Looking Ahead

Mary-Ann Sontag February 27, 2021

There is a lot happening around here these days.

Yesterday, at five weeks and a day, the Bright Stars had their first non-nursing meal. There is a lot of good literature that supports a prolonged period of exclusive nursing. Early introduction of solid food is disruptive to the developing gut microbiome, for example, and that plays a critical role in the immune system.

The puppies’ first non-nursing meal was about one ounce of this food, but I lightly browned it instead of feeding raw.

Everything went well with that and so today I will up the amount a bit, and over the next week they will continue to just get one non-nursing meal a day but the protein source will vary between chicken and turkey. More on the food plan another day but I wanted to share that news.

It is a challenge to stay somewhat on top of things. The operative word in that sentence is somewhat and truth be told, somewhat is more aspirational than reality.

We are going to have our own version of March Madness around here.

Dear Husband, who continues to do the night shift, is heading out on a camping adventure in northern Arizona on March 9. His help has been invaluable, both in terms of the practical things like laundry and cleaning, but also in offering peace of mind so I can sleep at night. I will be sending him off with gratitude — and a wee bit of terror (understatement alert).

Claire’s first knee surgery will be on March 17.

Yesterday at 12:56 pm I got the call — I had one hour to get to Missoula to get a Covid vaccination. I cancelled my 1 pm class, woke up Dear Husband to sit with the ten plus ten, and raced to Missoula in the snow. I am needle-phobic but I was seriously giddy about getting that jab.

What a relief! I have to get the second dose on March 22 and I know to expect I will feel crappy for a day or two after so that has to factor into the March Madness calendar.

The Bright Stars will be eight weeks old and ready to begin leaving the nest, so to speak, on March 18. The Moonshadows will be eight weeks on March 25. Placements need to be finalized, and all assorted documents completed. There will be vet visits and assessments and so on.

Bright Star Zaniah — and yes indeed, she stuck her landing at the bottom.

I will be doing some traveling to meet people taking puppies, and Claire’s surgery and my second Covid vaccine have now added to the already complicated March Madness puzzle.

Bright Star Sun. I know - he is something.

On top of all that, I have a book chapter due at the end of March.

This is all short-term, and humans can do amazing things if we know it is temporary.

March Madness at Puppy Grand Central will only last one month — we got this.

And when it feels overwhelming, I have ready access to unlimited amounts of Puppy Therapy.

On today’s agenda — Suzanne is coming over to help with Puppy Pics.

Have a picture-perfect day!

Warning: Poop and Worms Ahead

Mary-Ann Sontag February 26, 2021

As most probably know, in real life I am a professor at the University of Montana. But Life with Dogs is also my real life, and there is much overlap. Next month, for example, a chapter I co-authored will be published in a book about college students and dogs.

Harper B for Bethany — when Bethany was one of my students and not my daughter-in-law; hanging out in my office is how she met my son. CUTE!

In one of my classes (via Zoom) I educate students about the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); my knowledge of what bad experiences do to the developing brain informs how I raise puppies. I also know what an adult considers an unfortunate experience is insignificant — what matters is how the puppy (or child) perceives an experience.

Did you know that one way baby lab rats are stressed in experiments is simply restraint? Consider how many trainers have taught people to restrain their puppies until the puppy stops struggling. That restraint can result in a puppy brain being flooded with stress hormones — not cool. When we know better, we do better.

Note — no claws (they are trimmed anyway) and Ariel initiated the play.

The job of a human raising puppies is to know, learn, and assess constantly. When you are a professor raising puppies you add to that: Be a thoughtful skeptic and do your own research. Life with Dogs is filled with crazy ideas, recommendations, suggestions, and misinformation.

And to be clear — some of those ill-informed ideas are from professionals. Remember — professionals are just human beings, and that means they are wonderful, well-intentioned, and imperfect.

The imperfection of humans is why the best care — medical and veterinary — happens when we use a team approach.

I wrote last June about worming puppies, and this post is based on the literature review I did at that time.

Some will tell you, “all puppies have worms” and so routine worming of very young puppies is done.

