1 week, 1 day (April 1)
Today was the first day of classes at FDSA, so I didn’t schedule anything out of the ordinary. Tomorrow, my day off, is when our weekly socialization spree begins: I just made a meet-a-new-dog date with Daniel and Dina for tomorrow morning, and a (dogless) friend will be coming over for lunch and puppy handling!
Today, we’ll keep it simple: at-home handling, holding and being snuffled by Chai is all that’s on our to-do list. I filmed today’s Chai snuffle session. She thinks the puppies are curious! Anytime she comes back home from outside, she needs to go check on them by looking over the barrier – but better not get too, too close. She got closer yesterday, but held back a little today. Chai shows you what our dog socialization looks like at this point: it’s really brief and sweet and whether the other dog touches the puppies depends on the other dog. Chai will do a sniff session like this every day from now on; I won’t count her as a new dog anymore.
Unmarked boy did really well during handling and resting in my arms today. Yesterday, he complained during handling, my attempt at letting him rest in my arms as well as when I clipped his nails … today, he peacefully chilled. Good boy!
I’ve got pillows for myself in the blanket fort, and Game lay down in such a way that she unintentionally created a barrier challenge! Rockstar puppies remain unfazed (background sound: The Blacklist on Netflix. 8/10 would recommend):
1 week, 2 days (April 2)
New dogs and humans
We met Daniel and Dina at the park for a sniff-and-go: I drove the puppies there and we presented everyone to Dina. Dina showed interest in the first one, but then retreated and wanted to keep her distance (more so than Chai in yesterday’s video.) I held each puppy at her comfort distance, but since there were at least 6 inches between them, I’m not sure how aware of Dina’s presence the puppies were. In any case, we’ll count it and try again with Dina next week. It’ll be really interesting to see how her response changes as they get older!
This is how we travel to nearby socialization locations in the car.
The senses
Today’s new sensual experience was being next to the vibrating washing machine. While the puppies can’t hear it, I’m sure they were able to feel the vibrations! They smelled detergent, my friend – a new person – who visited, morning park smells and Dina and Daniel from Dina’s preferred distance.
Handling and touch
Everyone got the claws on their left front paw filed with a Dremel and handled and held by Rachel and me.
Game
Game got diarrhea last night. I’m using my usual “no food” protocol to help her get everything out of her system and let her stomach recover. I hope she’ll be able to produce milk even though she’ll skip a meal or two. If not, I’ll have to re-visit bottle feeding. I gave up on it after the second failed attempt, but if I had to try again, it would probably be easier with hungry puppies than with well-fed ones. Anyways, I expect Game to be back to her normal iron stomach self by tomorrow morning.
Today is the first day Game has been spending part of the day out on the couch with Chai and me rather than being with the puppies every second! She’s slowly getting her independence back and teaching the puppies that it’s okay to be separated from her for little bits of time between eating.
Social life
Today, all the puppies got held and handled (paws, tail, lips, ears) by Rachel and me. They did very well and relaxed into the arms of the new person!
1 week, 3 days (April 3)
New dogs and humans
We started the day getting sniffed and sniffing one new dog each for a few seconds: mix Gala sniffed 3 puppies and Chow-Chow Boston two.
Since holding both a puppy AND a phone is hard, I only took a single picture and missed the moments of actual sniffing.
In the afternoon, we went to BLOM. Ulises helped us today, holding all the puppies and even moving them towards different objects so they could smell them. Everyone except for green boy was moving their heads around and sniffing what was going on today! Green boy seemed, in Ulises’ words, the most timid.
What stood out to me was that, except for green boy (who seemed half-asleep), the puppies who had turned away from Diego the other day where now not turning away from a new person, but investigating Ulises and the environment by turning their heads in all directions and sniffing: they seemed curious to me! Exploratory behavior has also started at home, where they’ll now “go” (gatear; rob) further from Game and investigate the blanket fort.
