One year ago today, seven beautiful puppies were born here on the SandSpur Ranch. Bellatrix, Wentz, Logan, Koda, AbbySue, Ella, and Echo were born on the morning of April 9th, 2018 - blind, deaf, and completely helpless. That day we had an absolute downpour. Their kennel (which had been barely completed a day or so before they were born) flooded and I had to rescue the pups and move them to the barn in the pockets of my raincoat. They happily slept and nursed in the barn loft, totally unphased by the incident. Once I got the kennel cleaned out again, I moved them back and they continued to grow. Their eyes and ears opened, and they learned to walk. They explored their pool, which was the whole world to them at that time, then as they got bigger, they scrambled over the edge of the pool (Koda first) and fell out onto the floor of the kennel. Here was a new world to explore! They happily explored the kennel, while I raced to build the 2,000 sp. ft. run and play yard for them. Pretty soon, they had the kennel memorized and were ready for bigger horizons. By this time they knew me and my family members very well, and loved to be petted and loved on by us. They were growling, barking, and playing with each other, and their eyes were no longer hazy blue, but bright and becoming clearer every day. My father and brothers pitched in to get their play yard finished and finally I was able to open the back doors of the kennel and expand their world. The puppies played with each other and their "cousins" from the second bay of the kennel, who were one week younger. They learned important lessons like when to bark, how hard to bite, who was bossy and who was friendly, and how to play tug. They began responding to their names. Some decided that the kiddie pool was fun; some decided that water was wet, cold, and unsuitable for any sensible puppy. They learned to sit before meals. They all loved people more and more. They memorized the puppy yard and their world was small again. And then came the biggest event of their lives up to that time: Pick-up Day. Suddenly, the world changed. Six of the puppies went to new homes, with new people around them, new scents, new surroundings, new experiences. It was a new world. Echo stayed in the old world and is still here. This birthday update is an overview, from the owners perspectives, of how the puppies have done in their new worlds. Logan Logan is doing amazing! He is a hyper, super lovey, tennis ball addicted baby boy. Since the day I brought Logan home he has always been very snugly and protective of me. Every night after I come home from work we play ball or frisbeeoutside, work in the garden together and then go inside to snuggle till it is time for bed. I couldn't have picked a better best friend and companion. Logan also recently got 2 new siblings, Olivia and Darcy 2 black cats.. He is infatuated with Darcy (and protects/ herds him because Darcy is blind in both eyes) and has a healthy respect of Olivia because she has dubbed herself Queen of the Castle. Another favorite hobby of Logan is sitting in the pool. I can not keep him out of it haha. He hasn't shown an interest in swimming yet, but loves to lounge on the top step for hours. He is incredibly smart and has also learned the command "clean your feet" where he goes and washes his muddy feet on the top step of the pool before coming inside the house. We are looking to possibly start agility training this summer. Thank you Alayna for providing me with such an amazing pup, Logan and I are so blessed to have each other. He has truly changed my life, and now I cant imagine life without waking up to his smiling face and coming home to it every afternoon. Happy Birthday to all the puppies, looking forward to many more years and adventures!! Bella L. Wentz Hey Alayna. Happy Birthday to our sweet Wentz! He is a loving, energetic dog who loves to hug and snuggle! He isn’t very fond of loud noises and doesn’t appreciate rides in the truck! He loves his brother Aspen (the American Eskimo) the most. He plays with Diesel (our 13 year old Border Collie) some, but since he is older allows him some space! We love having him as a member of our family. We plan to continue to work on his agility skills – he is a great jumper! He knows many commands – heel, both on a leash and off, sit, stay, down, drop, get off, come, kiss, stop, look, hug, up (to jump straight up in the air), fetch a ball, frisbee, anything that is thrown! He even climbed a tree once! (that was crazy!) He has a deep bellowing bark for his size. He is not very big and favors his mom a lot. He is SUPER fast and can run forever. We hope you enjoy the pics – we are so thankful to you for sharing him with our family! Andrew P. Bellatrix Here’s a short update about Trixie. Trixie is a lot of fun. She always wants to play. She likes playing fetch with balls, loves catching frisbees and playing tug-of-war with the rope or anything really. She loves going on walks and we just started doing short jogs with her. She's very fast, so even though I'm jogging, she's just walking at a fast pace. She spends a lot of time out in the backyard exploring and keeping an eye out the back. She'll bark at anyone who passes by, specially if they're with a dog, and even if they are across the street. We recently took her to the beach and she liked getting in the water. She gets nervous around other dogs and people she doesn't know, but after a while, she gets more comfortable. She knows a lot of words and phrases and still rings the bell to go outside. She's very intelligent and has learned things on her own. For example, if we put a jerky treat inside one of her bones, she throws the bone in the air so that it loosens the treat and it slips out. She knows some of her toys by name and knows the names of everyone in the family. She's a lot of fun and we love having her as part of the family. She’s 40lbs and 20.5 inches at the shoulder. Norman S. Echo Echo is my special pup who stayed here. She is gorgeous, extremely smart, and very affectionate. She is built like her father, long, fast, and lean. She stands about 20" high at the shoulder and weighs only 27 lbs, 6 oz. Unfortunately, she has not learned as much as I hoped she would over the course of the last year, but that is my fault, not hers. She has all the brains and desire to learn, but I have not put as much time and patience into training her as I should have done. The year has been a hectic, busy, and rather stressful one for my family and me, so it is not at all Echo's fault that she has not attained a high level of training. She knows the basic commands - come, down, stay, off, leave it, drop it, wait, etc. She has shown a good deal of desire and talent in herding the cows, but