. I’ll add desensitizing to a needle-like object in preparation for the pups’ first vaccine.

Mobility and the senses

We heard the propane tank vendors yelling “Gaaaaaaaas” in our street in the morning and dogs barking at the park.

I popped a balloon loudly and nobody flinched! They just perked up curiously. Purple, the only one who had been asleep, woke up and was back asleep 30 seconds later. Apparently, I’m a better balloon-exploder than Chai. I’ll do one every day until I run out of balloons. Then, I’ll try and get cohetes (firecrackers.)

It started thundering in the late afternoon and the puppies played through it!

I crackled bubble-wrap plastic and then popped some of the bubbles. Everyone looked curious. I’ll do another round next week.

I put new objects onto the living room floor: the wobbly lid of a pot, the replacement sheet of fake grass from the puppy toilet and a roll of chicken wire and the empty glass of Nescafé when I finished it (need to get more coffee!) The pot lid has been stepped on by Red, Black, Purple and Green and the chicken wire roll has been rolled by Green and investigated by Purple and Blue. Black spent the evening tearing pieces of the thin plastic wrap off the chicken wire roll.

Nobody has shown any interest in the fake grass.

Red climbed our treadmill today! Someone – if I remember correctly, it was also Red! – tried climbing into the fridge when I opened it today. Purple explored the bathroom.

During dinner, Red startled a little when Blue made sounds by stepping on the pot lid. Speaking of dinner: Black and Blue ate a little of soaked puppy kibble in addition to the formula tonight! Red has also startled twice with a little scream when I touched him unexpectedly while sleeping. He has always bounced back right away so far. I haven’t seen anyone else startle in the context of touch.

Crate training: 3 minutes

I increased the duration by 1 minute, so the puppies stayed by themselves in the carrier sitting among everyone else in the living room for 3 minutes today. I started with the two boys who might be flying internationally: Red and Purple. I picked both of them up while they were sleeping. They woke up in my arms and went right back to sleep in the carrier and slept peacefully until I took them out again after their 3 minutes. I then did Green too. He woke up when I lifted him up and didn’t fall asleep in the carrier. He sat and looked for 2 minutes and complained for the last minute, starting softly and then settling in at a medium-volume (if I imagine the puppies to have 3 levels of volume, with 1 being soft and 3 being loud, he was at a 1 for 30 seconds and then at a 2 for another 30 seconds before I let him out.)

The girls got a bonus crate-alone round as well. Blue behaved just like Red and Purple. Black started complaining at volume 1 after 15 seconds and at a 2 after a minute. She then went back between 1 and 3 for the rest of her time. Funnily, as soon as I took her out, she went back into the carrier and laid down for 10 seconds – with the door open – before coming out again to interact with Chai. Apparently, we like open doors. I get it, Black!

Thoughts on “pass the puppy”

“Pass the puppy” is a well intentioned exercise some puppy classes used to do (or still do) that can backfire: humans are told to stand or sit in a circle and hand every puppy around so they get held and touched by everyone. This isn’t something I’d participate in and something I advise clients with puppies against. A puppy who’s over 8 weeks old (and they all are by the time they get into puppy classes) will generally not feel comfortable being handled by one stranger after the other, having no say in it, unless they have a HUGE backlog of positive socialization experiences or are exceptionally social.

At my puppies’ age, however, having lots of folks hold and handle them is adventageous: it builds this backlog of positive socialization experiences they will be able to draw from in the future (I hope.) As long as we are sure the fear response hasn’t set in yet, passing the puppy is a great idea. The moment it sets in, it’ll be a bad idea. (Once again: I’m a layperson and this is an opinion. This hasn’t been sufficiently studied for us to actually know what best practice looks like.)

Favorites …

Today, by the way, my favorites are Red and Green. I’d have a hard time deciding between the two of them if I had to pick. This just goes to show how quickly favorites change – the puppies are different every day!

3 weeks, 6 days (April 20)

Mobility and the senses

Red walked over the fake grass this morning, unimpressed: it just happened to be in his way. He also pulled on the sheet I use to cover my couch.