Handling/husbandry
At home, I handled everyone through my protocol (paws, ears, tail, lips) and held them for five minutes each. I also got ahead of schedule myself and clipped everyone’s right front paw claws with human nailclippers today rather than tomorrow: they are spikey now and I don’t want them to scratch Game!
I also repainted everyone’s nails. This time, unmarked boy, who was next to blue girl when I painted hers, had a sneezing fit. Nail polish stinks! Time to grow into your collars, puppies!
Changes to the schedule
I took the bike ride off of this week’s schedule. Who knows if any of these puppies will ever ride in a bike basket or trailer – better spend my limited time (first week of FDSA classes!) on what I’m sure all of them will need: husbandry and socialization!
Today, I also realized that I like schedules like the one I came up with for Game’s post-ultrasound weeks significantly better than using this storebought weekly planner. I just drafted a planner for next week and will be coloring in boxes again in week 3.
… go, unmarked girl!
… WOW! Unmarked girl was just the very first one to walk right now! She walked several steps on all 4 feet rather than robbing/crawling – and then she rolled over. AWWW!
1 week, 4 days (April 4)
Social life
We started the day with a quick snuffle trip to the park where Dobi Samantha and the giant mix Diego were ready to assist us. They both got to snuffle at the same time – the puppies’ first two-dog-snuffle-sandwich day. (As of today, we’ve made up for Monday, when the puppies didn’t meet a dog!)
When we got to the last puppy today – unmarked boy – Sam and Diego didn’t want to do any more puppy sniffing, so unmarked boy only got snuffled from a little distance. Up until then, everyone got a nice snuffle from two dogs – especially puppy #1. They want to keep helping us, so we’ll seek them out again next week! No pictures today.
Scarlett hung out for four hours today, and we rotated through all the puppies, handling them and letting them sleep in our laps on the couch. Everybody got handled by both of us once. Blue girl and unmarked boy got two rounds of sleeping in Scarlett’s arms and one round of sleeping in my arms, and unmarked girl, green boy and pink boy got one round of sleeping in Scarlett’s arms and two rounds of sleeping in mine.
The senses
Vacuum air on cleaning day, morning park smells, Sam and Diego, Scarlett, coffee: lots of smells today!
Chai gave everyone a thorough snuffling today too – quite different than on the day I took the video!
More big walking news!
I saw both blue girl and green boy (uncoordinatedly) walk today! Wow! Walking, even in the current uncoordinated manner, is about twice as fast as robbing! As of today, at least three of them are already able to briefly sustain their heavy bodies and milk-filled bellies on their little legs!
1 week, 5 days (April 5)
The senses
We went to a different park this morning, entailing a slightly longer drive for the first time: 4-5 minutes there and back as opposed to 1-2 minutes. I kept the car window on the puppies’ side open to expose them to the draft of our (slow) drive and the smells we passed, among them a construction site. They also felt Dremel vibrations.
In the afternoon, they smelled Enrique’s beauty salon (next door), the three people in the salon including Enrique from a distance, and Enrique’s little dog Queso from a distance.
Queso (on a different day). He free-roams when Enrique takes him to the salon – here he is resting in the sun just outside.
Social life
At the park, everyone got snuffled by Schnauzer mix Heidi. I started out with unmarked boy, who got the least amount of snuffling yesterday because he was the last one. However, today’s helper dog was happy to snuffle them all, first until last! Green boy was the only one who seemed a bit tentative (turning away from Heidi), so he’ll be the one I take out first next time to make sure he gets extra dog exposure. He did well when Chai snuffled him though. She even licked his mouth and one of his front paws today, and he didn’t turn away.
I’m allowing myself a break from human socializing today. It’s getting a lot (for me), and we’ll probably make up for it with a two-friend visit on the weekend. That said, I’m managing to give the puppies the amount of exposure and handling I had planned for. So maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world that I’ve quite a bit of work-work (the capitalist kind) these days: it helps me not to overdo it!
