5 weeks, 1 day (April 29)

We had a lazy day today. I made sure not to take too many pictures or videos so I wouldn’t have too much to write or edit either!

A sleepy Game sandwich.

Purple’s Solo Adventure

Purple went on a solo adventure to the lunch place next door. He did great in the carrier, and then I opened it to let him out – if he so chose – while waiting for my food. He came out onto the sidewalk, explored around the carrier and then whined, which was immediately remedied by picking him up. After watching the world go by from my arms – there wasn’t a lot going on, but we saw a cyclist, two small kids running and an adult walking by, a few cars and a motorcycle – he struggled, I put him back down and he explored some more before falling asleep on the cool tiles of the restaurant entry. No complaints on the walk back home either (it’s only a 2-minute walk.)

Purple watching the street on his solo adventure.

Green’s Solo Adventure

Green was the next puppy to go on a solo adventure when I walked to the copy shop to print out this week’s puppy trackers. He did great on the 5-minute walk there, and after getting my prints, I opened his carrier in a quiet side street to give him a chance to explore as well. He came out slowly – this is the first time he has this opportunity on his own, and he wasn’t as quick to explore as he’s been with his siblings around. I wonder if caution is a natural response when by oneself as a young puppy OR if this indicates his fear response has set on.

In any case, he did come out and explored around the carrier. There wasn’t much going on, but on the walk home, we walked parallel to someone with a wheelbarrow and also saw a few cars and a bike.

Crate training

Purple

did great and slept through his 6 minutes.

Red

complained and wanted out. Blue and Black were concerned and tried to get into the closed crate where their brother was screaming at volume level 4. I let him out after his 7 minutes, but not without wondering if I should let him cry it out. I know he’s frustrated because he wants out. I don’t believe he feels abandoned because everyone else is right next to him. I’ve never let a new puppy I crate trained cry it out, but these puppies were older – I built duration and alone time very slowly. With a puppy who’s been separated from everyone they know, it seems cruel to me to let them complain until they give up. On the other hand, imagining to let Red complain until he stops now feels different because I’m convinced he doesn’t feel abandoned. Hrm. We’ll see tomorrow.

In any case, the success of the puppies (for example the fact that Purple slept through his turn and Red didn’t) is, so far, based on the timing of when I started their turns. It’s not that Purple is more comfortable in the carrier than Red; it’s simply that when I put Purple in, everyone was still sound asleep, but soon after I put Red in, everyone started waking up and becoming active – including Red, who at that point didn’t want to stay in the carrier.

Deworming …

Every puppy got another spoon full of strawberry yoghurt laced with dewormer. Sadly, no strawberry yogurt for me today. I need to safe some for their third dose tomorrow!

Mobility, becoming social beings and the senses

The rebeldes are getting FAST when they run and, as of today, have REALLY turned into sharks. Their teeth have been around for a few days, but as of today, their jaws are strong enough to make teeth on skin hurt.

We’ve officially turned into little biting machines!

They’ve also started carrying tennis balls around and playing together with a tennis ball! Social and object play rolled into one!

AND we’ve heard the closest firecrackers we’ve heard so far. Game, Green and Red lifted their heads; everyone else didn’t even wake up. I don’t know what’s going on with Game – she hasn’t been THIS chill around firecrackers in a long time! I wonder what hormonal or other changes are causing this.

Also, here’s a lunch recall to a scatter in the grass! Sometimes, I recall to scatters, sometimes to different plates or containers – I want them to learn to eat out of any container and from any surface. This is a simple stimulus/stimulus pairing – classically conditioning my voice/pup-pup-pup-pup, followed by food. Easy, fast and effective.

5 weeks, 2 days (April 30, 2024)

Social life

This morning’s social play

Solo adventures

Both Blue and Black went on solo adventures today!

Black

joined me on my quest to figure out where to pay a parking fine (I outdid myself and got two in the course of 3 days, thank you very much.)

A note on urban planning (or the lack thereof) in Coyoacán

This town reminds me of the outskirts of Xela. It is urban-sprawly in a way that feels completely arbitrary. There are several streets that have this freeway-town atmosphere where there are businesses to their left and right – reststop-esque eateries and places to fix your flat tires, fruit and juice stands and a lot of surprisingly fast traffic.

Then there are little plazas in places you wouldn’t expect them, and NO plazas in places you would. There is an official center of town, but there are other places that could just as well be it. Government officies are randomly strewn across the city as if someone sprinkled them over the town for decoration.

There is paid parking where you think there wouldn’t be, and free parking where you’d expect it to be paid. The person I paid my fine to liked me and simply cut it in half because … why not.

People don’t seem particularly communicative – the goings on feel rushed. This is not a sleepy town. While in smaller towns, people may stop to let a dog cross the street, here, they will bump into them (at least one person I observed last week did. They saw the dog, slowed down and – gently – bumped into them with their car. The dog was fine.)

