Getting prepared

I love my big bro!

I trialed Rival this past weekend for the last time before we head to USDAA Nationals next week.  Given that he took so much time off this year, I've been trying get him into shape before the event.  As I've mentioned before, giving him the long break this year was SO great for him.  He's come back so refreshed, super keen to play the game and really responsive on course.  Earlier this year, I found that at trials he was getting so much more aroused that he was not collecting at all and becoming a bit too obstacle focused.  So I started doing more technical sequences to make him pay attention to my handling more.  And I also focused a lot on distance work since we have been struggling with gamblers Qs.

He's run incredibly well at the last two trials.  I always love stepping to the line with him, but I think I started getting really hung up on the Qs that he needs for his ADCH.  I think my focus shifted more towards getting the Q instead of just enjoying the ride.  And because of that, I think the break for me was so good as well.  I came back to trialing with a different mind set, just eager to run my boy again.  And wouldn't you know, the Qs started coming again.  He got 3 gamblers Qs in a row to finish his Master Gamblers title.  It took us a full year before the first and second Q and another year between the 2nd and 3rd!!  So to get 3 in a row was incredible.  He also got the last Super Q he needed in snooker.  At the Masters level you need 3 now (it was 2) for the title which basically means beating everyone else.  Not easy to do in snooker!

But I actually think this was my most fun run of the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPvNqjLIZg4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUrhRPoQ-vmOzKGQhccWB_jw

I love Rival's wagging tail at the beginning and how focused he is on me as I leave him on a stay.  He's just the best boy EVER.  What a gift he's been, in so many ways.  I am so thankful that some very wise people were sure that he was supposed to be my dog.

So now we turn our attention to Cynosports.  I have some goals set for us but overall, I plan to just have a good time and run my dog.  I am going to try not to get caught up in the fact that it's a "big" event, because if I get nervous Rival will know and we won't be at our best.  When I walk to the line, I plan on thinking how darn lucky I am to be stepping to the line with such an incredible partner, and how much fun we have together.  I am going to work him a few more times this week, then rest him from agility and just focus on him being fit and relaxed, which hopefully includes some beach time this weekend!

Gypsy was just brilliant at the trial this weekend.  She was so focused on me, but was happy to greet people when told to "go see".  But she'd say hi and then come back to me!  The exception is Auntie Pam, who she just absolutely adores.  Pam is the only person that Gyps has climbed in the lap of and spent more than 5 seconds there.  But Gyps was able to do tricks, tug and hangout ringside without acting like a crazy girl.  All the work I've been doing with her is paying off now, yay!  She'll be tagging along to Cynosports, so I'll be able to work with her lots in a really high energy environment which will be great.

Wet puppy at a rainy agility trial.

Boot camp for Rave!

So the last two months or so, I've noticed that Rave has been acting up a bit.  She's been stealing things like crazy, only when we aren't looking of course.  She's broken a few ceramic dog bowls in her attempts to find things on the counter while we are at work.  I found her with an empty dog food can after I got out of the shower yesterday and last night when I went to bed, she stole an entire bag of rawhide chews off the counter.  And about six weeks ago, she ate a whole, still warm, pineapple upside down cake.

So I got to thinking about her last night.  As I've said before, I didn't put the training into her like I did Rival before and Gypsy now.  Rave came into my life at a weird time, and looking back I didn't need a puppy then, but something about her called to me.  I was getting Rival ready to compete, and I still had Dazzle and I was working so hard to try to connect with her and create a good relationship.  Plus that was also the year I had a major lifestyle overhaul and was really focused on taking care of myself and getting fit.  Then less than a year after I got Rave, I met Rob and things got even crazier.  My focus shifted a lot from training and trialing the dogs to doing other things and having a more balanced life.  Though the dogs are always included in our fun, I didn't do much training with them.

Of course there are also personality differences.  Rival was born with an incredible amount of natural self control and an incredibly high desire to please.  Rave not so much!  I think girls tend to be a tad more independent than the boys in general.  Rave is quite biddable, and likes to please me, but she also very much likes to please herself!!!

I have been working a TON with Gypsy.  We have training sessions most mornings before work, play sessions right after work, maybe some more training in the evening too.  And I think poor Rave is quite jealous.  I think all the dogs are jealous, as they all would love daily training sessions, but Rave seems to be the most put off by this, and I think it's really coming out in her thievery.

So today I started working with her again, on the basics like self control!  And she told me loud and clear that if you don't use it, you lose it!  She used to be great at It's Yer Choice games.  But she failed on her first try this morning!  So we did lots of that and some shaping, which she just loves.  So I am going to try to give her short sessions regularly too, to reconnect with her more, work on her self control and keep her busy little mind from getting too bored.  I've been working with her in agility more, but I think she needs to relearn the basics.

The funny part was coming out of the room I train in with Rave, and seeing Gypsy's face.  It was priceless! As if no other dog belonged in there with me!!!  So funny!

And a switch flipped in Gyps this week.  She's always been keen to train and play, but she's turned into a shaping machine now!  She really uses her brain and tries to hard to figure out what I want.  I leave our training sessions in awe most of the time, because of the speed at which she picks things up.   Six weeks ago, if she didn't understand what I wanted, she would leave the work, and try to find her own reinforcement. Now she pushes right through and keeps trying things.  I love it!

Madly in love!

I know I keep saying it, but I am completely and totally gaga over Gypsy.  I knew what I was hoping to produce by crossing Rave to Keen, but Gypsy has far exceeded my expectations!!!  She still has a lot of growing up and maturing to do, but she is everything I wanted and more.  She is one funny little dog who oozes attitude with a dash of craziness!

First, she's perpetually happy.  She always has a smile on her face.  And she's always ready to go and game for anything.  She loves to play with the other dogs, but she loves training and playing with me even more. She's beyond brilliant and her the speed at which she learns blows me away.  And her retention of the skills is equally impressive.  She retrieves like a dream, tugs like a champ, and is finally excited about working for food.  I still have a lot to teach her, of course, but the foundation is laying down perfectly and I could not be more excited about our future together.  She already thinks agility rocks, and she's barely done any!

On top of that, Gyps gets along so well in our pack.  She knows who to play with, who to respect and who to ignore.  Smart puppy!  It does take the right social skills to navigate a pack as big and diverse as ours.

Gypsy has also become more affectionate the last few weeks.  She'll never be a cuddly dog, but she loves to be near me, get pet and will give out a few kisses each day.  I've been massaging her regularly and I think she's figured out how good it feels.  But she still doesn't have much time to sit still.  She's a VERY high energy girl, though I am starting to see signs of an off switch emerging.  A few times this week, she just laid down on a dog bed and hung out.  Not for long, mind you, but it's a start!!!

