Day 22: Back in the Laundry Business (Updated)

Mary-Ann Sontag June 26, 2025

The new washer and dryer arrived this morning — thank goodness! Guess what I will be doing all day?!

While the new appliances were being installed, the puppies and Capella listened to NPR on the deck.

I have a good-sized covered deck — it was one of the things I REALLY wanted in my new house and it is perfect for puppies.

I will widen their outdoor space to include some of the yard when they are four weeks old but for now, the deck is a perfect size for them.

Of course, they are never relegated outside by themselves — I am always close by.

Outside is where they go to have fun and play but they live in the house. That is true for the entire time they are here with me.

Familiar things and their mom have made outside easy and comfortable ❤️

It is amazing how much puppies change. Cindy noted that they were changed even in just two days, and she is right. I sometimes see it in the space of a day.

The kids were in Oregon for a few days but are now back — they are excited to resume Camp Puppy later today. Kira and Jay, also regular puppy visitors, were gone for a few days as well and will see the Gems today. They are all going to be so amazed!

🩷💙💙💙

(Later)

The puppies had another busy day. Kira and Jay visited them, and yes, Kira was amazed at how much the puppies changed since Saturday when she last saw them.

Camp Puppy is a big hit for all concerned. This is Berkeley and Sapphire.

Lincoln and Star Garnet.

The puppies are still struggling to understand this whole water thing.

Something new — a wobble board!

Lincoln was an excellent coach and cheerleader for the puppies as they mastered the wobble board.

Jasper.

Another precious day with the Gems 💎💎💎💎

Three Weeks (Updated)

Mary-Ann Sontag June 25, 2025

My washer decided to give up the ghost, which is a wee bit problematic when you have puppies. I do laundry all day long 😬 The washer/dryer that came with the house are old and so not a big surprise. Just inconvenient.

I spent the morning deciding what to do about this — thanks to Cindy for her advice 🙏 — and the new washer and dryer arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, Galen and Bethany will provide laundry service — whew.

In puppy news, the Scamper Fairy visited overnight — everyone is trying to run and twirl this morning, with varying degrees of success.

The Tooth Fairy also visited — tiny teeth are poking through.

I can’t believe the Gems are three weeks old today! This is Star Garnet.

Sapphire.

All the puppies are quite social, which is great because three weeks old is the official start of puppy visiting season.

Let the visiting begin!

(Later)

I love this photo of Jennifer and her daughter with Sapphire 💙

They came today along with a friend, Maddy, and a good time was had by all.

They brought wonderful presents for the Gems, including this blanket.

How perfect is that?! THANK YOU Graffunders!

I attempted to do three-week photos on the blanket. It was more of a rodeo than last week. The camera did not know how to handle all the white in the blanket and the puppies would not hold still. I used the Nikon and then tried my iPhone. I waited until the puppies were sleepy and then tried when they were just fed and so on.

I got a couple of okay photos of two puppies.

Star Garnet

Sapphire.

And this includes all three boys so we shall call this their official three-week photo.

Topaz and Star Garnet.

The puppies are getting pink stains on their muzzles. They are exclusively nursing so I worry that they are causing micro tears on Capella when they nurse. I dremeled everyone’s nails this afternoon and then filed them — I hope that helps. You can see what I mean in this photo of Jasper.

Also, isn’t he so cute?! Well, they all are 🩷💙💙💙

Day 20: Science is Cool (updated)

Mary-Ann Sontag June 24, 2025

As I mentioned in the litter announcement video, this is an intentionally dual-sired litter and we will use DNA to establish paternity.

The Gems’ DNA samples arrived at the lab last week, and I hope we will have results by mid-July 🍀

AKC DNA Analysis generates results for 201 markers in the form of letters. For each marker, a dog has two letters — one from their mom and one from their dad. Here is what it looks like in the report.

AKC will do the analysis of paternity for $50 and I will have that done to validate results, but this is not actually rocket science.

I made a spreadsheet to do the paternity analysis. I eliminated all DNA markers in which the potential sires are the same. If they are both AA, for example, and Capella is TT, it tells us nothing if the puppy is AT since the A could have come from either sire.

The pink highlighted are the markers that went into the spreadsheet because the two potential dads have different results for those markers.

And here is a snippet from the spreadsheet.

For DNA Marker #1, Capella will always contribute one of her C’s. The same is true for Ash — he can only contribute C. But Deuce can only contribute an A and this means Marker #1 will tell the story, right?

If the puppy is CC, Ash has to be the dad. If the puppy is AC, Deuce must be the dad.

Marker #2 is not as definitive. If the puppy is AA, that will mean Capella contributed her A but we cannot know which potential sire contributed the other one. If the puppy is AG, we do not know if the G came from Capella or Ash. But if the puppy is GG then we can rule out Deuce as the sire because he doesn’t have a G to contribute.

I think it is all so very interesting!

And he’s out…