is often distracted by a desire to wrestle her parents (Duncan, especially) when they are working. She pays much better attention when she is by herself, which is perfectly normal for a puppy and has moved the animals with me, "single-pawed." (I.E. without her parents' assistance.) I hope to begin more formal training with her and Flora soon. Echo lives up to her name. She makes more noise than the other three Border collies put together, strongly favors both her parents in looks, and even runs concentric circles around Duncan when she is trying to play with him. I train all my dogs to come to an individual whistle (different for every dog) and her call is a medium-pitched, long, quavering note. I didn't think much of it until Mama asked me if I chose that specific whistle for her because it sounds like an echo. I didn't, but go figure. Everything about that pup is an echo. The only real problems I have had with Echo are that she is more timid than I would like her to be, and she tries to herd the chickens a lot. She does not intentionally hurt them and is improving, but she has to learn that chickens - free-ranging or penned - are off limits. The timidity is (again) more my fault than hers. We weren't having many people over and I was unable to take her places when she was younger, so she is cautious and afraid of strangers or strange places. That is, she is afraid of strangers temporarily. She warms up to most people who visit within just a few seconds. (She proved this recently by enthusiastically washing the face of a friend-of-a-friend, about three seconds after he got out of the car. It turned out that, unbeknownst to me, he loves Border collies. I guess Echo figured that out before I did.) She hates riding in the car, but will get over that in time. Echo is amazingly affectionate and is a licker like her mother. She is extremely fast, like her father. I'm sorry to go on and on... She is a great dog and I am blessed to have her. Abby Sue Hey!! Sorry so late with this,we had Abby spayed Thursday and she is a handful to try to keep quiet! She is 19inches tall and weighs 34 pounds. She is amazing and loveable. Her natural talents are herding and jumping high. Her struggles (or ours) is she loves to dig and try to climb trees while biting them. We have 3 trees with bald spots. Her favorite treat is Dogsters ice cream, yum...She always comes when called and her favorite playmate is Maggie a 1 year old black lab. She also loves her pool and favorite place to go is fishing!! Marilyn W. Ella Hey there Alayna, We could not be happier with our beautiful Ella Lua. She weighs about 34lbs and is still petite. She loves to play with her big sister, Panda and they love to play catch. She learns tricks very fast and one of her favorites is to jump up into my and Johnny’s arms. She also does the basics - sit, stay, down, shake, 360 right and left, she will roll over but doesn’t love that trick. I started doing agility training with her in August and at first she was very excited and loved it. She learned so quickly it was amazing. Then sometime in February she was very fearful and started hiding in the tunnels and running back to her crate, she was concerned about something, but there was not an event that we could pinpoint. She was much happier in the class last week (WE don’t go every week due to either weather or we are traveling) so that was great. I would say our biggest challenge with her is her fear issues. At first she hated going to our shooting matches and would cower in her crate the entire time and was nervous even when she was with us but now she is absolutely fine with going to matches. She is fearless (a little too fearless) with the horses and the cows and we tell her, go get the cows and she tears into the pasture and brings them in for us which is amazing as we never really taught her. We have a new calf, Patrick (he was born on St Patricks day) and the two of them play chase… super cute. She is off the charts smart and is very sensitive. Any corrections have to be made gently and she pretty much gets it the first time, but she’lll just go hide if you correct her to forcefully. It's a fine balance. She still has some puppy naughtiness like she loves to shred paper/cardboard and she can destroy a 24-pack of water in 20 minutes. She is an outside dog but was potty trained at the pet sitters house on her second stay there and has been great since then. The only time she has an accident is if she has diarrhea and thank God she seems to be done with that. She had lots of parasites her first 6 months but has grown out of that. She loves to eat anything that she isn’t supposed to. We put her on a special Royal Canine feed when we were having all the stomach issues, and she does great on the food. She gets easily distracted from eating her meals and likes dinner better than breakfast. What I love the best about her is how affectionate and eager to please she is… also how independent she is. She can play with her toys for hours. She likes to take her toys from her toy crate and hide them in her hiding place under a bush so that Panda can’t find them. She runs around the arena the entire time we are riding and she loves to be at the barn. She loves playing with our barn kitties. The only challenge is when she is fearful but she is getting better every day with that. This is probably more than you wanted to know about her:) Nicole G. Koda Hi, Alayna!... What I like best about Koda are his sweet temperament and extreme trainability. Anything I want to teach him I can, as long as I patiently work with him. He’s shown a lot of talent for frisbee! We work on it consistently and he’s becoming quite talented. His biggest struggle was excited peeing for a few months which is now under control, and destructive behavior when left alone (I believe it’s separation anxiety, because if he’s unsupervised and we’re home he’s okay), but we just crate him for short intervals when he’s alone and that’s worked great! His favorite treat are pupperonis, his best trick is “bang!” (I make a finger gun and say bang, and he lays on his back and plays dead). Our favorite place to go is the beach, or one of the many hiking trails around Tallahassee. He’s quite small, at only about 34 pounds. I’m not sure of his height at the moment. His habits are loving to lick, ALL the time, he’s quite timid sometimes, and he’ll bark at me in frustration or simply walk away sometimes if he’s confused by a command, like an upset toddler! He pulls on leash a lot, but he’s getting better quickly with reinforcement not to. He’s good at barking when people come up to the door and stopping on command, and has made an excellent alarm system! There’s so much more I could say, but I’m on a time crunch.