Enrique, whose business is next door, brought his dog Queso into work in the afternoon. I used the opportunity for the puppies to meet yet another dog. However, Queso was the first dog who found the puppies a little creepy. We kept them about 2 meters apart so he could sniff and feel safe. I held everyone up for a few seconds. Even though there was no up close contact, I figure their noses will have been able to learn about this new little dog. Queso is the smallest dog they’ve “met” so far. I’ll count him even though there was no direct contact.
Human puppies and canine puppies …
The humans at Enrique’s didn’t seem interested in holding puppies, so I didn’t ask them to. It is always wild to me when humans – even humans who have dogs themselves and run a dog-friendly business (Game usually comes with me when I visit Enrique’s place) – aren’t really into puppies. And then – lightbulb moment! – I realized this is the same way I feel about human babies! I’ve always found it strange when people can’t get enough of holding a baby. Like – why? It’s a baby. It’s not interactive yet AND it has a destroy button on its head. I prefer keeping a safe distance!
Human parents, if they aren’t resource guarding their babies, will just hand their babies around. I’ve found myself in the position where I was suddenly and unexpectedly holding one. Long story short, I better not blame people for not feeling the need to interact with a puppy since I am someone who doesn’t even want to interact with puppies of their own species. Duh! (Dog puppies, yes please, anytime! Human ones – not so much.)
I only find kids interesting by the age they are talking and walking: by that time, they are fun to observe and you can do things with them! They are actual little people with personalities and minds of their own, and they are utterly fascinating, especially when they haven’t yet been socialized to not say “inappropriate” things and still have little impulse control. Maybe that’s the way non-puppy people feel about puppies. No more judging!
No dog-social pictures today – I’ll be sure to get one this weekend!
Getting more mobile!
Unmarked girl, unmarked boy and green boy all made it out of the little crate I’ve been using to transport or contain them when I need to move them or clean! They all have been looking out over the edge, but today was the first time they actually “escaped!” I’ll try and film this unintentional barrier challenge the next time it happens! Unmarked girl readily proceeded to walk towards Game after having gotten out. Training these walking muscles like a pro! The other two didn’t try to get out, but promptly fell asleep in the crate.
Today, I saw unmarked boy and pink boy walk! By now, EVERYONE is able to sustain themselves briefly on their legs! Woohoo!
Little big dogs: los rebeldes y el reto de barrera II
After getting home from Enrique and Queso, I remembered the unintentional barrier challenge unmarked girl, unmarked boy and green boy showed me this morning. I set up a camera, asked Game to settle (a lay-down-and-make-yourself-comfortable cue, not a stay command), placed the crate next to her and hit record. Game looked like she wanted to get up, but didn’t release herself. Even though I encouraged her, she stayed in the down, so I just waited everyone out. I figured as long as she wasn’t concerned, neither did I need to be.
Eventually, all five of them made it out of the crate and all the way to the milk bar. There was some complaining, but they ALL did it. I’m majorely impressed! If you only watch one puppy, watch the last one (starting at 2:15) – it’s the cutest one!
Also, before you hit play, let me ensure you: they can’t get hurt. The floor is puzzle mats covered by a double layer of potty pads that contain soft absorbant something, making the landing even softer. Their tumbling out of the crate is similar to the tumbling they do when they try and crawl over Game’s back and end up rolling off.
Handling and husbandry
Everyone got the nails on their left back paw Dremeled. I managed to time it well in terms in counterconditioning again for green boy, unmarked boy and blue girl: the three of them got to nurse right after the nail procedure. Pink boy and unmarked girl were already at the milk bar. Unmarked girl struggled the most, but she was happy to have another go at the milk bar post mani-pedi – so that’s something. However, she also complained towards the end of her 5 minutes in my arms a little later. I’m making a mental note to bring unmarked girl out for some extra handling when my next visitor is around, and will be thinking if and how I’ll implement Julie Daniels’ protocol for relaxing to request being let down on the floor.