I placed the fake grass in the threshold to the blanket fort where Game was when we came back from our morning adventure. Black and Red quickly walked across and found her. Everyone else made it up to the fake grass eventually and got distracted by it (chewing on it or walking another direction.) I placed them on Game’s side eventually.

Before crossing the threshold, I placed a low plate of water in front of everyone. Green and Blue lapped a little!

Interestingly, the fake grass on the threshold kept everyone in the blanket fort a little longer than usual! Red was the first one to cross it after Game had put herself on the living room side, Black followed suit, but then went back on the fake grass to pull on it, and eventually back into the blanket fort rather than out. Blue stepped and walked on it with interest, but went back into the blanket fort once he was done rather than crossing it. In fact, this threshold may be a great place for new objects!

Red touched the treadmill belt when Chai was on it the other day, and Blue did today. They both marvelled at it; no startling. Blue climbed all over the (turned off) treadmill tonight.

Black lifted her head when I loudly shook open a new trash bag. Everyone else kept sleeping.

We heard thunder again, and the only one who got up when I exploded a balloon was Game. In the afternoon, I loudly hammered a nail into the wooden armario in my apartment. Everyone lifted their heads to observe and then put them back down again to keep resting. Good puppies! At night, we heard sirens in the distance. Nobody was impressed.

Everyone’s sociability has steadily increased over the course of the last few days. The puppies play more with each other and with Chai. Interestingly, they seem more interested in playing with Chai (she has fur and a tail one can pull on!) than Game. They’ve started growling when wrestling with each other! Play-growly puppies are VERY cute!

Today, I started dismanteling the blanket fort: since the puppies are spending almost all day out in the living room, this is where the foam tiles are of more use now! I’ll probably finish dismanteling tomorrow.

The puppies are fascinated by Chai’s swooshy tail while she is looking out the window.

A compilation of today’s social fun, object interactions and mobility challenges (the show running in the background is The Blacklist):

Field trips

Another subway ride

We went on another subway ride in the morning and heard the rattling of old escalators we rode (puppies in the carrier), the whistle of the train-coming-in people, the train coming in and leaving the station (and felt the air that gets pushed through the station by an incoming train.) We were up close to LOTS of people squeezed on a crowded waggon and felt the train floor under the carrier as well as the escalator stairs. Everyone got held for about a minute in the subway station (a not particularly busy one.) Black wanted to go back into the carrier; everyone else was just sleepy.

We also heard the noises of folks announcing Agua Ciel for sale in the Tacubaya station and got carried through the first posts that were opening at the Tacubaya market, smelling the smells of the food stands and the first open hole-in-the-wall restaurants on the other side of the market stands. We heard a bus honking and the beeping of a car that was annoyed because the seat belt didn’t work.

Blue and Black got held outside for a minute each while waiting for a cab.

Once again, we made it back home before 9. Everyone was thirsty and hot. The puppies are outgrowing the carrier as a good container for all of them!

Today, again, nobody peed in the carrier, but everyone did as soon as they got out at home. I love how they are making sure not to pee where they sleep at this early age! It makes me wonder whether Chai never learned this in the first place, or did learn it and later un-learned it. If it is true that she was born on a rancho, she’d have had the space to learn it. In that case, she probably un-learned it at her first human’s house, where she was in a tiny crate when I picked her up. OR she un-learned it in a pet store: the person I got her from said they had acquired her to be their personal dog, but shared that professionally, they were a puppy provider for pet stores. In case Chai had been one of these puppies and aged out before anyone bought her, she’d have learned to pee and poop where she sleeps/sits at a pet store, in between where she was born and the pet-provider’s house. I’ve always wondered what happens to puppies who grow too big for the store and haven’t been sold. Maybe that’s what happens: they go back to whoever provided them in the first place. If that was the case though, I don’t see why they didn’t tell me the truth, so … who knows. I don’t think getting a puppy from a pet store or pet market is stigmatized in Mexico, so there wouldn’t be a reason to withhold it.