She also let me cut her nails last night without so much as a wiggle.  YAY!  For a while I could see how I could butt heads with this girl, if we didn't have a mutually beneficial relationship based on trust and fun.  Her recall was pretty bad 6 weeks ago (don't wanna, don't hafta!!!) because she found other things more rewarding.  She resisted nail trimming, brushing or being forced to do anything.  Now that we have a great relationship, she's happy to do anything I ask of her, knowing she'll be aptly rewarded---with food, toys, access to outside, etc.  I just love how we've already learned to communicate with each other so well and work together.  That's not to say she doesn't have her naughty moments but they are becoming less and less.

Most of all, she's filled a space in my heart that was vacant and waiting for her.  I feel so lucky to be be on this journey with her, I know she still has lots to teach me.

Four months already?

It's hard to believe how fast the last four months has flown by.  At this point, the puppies have all been with their new families longer than they were with me!!  I often wonder if they will remember me when I see them again.  I see Ripp regularly and he usually pees out of excitement though I don't know if that's reserved just for me!  I am so excited to see Moon in three more weeks at USDAA Nationals.  Hopefully we'll get a visit in to see Jayce in November and Envy will be swinging through Virginia in December.  Yay!

After a very long agility hiatus, the dogs were so happy to be at a trial again this weekend.  The nice long break was really great for them.  I stopped working Rave when I bred her, so she basically didn't do any agility from the beginning of April until the pups when home in early August.  And Rival worked until the pups came, but then I was far too busy with them to even think about training him.  As a result, both dogs came back really fresh, eager to run and super strong.

And as a result both dogs had a great show.  Rival went 4 for 5 finally picked up to much need gamblers Q's.  Rave exceeded my expectations and was 3 for 5 and even got a Steeplechase Q.  We had some runs that were a bit crazy, but I still have a lot more work to do with her.  Rival is a finished product at this point, and knows his job so well.  And we know each other so well that when I run him, it's effortless and just pure joy.  I didn't do nearly as good a job of training Rave as a youngster as I did Rival.  Rave was also slow to mature, so I took my time with her.  But she told me loud and clear this weekend that she's ready to rock and roll.  I need to work with her on some more advanced skills, and proof some behaviors, but her speed, focus and enthusiasm where just wonderful this weekend.    Little Stashy told me loud and clear that she still needs LOTS more work!!!  Beagles are just cut from a different mold!

Going into the weekend, I had some concerns about Gypsy's behavior at her first trial.  Last Thursday, she turned into a raving lunatic at agility practice (in a new location).  From 300 feet away, she was lunging to get to the ring to watch, or maybe chase, the dog running agility.  I was non-existent.  And for a brief moment, I panicked.  I have been doing SO much work with her, I didn't expect that behavior at all.  But instead of worrying, I came up with a plan of action for the weekend, so that she didn't repeat that behavior all over again.

So I arrived at the trial site about an hour early on Saturday, long before most of the competitors and dogs showed up.  I immediately started working with Gyps on the "choose me" game, all around the trial grounds. I allowed her time to just be a puppy and explore and meet people, but I also spent a lot of time gradually putting down layer after layer of foundation into the choose me game.  By late Sunday morning, she was focused ringside, able to both eat and tug.  She was happy to meet people and other dogs, if I told her to go see, but her focus was definitely on me!  Huge success!!!!

Her behavior in the crate still needs a lot of work, as she just loses it when I work the other dogs.  At the trial I parked where she couldn't see the rings, and made sure she couldn't see out when I took one of the other dogs out to run.  But I could still hear her fussing a bit.

And the cutest part of the trial was seeing how happy Rave was having her baby there.  Every time I took them out together, Rave wanted to roll around and play with Gypsy. Then Rave would prance around the trial grounds showing everyone how proud she was of her little baby.  Honestly, I wasn't sure how Rave would take to motherhood when I bred her, but it's truly made her a happier dog, and having Gypsy in her life has brought her so much joy.  How cool is that??

Gypsy has been the most special gift to all of us.  I can't even imagine my life without her already.  And it's only been four months!!!

Gratitude

Kristen wrote a great blog on gratitude today, so I thought I'd follow suit.  I often feel like, in today's world, it's so easy to get caught up in every day life, always busy and running somewhere, having an endless list of things to do.  We can often lose sight of the things in life to be grateful for.  Even if it doesn't seem like it....

It's been a challenging two weeks with two of the older dogs.  Sammy has been having some bizarre muscle/neurologic/spine issues and today I am so grateful that her new cocktail of drugs has her feeling good again.  And Scout went in for a tooth extraction on Friday and wound up having very invasive surgery for a mast cell tumor they found.  I am hoping that it's low grade, for which I will be very grateful.  And I am grateful that the rest of the dogs seem healthy, even Chance the old man.

I am beyond grateful for my little blue merle spitfire.  To say she brings me joy is an understatement.  I've waited for this deep of a connection with a female dog for a while.  I have it with Rival, and I had it with Jive---who set the bar so very high.  I also have it with Chance, but he lives in a different world now that he's 15.  It's hard to explain though.  I love ALL of my dogs.  But I have very different connections with each of them. And my connection with Gyps touches deep within my soul, in the same way that Jive did.

It's hard for me to think back on Jive's premature death and have gratitude.  She was such an amazing pup, and she was taken from me far too soon.  But on the other hand, there's a number of people who wouldn't have their canine soulmates if she had not left this world.  And beyond that, I would not have a lot of wonderful people in my life had she not left.  If Jive was still alive, there would be no Rave, or no pups. Tonya would not have Dazzle and Deven wouldn't have Rumba.  I would not have Rival or Gyps either. Heck, I may never had met Rob.  Sometimes it's hard to understand why things happen, or find gratitude when the skies are dark.  But in time, all will be revealed.

I am especially grateful today for the homes that my little pups have gone to.  I know each of them is adored, loved and being given all the things they need in life to thrive.  I feel so very lucky to have found the perfect homes for the puppies and am VERY grateful for the regular updates from them all!!!

Jive, also a soccer ball aficionado

Jive

Gypsy 16 weeks and Jive 16 weeks

Thinking out of the box

I know I've said it before but I am completely, madly and crazy in love with my little girl.  She's just absolutely perfect for me, and for our pack.  Gyps is so much fun to train and even more fun to just play with.  Oh I just love sitting and playing with her!!!

Now, that's not to say she doesn't present me with challenges.  We've had issues with her potty training (all my fault), issues with her lack of self control when things don't involve her (again my fault as she's been the center of attention from the moment she entered this world!) and she has really challenged me by not being food motivated.  Rival was very similar at this age though and he's a chow hound now!