There is a lot of food everywhere, and places open and close at random hours. It is A LOT cheaper than Mexico City; I forgot how cheap good streetfood can be!

It’s a good place for puppy raising, especially because of the yard – but it’s too far from what I love about Mexico City, yet too loud, busy and urban for what I love about the middle of nowhere to be a place I’d want to stay more permanently. Most of all though, it’s a place with a very strange (lack of) layout.

Back to Black!

Black screamed at a new noise level – 5 – in the car for about 10 minutes and then calmed down for the rest of our adventure. I carried her around the main plaza with all its goings on and opened the carrier in the gazebo. Black came out after observing for a bit, made her way around the carrier and then got back in. I presented her (held her in my hands) to a helpful freeroamer who wagged and came over to sniff and be sniffed. New dog count for Black – one up!

The lovely fella on the left came over to be Black’s socialization helper.

Right: an unsuccessful attempt at adequatly capturing the center craze and all it’s goings on.

Blue

joined me on my hunt for food. The places I already knew weren’t there or closed, but we found another arbitrary plaza with random food stands and a bunch of children running around. I carried Blue around this plaza so she could see the world while waiting for my quesadillas. On the walk back, we met a friendly freeroamer who, like Black’s helper, kindly assisted in sniffing and being sniffed. Blue came out of her carrier right away when I put it down on the sidewalk and was curious to meet the new dog (who was hoping for a quesadilla.)

Top: Blue and I are waiting for my quesadillas. Bottom: Blue’s socialization helper.

Husbandry and handling

Everyone got the nails on their left back paws done and a round of my handling protocol. They were all completely relaxed – very nice! Their teeth are looking great! Being poked by my pretend needle (a pencil) doesn’t faze them. I wonder if the real needle of the vaccine is going to be very different.

More laced strawberry yoghurt

Everyone enjoyed their third and for now last spoon of yoghurt with dewormer. Only Black didn’t want to eat hers; I smeared it directly into her mouth. This was VERY easy; I assume because I’ve practiced looking at the puppies’ teeth a lot.

Sharky escape artists

This morning, Red and Blue were out in the living room. They had managed to escape the x-pen I set up because this very much doesn’t feel like “my” house. I suspect they managed to climb on Game’s chair and jump down from there – which is quite the jump. I changed the set-up for tonight to make it – hopefully – impossible to escape or break a bone for a few more days.

They all are ankle biters now and their needle sharp teeth are quite painful! I am delighted! The Mals are Malinoising!

Because the cuteness

5 weeks, 3 days (May 1, 2023)

In the middle of the night, the puppies woke me and complained – they usually wake me when they want their late-night/early-morning snack from Game. This time, I opened the door for them along with Game, who wanted to go outside. Every single puppy ran out to the grass and immediately peed out there! Go puppies!!!

The uncreepy duck

Yesterday, I set Creepy Duck into the doorway. Green was the only one who showed curiosity, but I wasn’t sure if the other ones just missed it. So today, I took another stab at having Creepy Duck show up in an unexpected place it hadn’t previously been. Nobody cared … not even Chai! She was the only one who ever found it creepy on the first encounter in my apartment. As Creepy Duck has no more use for us, Game did the sensible thing briefly after this video ended: she shredded it to pieces.

I’ll have to step up my game when it comes to creating The Uncanny!

Solo adventures

Red

Today was Red’s turn again, after he was the first one to go on a solo adventure last week! We walked to El Chichimeca. It was quiet out, probably because it was hot. Nevertheless, Red saw a few bicycles, two cars, a motorcycle and two pedestrians, one of whom was Carla who stopped to talk to us. He also heard the sizzling of something being fried on a gas stove and came out onto the sidewalk to play-tug on my fingers and gnaw on the carrier before falling asleep by my feet after getting his belly scratched. He was comfortable and at ease out and about, all by himself. I’m proud of him!

Gnawing on the world’s tiniest water dish, on the carrier and about to fall asleep upside down under the bench … after gnawing on it too.

Purple

went on his second solo adventure of the week! We just took a short walk. We had two sidewalk stops to drink water and a third one to briefly sniff a small dog while I held Purple. On the two stops I gave him time to leave the carrier voluntarily, he did so immediately and started exploring, venturing futher than any other puppy has so far (far being about 2 meters.) He found a piece of tissue on his stop that he was intrigued by, saw people, a bike and a motorcycle and met a second dog on the sidewalk. Such a brave boy! Since he didn’t want to go back into the hot crate, I “suggested” he walk with me, and he did – I only walked for about 5 or 6 meters along the sidewalk, but he happily followed along, tail held high! Then I put him back into the carrier. I’m pretty sure his occasional soft carrier complaints were heat related. Which made me think that every puppy should also have a carrier-free outing this week, just being carried by me! Time for more adventures!