Also, to add on! I believe we’re going to venture into Georgia this summer to do both agility and some sheep herding training this summer, so I’ll keep you posted on this results! He shows a lot of natural herding behaviors. When he spots another animal, he’ll begin to crouch and crawl forward. I’m working on teaching him when to simply drop and watch, and when to run. I’m also trying to teach him how to circle them on command. I don’t know much about herding, but I think he’ll be able to learn if we do some courses. We’ve only tried agility once before, but he was great at going through tunnels and hopping over hurdles. He knows how to come, sit, stay, hold himself up on his back paws (lift), jump up and down objects, drop, give, high five and paw, roll over, and even pick up his toys and put them into a box. We’re working on teaching him his toys by name currently, and speaking on command!! There’s probably more that I’m not thinking of right now, he’s honestly a joy to train. He also has a relatively mellow temperament as long as we get exercise every day. We typically do two long walks, a one or two mile run, a short hike, a walk on campus (high distraction off leash training), or the dog park. I‘ve noticed it’s very true what they say about border collies, that they truly need that stimulation to not be overly hyper. Luckily, we’re pretty active! I absolutely love him, and if I could afford another dog, I would absolutely look into getting a second. Sadly, that’ll have to wait a few more years. Nicole V.
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Churchill, Logan, Mac, Ollie, and Relic have all gone to bring joy - and some degree of havoc - into their new homes. With them has gone a pretty big chunk of the work which fills up my days, the regular emails I received from five very faithful correspondents, and the requests from my younger siblings to "go play with the puppies." I have to confess to a sense of relief whenever puppies are safely picked up and are no longer my immediate responsibility, but, even though pickup days are always rather joyful occasions, the kennel area now has a slightly forlorn air. Flora is still there, always happy to see me, but she is growing fast and no longer flings herself on me with the wild abandon of a young puppy, delighted if it can get close enough to lick my nose at unexpected moments, or worm itself under my arm when I'm doing something terribly important. Quite a few new owners (and lovers of puppies in general) ask me if I am sad when the pups have to leave. The plain answer is no: it is good for the puppies to go to new homes, to have their OWN owners, instead of having to share me between all of them, and my workload is considerably lightened when they are gone. But I already miss the puppies, too. And if I could have another litter born tomorrow, I would welcome them enthusiastically. Puppies are the fun part of being a breeder and hearing how well they do in their new homes, in whatever sphere they may be, is worth all the work that goes into raising them. Here are the last sets of pictures I took before they were picked up. Enjoy! Ollie Ollie is the high drive, slightly nervous, outgoing, incessantly wriggling, over-the-top loving puppy of the bunch. He is full of joy, a desire to please, and lots of energy. He started off bossy toward his brothers but lost some of his assertiveness as he got older. Looks like he may end up with one upright ear and one tipped ear, like his mother. Mac Mac is a very special puppy, with a fund of intelligent affection, a dash of independence, and plenty of good looks. He didn't pay the cows much attention when I walked him over to the fence, but he was not overly intimidated and even had the nerve to growl at them. I fully expect him to do well in any discipline, with loving training, which I know he will receive. Logan Logan got off to a rough start in life. He was the smallest puppy in the litter and a litter of pups is not good to the smallest one among them. I spent a few hours watching him nurse or trying to feed him a bottle, weighing him multiple times a day, and praying over him. Now he is a strong, though small and wiry, puppy. His personality is far bigger than his body and he was voted "Favorite Puppy" by my siblings. He is extremely smart and willing to please - just the kind of dog that is a real joy to train. Relic Relic was just picked up this morning, last of the litter. He is not as confident as Mac and Logan, and not quite as wriggly as Ollie, but he shares a special talent with Churchill. They both love to be cuddled. Relic is extremely affectionate and loves human companionship. He is on a long trip out to Colorado and has a lot to learn, but I know he is in good hands and will get a good education. He also has the nicest markings of the group, in my opinion, and was one of the easier pups to photograph. Churchill Churchill was last born, but first to be picked up. He is the quietest, most sedate puppy of the bunch, neither timid nor over confident, and I'm sure he is loving life with his own, individual person. He could never get enough petting and was mild-mannered, preferring to take the route of least resistance - but on occasion, Flora would get his dander up. She weighs 25 lbs and he weighed 11, but (as you can see in the pictures) he would put her flat on the ground when he'd had enough of her using him for a chew toy. In case you can't tell, he was the hardest to photograph, usually because he was too close to me. It has been a privilege raising these puppies - from choosing their parents as puppies, right up to the point where Relic was picked up this morning - and I look forward to my next litter. Cleone needs to take a break from motherhood, so it will probably be about a year before she has more pups, but hopefully, between now and then, I will get