I posted on Facebook the other day trying to get new treat ideas, to find things she really likes.  She definitely likes cheese, thinks meatballs are okay, but there's nothing that WOWS her except ice cream!  Not even her meals really impress her.  After reading through people's posts and thinking things through more, I decided to get a bit creative.

Gyps loves her toys and loves the action involved in playing.  Most of the training I've done with food involves less active behaviors, and lots of shaping requiring her brain to really spin.  In between exercises, I always play with her which she just loves.  So I thought what if I bring the action to the food?  Voila!!!  A food motivated dog in the making.  I got super high energy just like I do when we play .  She just LOVED chasing me for food, getting a tiny piece when she caught up.  Doing some circle work, sitting in heel position after catching up to me and throwing pieces while she was moving.  I also did some luring which I haven't done with her, teaching her to spin left and right and she thought that was the bomb.  It was the most fun training session we've had yet.  And it carried over to the sessions we've had since then.  Yay!!!!

I still need to expand her selection of treats, because I'd like to use things that are more nutritionally valuable for her instead of tons of cheese!  So I am going to play around with some new things and see what else might work.

Boy does the girl like to PLAY!  And she's very clever.  She loves her pink soccer ball, and wants to play with it all the time.  So I started using it to reward her after she went potty outside.  Now she runs out, pees and waits for the ball.  If I am not fast enough, she'll even squat and try to pee again, staring at me as if to say "did you see me go potty?"  The I just sit on the ground and play with her for a while---she loves to chase and retrieve the ball and kill it as well by biting on it like made.  It's full of puppy teeth holes now!  She loves tennis balls too and we've had great fun making up new games in the evening with that.  I just an in awe of how this girl lives life---she has no worries, no cares and is just full of joy all the time.

Okay one exception.  She hates when I put her back in the kitchen or in her pen when there are other things going on.  She feels quite strongly already that she should be treated like a big dog and be given full run of the house!  When she's not involved, she just screams.  Of course I don't let her out until she's calm and quiet.  But the girl has as set of lungs on her!!!

Gyps has also figured out the dog door, sooner than I had hoped.  There are a bunch of stairs back there and I don't want her doing them with any frequency.  So it adds another level of management when she does have free time in the house.  I have to block her access to the dog door.

Such is life with puppies!  But I am loving every minute and it's flying by way too fast!

Aging

Chance at an agility demo in 2002

Apparently I missed that yesterday was a Dog Agility Blog Event Day and the topic was aging.  This is a topic very close to my heart and one I think about regularly.  Chance was my first dog as an adult, and my first performance dog.  I started doing agility with him when he was about 2.5.  At first it was just for fun, but we both enjoyed it so much, I started competing with him and he was pretty darn good and I got hooked. Chance is 14.5" tall and his lean weight is 32lbs. His structure is actually quite good but he's basically a mack truck!  For comparison sake, Rave is 19.5" tall and 35lbs!!

During those early years of doing agility with him, Chance went for walks a few times a week and played TONS of ball.  He was a retrieving maniac and I had a chuck it and indulged him for hours.  He was also about 35lbs at the time.  I never did body awareness exercises, strength training or endurance work with him.  I just ran him in agility and played ball and took a few short walks in a field every week.

Chance 2005

Chance 2005

When Chance was 6, he had a injury to his biceps tendon which sidelined him for about six months.  And when Chance was 8, I was out in my agility field working him in the early morning and as he came over the A frame and ran off it, I threw his ball.  As soon as he hit the wet grass, he cried and came up on three legs. The boy had ruptured his cruciate.  He had surgery done by a specialist in the hopes he could return to agility.  I was super diligent about his therapy and that's when I learned so much about conditioning and all the things I should have been doing with him from the start.  

Chance did return to agility for a brief while, but it was clear that he was just not sound.  After having his entire body xrayed, he was diagnosed with horrible elbow and back arthritis.  His hips still looked good, but he was also already developing arthritis in his repaired knee.  So I made the decision to end his agility career and we focused on rally and tricks instead, since he was a workaholic in his younger days.

Chance post cruciate repair 2007

Chance is 15 years and 4 months now (when you get to this age, months count!!!).  He's horribly arthritic, moves very slow and lives in a pretty constant state of pain.  He has liver issues, so cannot take NSAIDS so our options are limited.  He still goes for walks 3 or 4 times a week though at the farm, and while he moves slow, I do think the exercise helps him.  If I go too many days without a walk, he seems much stiffer.  Chance's parents lived to be 17 and 18.  I have no idea if his body can hold him for that long, but I am doing my best to keep him going with Adequan, tons of supplements, massage (he hates it!), and limited tramadol for pain.  He hates acupuncture and chiro work even more, so we don't do that.

But I live with tremendous guilt.  He's in the state he is, because I didn't know how best to take care of my canine athlete.  I would never through the ball like that for my dogs now, all that pounding into the ground really took it's toll on him.  And the poor little tank jumped 16" his whole career.  And I practiced with him at 16" as well, and we practiced a lot back then.  I just had no idea....

My mixed breed Sammy suffered from my ignorance as well.  She is 13 now, so I still had not been enlightened when I started doing agility with her.  She's pretty straight in her structure, but much lighter framed than Chance. She's 17" tall and I made the decision to run her in the Performance program in USDAA for her whole career, as I didn't see the need to jump her at 22".  So she only jumped 16" but I did way too much agility with her without keeping her body properly conditioned for it.  I had to retire her from full time competition in 2007 after she hurt her back at a trial.  Until this past May, she still came out for the occasional veterans jumpers run, but her eyesight isn't great anymore.  Her brain would still like to do more though! Her back is often sore, but it is soft tissue based.  She was xrayed about 1.5 years ago and there was no evidence of arthritis anywhere in her body, which I am so thankful for.

Sammy at Fair Hill 2006

Sammy at Fair Hill 2006

Life is a journey, and hopefully we learn with each experience.  All of my dogs, competing or not, are very fit now and I try to keep them all at a lean body weight.  And my competition dogs are super fit.  Tying into my last post, it's all about balance.  I don't jump them too much, once they are trained.  I am careful not to do tons of A frames (and I always teach a running A frame now).  And I don't over train weave poles.  All of their tricks also work in proprioception, strength training, stretching and balance.  I don't let them retrieve too much and when I do throw a ball, I tried hard to make it so they catch it on the bounce. Or catch a frisbee while striding on the ground.  I am so glad they like to swim too, as that's probably the best exercise for their bodies.  So I try to keep them physically and mentally balanced.  And I also make sure they get enough rest too.  The dogs would love to stuff every day, but sometimes they need to let their bodies just rest and recover, just like we do.