Purple and I also heard a loudspeaker announcing a very eclectic selection of products for sale, passing by the truck things were being sold out of: differently flavored homemade aguas (lemonades), clothes, dirt for planting plants and fragrance oils.

Green

I carried Green down the street for no more than 3 minutes, just to check when the vet Carla had told me about was open – I want to use them for their next happy vet visit this week. Green watched the world from my arms and had no complaints.

I’ll want to do this with everyone, but also keep up the carrier outings: when carrying a puppy in my arms, I can’t give them the same agency to either come out of or retreat into the safe space of the carrier, so I wouldn’t want to put them down. With the carrier, I set down the carrier and open it and it’s up to the puppy to decide if and how far they want to come out. I really like the agency and portable safe space this provides.

Puppy play and canine conflicts

I’ve got two play videos for you today! In the first one, we see that tails are a-ma-zing … and that it may not always be the best idea to get near Game’s tennis ball! She drops it just to my right (not visible in the video), and when Purple approaches it, she corrects him by being loud and moving her head fast into his face (without making contact.) You can’t see her, but you can hear her – and you can see Purple’s very appropriate response: this was clear communication; he understands and he backs up; he’s off to do other things.

A note on emotionally intelligent conflict behavior

As I watched this video just now before uploading it, it struck me how much we could (if we were so inclined) learn from canine conflicts. Game is not beating around the bush or hedging her feelings. She says it like it is: “you being near my ball is not okay with me.” I’m anthropomorphizing for the sake of the point I am making: this is the canine equivalent of stating something clearly. Game doesn’t harm or scare Purple. Even though Game is loud, this is NOT the equivalent of the primate behavior of yelling at someone or being physically or emotionally violent. It’s the equivalent of stating a fact: “This is my boundary. Back off.” Purple hears the statement: “Oh, that’s your boundary. Got it!” He respects it rather than pestering Game to change it or questioning her self-knowledge (“But really, I know you better than you know yourself and your boundary is or should actually be over there.”) He moves on with his day and continues having fun without bothering Game. He’ll respect her boundary (except for when he forgets about it and will be reminded of it, which is also totally okay.) No bad blood. No grudges. No endless back and forth that doesn’t lead anywhere. If we were half as decent at communicating (and listening to each other the first time around), our species would be in a lot less trouble. Collectively as well as interpersonally.

… and here’s some more puppy wrestling … and Purple coming for me!

Crate training

Both Red and Purple mastered their 7 minutes without problems today: I chose a sleepy time and they did great! Up next: 8 minutes!

5 weeks, 4 days (May 2)

I had let everyone outside and slept an hour more. When I got up and headed out, I was greeted by everyone hanging on to my socks and pants! EVERYONE! I tugged with them that way and lifted Blue off the ground once again. Loving my little sharks! They are so Mal now! It is beautiful!

Social life

Solo adventures

Green

went on an in-carrier solo adventure this morning. We left around 9, but it was already hot. We stayed out for about 35 minutes, finding an ATM and taking several breaks for Green to drink water and choose if he wanted to come out of the crate. He came out halfway and observed from there each time.

He got to sniff two free-roamers from my arms observe a third one from his half-out carrier position. I also carried him through a tiny street market and then let him observe the goings-on there from his carrier with the door open for a few minutes. We set up outside a school building, so he heard the voices of small kids in the background as well.

The first of Green’s two free-roaming helper dogs and the market we walked through and observed.

Green complained softly on and off in the carrier (likely due to the heat) and calmed down when he could come half-way out or be in my arms. Anytime I closed the carrier exit to walk a little more, he pushed against it with his paws: open doors please!

We also heard an extremely loud screeching sound right next to us – I don’t know what it was, but it certainly hurt my ears! Green in his carrier didn’t seem to mind the sound.

Blue

and I walked to El Chichimeca in the early afternoon. There was less pedestrian traffic than usual, but more traffic-traffic. Below is an excerpt of Blue exploring (she immediately left the carrier and checked out the environment, venturing quite far) and the vehicles passing by. When I take someone on a solo adventure to this place, it’ll usually look similar to this.

We also heard a blender and a kid’s voice from inside El Chichimeca.

Puppy play!

Just because:

The two puppies without collars in this video are Green (the darker one) and Purple (the lighter one.) I just washed their collars and they are drying in the sun.

Blue is the most feisty and playful of them all today (the puppy without a collar who’s being chewed on is Green):

Part 2 of Blue’s feistiness:

Pedicures

Everyone got the nails on their right back paws clipped. By now, they are SO relaxed about this. I’ll bring the big-dog clippers and use those instead of the little human clippers starting next week!