to experience at least the fringe joys of raising a litter of Border Collies. This is going to have to be really brief because I just got home a little while ago from what seemed like an all day trip to the vet and back. Our family friend and veterinarian, Dr. Harty, lives 2 hours away from us, back in Volusia county where we used to live, and she usually comes to us when it's time to do puppy health checks, but this time her schedule would not allow her to come, so I loaded up the puppies and Cleone and went to her. My 16 year-old sister, who is almost ready to get her full driver's license, kindly agreed to dedicate her day to helping me, so she drove all the way there and all the way back for me. Unfortunately, the big crates won't fit in our car and the little crates are too small, so I bedded a couple of the pups down in a big Rubbermaid container, one with Cleone on a sheet on the back floorboard, and a couple more in a small crate on the back seat. They all handled the ride really well, though they were a bit stressed out at first, but none of them cried or had accidents in the car, so I am very thankful for that. Now, the important part: They all checked out well from Dr. Harty, except that Logan is on the thin side and Mac has an umbilical hernia. Both issues should resolve themselves with just regular good care, which I know they will receive. Cleone is healing up okay, but still has her staples and stitches. I allowed her to go without her cone collar too early and she has been licking the injured area, so it is healing more slowly. Tonight, I put the cone back on, and a little later, found her relaxing quietly in the bin which the puppies had ridden in to the vet and back. My father installs satellite internet and that cone always reminds me of a satellite dish. I guess you could say she's tuned in! The puppies turned 7 weeks old yesterday. They are definitely ready to have their own owners and receive training. I'm working on lining up a veterinary appointment to get their health checkups, but unfortunately my vet's schedule is full, so it looks like pickup dates might have to be slightly delayed. I will email everyone who will be affected by this possible scheduling hitch and will keep you posted on developments. Cleone is healing up well from her accident last Monday and whenever I let her out, she runs around like nothing happened. I am keeping her penned up most of the time so she doesn't get involved in herding the cows, jumping off hay bales, or doing anything else like that, and even though she doesn't like being kenneled, she is handling it quite well. She should get her stitches out on Friday, if everything goes as planned. Let's see... how to describe Ollie: He is a rascal, super smart, almost tireless, and alert to everything around him. And - how did I forget to mention it - he is curious! He has to poke his nose into everything, chew it if it fits in his mouth, and drag it off if possible. He still loves attention and is super friendly, so he is usually the first one to try to dash out the gate when I go out to the puppies. Mac is level-headed and has settled into a comfortable middle position in the pecking order. He loves attention (surprise!) and is curious, but likes to contemplate a situation sometimes before jumping into it. Logan is still the favorite with my siblings. I finally had to ask them to pay Churchill and the others more attention and not only play with Logan and Mac. He is still the smallest puppy but is fond of eating, playing with his brothers, running around the pen, and, of course, getting belly rubs. Relic is more low-key than some of the others and is not usually in the first group to mob me at the door of the pen. But he is not easily startled and loves attention, just like his brothers. They don't seem to pick on him much and he doesn't pick on them. He's just in the middle class of pups and likes to go through life without causing trouble, though he will stand up for his rights if he needs to do so. Churchill - As you can see, Churchill is hard to photograph because he's always trying to stick right next to me and my camera lens is too zoomed in to get a very good picture of him when he's sitting on my toes. In my opinion he is the most mellow puppy out of the bunch but he is always ready for attention and activity whenever possible. Hopefully, all the scheduling issues will work out okay and the puppies will be available for pickup early next week. I enjoy having them but I'll be glad for them to go to their individual homes and get the attention and training they need. The puppies are getting big and are (rather suddenly) weaned. They are becoming extremely active and slightly overwhelming when they all try to pile onto me (or anyone else who steps foot into their area!) Cleone, on the other hand, is at the vet's office as I write this. In a nutshell, she jumped the 5' kennel door yesterday afternoon, caught her leg on a projecting wire, and tore a huge, but shallow, gash on the inside of her hip. I'm not sure how many stitches/ staples it required, but she's going to be sore for awhile. By the way, she is rarely in the kennel during the day, but Pooh (see "Puppies" page) is here for breeding and Cleone, as the alpha female, kept hovering around Pooh's kennel, investigating her. Pooh was stressed enough over the new environment, so I locked up Cleone. She has never jumped that door before and I did not realize that the heavy-duty wire panel on the outside of the door had come slightly loose from the wood frame - just enough to catch her as she scrambled over. I am immensely thankful that I was still out in the yard and able to get to her before the situation became even worse. Of course, with the meds she will be on to prevent infection, and the pain of her injury, added to the fact that the puppies were already practically