The professional literature does not support the idea that all puppies have worms. SOME puppies are born with worms and last I checked, some does not equal all.

SOME Bright Stars does not equal ALL Bright Stars

Why would I give wormer to puppies who do not need it?! That makes no sense to me.

So, my vet and I worked out a plan. We do stool samples on the mom when the puppies are about four weeks old. If there is any evidence mom has worms, the puppies get wormed.

If there is no evidence of worms in the mom, the puppies are not wormed and we plan/do follow-up stool samples on puppies at 7 - 8 weeks.

Moonshadows watching the Bright Star channel

There are two ways to check stool samples — veterinary clinics can do an in-house test, and samples can also be sent off to an outside lab. I like validated results — our samples are processed both by the veterinary clinic and the outside lab.

None of this seems like rocket science to me but yes, when the puppies head off to new homes there will be veterinarians who will be put off by this blasphemy and tell the new owners, “All puppies have worms” and imply that I am a terrible breeder — clearly a Montana puppy mill. #truestory

Bright Star Zaniah balancing at our Montana Puppy Mill, located in our home and run by a person with a UC Berkeley Ph.D. (insert eye roll) — Bright Star Zaniah balancing at our Montana Puppy Mill, located in our home and run by a person with a UC Berkeley Ph.D. (**insert eye roll**)

My response is to get a better-educated (or at least more curious and open-minded) veterinarian — it is THEIR professional literature that contradicts the assertion that all puppies have worms, after all.

And again — this process was guided by our veterinarian, who is very experienced and wicked smart, and the professional veterinary literature; I am not going rogue on this stuff.

Claire’s stool sample, processed in two ways, showed no evidence of internal parasites; her puppies will not, therefore, be burdened by a medication they do not need.

If a veterinarian were to say — and some likely will — that clear stool samples do not matter and all puppies have worms, one could reasonably respond: Why, then, do you ever conduct and charge for stool sample testing (for internal parasites) if the results cannot be trusted?

Riddle me that, Batman.

Life with Dogs allows us to practice important skills in teaming, critical thinking, and advocacy that I promise will come in handy in other life situations.

And that concludes our conversation about poop and worms — please continue with your meal now and have a grand day.

Evening Photos

A Moonshadow and a Bright Star, companionably side-by-side…

Five Weeks and Four Weeks

Mary-Ann Sontag February 25, 2021

The Moonshadows are four weeks old!

I really need to be better at quickly identifying puppies in photos but everything happens quickly around here, as I bet you can imagine — and so this is a really cute Moonshadow.

Their noses darkened up quickly and so that makes it harder — I cannot go back and use noseprints to identify them. If I had to guess — based on the right foot, I would say that is Neil.

Below — hmmm and Arche (see the green collar?)

Titan and Daisy…

With both litters, I regularly do shift nursing — five on and five off. I have a system for remembering the two “teams” from each litter so that things can be fair.

In the Moonshadows, five puppies have swiss kisses — perfect! One team consists of the “kissed” puppies and the other team consists of the unkissed, so to speak (but trust me — they all get kisses!).

The Bright Stars — now five weeks old! — were not so obvious. What I did was make a team of the four girls and the smallest boy, which was Perseus at the time I formed the teams. So all girls plus him — and that is why Perseus is now called James.

If you understand why that is, post in the comments and I will send you a prize :)

The girls plus James always get to eat first during shift nursing because when it is everyone at once, I know those Baby Boy Hippos push their way to the best seats at the Milk Bar.

Think linebacker puppies — and here they are protesting this arrangement…

This is Claire nursing some and kissing another…

This is Sirius — I keep a close eye on what they are chewing because puppies can and will chew off pieces of things and swallow them, and that can go badly…

Since the puppies were familiar with the new playroom, it was time for new stuff today…

I made a video so you could observe puppy reactions to new things. Note — puppies are not forced into new things — we let them decide to explore…

Claire will see her vet today to confirm the diagnosis and start making a plan; I also scheduled a teleconsult with Dr. Sherman Canapp for next week. One cannot make good decisions without information, and Claire deserves a good decision.

Have a colorful day!