As of this week, I’ve combined handling/husbandry and nail trims. Everyone got brushed, had all paws handled, teeth checked, eyes cleaned and ears cleaned and collars taken off and on again, with everything I do being announced.

I’ve changed the eye- and ear-cleaning strategy and now use a moist paper towel: there’s actually something to clean now that the puppies are spending parts of their day sleeping in the dusty dry dirt under the car (it’s the coolest spot in the yard.) I also added a new element to my “needle” protocol: it’s not just two pencil stings a la IM injection, but also two a la SQ injection by now (it’s two each because I do it left and right.) Nobody is impressed by this procedure at all. We’re about to find out what they think of their first actual needle when I vaccinate them this weekend!

A new toy!

Today, with Game and Chai cooped up, I brought out toy #2 from our fancy toy collection!

This video is the very first time the puppies see this toy – they are engaging with it in this way with no time to explore or think about it first. Go little sharks!

In the end of the clip, I say that we’re into toy play and object play by now. I meant to say we’re into social play and toy/object play by now (toy play is object play.) Excuse the video angle … I needed to hold the camera because I ran over my tripod.

A happyish (less gentle) vet visit

In the late afternoon, I took every puppy on a solo adventure – sans carrier; I carried them in my arms – to the vet who is practically next door, one after the other.

It was interesting to compare this experience with the first happy vet visit we did in the city. This vet was different (of course they were; every person is different – but I digress.) Their exam: the puppies got weighed on the big-dog scale, their mouths got fully opened (rather than just pulling up the lips like the other vet and I have been doing), and the vet manipulated their legs (and not particularly gently at that.) The vet also pulled up their skin (the way you do to check for hydration status.) No stethoscope this time.

The cool thing: the surface of the table was no big deal for anyone except (maybe) Black. This table was metal too, but it had texture unlike typical vet tables – maybe it didn’t feel as weird, or maybe the first happy vet visit table time made a difference.

Purple went first and Black went second. With Black, the vet observed (it wasn’t visible but I’m sure if they said they felt it, they did) that she initially trembled on the table and then stopped and calmed down. None of the other puppies trembled. Given how warm it is, trembling is fear-related, I assume. (Technically, it could also be related to some other state of arousal.) Assuming it is fear, Black’s physiological fear response has set in now as well – at 5 weeks and 4 days old, I’m seeing the first sign of it. Isn’t it wild how long “we” typically wait to start introducing puppies to the world? The average pet or sports puppy sees very little before having fear in their experiential repertoire. (This is NOT true for the average free-roaming puppy, who is the average dog. Pets and sports dogs only make up a small fraction of the world’s dog population.)

I let the vet do their spiel. After all, nothing cruel was being done to the puppies and I don’t know who their vets will be later in life. Maybe they’ll resemble this one! In the end of the visit, every puppy was mostly relaxed, even Black who didn’t start out that way.

A note on human behavior and first impressions

What stood out to me was how differently the vet treated each puppy based on their first impression of them. They immediately pidgeonholed Black as the most timid. However, rather than being extra gentle, they seemed more foreceful to me when handling her than they had been when handling the first puppy, Purple. This was confirmed with the puppies following Black: every one of them got less prodding and leg-pulling and joint-moving than her. I’d be surprised if the vet was conscious of treating them differently. They handled the most playful puppy (Red) the least and the most gently, and the second most playful one, Green, almost as little as Red. They very clearly “liked” Red best and Green second best because they were mouthy and exploratory and the vet commented on it, sounding amused. Blue resisted a little when she didn’t like something, but didn’t try to play or explore, and Purple was simply calm and relaxed, letting things happen. The vet told me that Red had “the most character,” which (the vet told me) was “a good thing in this breed.” Being a language person, I can’t help but notice that character (not a scientific term as far as I know) was seen as something dogs have a certain amount of. The vet didn’t use the term to describe a trait every dog has and that looks different depending on the individual, but as a trait some individuals have, to pick a unit at random, 5 ounces of and other individuals have 10 or 15 ounces of. Apparently, in the Malinois breed, the more ounces of character you have, the better. I wonder: if I asked the vet (which I didn’t do because I would probably have confused the poor person with my semantic eccentricities), would they tell me that there was a maximum amount of character an indivudal dog could have (say 15 ounces) or whether it was always relative to the litter in question (one would rank the puppies within the litter from most to least amount of character and consider the one with the most character the best if the dogs in front of one were Malinois. It might be the other way around if they were Cavalier King Charles Spaniels or Golden Retrievers.) In the latter case, if Red was part of a different litter where the other puppies had MORE rather than LESS ounces of character, Red wouldn’t be the best. This discussion isn’t meant to go anywhere; it’s just … semantics. But interesting ones that point to human biases! We all have biases, of course – it’s just a lot easier to see them in others (such as our vets) than in ourselves.