weaned, there will be little to no nursing for any of them, now. On to happier subjects... Ollie has been trying to work his way up to "Favorite Puppy" status. He's extremely high-drive, affectionate, and smart, like Cleone and Echo. If he's as much like them as he seems to be, I think he will be very easy to train because he will want to understand and obey commands, but he will also need extra directed activity to keep him busy, and may have an excessive tendency to herd smaller dogs, cats, etc. As you can see in the pictures, he was hard to photograph because he ran everywhere the whole time I had him out. Mac is one of my favorite puppies to photograph. He is the right mix of active and calm, friendly and adventurous, and just all around a fun puppy to play with, observe and photograph. He is doing great ad is right in the middle of all the pups on temperament and size. Logan has really come out of his shell and become much more friendly and outgoing, though he still won't scramble all over visitors and overwhelm them with kisses, like Ollie does. Logan is a favorite with my younger siblings and he is the one they usually request to be let out for playtime. (I told them a couple of weeks ago that I wanted them to spend extra time with him to help him overcome his initial timidity.) One of my brothers holds him quite frequently and has often pointed out to me that his tail doesn't stop wagging the whole time. Logan also has a great interest in toys, which is a valuable asset for training. Relic is a mellow, middle-of-the-road type pup. He is friendly but not overly so, somewhere in the middle rank in the puppy pack, and willing to explore the world around him, though not extremely bold. I would say he's handsome, but that is stating the obvious, so I'll let you decide for yourselves. :) Churchill did not want to cooperate for pictures yesterday; instead he wanted to stick right next to me for petting. I'll try to get some more pictures this morning. A quick note: He does not spend all his time chewing on pinecones, I promise; it's just much easier to photograph him when he is distracted with one instead of following me around!
Churchill has a mellow, jolly temperament. He is back to being the heaviest puppy (by just a few ounces), weighing in at 8 lbs, 10 oz. He is not very outgoing and prefers to sit in a corner and observe strangers before coming out to be petted, so I'll try to make sure he gets extra attention this week, but he is not overly timid. He likes to relax with a chew toy or close to me and (of course) is one of the first ones at the food dish when it's mealtime. Just two weeks until pickup day! Their paper still have not come back from the ABCA, but I expect them anytime. In the unlikely even that they do not arrive by the time the puppies are picked up, I will simply mail them out. Have you ever been blessed to experience (and I mean truly experience!) five energetically wriggling, enthusiastically licking, enchantingly adorable, and enticingly cuddly, five week old puppies - all at the same time? Well, let me tell you a little bit about it. Morning begins around here when I get up, usually about 4:00. Almost the first thing I do is let the dogs out of the kennels. The adult and young adult dogs get to run loose during the day, unless we will be gone, but puppies are kept strictly locked up unless I am playing with them outside, so when I let out Cleone, I usually just tell the puppies good morning and leave them in the kennel. Later in the morning, usually around 9:30, I go back out with breakfast: fresh raw milk, straight from the cow (who usually gets milked around 9), an egg yolk, and homemade yogurt. I soak a little bit of kibble (Sport Dog Food, K9 Hero) in water and grab the hose, drag it into the kennel, open the back door to let out the pups, and start rinsing the floor. The puppies still have not all figured out to go outside when I start hosing the floor down, so usually a couple of them huddle in the corner and moan about how wet they are getting until I take pity on them and set them outside. Then the more curious ones slip back inside to stare at the water - until it splashes them, when they back up in alarm and sometimes decide to stay outside. When I'm done with the kennel, I pour off the water from the softened kibble, set the dish down in the kennel, and pour on the milk mixture (formula.) The puppies come back in and start gobbling it up - especially Mac. If it's a day for dewormer, I weigh and dose them, pet them all, and head back inside. On picture days life can become quite lively. Now that the puppies are pretty steady on their feet and their sight, hearing, and speed have improved, they are much harder to photograph. This is because they all want to come climb in my lap while I'm trying to take pictures, and because the lens of my camera is pretty zoomed-in, it is hard for me to take a good picture if they are closer than four feet. To take good pictures of puppies, one must get down to their level and the level of these pups is approximately six inches above the ground. The puppies love this, as it puts me in a very vulnerable position for face licking, etc. One of their favorite tricks is to climb over my left arm (which is usually resting on the ground to support the camera) and wriggle up under my neck. The problem is that they get stuck in the camera strap. So there I am, aiming the camera at one puppy, with at least one other puppy stuck in the strap under my chin, enthusiastically licking wherever he can reach his little tongue. Of course, yours truly dutifully snaps the pictures first, then disentangles the puppy. Sorry for the long digression. In case you wondered what goes on behind the scenes, now you have some idea. The pups are doing great. They are beginning to explore the 2,000 sq. ft. run behind the kennels