Day 47 A.M. & P.M.

The internet continues to be problematic, taking almost four hours (so far!) to upload a nine-minute video to YouTube. I hope it will be worth the wait.

In the meantime…

The kongs are now interesting to some of the puppies — this is Sage with a kong stuffed with banana…

In general, I do not use dog treats with puppies. Puppies can and do have TINY pieces of healthy “human” foods — like string cheese, pasta, banana, toddler meat sticks, pieces of an omelette, Puffs, and so on. When they are older, kibble or goldfish crackers can also be used as treats — or you can make your puppy treats.

If you do decide to buy treats, look for healthy and soft and small for the puppies.

While we are on the subject of food — I will share the BalanceIt-generated recipes for the puppies privately and closer to when they go home but I wanted to let you know what you will need:

• Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked

• Chicken breast, skinless, boneless, roasted (or turkey breast)

• Oil, canola

• Nordic Naturals Omega-3 Pet Liquid

• Morton Iodized Salt

• Balance IT® Canine

The bully sticks I am using are not the usual ones because most of those do not pass muster. What I have are Nature Gnaws Bully Sticks 12 inch (Premium Natural Free-Range Beef Chew Treats for Dogs) and I get them from Amazon.

The puppies only get them under supervision and they have to share — this means nobody is gnawing too much on one. When the stick gets small and swallowable, I will throw it away — we do not want puppies swallowing pieces of a bully stick.

Outside time was Big Fun…

…as evidenced in THIS VIDEO, which finally uploaded.

As you watch the video, pay attention to the interaction between Daisy and the puppy at about six minutes. The puppy was pulling Daisy’s tail — hard. Watch what she does — and what she doesn’t — and remember this when anyone tries to tell you mother dogs roll their babies or scruff shake them or any other aggressive nonsense.

EVENING: PHOTOS FROM THE DAY

The puppies had special visitors today — all the way from Iowa! How do the puppies respond to new people? See for yourself…

Outside, social distancing, zoom lens on the camera, masks on hand

And what does Daisy think about new friends with her puppies?

No problem.

Sparkle also visited the Wildflowers today…

Mr. Congeniality (aka Mallow) was there to show her around.

Paintbrush — and yes, he managed to jump out of the wading pool with this!

Clover — still an adventurer…

Mallow…

Smart and engaged — Clarkia…

All that fun was exhausting so they practiced sleeping in the crate. Cozy.

Good Night, Friends!

Day 46 A.M. & P.M.

I prefer my working dogs to be smart and stable enough to work, and so I take puppy enrichment very, very seriously — as you likely have figured out by now.

The Wildflowers sleep in the dining room and after breakfast they move to the inside play area in the living room — this is all well before 6:30 a.m., mind you!

Things change constantly for the puppies because mastering SAFE novel experiences are what matters when we are talking puppy enrichment.

And so there is one less yoga mat today and the slide is in a different spot and there are new toys and a new surface — and so on.

The outlets still speak to the puppies!

This toy is stuffed with toys and they have yet to figure out how to unstuff.

After a while, it is time to migrate to the outside play area. Again, there are constant changes to this area — this is today’s version…

The RV is parked on the driveway and serves as one side of the puppy yard — very handy since I stay outside with them.

Daisy hangs out with us for a bit, of course.

All I do is configure things, take photos and make sure they stay alive — the puppy antics are their own ideas.

When puppies are used to mastering constantly changing new experiences, they are good at it — and bold.

This is a series from a tunnel war…

The tunnel collapse and noise is just not a big deal to them — stuff like this happens all the time and it is always okay — hence, confidence.

Here is Mallow…

And now a series from Lupine — she starts at one end before going through the tunnel…

…to emerge at this end, where she goes across the entire series of “stuff” I created for today…

This is Clover — look at what she does…

Larkspur joined the fun…

Confidence comes from mastery — and there is no chance for mastery when things are the boring same stuff every day.

This is a bed that is very light and pops up on one end — like this…

When puppies walk on it, they can ride it down — just like a lightweight teeter! It lands high enough not to hurt the ones underneath.

No problem — nobody is worried or scared because they are used to stuff like this, and they expect it to be just fine.

Today’s water is just a sprinkler but turned up a bit higher — this is Mariposa…

One way to make thing novels is to switch them out for a few days and then bring them back — the structure is back today and it was quite interesting to the puppies. This is Paintbrush.