Being carried to the vet and back, everyone saw a person or two in the street. Purple also saw a dog in the waiting room. Black got pet in my arms by a stranger with two dogs when I carried her back home, and briefly got to sniff one of the dogs while I held her. I won’t count them as a new person – too little contact – but I’ll count their dog!

This vet liked hearing themselves talk, so I listened. They charged me quite a bit, so I made the most of our time there and stayed in the environment with every puppy until they had finished talking and sent me out.

A note on human behavior and actions considerd ethical/the subjective value placed on lives

I now know that they “rescued” a Belgian/GSD mix who was going to be put down because she killed farm animals. They kept the dog (even though they also have a farm.) Sadly, the dog has to always be chained up or they would keep killing. They have, in fact, been let loose a few times over the past few years, and several farm animals died in the wake of it.

It was interesting on several levels to hear this dog’s story. The previous human of this dog had either considered euthanasia kinder than a locked-up or chained-up life, or they were simply pragmatic and didn’t want their dog to kill their other animals. Maybe they considered all lives equally valid, and didn’t think it okay for this dog to kill others. Who knows.

The vet, on the other hand, considered living on a chain the better choice for the dog than death. At the same time, the fact that this dog stayed alive has apparently led to the death of several more farm animals over the years. I didn’t ask them to clarify their moral point of view and I don’t have arguments for or against their decision regarding that dog – but it sure is fascinating. Once more, I’m finding the dog world (our cross-species intersection with canines) to be like a mirror image of the world at large and its complexity of points of view and hard convictions.

Crate training

Purple

complained around level 2 on and off throughout his 8 minutes. I put him in the carrier when he was sleepy – but everyone started waking up right after and he clearly wanted to be part of the action. He’ll be doing 8 minutes again next time.

Red

slept through his 8 minutes and will be taking a stab at 9 next time!

Exploring the house

At night, it looked like it was about to start raining. So rather than hanging out outside like we usually would, I let everyone in and allowed them to explore all of the (studio) house. I’ve kept them outside during the day and in their puppy area at night because this is very much not my house and I don’t want them to pee everywhere and eat the furniture – but a puppy needs to entertain oneself when it’s raining! They had fun dragging everything they found (plastic bag, towel etc.) all over the place, tasting every object and exploring the nooks and crannies! There only was a single peeing accident inside. (And it didn’t rain more than a few drops after all.)

5 weeks, 5 days (May 3)

I let everyone outside when they first wake up in the morning and ask me to. Currently, that’s around 6AM. Then I sleep a little longer before joining them outside. This is what it looks like right now! (So far, Blue is the only one I can lift up – for the second day in a row!)

Here’s another delightful snippet of tugging with Blue. Yep, of course I’m teaching them to tug on clothes. As I said, these puppies will hopefully be socially and environmentally confident – gotta make sure their future homes have something to grapple with! Isn’t that why humans get puppies?

At 7:30, we got yet another new level of bomba (extremely loud firecrackers) loudness from the other side of the wall around the yard. Game asked to come in the house – this level was unfun to spend without me – but the puppies kept playing through it! I love that they are getting this experience. Except for the one puppy that is going to be very much a city puppy and the one who might go abroad, everyone is bound to hear these kinds of noises on a regular basis.

They have Game’s and Drago’s genes, but we believe (as far as I know) that almost everything behavioral is a gene/environment interaction. As a puppy, Game had no exposure to this noise level – she only encountered it as an adult, and at that point, she was ready to sensitize. All five of the puppies played through it today. Here’s to hoping this is going to immunize them from developing big feelings about explosions! (Just to give you an idea – gun shots are nothing compared to the loudness level of these bombas. Game wouldn’t flinch on what’s part of many bitey working dog apt-for-breeding tests, which is not responding to a gun shot. This kind of noise is nothing like a gun shot. It is only the second time I’ve heard bombas like these in Mexico, and I’ve been here for over two years. In Guatemala, we heard them or even louder ones almost daily.)

The second round of bombas next door happened around 10AM. This time, it went on for a while, and both Game and Chai (who I’ve never seen show concern about firecrackers) responded. Chai croached and tucked her tail and Game stress-panted. Red observed the adults, and since I don’t want social learning (puppies watching the reaction of an adult dog to determine whether a stimulus is something to be concerned with), I put Game and Chai in the house and played with the puppies. Red fell back asleep and Purple hadn’t woken up in the first place. Green, Blue and Black all played with me. Green and Blue got convinced right away; Black needed a bit longer to start playing despite the sounds, but then went on to play with her siblings rather than me.

The third round of firecrackers happened about half an hour later. These were a little more in the distance, but Black looked concerned (at a noise level she hadn’t previously been concerned.) I got her to socially play with me a bit and come close for snuggles that relaxed her. She also watched Green play wildly with my other hand. Green was being an excellent role model, and about half a minute after this round of firecrackers stopped, Black was ready to play with him. The other three puppies slept through the noise.