Rival has mild hip dysplasia and to this day (at age 5.5), he's yet to take an off step.  I attribute much of that to how lean and fit I keep him.  Hopefully his career will be long and he stays sounds well into his golden years. My young dogs have Chance to thank for their good care and bodies.  Aside from being just an incredible dog, Chance has been my teacher in so many ways, I am so grateful for all he's brought into my life.  Every day I get with him now is such a gift, and I will do my best to make sure his days are as comfortable and happy as possible.  

Chance 2011

Balance

For me, life and dog training are all about balance.  I was thinking about this quite a bit this past weekend when Rob made the observation that Gypsy seemed to be getting very herdy with the other dogs.  And she is--she eyes, stalks and chases them.  But she is a border collie pup!!  I don't think it's unexpected, especially given Rave's herding tendencies, that Gyps likes to herd the other dogs.  That said, I've only allowed her to continue doing it because I am still completely in the picture.  Gyps will look at me, respond to me and even play with me during these games.  I know that right now, she'd still rather tug or play with me than chase them.  I test it regularly to make sure.  But I also see value in letting her run with the big dogs, she's gained tons of speed, muscle and proprioception from playing these herdy games.  I love what I see her doing with her body.  But I never let her overdo it, of course.

I made sure this weekend on the beach to balance out letting her herd Rival and Rave with playing recall and retrieving games with her.  And I got the best possible outcome, I watched her pretty dismal retrieve turn into an incredible one in just a few days!!!  Gyps became entranced every time I picked up the ball, hoping that maybe it was her turn for a throw.  I loved seeing that enthusiasm, and I matched mine to hers.  In no time, she was bringing the ball back to me in the hopes that it would be her turn again.  Which it was a lot, much to Rival's dismay, because I really wanted to reinforce it.  She also loves retrieving in the water as well, though I am very careful around the surf as she's still so small.  But she just loved retrieving in the sound.  And digging very big holes in the sand to bury, then find, the ball!

I am struggling with some thing new this week.  She doesn't seem to have an off switch all of a sudden.  She's always been high energy/drive, but it seems to have gone off the charts the last week or so.  I didn't do much formal training with her for 5 days, so maybe she needs more of that.  But she does need to learn to just chill out when nothing is going on.  She's still been confined to the kitchen/dining room when we are home, but I am going to have to start working hard on crate training during times when we are home to work on the off switch.  One thing I've always appreciated about Rave is that she has boundless energy and could go all day long, but she has an amazing off switch that I didn't need to teach her.  

Gyps just doesn't get that into chewies, bones or kongs for very long, so she's hard to appease when bored. Rave and Stash do a nice job of playing with her so she has that outlet along with all that I do with her.  But she wants more!!  I need to reel her in before she thinks we are supposed to go, go go, all the time. She should have been exhausted at the beach, but after a power nap she was ready for more action!!!  

And at 13 weeks, Gypsy remains fearless.  She jumped right on the paddleboard and enjoyed going for a ride.  She especially enjoyed trying to bark at and bite the paddle as I moved us around!  She had me laughing so hard I could barely keep us afloat.  Like a smart pup, she figured out quickly that falling off and getting back on were no big deal.  We also took her kiteboarding with us one day and she was just awesome at the campground where we kited.  She was great off leash, was able to play and retrieve with lots going on around her and wasn't afraid of the big giant kites.  She's just such a cool pup.   And she totally fits right in with our lifestyle.

Nature vs. Nurture

So we went to my sister Mary's house in New Jersey last weekend to visit her, her boyfriend Robert and meet their new addition, Java.  Java is Rave's sister from the repeat breeding that was done in 2011.  Mary and Robert adopted her in early July from her original owner.

Java and Rave share a lot of similar characteristics, but it was clear that Java's upbringing was very different that Rave's.  It was really interesting to see the similarities and difference in the sisters.  Physically, Rave is about 3 inches longer and maybe 1-2 inches taller.  Java is much more compact.  They weigh about the same though.  And right now, Java has a much nicer coat, but motherhood has wreaked havoc on Rave's coat.  She's totally naked and only has this coarse weird hair left and it's all sunbleached--she looks like a hyena!  So Java looks much more beautiful than Rave at the moment!

I think their innate personalities are pretty similar but it's a really good example of nature vs. nurture.  Rave was raised with a lot of training, relationship building and tons of socialization.  Rave is super confident, very outgoing, super biddable and has a very light, happy spirit about her.  Java was raised with very little direct human interaction, training or socialization.  Basically she was just part of a pack of dogs.  She had no rules, the only thing she appears to know is sit, and has very little motivation to work with people, choosing to self reinforce instead.  And clearly in her previous home, she got much of her confidence from being in a pack of dogs.  Being alone has allowed some fears to come out.  So now Java is having to learn how to navigate the world without any of her own species around.

One one hand that sounds almost unfair.  But when presented with other dogs, Java completely tunes out humans.  It's her mission in life to herd other dogs.  And when she saw Rival, Rave and Gyps playing fetch, she turned into an obsessive border collie!!!  Nothing else existed in the world but herding them.

Now when Rave was a pup, she was super herdy, and to some extent still is.  But I intervened at an early age and put rules on the herding and made Rave defer to me before getting to herd Rival when he retrieved.  So she basically had to be able to do a down stay while he retrieved and maybe I'd let her go chase him.  I also made sure that she could also retrieve on her own while Rival was out---instead of obsessing about him.  She still enjoys herding him, but it's not even remotely obsessive.  And Gyps appears the same way, and I will put rules for this situation in place for her as well.

But Java spent the first 18 months of her life basically "working" the other dogs in her home.  So that's all she knows.  She won't engage in play with humans, though Mary is working on it very hard and we saw some great things by the end of the weekend.  She won't tug, retrieve and really likes to play keep away!!!

But she doesn't know any better! So Mary and Robert have a challenge on their hands, but they just adore Java and are willing to do what they need to do to make her as happy and joyful as possible.  She's a lovely dog, and just needs time to really understand how fun and reinforcing people can be!!  They are doing all the right things, Java just needs time to let her confident, beautiful self come out.

I think Java learned a lot from Rival, Rave and Gyps.  All three of them are super confident and it rubbed off on her.  They also taught Java how to swim and retrieve sticks!  Java loved Gypsy and they were so cute together, but Rave was a bit protective of her young 'un!

I love puppies!

I love training puppies. I love how quickly they learn, such little sponges just absorbing tons of information.  I love how light hearted and silly they are, always viewing everything as one big game.  My hope is that with  Gypsy, I guide her in such a way that she seems life as a big game, albeit one with some rules, forever.  She's such a happy spirit, I never want to squish her joie de vivre.

