Announcing Best in Show Sir Derby Wyatt

Click here to see Derby win Best of Show for the Terrier Club photo contest

More puppy videos

Playing Puppies

Audrey Just Relaxing After a Hard Day's Work as a Mama

   Caught!! We found Audrey sitting on the newly laundered and folded puppy blankets and stuffies.

Yeah, what of it.

Feeling sheepish.

Temperament

Puppies are starting to play more and discovering the world around them. They are sleeping in Audrey's crate for now- without the usual cushion because it is being washed. I needed a place to put them while I clean their playpen...a thorough cleaning. One or two complained for a few minutes and then all fell asleep. This is a good beginning to get them used to being in a crate as each of them will be crate trained in a few weeks.  They settle themselves down quickly and do not appear to be demanding at all. Also, they are using their puppy pad (which has been placed in a specific part of their playpen) readily. I correct one or two if they are preparing to go outside of the pad by moving them over to the pad. One puppy was starting to shred but was gently told "no"...and puppy stopped. No more attempts. When they are older, I will start taking them outside to potty. It's usually predictable when they need to go out...first thing in the morning and 5 minutes after every meal. The are playing, going potty in the right place, taking to their new food. Smart with very nice temperaments.

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY TO AUDREY, CALLIE, CASEY, DUNCAN, JULEP, PIPER, RILEY, SOPHIE, TUCKER

Happy Birthday to the 9! At this time 3 years ago, we had this lovely group of babies join us. Please send pictures!

Puppies still nursing but starting some solids

The puppies are eating solids - goat's milk with high quality ground lamb. They are still nursing but remain hungry after feeding so here we are...

A Moment to See How Chloe is Doing

Chloe is one of the four from Ming's second litter. She is sired by Edward (Ch. Mac-Ken-Char's Superhero). She is the party girl in the group and is very entertaining. She can jump very high too- a trait that came through Edward. She now finally sees what all the noise and fuss has been about. She was perplexed at first and has now figured out that there are babies in the house.  She is no longer the only "puppy" in the family. She looks up at the puppies (in their puppy play pen which is above the ground). She tried to lick one of the puppies in the face and the puppy licked her face back. Wish I had a camera then!

Puppies are Growing Up

More puppy videos!

 When the video is over, YouTube throws in some videos as ads after mine. I apologize if they appear weird and unrelated to what I am doing. I tried to remove it but could not.

Puppy Video!

Puppies are seeing, playing, and learning to walk. Age 2.5 weeks.

Audrey

I am getting this FortiFlora for my adult westies. Sorry this looks like an ad - I get a little back by buying this way. My friend/vet and Dr. Dove recommended it. Great supplement they say so I am trying...

Eyes are Opening

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

If you recall, we had a series of back sleepers. We have another back sleeper. New to this litter are ledge sleepers (as seen below). There are occasions when three of them will be sleeping with their chins on the pig rail.

An Homage to Snoopy (or was it Edward Bulwer-Lytton?)

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in Reston that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. With a buzz and a flicker, the computer died. Click, click and the rest of the house was cloaked in darkness, as dark as a westie's summer nose. The wind continued to howl outside as the inhabitants of the house scrambled to find some measure of light- cell phones became flashlights while they looked for the real thing. Westies in white coats glowed in an ethereal manner in the darkness. Their piercing eyes questioning the goings on.

Okay, so we had a blackout last night that lasted for an hour. Not knowing how long it was going to last when it first began, and because the space heater and the heating pad were no longer working without electricity, I packed up puppies and Audrey to move them to our bedroom where we had a secondary whelping box. (Ming and Chloe were in the warm media room.) It was a lot warmer upstairs because the air conditioning was not turned on during the day and the temperature reached 89 degrees outside. Our bedroom was about 78 degrees. They loved it and Audrey enjoyed it too! When the power came back, I let them be. They were great babies and slept through the night. Audrey took very good care of them.

Ming Reads Dr. Sears while Audrey Reads Dr. Ferber

While our only experiences in dog mothering is with Ming and Audrey, we have noticed a marked difference in their mothering styles. I am impressed with both and think that each method has its own soundness.

Ming, in the first 3 to 4 weeks, stayed with her puppies constantly and did not want them out of her sight. She would potty quickly and drag me back to the whelping box. Without fail, she slept with her babies. Looked a lot like the parenting style that Dr. Sears espoused in his attachment parenting book.

Audrey, also a very good mother, in the first few days, dragged me back to the whelping box after going out to potty. Now, however, she is not always with the puppies. Audrey checks in on the pups, methodically cleans each one, feeds them and when they are asleep, she walks around the house. She then goes back, almost like clockwork when it's feeding time and starts the process again.

Audrey needs little assistance from me to keep the pups and the whelping box spotless. When they wimper and whine, she doesn't immediately jump to it the way Ming used to. She lets them cry it out. That's not to say she doesn't care about them. One time, she was sitting with me when there was a cry from the whelping box- a different tone/pitch. Mothers out there know what I mean. She dashed to the box in less time than it took for me to stand up - athletic Audrey was sprinting to see what's wrong. Puppy was wedged under a pigrail and the other four were piled on top of very warm and unhappy pup. Audrey rolled them away with her nose. (By the way, I KNOW Audrey can do math. She takes a count every time she goes into her box. ) Audrey's style of parenting reminds me of Dr. Ferber. She is Ferberizing them, I think.

Dr. Ferber has revisited his theory, as has Dr. Sears. They both have moved closer to the middle towards each other's styles. Interesting.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5439359

What was your style? I definitely found that Ferberizing my oldest son did nothing and we quickly stopped it. For my younger son, the better sleeper, all he did was complain a little and then he fell asleep. To this day, one child needs very little sleep while the other has to have at least 7 to 8 hours.

Babies at Rest

Feeding Time

Audrey stepped out for a moment and when she returned, the babies knew right away that Mama is in the house! Zoom, they all went. Audrey is being a very good mother.