Night life at the park

We went to Fresa Parque in the evening so the puppies could see and hear people and dogs in the half-darkness, which is something adult dogs sometimes struggle with: what seems normal during the day becomes uncanny at night. Black was the most exploratory at the park tonight and walked out of the carrier and along both of its sides to investigate. Everyone else came out, chewed on my shoes and fell asleep. There wasn’t a lot of people because it had been drizzling, but there was music and a stage, a few dogs, a few people passing and a few people dancing and sitting at the theater, and Chai was there as well. There had been some event today that apparently fed people large meals from styrofoam containers – so large that hardly anyone finished all of it. Chai found the corner the containers had been dumped and ate everything while I focused on the puppies. She was a very lucky girl; I don’t think she’s ever had THIS much human food all at once. I don’t know how much the puppies benefitted from mostly sleeping, but it certainly didn’t hurt. The best part: for once, due to the little bit of rain we got, it was reasonably cool!

Sleepy rebels at the park. It was darker than my camera makes it look.

Once we were back home, everyone got their evening snack – the last bit of formula with, by now, a fair amount of soaked, squished kibble. For the first time, two puppies came running when I did my pup-pup-pup food call: Red was there first because he was only a meter away, but Black came running from out of sight!

Crate training: 4 minutes

Red did today’s 4 minutes like a champ, just sleeping through his turn. Purple cried at noise level 1 on and off after 30 seconds. For the last minute and a half, he alternated between levels 1 and 2. I let him out after his 4 minutes.

For now, I’ll just observe what happens when I slowly increase the duration to 5 minutes and then let everyone out, independent of their behavior. I won’t add to the 5 minutes until they are quiet at that duration, but up until 5, I’ll add a minute a day independently of their behaviors. They’re not uncomfortable in the carrier or unsafe – Game, Chai, I and the other puppies are right next to them. So for now, we’ll just get used to our 5 minutes. Is it possible that they learn they need to cry for 5 minutes in order to get the carrier to open? Of course. Or they may not. We’ll find out. I won’t let them “cry it out” until they stop due to exhaustion, but I won’t let them out earlier than planned either. I’m curious if they develop an operant response at this age (i.e. if they learn to cry in order to be let out) or if they get used to a few minutes by themselves in the carrier.

Green woke up when I put him in the crate. After 2 minutes 15 seconds, he started whimpering at level 0.5. Around about 2:45, he increased to a level 1 and then proceeded to going back and forth between quiet, 0.5 and 1 until I let him out after 4 minutes.

Black was sound asleep in the mattress tunnel when it was her turn. She woke up when I slid her out and picked her up to place her in the carrier, but fell right back asleep. She slept through her 4 minutes and continued sleeping in the carrier when I opened it for her.

Blue woke up when I picked her up and promptly fell back asleep in the carrier. Like Black, she slept through her turn and continued sleeping when I opened it to let her out after 4 minutes.

So far, I suspect the variation in the puppies whining or sleeping in the carrier is pretty much exclusively due to how tired they are when I put them in. I try to choose good (lazy) moments for everyone but don’t always succeed.

As for the ones who have vocalized in the closed carrier: with an older puppy, juvenile or adult dog, I would fully expect an operant response to develop if I opened the carrier while the puppy was crying. I would build duration starting with an open crate and in much smaller steps (unless I wanted to let them cry it out) – it would have to be one of the two.

With puppies as young as the rebels, I have no experience in terms of short-term crating, so I’ll just find out! In the meantime, being away from the others but right next to all of us in their familiar environment, able to see and smell us, is, in my mind, a perfectly acceptable way to experience a little frustration.

4 weeks (April 21)

Field trips

Playground, kids and friends

We went to hang out at Parque Hundido’s playground this morning. Until they are too bitey to be let loose on innocent kids, I want the rebels to interact, hear and see little humans play once a week. We got there early – at 9:30, there was only a single kid. By 10, the playground had filled and I managed to give every puppy a brief interaction – either being held or being stroked and cooed over while I held them, depending on the age of our helper. Once again, we also ran into an adult who asked to impulse-buy a Malinois.