Gyps has been so much fun to train this past week.  She's finally got some food motivation, though still not nearly as much as for toys.  But enough to work with a bit.  I've been doing tons of shaping with her and she's learned to offer new behaviors and try old ones.  We've worked a ton on body awareness: backing up, 4 feet in a box (that is getting progressively smaller), wobble board work, left and rights, perch work, dyna disc work and the start of weaving between my legs.  Everything comes so quick for her, which is good since I am keeping sessions super short.  There's a lot more playing during our shaping sessions than actual training and that works well to keep her enthusiasm up.

One thing I am struggling with a bit is retrieving.  Gyps loves to take the toy and run off by herself.  It's funny because when she brings it back, I always tug like a fiend with her and she loves it.  But she hasn't associated retrieving the toy to me and tugging.  She goes after the toy, takes it to a good spot, drops it and comes back to me without it!  So I am only working on retrieving in small spaces and I'll have to put a toy on a leash eventually.  Rave was such a natural retriever as a pup that this surprises me a bit.  But we'll get it eventually!!

We continue to work on her recall.  It's great without distractions, but with distractions is another story.  I am sure this will be an ongoing process for my little girl.

Her socialization is picture perfect at this  point.  She loves all people---any color, race, gender, or size.  She's not afraid of moving things---bikes, cars, garbage cans, whatever.  She's not afraid of things moving under her, happily going in the elevator and walking on odd surfaces.  She's not sound sensitive or motion reactive.  She's perfect in her greetings with new dogs.  She loves going new places and being a little explorer.  Since we travel a lot, it's important for me to have a dog that we can take anywhere and put in different situations without any concern.  She's already been on two big road trips and handled them like a champ.  I absolutely LOVE who she is.

The one area that I am not happy about is her tolerance for having her nails trimmed.  Oh boy is she bad!  You'd think I was amputating her leg!!!  I find it so interesting since I worked so hard on that while the pups were growing here.  But clearly she's forgotten all of that already!  Rave was pretty bad as a pup, and is still my wiggliest dog for nail trims, but Gyps takes it to a whole new level.  And since her food motivation isn't great, it's hard to work on it.  I even took out raw tripe last week for her nails and she wouldn't touch it.

But as it goes with dogs, there's always something to work on and if doing her nails is the least of my concerns, then we're golden!

12 weeks!

It's hard to believe the pups are 12 weeks old now.  Time sure does fly!  I am so happy that I get regular updates from all the puppy homes and they all look like they are doing wonderful.  Thank goodness I get to smooch on Ripp regularly!!!

Gypsy is finally starting to grow and has really sprouted some legs this week.  She is such an amazing little girl.  She's a super fun puppy, she makes me laugh and brings me so much joy.  And she just "gets" things and fits right into our lifestyle.

Gyps finally has some pretty decent food motivation.  She's still not crazy excited about treats or her meals, but this morning she got pretty animated during our training session. We've been working on body awareness skills, some self control and lots of recalls, though we need more work there.  While she's quite biddable, she's also got an independent streak to her.  She's a willful little mighty mite!

We spent the weekend in NJ at my sister's house and Gyps was an awesome traveler and houseguest.  Meaning no potty accidents or chewing of inappropriate objects!  But she was pretty exhausted much of the time as we wore all the dogs out.  Mary has Rave's sister Java (from the repeat breeding) now, and they all just had a blast.  We went for a few hikes, swimming in the river and did lots of playing in the backyard.  

Java's favorite toy is the cheap plastic watering can.  And guess who else decided it's her favorite toy now too?  Funny girls!  Rave thought it was silly and preferred the ball or frisbee.

Auntie Java!

Swimming in the Raritan River

Gypsy!

I love this girlie!  She is SO much fun.  She's fun to train, she's fun to play with, she's fun to watch with the other dogs and she's just plain fun to be around.  She is very intelligent and picks up on things so quickly, it's a big scary!  

I am still trying to find her food motivation.  Right now, she's far more motivated by play and toys.  And that's okay, since I'd rather build food drive than toy drive.  But it makes it hard to do so shaping exercises when she doesn't want treats.  But we'll get there, Rival was the same way and now he loves his cookies.

I am auditing the Max Pup class at Agility U and also signed up for Silvia Trkman's puppy foundation class which starts on the 26th.  I am so excited about that one!  We've had lots of homework for the Max Pup class so far.  We've been working on:

1. Restrained recalls- she's a wild banshee and always wants to race and run with me now

2. Races to the toy - she only lost once and now is always faster than me

3. Shaping all sorts of different behaviors

4. Crate games (still working on driving into the crate)

5.  It's Yer Choice - pretty easy right now since she's not super food motivated

6. Collar grabs

7. Tug-sit-tug

8. Downs

9. Switching between toys

10.  Basic housetraining and manners

Gypsy still lives in the gate community in the kitchen/dining room.  She's in the pen when I am at work but when we are home she gets the full area.  And she travels from room to room with me, but only with certain other dogs.  I still don't trust that she'll have only positive experiences with some of the other dogs in the house, so I am being ultra careful.  I have given her a few minutes a day with some of the "puppy unfriendly" dogs and I can see she's pretty smart already.  She gives Bliss a wide berth!!!  But until I know that she can handle things emotionally and has passed fear periods, it's my job to protect her.  I want her to have really great social skills as an adult.  

Plus, I really want to make sure that she bonds more to me than the other dogs.  She already thinks that Rival, Rave and Stash are great fun and has a strong bond with them.  But I need to ensure that her desire to play with the other dogs doesn't ever supercede her desire to play with me.

She got to watch Rival and Rave do some agility yesterday, and I can already see that I am going to have to work hard to keep her quiet while watching the other dogs work.  She was going crazy, screaming and trying to break out of the expen.  Actually I started out with her baby gated on the front deck and she squeezed herself under the railing and jump off!

Gypsy also very much enjoyed her first trip to the beach.  She jumped right in the waves and didn't care at all that she was getting hit by them.  In fact, on Sunday I threw a ball for the big dogs and she tried to dive right in and go out with them---but I called her back as the surf was too rough for a little munchkin.  She and Stash played major chase games on the beach and had so much fun.  Gypsy also played chase games with me and was more than happy to tug on a leash when I forgot to bring a toy.  She was a rockstar in the trailer and had no potty accidents.  And she traveled in the car like a champ.

She's finally sleeping through the night!  And this morning was the very first time she told me that she needed to go outside to potty!  Such a good girlie.  

Yup, love my baby girl!!!

