Puppy Grand Central!

Mary-Ann Sontag February 17, 2021

Puppy Enrichment Camp continues — new today is the padded ramp.

The Cato Board is behind it so they can climb from one to the next.

Crinkle toys are a big hit with puppies at this age.

Both litters currently have crinkle toys and we rotate them.

This is Hunter — crinkle toys also make good pillows.

Play is getting more ferocious among the Bright Stars, with head shaking, take downs. growling, and all manner of fierce — this is Zaniah and Sun…

The play over at the Moonshadows remains gentle and exploratory. A week makes such a difference at this age. This is Arche.

I am not sure which one this is but s/he is darn cute! Note the blue-gray eyes.

The Moonshadows will be moving in the next day or two — for obvious reasons…

They are ready to join the second phase of Puppy Enrichment Camp — this is Ariel…

The wading pool…

Have an enriched day!

Evening Photos

Capella: You said it was a wading pool…

Puppy Grand Central

Mary-Ann Sontag February 16, 2021

The Moonshadows continue to grow and develop, adding steadier walking every day. They are playing with each other, albeit still a bit awkwardly. This is a series from play between Titan and Portia…

The Moonshadows still mostly eat and sleep — this is Ariel…

But their awake periods are lengthening…

…and they love to interact.

I hesitate to say too much about individual puppies because whatever I say can create bias. Puppies change so much and so quickly — it is important to stay open in our assessments and opinions. With that caveat — Hunter (below) is a charming, wiry, and early adventurer…

Today the Bright Stars have their special teeter back — this is Lyra…

They also have a bowl of water, which doubles nicely as a wading pool…

Mirak…

Sun…

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Evening Pics

The Importance of Expectations

Mary-Ann Sontag February 15, 2021

Today the Bright Stars met the Cato Board.

The first thing they did was chew/mouth it. Of course they did — that is how puppies explore the world.

Like human babies, everything goes in their mouths and this includes each other — and the humans.

Mouthing, biting, and chewing is normal and appropriate behavior for a puppy. In fact, it would be a bad sign if a puppy (or human infant) did not put everything in their mouth.

We can no more stop puppy mouthing and chewing than we can stop human babies from putting everything in their mouths.

And we shouldn’t even try — unless we want to raise a neurotic puppy or child.

When puppies are in their Baby Shark phase, we do two things. First, we redirect the puppy chewing to things we can both agree on.

Second, we allow mouthing on hands for the purpose of teaching bite inhibition. It is easy — when the puppy bites too hard, we shriek. This conveys to the puppy: OUCH!!!!!!! If the puppy continues to be rough, we do the mother dog thing — and this may surprise you…

When a puppy is playing too rough or generally being unruly, a mother dog simply leaves. That is it: she just removes herself from the puppy.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Mother dogs are kind to their babies.

Littermates also educate about bite inhibition. When a puppy is too rough with another, we all know it and the offending puppy gets the message.

Having realistic expectations of puppies, dogs, kids, each other — and ourselves — is so important. We create frustration and disappointment when we fail to have informed and reasonable expectations, and nobody deserves to live with all that.

The other new thing with the Bright Stars is a crate.

At nighttime, all items are removed from the puppy areas for two reasons. First, it is safer that way, even though Dear Husband continues to be up with them overnight. Second, we want the puppies to understand that we sleep at night and play during the day (except for Dear Husband, of course).

The Moonshadows have new items today as well.