Game
As of today, Game started exercising again with some light 15-minute trotting. As of yesterday, she’s also back on more food, which is currently 3 kibble meals and 1 raw meal. For the raw, there is as much variation as I can come up with (I had put it on hold for a few days because her stool has been a little loose.) And of course, Game’s short outings include the occasional scavenged gem as well.
1 week, 6 days (April 6)
Social life
Westie Johnson
Today was the first time we had a socialization experience that wasn’t entirely positive. 8-year old Westie Johnson was our helper today. Of all the dogs we’ve met so far, he was the most excited about the puppies – pretty much the exact opposite of Queso! He did great wagging and sniffing the first three puppies with shiny eyes. By the time we got to pink boy, #4 today, his excitement toppled over and he (gently, softly) terrier play-nipped at him, leaving a bit of saliva on pink boy’s nose. Pink boy protested! That was not okay! I assume he felt the soft, but sudden touch of Johnson’s teeth and the sudden moisture of his saliva. He vocalized and turned away from Johnson. I’m making a mental note to letting him go first or second with the next dog who I know will be less excited. Puppy #5 got Johnson’s gentler interest again (and we also made sure he wouldn’t be able to reach if he wanted to).
Johnson’s sister hung back because she’s an old lady and generally likes her space – but she was actually tempted to come a little closer and get a whiff of puppy smell, too!
This is a good reminder that every dog is different! Johnson was very enthusiastic. Queso yesterday was almost fearful. Most dogs are somewhere in the middle: interested in the first puppy, but losing their interest as we go through all five.
Rough play happens; all dogs who get opportunities to socialize will experience it (and dole it out) sooner or later in life. I’ll be observing pink boy’s response to the next dog carefully, but I am not concerned: he is not yet physiologically able to experience fear. He can feel pain or startle, but it’s physiologically impossible for him to take this kind of experience and turn it into a fear response. Imagine a puppy who meets a rough player for the first time when they are fully able to experience fear. That puppy will be impressed by the experience and may be careful around new dogs in the future. Pink boy, on the other hand, has now (not counting Game) met 12 dogs – and dog #12 is the very first one who wasn’t an absolute gentledog. He’ll meet many more before he can experience fear. My theory is that this experience is no more likely to make a dent in his overall dog-sociability and confidence than I’m likely to make a dent in a puppy’s future husbandry tolerance if I startle them when touching an ear or Dremeling a nail, or Game is likely to cause a puppy to lose trust in her when she occasionally steps on one, eliciting a protest scream (which she will then respond to by taking off her paw!) My hope is that overall positive and neutral, but occasionally startling experiences will give the puppies a solid idea of the wide range of normal in the world at an age where they are physiologically hardwired for success.
Human friends
Rachel and Miriam came by and everyone got handled (the paws, ears, tail, lips protocol) and slept in the arms of all three of us. I saw Rachel on Tuesday, so technically, she’s not a new person (I’ve made up the arbitrary rule that there have to be 5 days between visitors for someone to count as new again), but I’ll count her twice this week anyways. Miriam cooked for Game and she got an extra yummy meal today! Thank you!
Sleepy cuteness!
The senses
As of this afternoon, we’ve got eye slits!
Unmarked girl is on a roll now that she can walk! She’s fast and exploring the blanket fort!
Green boy has been trembling a little when being lifted out of the blanket fort and held. It comes and goes. I wonder whether it’s a thermoregulation thing (puppies only start to be able to regulate their body temperature at 3 weeks old – if the Internet1 is correct) or something else. (Physiologically speaking, it can’t be fear at this age.) I’ll keep an eye on him. Even though it is warm, it is definitely cooler when he is lifted up and away from the others/the warm blanket fort. I usually have the ceiling fan on, which is in my living room, but can’t be felt in the blanket fort. This, too, may contribute to a response to temperature change. If it is a response to that, it should be going away as soon as he’s able to keep his temperature stable!