Reflections

Well, clearly I did not do a good job of blogging while the pups were growing!  I guess with the Facebook group (and lack of time!), I didn't really feel the need to but now I am kind of disappointed I didn't because I would have had more details.  It would have been good to go back and read it periodically.  It's weird since I can hardly remember things from early on, maybe because there was just so much happening over a short period of time.

I can honestly say that raising this litter was one of the best experiences of my life.  It was also one of the most challenging.  I am absolutely thrilled with how the pups turned out and I am so excited to watch them grow.  And I know that they are all in the most perfect home for each of them and that just elates me.  It was so hard saying goodbye to each of them, but I can see how very happy their are in their new homes.   My personality is such that I tend to want to control things, and sending these pups out into the world sure made me feel helpless.  But that's where trust comes in.  Trusting I made the right decisions on the homes, trusting that everyone will do their best by their pups and trusting that everything is working out exactly as it should.  I sure do hope I get to see all of them periodically over time as I love all those pups so very much, and they all took a piece of my heart with them when they left.

From all report, everyone absolutely adores their puppies!  And I am excited that everyone is indulging me regularly with pictures and videos.  I warned everyone from the start that they were part of the family now!!!

As for things at home, Gypsy is just incredible!!!  I adore her and she is truly my dream pup.  Gypsy is everything I had hope we would get from this cross and then some.  She reminds me so incredibly much of my sweet Jive.  The fearlessness, intense connection with me, high drive, fun loving attitude and sweet nature. And that crazy blue left eye! Some times if you are patient, amazing things come back to you....

And Rave is doing incredible.  She's back to her athletic self, though still needs to tighten up those abs!  She is also completely naked and needs to grow some hair back.  I started doing some agility with her yesterday (for the first time in about 5 months!) and she was so crazy excited to be playing again.  I am so thrilled with how she handled motherhood--physically and mentally.  She was a wonderful mother!  Though I still think it's a bit weird that she fed her pups until they were 9 weeks old!

Rave absolutely LOVES her baby!!!  They play and play and it's the cutest thing ever!!  And Rival continues to be a great big brother and enjoys their wrestling matches.  Stash loves Gypsy, but only outside when they can play big chase games!  The rest of the pack is getting used to her presence, but I am being ultra careful so Gypsy doesn't have  bad experiences.  She won't be allowed to be loose with the rest of the gang for a long time.  Plus, I need to ensure that she bonds more strongly to me than any of the dogs.  I don't see it being a problem now, but I am going to stay on top of it.

Going forward, I thought I'd focus the blog on puppy training and all of Gypsy's adventures.  And also share those of the other pups as well.

It's so hard to believe that the little mighty mite was once this tiny!!!

Two weeks old!

In some ways, it's been a very long two weeks but I also can't believe that the pups are two weeks old already!  Between my almost constant worry about Gypsy and then the issue with Rev, I feel like I've been on a bit of a roller coaster.  Gypsy isn't gaining weight as much as I'd like, but she seems to be just fine.  The last few days have been just absolutely amazing watching as the pups develop.  It's hard to put into words how incredible it is to see them do things for the first time: first poops, first pees, first tail wags, first eyes open, first startle response to sounds.  Incredible!!!

Rev, Kahoona and Octane seem the most advanced at this point, but in different ways.  Kahoona has been up and walking for days now and almost never crawls anymore.  He's the most advanced physically.  Rev had his eyes open first, but has also been the one to seek out attention from me more than anyone else at this point.  And Octane was the first to hear and remains the adventure seeker--climbing up Rave then sliding down the other side over and over again for his own entertainment.  It's too cute!  Yet, Octane is the one whose eyes are barely open yet.  Envy is right behind Rev in terms of interacting with me, she loves to come over to me for attention.  And her eyes are just about open now too.  Bolt and Gypsy have been the slower ones to develop.  Bolt has been the smallest boy from the start and was the last boy up to walk, though now his smaller body makes him more nimble and efficient.  I have been really surprised at Gypsy's eyes starting to open already.  She was the last to walk but she can see now too!  I expected her to be a bit more behind the other pups in development, but she's right there with Bolt. 

The pups have started playing with each other now and it's so cute!  They wrestle a bit and make crazy noises.  Most of the pups have growled at me now--it's so cute to see them finding their voices.  Rev let out the first little bark this morning---I think he startled himself!!!  And Octane grabbed my finger in play today too. 

They all now just LOVE being pet and getting attention (at least when they aren't hungry!!).  Most of them seek me out when I come in the room now too.  And a few of them have wagged their tails at me when I pet them--now that just melts my heart!

On the flip side, they are peeing like banshees now and making a bit mess!  And it's only going to get worse!!!  But oh how much fun we are going to have!!!

Rev

It was a long week!  Rob had to go out of town for work, so I was flying solo all week.  Not a big deal, until Rev decided to not feel well on Wednesday night.  He started crying about 9:30pm, and just wouldn't stop.  He also kept moving around nonstop like he couldn't get comfortable.  He didn't want to eat, had no pee in him and I couldn't stimulate him to poop.  It wasn't hot in here (he's been the fussy one about temperature) either so I was at a loss.  But listening to him cry non stop was tearing me up, since I didn't know what was wrong.  I called a breeder friend about 10:15 and she had a few ideas, but wasn't entirely sure what was going on either.  Then I noticed the poor little guy was drooling too, which made me think upset tummy.  I also noticed when I rubbed his belly he relaxed a bit.

I turned to the internet as a reproduction group which has a huge number of member, who are all over the world, so I figured if I posted what was happening, someone was bound to respond.  My internet research pointed me in the direction of gas and constipation and the folks on the group agreed.  I gave him a warm water enema and wow, did the flood gates open!!  Once he was empty, I thought he'd feel much better, but he still kept crying.  So it's after midnight, and I really want to go get the infant gas drops folks recommended....but it's late, and we live 20 minutes from the 24 hour drugstore.  And Rob's not home, and I don't want to leave a crying pup by himself.  I managed to make it to first light and set out to get the drops for him.  Within minutes of giving the drops, he relaxed and immediately fell asleep.  At this point, he'd cried so much, he had dried tears all over his face.  :-(

By the time I reached my vet, Rev seemed back to normal.  He was nursing again and sleeping comfortably.  So I didn't want to stress him out by running him into the vet clinic (not to mention making me worry about all the potential disease issues that could arise from that).  He's been fine since then, so I am guessing maybe he gorged to much on food on Wednesday and gave himself a back up.

What an exhausting night for both of us!  I am just so glad he's back to himself.  And he's taken up the position of being the most active of the pups now too.  He's quite full of himself!!!

Day 9 Update!