and have met all the older dogs except for Kep and Inez. They are pretty good about not biting, but will become more mouthy as they grow. Enjoy the pictures! Ollie, the high-drive one of the bunch. Ollie reminds me a lot of Echo - friendly, smart, curious, etc. He will be a handful, but has the makings of a great dog. Mac has become a star at eating and has even been trying out some unsoftened kibble. He is still a bit more reserved than some of the others and doesn't feel the need to come lick me to death, but once he does come over, he really enjoys petting and attention. Logan has made great progress this week, both in growth and in overcoming his timidity. He is much more outgoing than he was, though he is still a bit more easily startled than his brothers. He has been enjoying the opportunities for weight gain afforded by the big food dish and absolutely loves to get his belly rubbed. Relic is big - big head, big feet, with a big appetite (especially for attention!) He is kind of jolly and laid back, but always happy to see visitors. Churchill is a happy, friendly pup - outgoing, but not overwhelming. He is usually one of the first to meet me at the kennel door and, like his brothers, can never get too much attention. And to finish up, here is a picture from New Year's Day. We had several families over and Glori and Julia loved playing with the puppies and asked me to take a picture of them with Cleone and her family. Pop quiz: Can you identify all the puppies from left to right? Post a comment below with your answers! The puppies seem to be growing faster every day and look older every time I go out to see them. They have started to become quite noisy at times and though they still spend a lot of time sleeping, they are taking an interest in some small rope toys, paying attention to the world around them, and - of course - playfighting. Some of the fighting is not entirely playful, as they are establishing dominance and working out what is or is not acceptable behavior. Some milestones for this week: Started lapping milk from a dish in addition to nursing, grew razor sharp teeth, ventured outside the kennel when I left the door open. Ollie is hilarious! He is the high-drive, jolly, friendly, bossy guy in the bunch. He's almost always the first one to greet me at the door and investigates everything he can poke his little nose into. He will need plenty of training, though - the high drive pups need the most activity and training to keep their brains (and bodies) busy. Mac got to meet his future family for the first time this week, but he probably won't remember the meeting much, if at all. He is quiet, thoughtful, and intelligent. As you can see in the video, he was the first one to really figure out how to drink from the dish and he makes such good use of his opportunities that he is catching up to his bigger brothers in weight. He is not overly timid, but is not as outgoing as Ollie. (On a quick sidenote, an outgoing nature can also be a sign of a dominant puppy.) He likes to sit back and consider whether he really wants to come over to be petted, but when he does decide to come, he stays for awhile. Logan now weighs about 3 pounds and should gain more rapidly now that he can drink from a dish instead of being dependent solely on nursing. He likes to be petted and is pretty laid back, with a tendency to sit in the corner and watch everyone else instead of joining the action. I think that as he gets bigger (and gets extra attention) he will kind of outgrow this. As you can see in the pictures, he was not impressed with the wide world outside the kennel, but his mama showed up just after I took these photos and I think he decided that if being out in the grass meant an opportunity for a meal without his pushy brothers, then it must not be too bad. Relic officially passed Churchill in weight this week, but only by a couple ounces. He is big, strong, handsome - and a little bit timid of fast moves and loud noises. He was really scared of anything noisy early last week, such as a dropped food dish, an unexpected shadow, or if I spoke loudly, but since they have been out of the whelping box and falling into dishes, stumbling through shadows, and barking more, he has calmed down a lot. He loves to be petted and is quite affectionate. Churchill is no longer the heaviest puppy, but he still weighs in at a hefty 5 1/2 pounds or thereabouts. He is one of the friendliest pups and is not timid or overly bold - overall, he has a nice, balanced temperament. You may notice that in most of these pictures, he is running toward the camera. When I set them down in the grass, most of the other puppies spent a little time sniffing around and/or crying while stationary, until I called them and they realized that they didn't have to be alone out there in the yard, and came to me. Not so Churchill! The minute I set him down and backed away to take his pictures, he was up on his feet and following - so I spent the next five to ten minutes trying to get far enough away to get some decent pictures of him. Here are some video clips taken at different times over the last week. As you can see, my family members are beginning to handle the puppies a little (under supervision!) They will probably get much more handling and petting today because we are having a New Year's Day get-together and there will be around 20 children in addition to my younger siblings. Of course, I will be out there with them when it is puppy petting time. I should have some pictures to share next week of their early socialization. :)