The rest of today’s firecrackers was the usual noise level and further away, so everyone stayed chill during those.

While I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that puppy temperament tests aren’t proven to be reliable to judge adult personality, I will take Black’s higher noise sensitivity into account. Maybe it will change – but maybe it won’t. Noise sensitivity is one of these things that (anecdotally) get worse rather than better the older a dog gets. I have nothing else to go on and it will be up to me to place the two girls myself, even though I’d rather have their future people pick: I’ll drive one to Miguel, who can’t pick up their puppy because they don’t have a car – and this will be before Irving is back from a work trip. Neither one has decided on a puppy and they both want one of Game’s – no matter who. If I keep seeing the difference in noise sensitivity, I’ll place my decision on this (we need to base our decisions on something and in this case, it is at least not entirely arbitrary): Black will go to the quieter home (in Mexico City) and Blue to the louder one (Miguel’s town is one of the loudest places I’ve been to in Mexico.)

Blue is currently my favorite because she’s SO feisty and fight-y. I love how I can lift her up, all 4 paws off the ground, attached to a sock! I can’t help it – I love the biteyness of Mals. It’s one of their most fun qualities. It’s fun and informative to stop and reflect on my favorites and how they change all the time.

Solo adventures

Black

and I walked to El Chichimeca. Black’s experience was pretty much the same as Blue’s video yesterday – except that it seemed even hotter. Black came out of the carrier right away, had a drink of water, explored around the carrier and in the entrance to El Chichimeca for a bit, had another drink and fell asleep in a shady spot under the bench. We also learned that there is a reason for today’s cohetes: it’s El Día de la Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is the saint in whose honor bricklayers put crosses on top of buildings they are working on.

Cohetes at night

It rained a little and the puppies got to turn the little house upside down again (after having fallen asleep under a bench outside and getting a little wet; smelling rain!)

When the rain stopped, the firecrackers next door started up again big time. This last round was the BEST. I left the big dogs inside and the puppies and I ran through the yard social-playing – I’d call pup-pup-pup, run away, they’d all chase me and get wiggly and excited when they caught up to me, and I’d play and pet them. (Human touch is currently highly reinforcing to them.) We played for a few minutes, until a little after the firecrackers stopped. Everyone was ALL IN the entire time, tails up and wagging, joyfully chasing me around the yard – including Black. I LOVE the change I’ve seen in her in this single day! It will be interesting to see what happens if/when there’s another saint being celebrated while we’re in town.

5 weeks, 6 days (April 4)

We drove to the city bright and early. Saturday morning traffic was light AND my new shade structure worked very well. No complaints from the gang in the trunk! We dropped Game and Chai off at the apartment and then the puppies and I met Alan and Kiba at Kiba’s Park. Apart from hanging out with them, the puppies met a few other dogs and people each and had a snack eating kibble from my hands at the park. Nobody hesitated to eat or drink out and about.

I saw Blue’s first big (comparatively) fear response: she yelled when she saw the first up-close dog today, before Alan and Kiba got there. She warmed up within about 20 seconds and proceeded to be confident around every other dog she met up close or saw from a distance.

Left: Alan’s arm, Kiba, Blue and Green! Right: we met Jambi and one of their people again – everyone got sniffed and held!

After a while, we switched spots and hung out outside the playground gate. Two kids, 8 and 9, came over and had lovely puppy interactions for about 15 minutes. They held and petted everyone and were very gentle with them.

We also met a Pug at Kiba’s park … and fell asleep in the bushes after having fun with the kids!

The puppies also saw to younger kids running. The first one caused them to watch with what looked like alert. The second one was taken in stride.

We got home and took a break, and then had the first of our two weekend visitors at the apartment. The puppies were still tired, so everyone slept in my friend’s arms. By the tame Rachel left and Pabla came by, the puppies were just waking up. Everyone played a little with Pabla, licked their beard and pulled on their shoe laces. It was delightful to see them interact so confidently!

I had asked Pabla to bring an umbrella because I can’t find mine. We startle-recovered two puppies. Everyone else had fallen asleep again and I didn’t want to wake them. Good thing I just remember where my umbrella is; I’ll give the others their turn tomorrow!

Unfortunately, Purple’s video is the only half-way decent one I took – in the others, you can pretty much only see the umbrella and not the puppy’s response. Here, you see the puppy’s response and can hear the umbrella opening … but you don’t see it. Oh well! In any case, Purple’s fast recovery is awesome!

I also fit in a solo trip for Purple. He went into an electronics store with me in his carrier, and then I carried him through a pet chain store without a carrier. The cashier briefly held him. Plus he got to experience the hustle and bustle of a busy parking lot.

Pet store adventure selfie with Purple … and Pabla is being eaten by Green!