In other green boy news, he stumble-walked over to me and snuggled into my hand when I sat down in the blanket fort tonight. Awww, puppies!
And more exciting news: as of Thursday, I’m sleeping in my own bed again rather than camping in the blanket fort. I still pull it up close so Game can either sleep in my bed and keep an eye on the puppies or sleep with the puppies and keep an eye on me. I’ve got to say it’s nice to sleep on a mattress rather than on the floor again!
As of today, I’ve used up all sticker dots on my weekly tracker, meaning that technically, not only do we get tomorrow “off,” but we also get 2 days sans handling protocol and 3 days sans sleeping in someone’s arms next week.
Julie Daniels’ “Get down!” game and my “Up!” announcement
Julie Daniels teaches a great class called Baby Genius at FDSA (it’s not currently on the schedule because it just ran, but when it is back, you’ll see it under this link to Julie’s classes.) One game the puppies learn in Julie’s class is that calm puppies get placed down on the ground when they want to while crazy puppies don’t: the way to ask to be put down is to relax.
I’ve been thinking about how to implement this game for Game’s litter now that they’re becoming more active and are starting to have opinions about being held. When a puppy asks to be put down (vocalizing or getting fidgety in my arms), I will hold them in ready-for-landing position (the back paws a few inches from the ground) and let them down, back paws first, as soon as they hold their little legs still. To help them understand this concept, I’ll always put them down this way, even when they aren’t struggling to do something else. We’ll see how this goes – it is possible the puppies ace this exercise, and it’s equally possible they are too young for this kind of impulse control (in which case we’ll abandon the mission.) I can’t wait to find out!
I usually announcing “up” before lifting up my dogs so they don’t get caught by surprise. So far, I haven’t done this with the puppies because they can’t hear yet – that only happens around 3 weeks; a week after their eyes open. But why not get into the habit and start saying it now! I’ll forget half the time, but by the time they start being able to hear in a week, I’ll have it down pat!
Specialty foods
Apart from the rice-carrot-potato meal Miriam cooked for Game (thank you!), Game got Heartgard-ed today. According to the manufactorer, it’s safe in lactating dogs and puppies 4 weeks and older. The puppies will get their first round when they turn 4 weeks old.
2 weeks (April 7)
We got collared this morning! At 2 weeks of age, the puppy collars fit at the smallest setting! Going forwards, I’ll refer to individual puppies by their collar color. Here’s the “translation” of nailpolish to collars:
- Pink boy – Red
- Green boy – Green
- Unmarked boy – Purple
- Blue girl – Blue
- Unmarked girl – Black
I don’t yet know if I’ll name them. I’ve got a list of possible “Rebelde”-themed names … but I’ve yet to decide whether I’ll want to use them or wait for their new homes, which will probably come with new names anyways, to decide. I’ll know if I want to name them once their personalities start showing.
Social life
Today, we drove to yet another park the puppies haven’t been at before, and they met Lab mix Cometa from a distance. (Cometa found the puppies suspicious and vocally explained the distance she was comfortable with.)
This works for us – after all, Cometa makes an extra dog for the week already; she’s #8. I wanted to take advantage of it being Sunday and the fact that my work load, just like traffic, is a lighter today, and take the gang out in the morning.
This afternoon, Blue was the first one to come tumbling towards me when I went into the blanket fort! A little later, as I was sitting with my legs stretched out, Red and Green came over to explore me. Green then went on to check out my phone on the floor! Right now, as I’m reading through this post before publishing it, I’m sitting in the blanket fort with everyone and once again, Blue is near my outstretched legs, checking me out.
Two friends were going to come over today, but I ended up canceling. I needed a human-social break … probably more so than the puppies! I’m looking forward to visitors next week though!