For those of you who are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the birth of this litter, I videoed most of it and just uploaded it to YouTube, mainly as an educational look at whelping for people who are expecting their first litter. Be warned, it is almost an hour long and is some pretty up-close-and-personal footage of whelping. *For some reason, YouTube cut it off at 7:37, so I'm working on uploading the right version... Will post link here when it's finished. The puppies have grown a lot this week. Their eyes are fully open and their sight and hearing are developing, though they still don't respond much to sights or sounds. They got their first nail trim (mainly for Cleone's sake) and they did not appreciate it at all, but I think Cleone will. They are also much more active and are beginning to play a little bit with each other. It won't be long now before they are out of the whelping box. Enjoy the pictures, and take a few moments to think about the reason for this special season of the year - the humble coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Ollie (was Magnus) Ollie is hands-down the noisiest, wiggliest puppy of the bunch. He does not like to be held, so I try to spend a little extra time handling him every day so that he realizes that being held and petted is not a bad thing; it's a good thing. Echo was exactly the same way at his age and still does not like to be held, but she loves to be petted. (Just wait until you come out here - you'll see for yourself.) Ollie is very alert and is in the mid-range for size, and has an adorable face (in my opinion.) Mac Mac is pretty laid-back, but I have seen him starting to wrestle his brothers a little bit. He's still on the smaller side, but that's okay. He is turning into a handsome puppy and becoming more active every day. Logan Logan is still the little guy but he finally hit the two-pound mark and is growing more every day. He cracks me up sometimes by the funny expressions he puts on and the way he scrambles over to the milk bar and burrows in to find a spot. Relic Relic is chunky, handsome, and pretty level, so far. He is the one I've seen wrestling a little bit with Mac and he is one of the more alert pups. All the puppies seem to have a special radar system to detect when their mama gets into the box and they will go scrambling and rolling over to her the second they wake up. Relic likes to sit up and look around sometimes, just keeping an eye on things. Churchill Churchill's "mommy radar" works splendidly. Sometimes I will try to get Cleone in the box and lying down for Logan and Mac to get a little extra nursing in, without waking up the others, but Churchill, Ollie, and Relic always wake up and join the party. As a result Churchill has a beautiful roly-poly conformation. He is pretty level and doesn't get over excited about things (except for mealtimes, of course.) He is growing into a handsome fellow! The puppies grew a lot this week and there is still quite a big difference between the biggest (Churchill) and the smallest (Logan). They are all doing well and have opened their eyes. I would like Logan to gain weight a little faster than he does, but he is growing and seems to be feeling pretty well, so that's the important thing. I never did get around to putting together last week's video - sorry! (It is currently sitting on my computer, neatly organized in a folder to be edited, along with several others waiting to be finished. Hopefully I'll get it posted sometime.) So, with that experience last week, this week I decided to just take a raw video, upload it to YouTube, and stick it at the bottom of this post. I hope you enjoy! Magnus did not want to cooperate with getting his picture taken so this was the best I could do. He reminds me of Echo, in that he screams every time I pick him up. I think he may be high drive, but time will tell. Mac seems to be quieter and thoughtful. I experienced something unusual this morning with him: I had taken him out of the box and let him nurse for awhile, then put him back in. A minute later he lifted his nose up, like he was looking for my hand. He found it, sniffed a bit, and tried to lick it - not like he was searching for somewhere to nurse, but actually trying to lick my hand, like his mama, Cleone, does. He ended up just laying his muzzle in my fingers and resting there, apparently just enjoying being with a person. Logan - the little guy. I always have a special affection for the smallest pup in the litter. Sometimes that puppy is my favorite; sometimes not, but they always get special care and are usually the first one I think about when I get up early in the morning and head out to check on the pups. Logan has a good appetite trapped inside his small body and he works hard to get a decent spot at the milk bar with his husky brothers ("husky" as an adjective - not a noun!) He is growing and getting stronger, but still can get shoved aside by them, so I usually separate him and Cleone from the other pups for awhile and spend some time watching him feed, just to make sure he gets enough. He'll probably catch up to them eventually; it might just take awhile. Relic is getting bigger and more active every day. He has started trying to walk off the cold towel when I am doing the neurological stimulation exercises (last day is tomorrow!) and he is definitely more alert. Today he decided to sit still and let me take pictures of him, which was a blessing, because sometimes it can become rather interesting trying to get a photo. He is pretty fat and happy, and just kind of goes with the flow - so far, at least. The hilarious thing about Relic is his growling. He growls (loudly!) whenever he is hungry and his mama is not available for instant nursing, or if he is having a hard time finding a teat, or, in fact, if anything is not going his way. Churchill the Chubby is still exactly that - chubby. He is fat, happy, and beginning to explore his options with these things called "legs" which he recently discovered. (See video.) He also has discovered that he can growl and I was told by a younger sibling that, "The puppies are starting to growl