I think it is a lot of fun to consider how to create safe novel experiences for the Wildflowers to master, and as they enjoy my creations I just imagine all the excellent “wiring” being laid down in their developing brains.

Life with Dogs — a chance to do something REALLY well.

Or not, I suppose.

But I love my puppies and so they get my best.

EVENING: PHOTOS FROM THE DAY

It got pretty hot here today and so we were inside for the afternoon. The puppies are NOT fans of heat.

Sleeping on the slide is a thing…

Lupine

Paintbrush

One of the things puppies did today for the first time is eat while wearing this little harness. A small harness is a safe way to travel with a puppy as it is harder to slip out of than a collar.

Our internet must also be heat intolerant because it is too slow to post anymore tonight.

Good Night, Friends!

Day 45 A.M. & P.M.

The Wildflowers are conspiring to make the farewells slightly less awful. They are doing this by collectively demanding a change to my morning routine, which I find highly objectionable. There are, however, more of them than me — and the Montana Puppy Choir is LOUD.

Paintbrush and Sage

And so their breakfast has been moved to precede my morning coffee. This is sorely testing my cheerful morning demeanor but luckily, they are cute and I know it is not forever.

On days like this when their meals are raw food, they need to eat individually to reduce the chances of making a mess and having raw food all over their heads. Gross. This individual meal service takes more time, further delaying the morning coffee.

After eating, the puppies head for the playroom (aka Living Room) — and I basically become a Bathroom Attendant at this point in the proceedings, which is not conducive to coffee drinking, FYI.

Eventually they settle down to play and I can feed the big dogs — and finally, make coffee.

It is hard to overstate how all-consuming it is raise a litter of puppies well.

My Fitbit tells me I average only about 6 1/2 hours of sleep per night and I get over 10k steps in a day just moving puppies around. I forget to answer emails (or worse — think I have answered them) and find it hard to concentrate on non-puppy things that need doing.

Paintbrush

I am not actually complaining — I knew all this going in, after all.

One of my goals in blogging about this litter is to educate. Not only do I want to share information but I also want people to understand there is a big difference between a breeder who has the litter out in the barn or kennel, and one that pours her/his life into these eight weeks.

I hope it is also clear that it matters. Puppies are not blank slates when they arrive at their new homes — they are complex living creatures whose brains have been developing and getting “wired” for eight weeks.

Larkspur

It hurts my heart to imagine the stressed and/or deprived lives experienced by so many puppies and their mothers. Every puppy deserves to be raised as the Wildflowers have, but I know this is the exception because yes — it is hard and time-consuming.

You — the person looking for a puppy — can help change things.

Please insist on getting a puppy from parents who have ALL the recommended health testing/screening, and require the breeder show evidence of raising litters in intelligent, thoughtful, enriched ways.

Creating life should be done with integrity — and so should acquiring a puppy.

Please have a terrific — and ethical — day!

THIS is a morning video.

THIS is a lunchtime video.

EVENING: PHOTOS and Thoughts from the Day

Every time a puppy has a successful new experience, something marvelous happens in their developing brains.

Buttercup

Therefore, they need constant new experiences to master — not scary and new but doable and new.

As I have said before — what we want when something novel shows up (sprinkler moved to disk) is this…

And that happens when the new experience is appropriate AND the puppy has experience mastering new things.

Daisy has started to play with her babies, and I am reminded that it is normal for dog play to include their mouths…

We cannot really expect a puppy to NOT use her mouth — what we can expect is that she learn to do it gently…

Clarkia and Lupine — ganging up on mom.

Tonight each puppy had an individual training session. My specific goals were to take them to a new place and reinforce following.

I took each to two new places, put them down and walked away 5 - 6 steps. When they caught up, I gave them a treat (cooked egg) and went the other direction — repeat. If the puppy stayed with me, I reached down and rewarded every 3 - 4 steps.

Sage

I made sure to give the treat when the puppy had four feet on the ground — we do not want to inadvertently teach a puppy to jump up, which is what we do when we give treats when their front paws are up on us.

I also did not lure puppies to follow me — the treats were not to create the behavior but rather to reinforce the behavior.

All of the puppies did a great job following, and had no issue with the new places.

Sage and Lupine

Definitely no social distancing at the Milk Bar!

Good Night, Friends!