Have I mentioned how much I love these puppies already???  I can't believe how big they are getting and all have more than doubled (tripled in Gypsy's case!) their body weight already.  They are getting more active now too and have become very responsive to my presence in the whelping box.  Last night, Kahoona was up on all fours and took a few steps.  It was amazing to see at eight days old!!!  This morning, Rev was a wild man all over the whelping box, crawling up and down (well falling down!) Rave and even managed to get himself up on the pig rain using Rave's back.  Again, just amazing for nine days old!

When I get in the box now, they make their way over to me to sniff me out.  It's very clear their sense of smell is working well already.  When I put them in my lap, they sniff all over me.  I am not sure if they are looking for a food source or if they are just processing information.  Either way, it's so cute.  And they love being touched now!  Envy rolled over on her back this morning for belly rubs and it was so stinkin' cute.  Then she gave me a lick on the hand.  Oh man, did that melt my heart.

Gypsy is doing so great now, and I feel like I can finally relax and not worry about her so much.  I am still making sure to give her time alone at the milk bar, because she can easily get knocked off by the bigger kids who are really just downright aggressive at the bar now.  They push, shove and fight for the prime nipples!  Rave has a few that don't work (which I guess is normal) and the rear ones produce much more milk than the ones up front.  So they are always jockeying to get back there.  Interestingly, Gypsy always feeds at the rear nipples.  She must be very clever!!!  I cannot put into words how emotional last week was for me, and working so hard to ensure that Gypsy was given every chance to thrive.  And I am so incredibly grateful that she's doing so well.

It's still so early in this journey, but everything about this litter has been "more" than I expected.  I had planned on it being a lot of work, I planned on sleepless nights, I planned on it being emotional.  I think all the issues with Gypsy magnified everything.  But it's all so much more than I could have imagined.  And this morning, sitting with the pups before I left for work, I was overcome with emotion watching those little pups developing and making me laugh.  And I realized that I am so grateful that I have been given the chance to nurture these pups from the start and that I happily accept everything that comes with it.

I am also super grateful that Rave is being such an incredible mom.  She takes such good care of the pups, feeds them well, and worries when they are upset.  She still thinks she needs to protect them from all the other dogs in the house except for Rival.  Rave definitely wants to get out and play more and be a part of the household again, but she's still making sure those pups are well care for.  I am also so glad that Rave seems to still be quite strong and healthy, is producing milk well and has no post whelping issues at all.  So much can go wrong during pregnancy, whelping and rearing so I love that Rave's in such great shape.

I love Rave.  And I love her very special little puppies.  :-)

One week old!

So the pups are one week old today!!!  It was a long week, that's for sure.  Rave won't let me go back to my bed, so I am stuck sleeping on the air mattress in the puppy room a little longer.  But it's worth it since the pups are thriving, including little Gypsy.  I *think* at this point, I can breathe a sigh of relief.  She's been consistently gaining weight since Monday, is active and is now fussing at me when I weigh her or do ENS.  Yay!  She's still much smaller than the other pups, but gaining at the same rate as they are.

The best part of this week has been seeing how the pups have acclimated to handling.  The first few days they made the biggest stink when we picked them up and did things to them.  Now they still fuss a little during ENS (really who wants to be turned upside down!), but now they seem to really enjoy our touch, being held and don't fuss nearly as much when they get moved around.

I did start dremeling their nails this week too.  Their sharp nails were scratching up Rave's tummy and nipples so it needed to be done.  I cut their tiny toenails on Tuesday and that did not go well at all.  Their nails are so tiny and there were so squirmy, it was difficult and I did make Octane bleed.  :-(  So now I am dremeling them and for me it's going much better, since I can't hurt them.  But they beg to differ!!!  I have to put Rave outside when I do it as she gets sooooo concerned.

Rave has started spending more time away from the pups during the day, and wants to  play again.  I think it's healthy for her mentally and emotionally to have a break---what dog wants to be stuck in the same room day after day.  But also I think the physical exercise will really help her recover from the pregnancy physically and keep her endorphins up mentally.  When she comes back in from playing, she runs right back in to feed and check on the pups though.

She is still VERY protective of the pups when it comes to the other dogs.  Rival is the only dog who she's comfortable with in the room and seeing the pups.  No one else has that privilege.  But Rival and Rave have a very special, close relationship and I know she trusts him.

The pups did have some visitors this week.  My mom helped out by stopping by and making sure all was well with the babies during the week while we were gone.  I am so grateful for her help, it made a huge difference.  Then I'd come home at lunch too and make sure all was good.  Yesterday, Pam came by to visit since one of the black boys will be hers.  Rave is more than happy to show off her brood to people.

The biggest issue we've had this week is the bedding in the whelping box.  Rave wants to dig it up and at one point during the week, I had to run home from work and fix it since she had covered the pups up with the pad.  And we don't want any pups to suffocate!  At this point we've resorted to duct taping the whelping mats down, since Rave likes to nest so much!!!  Kind of a pain, since they have to be washed all the time!

It was a pretty stressful week overall, mostly because we worried so much about Gypsy.  All of the others were clearly doing great, but we really worked hard to give her extra care, attention and feedings.  And it's paid off, so well worth it.  I am hoping this week is a bit smoother and I look forward to seeing more development in these little guys.

Pupdate Number 1

I love these pups so much already.  They are so adorable and squeaky and funny!  I've already started seeing some personality features emerging and I am really curious to see if they hold true over time.  They are growing like weeds!!!!  The cutest thing is watching them when they nurse---two days ago they started wagging their tails when they eat.  Just adorable!!!!  They are all quite active and getting stronger by the day. Kahoona can even prop himself up on his back legs now.

I started Early Neurologic Stimulation and the first day all the pups really fussed over it, except for Gypsy.  I do think she was likely conceived on the second breeding (vs. the others on the first) so she's behind the other pups developmentally.  But now she's fussing along with the rest of them when it's time to get weighed (though she gets weighed alot more than the others!!).  And the first few days, the pups really put up a fight when we handled them or held them.  Now they are much more compliant in general during the ENS and really seem to enjoyed being touched and held (at times!).  I have loved seeing that development already.

And I did a nail trim on them and that was NOT fun!  Those nails are tiny so I am going to dremel them tonight instead of clipping.  And I will make sure Rave is outside when I do it, she HATED hearing them scream like that.

Rave's being an AWESOME mom.  She wouldn't leave them at all for a few days and I had to drag her out to potty.  Now she's leaving more, and wanting to play a bit which I think is really healthy for her.  She's still feeding them when they are hungry and taking great care of them, but wanting to interact and exercise a bit more.