at each other and playfight!" I suspect he was the one starting something, but if so, it's still a bit early. He might just be an early learner - time will tell. And now, just for fun, here are a few pictures of the two big puppies, Echo and Flora, when we had a heavy frost a few days ago. Stay warm, enjoy the pups, and take a minute out of the rush of life to reflect on what this Christmas season is all about. I'll take a few moments while sitting in the kennel with the pups - and of course, I'll try to share those moments with you. Oh, and I hope you can enjoy the video below - in spite of the shakiness, noisy lens adjustments, and my faulty narration. Here's another peek into the SandSpur kennel - in motion! Last week passed really fast - almost too fast - and it looks like this week is heading the same way. Of course, the dominant factor in my life last week was the new litter of puppies. The first two weeks of a puppy's life can be the most time-consuming because they are most vulnerable at this age to just about anything that comes along - a chill, a cat, parasites, digestive upset, and so on. But in another way, the first two weeks are the easiest. You see, once they pass this "danger age" (which really isn't all that dangerous if you're careful) they start getting into the active age, which is synonymous for finding all the ways they can get into trouble. Once they are active and cutting teeth, they learn to do fun things like chew through electrical cords, fall out of their bed without knowing how to get back in, and try to squeeze their curious little heads through the wire sides of their run. They also begin to LOVE attention, which means that my interaction with them may take longer and become more meaningful, and once I start trying to do some preliminary training - well, the mornings start getting shorter, or so it seems. Sorry for the digression. The important items on the puppies' schedules this week were: 1: Nurse as much as possible, and 2: Sleep the rest of the time. I am trying out early neurological stimulation with this litter and interested to see if it really produces all the great effects which researchers and other breeders say it does. I am also weighing every puppy at least once per day and charting their weights so that I can keep track of their growth and spot problems before they become too big, if any arise. Below are individual pictures. Enjoy! Magnus (was Jolly) Magnus is somewhere in the middle of the litter, weight-wise, so he has a ways to go to earn his name, but he is strong, vigorous, and hard to photograph because he likes to hike all over the place, hunting for lunch (which I interrupted.) Mac (was Melchior) Mac is the second smallest pup in the litter, but that can easily change later on. The biggest/ littlest pups often switch positions, so it is too early to tell what size he will be. Mac strikes me as being fairly quiet and laid-back, but quite energetic when energy is needed. He can sure shove his way in to the milk bar! I tried to get a photo of him with Duncan, but as you can see, Duncan did not want to cooperate. Logan (was Star) "Star" is the little guy in the litter, but he has some serious energy when it comes to hunting for dinner. He was definitely the most difficult pup to photograph today because he insisted on "swimming" all over the place in an effort to find his mommy, and his lunch. Needless to say, I popped him back in the box as soon as possible. I also gave him a little homemade goat milk formula to help him catch up to his brothers in weight. I usually have to do this with one or two pups in every litter and it's not a big deal. He would probably be fine without it, but it makes me feel better to give it to him when he seems a little extra hungry. He is doing his best to catch up to his look-alike, Churchill, but it's going to take awhile. Relic (was Gaspar) As far as markings go, Relic is by far my favorite puppy in this litter. He is absolutely gorgeous. (The others are too, just I like the arrangement and color of Relic.) He is the second biggest pup, weighing in this morning at 28+ oz, and right now has a sleepy, happy-go-lucky temperament - when he's not too hungry. Dinner time is very serious, though, and he'll muscle his way over, under, through, or around his brothers to get to the milk bar. Churchill (was Balthazar) Churchill was the last puppy born, arriving at 12:20, December 3rd, so technically he has a different birthdate from his four brothers. Currently we are coming up with all kinds of nicknames for him, ranging from "Plumpy" to "Humongo-mungo," because he is so fat. Actually, I love it when puppies are fat, so I'm happy he is such a chunk. There's really not much to see about his temperament at this age; he's just fat and happy. But I know he will be a great dog! And, just for fun: Yours truly, attempting to take a father/son picture with Duncan and Mac. As you can see, the father abdicated his position and claimed protection from his son, who was left out in the cold (momentarily!)
I took video of the morning weighing/ neurological stimulation routine and am in the process of editing it. I will attempt to post it tonight or tomorrow and will add it here, to the bottom of this blog post when it is complete. But I thought y'all would probably rather get the pictures of your puppies right away. I hope you enjoyed them! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments. There is also a comment form below. |
AuthorMy name is Alayna Feldman. I have been greatly blessed and am thankful, first and foremost, to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has saved me. I am also deeply thankful to my parents, who have raised me in a stable, safe, loving home and taught me about what is most important in life. Archives
February 2022
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