What is becoming really clear to me is that temperature can be both reinforcing and punishing to puppies this age. Obviously, it can be both these things for any dog (and other animals, including us humans) at any age, but puppies are VERY responsive to it – definitely more so than adult dogs. Anytime the puppies are hot, they will immediately complain. I can observe this well when someone, like Purple today, is in the foot space of the car seat. He complained anytime it was hot and immediately stopped when I set the AC to the footspace. When I changed it to blow at my chest, he’d start complaining again almost immediately. It’s fascinating and I get the impression that at this age, temperature would be a stronger reinforcer (or punisher) than food or social interaction. From my subjective perspective based on my subjective observations, at this age temperature is the strongest reinforcer (or punisher) for the puppies, followed by social interactions, followed by food. I bet it would be possible to teach young puppies quite a bit with an experimental chamber containing floors of different temperatures!

After dinner, I took the puppies to Fresa Parque to check off our evening/night park time and people/dogs watching at weird light conditions. They looked alert at first, but again, were fully comfortable and started exploring after about 20 seconds. Everyone met dogs. Black got held by a stranger, and we were approached by a teen in inline skates wearing ALL the protective gear. Several people stopped to talk with me without interacting with the puppies; some with and some without dogs – another great experience for the puppies. The park was VERY busy tonight; it was perfect!

We then switched spots and went into the very busy playground to hang out and observe kids running and playing, riding bikes, screaming and swinging in swing sets. The puppies are all able to visually track now and follow them by turning their heads! We observed and listened to yelling, screaming and laughing until everyone had fallen asleep. Purple stayed awake the longest and played with the tiny water dish (we’re outgrowing it) and then lay on top of a sibling and slowly dozed off as he was watching the world go by.

Tonight’s last station was an ice cream store they all joined me for in their carrier and backpack. Two kids came in right after us, and since I had opened the backpack (only 3 puppies fit in the carrier now, so 2 go in the backpack – and its ventilation isn’t great), the kids saw them and asked to pet them. Everyone got pet with the two backpack puppies – Green and Black – getting the most attention. They were awake while the others slept through the pets. I won’t count these two kids because they didn’t hold them, but it was a great experience, at the very least for the pups who were awake. They must have been a bit younger than the kids in the morning – maybe 6 or 7?

Now we’re back home and everyone is sleeping. It’s been a long day! I can’t believe how much I fit into it: seeing three friends, visiting two parks, running an errand and the drive back to the city! Today is my day off this week, which makes things feel lighter. We’ll see how long my energy and social batteries last. Raising these puppies isn’t only a great experience in terms of learning about very young canines – it also is a laboratory of getting to know myself.

6 weeks

As of this morning, we are chewing and pulling on and playing with everything we can find. My solution is to have out as many chewable objects as possible: half of the paper tubes, empty paper bags and cardboard boxes I collected over the last few months, our apartment toy … not worrying about anything that is indestructable or can’t be chewed up and putting electronics out of reach! They are SO fun to watch, and my favorite part was when Blue and Red climbed over the new and enhanced (in height) barrier and Blue was the first to be all over me, as excited as one puppy could possibly be to greet me in the morning!

For the first time this morning, Chai (poor rough-coated dog!) got the same greeting as me with puppies all over her, trying to hold on to her feathers. Being a pacifist, she had to flee to the couch for safety.

Becoming social animals

We started the day with a trip to Parque de las Arboledas. Everyone met LOTS of people and dogs! The puppies took turns sleeping and exploring/being held/meeting dogs/playing with each other and also ate kibble from my hands.

We met ALL the people and dogs in the morning! The puppy who fell asleep after opening this person’s shoelaces is Black.

A video – way too long! – of everything summarized by the pictures above, for myself as a memory, future rebelde homes and anyone else who’s got too much time on their hands and loves watching puppies:

BLOM

In the late afternoon, we went to hang out with our friends at BLOM¹. I’m only counting one person per puppy and one dog for Black since Viri directly introduced her to their Yorkie Martina, but I didn’t keep track. We had Diego, Viri and Miguel – Diego is on the wait list for a puppy, but will probably miss out, but they sure aren’t missing out on the fun – as well as two random customers and Viri and Diego’s dogs, Yorkie Martina and Pit Maco to hang out with! I was only going to go for an hour, but it turned into two and a half. It was great! The puppies explored, we humans had fun with them and time flew by. Miguel broke out delicious pan de nata they had gotten at a feria and we all shared slices. The puppies ate kibble again and watched dogs and people walk past, some of whom stopped to talk to us. A little Chi barked angrily, and one of the puppies – I believe it was Red, but I’m not 100% sure anymore – went to go hide briefly, but was back out 20 seconds later, watching curiously as the still-barking Chihuahua was getting smaller in the distance.