The senses
If motion sickness can be prevented by exposure, these puppies are going to do very well! They’ve been riding in the car almost daily. They’ll feel the motion of the car, and today, one of the hottest mornings we’ve had this year, they also felt sun on their faces. Interestingly, no trembing from green boy, which would go with the possible explanation that it is temperature-change related.
Over the next few days, there will be a brief window where they’ll be old enough to be away from Game a little longer (when I say “a little longer,” I mean up to 20 minutes or so) as well as still light enough for me to carry them all. I’ll take advantage of this by walking rather than driving them to their oudoors social encounters – I just need to spring for a soft carrier first.
The way I determine the length of time it is okay to separate them from Game is by observing how long Game will voluntarily leave them. She’s been doing this for up to an hour over the last day or two, just briefly checking on them in between feeding times, and a few hours at night. (Sleeping in my bed and only returning when they vocalize for food.)
As of today, the puppies are feeling collars on their bodies – another new sensation! I’ll take them on and off during every handling session going forwards.
As the puppies are getting more mobile, they are increasingly climbing on and over Game. She did NOT sign up for THIS!
The most exciting news: they are now ready to start exploring a new sense: taste!
Specialty foods
I exchanged Game’s regular kibble breakfast for puppy kibble breakfast – the same kibble I’ll introduce the puppies to. I’m thinking it might be more tempting for them when the time comes if they are already used to the taste via Game’s milk. Maybe that’s not how it works, but it can’t hurt.
The reason I’ll use puppy kibble rather than all-life stages kibble is that it is smaller and therefore easier to use in training puppies, too – and I hope to be doing some of that before they leave! They’re getting Royal Canin all life stages adult medium sized dog (the red bag) and Royal Canin medium sized puppy kibble (the blue bag).
The raw meals continue to be different, and the puppies will also get to know raw food in addition to their kibble. I’ll wean them on both forumula and goat milk, soaked puppy kibble and soaked ground meat/veggies. My hope is that, being exposed to different foods, they are going to do well, whatever they will eat in their future homes, less likely to be picky and less likely to develop food sensitivities. I don’t know if that’s actually going to be the case – but again, I figure it can’t hurt.
Today is the first day I fed Game formula in the blanket fort – Puppy Culture recommends letting the puppies see the adult dog lap up food from 2 weeks onwards. Sooner or later, their curiosity will lead them to try it themselves. At lunch time, most of them slept through Game licking formula off a cookie sheet – but it’s a good start! I’ll feed Game a licky snack like this two or three times a day going forwards.
The video below isn’t interesting – nothing happens; it’s just a testament to my need to document everything. The interesting stuff happened tonight! The video is part of Game’s lunch. The second time I offered the puppies formula was part of dinner – and Black and Green made it onto the cookie sheet and did some lapping and licking! Go puppies!! On their very first day!
I was planning on doing a round of Panacur today as well, but will wait until tomorrow. The puppies are old enough for their first deworming and I want to do Game and Chai the same day, but Chai isn’t feeling good today – so tomorrow it is.
Handling and husbandry
Everyone got the claws on their right back paws Dremeled. Purple complained big time! Overall, the clippers seem to be less annoying to the puppies than the Dremel. I might switch to clippers only once I’ve done one full Dremel-round of all four paws.
In any case, I timed things well and got to countercondition again: Dremel – milk bar for everyone!
Trackers
This is what my week 2 tracker looks like in the end of the week. The only thing still missing is the entry for Game’s raw dinner.
… and the week 3 tracker:
I went back to one I printed myself. Coloring is more fun than stickers! The post-it is for things I get to “not do” in week 3 because I did more than planned in week 2:
- 3 times sleeping in my/someone’s arms (I don’t think I’ll not do that one; puppies are THE best therapy!)
- 2 times handling protocol (which, going forwards, will include the collar coming on and off and, once I get a soft brush, being brushed.)
- 1 new dog.
- I know for a fact that young puppies can’t regulate their body temperature, but I don’t know when exactly this changes – the 3 weeks answer is not from a reliable source. ↩︎