On day two, I had put the pups in the warming box while I changed the bedding in the whelping box.  Then I took Rave outside.  When she ran in the front door, she beelined to the puppy room and next thing you know I hear the pups screaming bloody murder!  I found her laying on them in the tiny box!!!  She does love her puppies!!

Right now, Octane is the biggest pup, followed by Kahoona then Envy then Bolt then Rev.  And of course Gypsy is still much smaller.  But trying to catch up!!!

Gypsy

So Gypsy was the second born pup and came out REALLY tiny.  As soon as I saw her, my heart sunk.  She was so small, my initial though was that she might not even be alive.  I immediately took her from Rave and starting working on her.  While Octane came out of the sac kicking and vigorous, Gypsy was quiet and purple.  I suctioned a fair bit of mucous from her throat and stimulated the heck out of her.  She turned pink and seemed to gain some strength.  She weighed 4.2 ounces at birth and Octane weighed in at almost 12 ounces.  A huge difference.

When I felt comfortable enough, I offered her the nipple.  Now Octane latched on instantly and nursed like a champ, but Gypsy would not latch on at all.  I tried for about 30 minutes before I started contacting my "support system" of breeders as well as my vet, because I felt woefully under prepared for this type of situation.

I was provided with a number of suggestions and fortunately I had some Nutrical on hand to put in her mouth to at least give her some glucose.  That seemed to help a bit and she did attempt to nurse, but with very little effort.  In retrospect, I think she was so weak and had a suckle reflex that wasn't as developed as the other pups.  The colostrom that comes in at birth is very thick and she really did struggle to get it out.  I could see the other pups really working to get it out, but she just didn't have the strength.  I tried bottle feeding and she didn't want any part of it.  I syringe fed her a bit, but that's really risky since they can aspirate the liquid though I was able to get a bit into her at least.

Then one breeder suggested something pretty simple, run my nails down her spine pretty vigorously and wouldn't you know it irritate her enough that she started eating!  I had to keep doing it for a bit, but she got the idea, though still not terribly vigorous in her nursing.  We never left her unsupervised and really kept encouraging her to nurse.  And she did start offering more effort over time.

She had a little set back on Monday where I think her glucose level dropped and she was hypoglycemic, as she had not eaten for fours hours. Thanks to a sugar/salt solution suggested by another breeder, she perked back up and began nursing again.  Thank goodness, because I was all set to start tube feeding her and I was glad to have avoided that.  About that time, Rave's milk turned from colostrom to milk, which is much thinner and we could immediately see a change.  Gypsy started nursing much more aggressively and you could see she was really getting milk out now.

Since then, she's been nursing very well.  We make sure to give her special nipple time when Rave is really full and we keep the others away.  All the other pups are really, really pushy at the milk bar and while Gyspy has learned to hang on and try to hold on to her nipple, she is so much smaller that she can get knocked off.

So we are at day five now, and things are still going well for Gypsy.  In fact, she's now doubled her birth weight!!!!  I am still sleeping right next to the box, making sure she gets lots of feedings.  I am still holding my breath a bit, but overall I am feeling much more optimistic about her.

The Rave x Keen Puppies Are Here!!

Six wonderful babies were born very quickly early on Sunday, June 2nd!!!

Rave went into early labor late Saturday afternoon.  I was up with her all Saturday night, as she was uncomfortable and confused.  She was very, very needy and wanted to be touched constantly but also couldn't settle down at all.  Then Sunday morning about 7am I started seeing contractions.  They came more frequently and at 7:40am, a black tri boy entered the world.  Rave was a bit worried at first, she had no idea what it was that came out of her and left me to open the sac, get him stimulated and take care of the cord.  Once Rave layed down and started smelling him, her instincts kicked in and she began licking him and eating the placenta.  He immediately started nursing and we all relaxed.

About 35 minutes later, contractions started again.  Then out comes a TINY little  blue girl.  Rave helped with her part of the job, but I took her away quickly as she was so small and not as vigorous as the first pup.  But not three minutes later, Rave has another pup!!!  Out comes another black boy, and I had to get Rob to help with that one as I was still stimulating the little girl and suctioning mucous out of her throat. So while Rave's taking care of the boy, and I have the little girl, she has another pup!  Less than five minutes later!!!  Out pops another black boy!  So three pups in less than 15 minutes.  It was crazy for a while.

Then it got stressful because the little glue girl wouldn't nurse, while the three bigger pups were nursing like champs.  She seemed weak and wouldn't latch on.  I knew there were still two more pups to be delivered but I immediately reached out to other breeders for ideas on how to get the little girl going.  I am so grateful that there have been so many breeders who have been willing to share their time and knowledge with me.  It's made all the difference.

So I am still trying to get little girl to nurse and about 30 minutes after the trio came out, another blue girl was born.  Rave took care of her and everything went smoothly.  Then 40 minutes later, out came the last pup, a blue merle boy.  Again, Rave did her job well and he went right to work nursing.  So Rave has six pups in two hours, which I thought was pretty impressive.  Maybe I kept her too fit during pregnancy!!!!

So in order of appearance, with their puppy names:
"Octane" Pup 1 Black tri boy born at 7:40am
"Gypsy" Pup 2 Tiny blue merle girl born at 8:15am
"Bolt" Pup 3 Black boy born around 8:20am
"Rev" Pup 4 Black boy born around 8:25am
"Envy" Pup 5 Blue merle girl born at 9:00am
"Kahoona" Pup 6 Blue merle boy born at 9:40am

Rave is being an awesome momma and I am so incredibly proud of her.  She's super attentive to her pups and really doesn't want to leave them at all, even to go out to the bathroom.  I had no idea how she would respond to motherhood, but she's exceeded my expectations.

We spent the rest of the day making sure the pups were content, Rave was clean and comfortable and really working on Gypsy.  But that's a whole other blog post.  :-)

Puppy skulls and spines!!!

Rave had her xray yesterday and it shows six well formed pups.  I think it's the perfect number for our first litter---both for Rave and me!  Six puppies means there are enough to go around for everyone that wants one, but is also a very manageable number for raising them and making sure each puppy gets lots of attention and care.

Many breeders cautioned me that doing an AI on a maiden bitch may not result in any pups. But clearly Rave and Keen are very fertile, healthy dogs and I trusted my vet to help me get the timing right.  I also knew that Rave's dam had produced very large litters with ease, so I was hopeful that genetics were on our side.  I am so very excited to see what Keen and Rave produce!  Now I just need to be patient and let those pups finish cooking!!!

Rave feels fabulous and I can see how keeping her in such good physical shape during her pregnancy has really been so good for her.  She's still active, strong and happy to catch a frisbee.  I obsessed over her diet and how much exercise to allow so it makes me very happy to see her feeling so good.

Just a few more days to go!!!!