Bottom left: venturing about 8 meters from where we were on the sidewalk! Bottom right: one of the two strangers who stopped to get to know the puppies!

Again, a video of what’s summarized in pictures above for those who (like me and everyone in this video!) can’t get enough of the little ones! This time, we’ve got Purple in a leading role. The thing inside the tote bag that he tries to get to is a wrapped stack of tortillas. Purple will currently eat everything he finds.

This afternoon, Purple was the most travieso of all and gnawed on everything in his way. Viri got him to play with them with a rug.

Of the two boys who haven’t been picked yet, I’d have sent Red to a sports home yesterday. Today, I’d send Purple. This just goes to show that REALLY, we don’t know who puppies will grow up to be. Unless they are outliers and very different from everyone else, we just don’t know. They change SO much.

There is only a single trait that has been somewhat consistent in a single puppy so far: Black has appeared more “think before you do” and “watch first” than the others, who are more likely to jump right into anything new. Black has “jump right in” days as well and the others have “think before you do days.” Black has just had more tentative days than the others.

“Breeders” (I don’t like this term, hence the quotes) who play matchmaker like to be in control (like most of us humans do), and they know that it is currently (in the US and probably Canada) considered best practice for breeders to match puppies with homes – and everyone wants to signal that they are “an ethical breeder.”

I’m European where you typically get to pick yourself (unless you signed up for a puppy later, in which case you take whoever is still available.) I prefer the European model that doesn’t attach ethics to puppy selection. I will pick the two girls because I’ll be the one driving one of them to Miguel (a different Miguel than the BLOM one) before either Irving or Miguel have a chance to pick – not because I want to.

Alan got to pick for his Dad. As for the two remaining boys, Eduardo (Drago’s human) is happy to go with the last one, whoever he turns out to be. I would let the second home for a boy – Joan; we can reveal a first name now! – pick, but I believe they do want my input. I will share it WITH THE DISCLAIMER IN CAPS that it means very little (because it CAN not be meaningful – I truly believe it cannot. Unlike some “breeders,” I have no God complex in this regard.) It will mostly depend on the day I’m being asked. We could, of course, Volhardt Red and Purple (or everyone) just for fun if Joan would like to. They’ll be a new dog person we could use as the evaluator before they meet them in a more casual way!

The senses

Vaccines – round one!

Red screamed. Everyone else barely woke up (I picked a sleepy time of day). Black looked at me briefly and then put her head back down. I suspect I didn’t sting Red in quite the right way, causing him pain. OR he’s more sensitive to it, or just got really startled. I may give things with an actual – empty or saline-solution filled – syringe (instead of a pencil) another try in a few days to find out which it is in his case.

In case the above is confusing: I typically vaccinate my own dogs in places where this is possible; i.e. where you can buy vaccines over the counter. That’s because I want vet experiences to be as relaxing as possible for the puppies and only emergency solutions for adult dogs. (This behavior on my part is caused by my own mistrust and anxiety around physicians and vets.) For these puppies, I hope to have created positive vet experiences and stung them with needles them in a less stressful context, at home. I know Miguel does the same thing with their dogs, so at least one puppy will get vaccinated by his human going forwards as well.

Exploring a bit of the corridor

Purple was the first one out the apartment door when we came back from Game’s afternoon outing, but everyone followed quickly. Purple and Green ran about 6 meters away along the corridor to explore, and Black, Blue and Red climbed 3 stairs each when I led Game up ahead of them. And then, they tumbled down the last one on their way back down! Brave puppies!

Green, Black and Purple were all fascinated by the mirror today (I had it show up in different places over the course of the day again.)

The Uncanny room, take 2

I transformed the former blanket fort into another uncanny room while the puppies were sleeping:

The order the puppies approached the uncanny room says something about the order they woke up in, not about who’s the most curious. After scaring himself, Purple was back to playing with the others 20 seconds later – outside The Uncanny Room though. I’ll set up Fred for him again when we get another chance so he can have a positive interaction.

I also found my umbrella and startled the remaining 3 puppies with it. They all had great startle-and-immediate-recovery responses!

Names

As I’m reading through this post and editing it before I hit publish – it’s Monday, May 6 – I’m thinking about names. I didn’t know if I would name the rebeldes before sending them off to their new homes. If I did, it was only going to be once their personalities – which may still change – started showing.

This weekend, Mexican friends suggested Principe for Purple. And somehow, I now feel like naming them all! That’s even if they’ll only have their names for 2 weeks before going to their new homes and probably getting new names along with it. For me, Purple will be Oso (bear). Green will be Bravo (corageous; aggressive in Spanish; great, super in German). Red will be Fierro (Mexican slang for alright; gun). Blue will be Chispa (spark) and as for Black … I don’t know yet!

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1. Blom, by the way, is Afrikaans for “flower.” ↩︎