Today, the puppies ventured further from their carrier than ever before as soon as I opened it. Black showed as much curiosity and exploratory behavior as the others. She tired a few minutes earlier than they and went back in the carrier to sleep, but like yesterday, she has caught up with the others in terms of showing environmental curiosity! She also got an extra round of being held outside near the street for 3 minutes before we headed home.

I met up with Theo and Sonar and the puppies approached them both, and they all got held by someone new. Here’s a picture, snapped in a moment no kids were (recognizably) in the frame to violate no one’s privacy:

Today was also the first day I brought a meal to go on our outing. They all ate like the little superstars they are! It got them energy and hydration for more exploration and interaction. We stayed out for a little under two hours and, of course, had a “real” meal à la Game as soon as we got home.

Reflections on time

I’m getting exhausted – our program over these last few weeks has been intense! I’m having a great time, but I’d definitely take 8 weeks off if I did this again. Studenting, meeting the needs of my adult dogs as well as puppy cleaning, planning and implementing is a lot to really relax into the experience and enjoy every moment without stress creeping in. I’d love to have at least one BLOM evening every week until the puppies go home, but this is one thing I’m going to ditch from my plans. Starting Tuesday, we’ll be out of the city and I suspect I’ll not want to drive back and forth this often. But maybe we’ll make one more time happen! We’ll see.

The senses

Puppy recall progress (food call)

I’ve been calling, putting the cookie sheet down and then the food on the cookie sheet since before they could hear to teach myself to get the timing (order of events) on autopilot. Today was the fastest Blue and Black have approached so far! When I post another update in a week or so, I expect them all to come running as soon as they hear, “Pup-pup-pup-pup!” The banging in the background of the video below is Chai playing with the Wobbler.

We heard sirens again tonight, and everyone slept through them.

I bumped into Blue and she was unfazed.

And perhaps most excitedly (if you share my sense of humor), I got what I had planned to be a dinosaur balloon, but ended up going with a duck because its eyes are more prominent. I’ll have it show up in different unexpected locations starting tomorrow.

Speaking of balloons: I recorded our daily balloon explosion. It’s louder in real life; the camera mic filters the noise level down. A tiny startle response and everyone kept playing – perfect. I imagine there can’t be a better way to make positive associations with startling stimuli than to play while and after they are happening!

We’re about to be ready for cohetes!

Play behavior

Every day, someone else is enamored with Chai and uses every opportunity to play with her. We’ve started with Blue, then it was Green’s turn and today it’s Purple!

Crate training: 5 minutes

Purple

woke up when I picked him up and fell right back asleep in the carrier; slept through his 5 minutes until I picked him up and lifted him out again.

Red

whined at level 2 between 3.5 and 4 minutes, and once at level 0.5 and then went back to sleep until I lifted him out after 5 minutes. I’m not sure, but I believe he also slept the first 3.5 minutes.

Blue

Blue had just been woken by Red when I picked her up. She fell asleep in the carrier almost immediately and slept through her entire 5 minutes. Good puppy!

Black

Black woke up when I picked her up, moved around in the carrier to make herself comfortable and then slept through her full 5 minutes like the super puppy she is.

Green

Green got woken up by me and fell right back asleep in the carrier until I took him out again.

This was the longest duration (5 minutes) and the best session so far: only a tiny little bit of whining from a single puppy (Red!) I suspect this is because we had a mentally tiring morning sociallizing, and I picked a good time to practice. In any case – YAY for carrier training! I’ll maintain the 5-minute duration for Blue, Black and Green and keep increasing the time for Purple and Red (once Red masters his 5 minutes.)

Cuteness just because.

Nothing beats a sleepy puppy!

Week 4 tracker

And last but not least, my nerdy coloring addiction I want to be able to look back on when looking at my blog in the future (I wish I had light green instead of brown!)