Gentle puppies

 

Today we would like to introduce you to some of the puppies.  We chose to start with the three we think are the gentlest.

 Uno

 

Uno is one of the four females.  

She has always been the smallest of the litter, but she is one of the most active and friendly. Her call name is Uno after a Husky we met recently, and because of the single spot on her back.  She will do well in a home where she gets a lot of personal attention and cuddle time!

SweetiePie the Second

SweetiePie the Second is one of the sweetest and gentlest in the litter.  

 He was a little slow to start growing, but he is catching up this week!  He is almost as big as the largest males and is one of the first to hop out of the pen at dinner time.  He wants to fall asleep on your lap after finishing his dinner.  With his one little eye patch and lots of black markings he is going to be a striking dog!

Stoplight

Stoplight was named for the two spots lined up on her back. She is a medium energy dog.  Like all of the puppies, she will need an active home, but she isn't right for the person that wants to do all day hikes every weekend.

 Her ideal home would give her a gentle walk every day, short play sessions and lots of petting and attention.

We are looking for active, caring homes for all of the puppies.  We want to keep in contact with their new people and follow the puppies' progress as they continue to learn. Their new homes should be with people who will keep us updated as the puppies grow and develop.  If you know anyone that has room for a striking colored active dog send them our way! 

meeting the cousins

Thanksgiving tradition says that families should get together for the holiday.  The puppies were able to take part in this tradition when our friend Kenny brought his pair of bully dogs for dinner. 

Many puppies do not get the chance to meet other dogs until they have had all of their shots.  While disease can destroy a puppy's life, lack of socialization can set them up for dog aggression or biting humans.This can be a life threatening situation as well.  Introducing them to healthy dogs with a known background in a controlled environment is one way to socialize them while keeping the chances of catching an illness low.

Climbing on the older dogs is a good way to develop balance and coordination.  We caught Buddha just as he fell from Loki's shoulder.  What a look on his face!

This is a good learning experience for our older dogs.  Loki is still a puppy herself- about 4 months old- and she is learning to control her movements so the puppies can enjoy playing with her.

The two largest puppies, Buddha and Angel, are starting to actively wrestle with each other as well.

runner explores

 The puppies are four weeks old, and they are exploring the house. 

Runner finds the noise of the treadmill interesting...

At this point we had to remove the puppy before she got launched!

Happy Thanksgiving!

socialization

Socialization is important for dogs.

 

What is socialization?  It is introducing the puppies to different people and animal.  These introductions need to be set up so they leave a good memory for the puppy, then they will think that meeting new friends is good! 

Why is socialization important?  A dog that was not properly socialized in the first few months of life is more likely to have problems with new people or animals.  

 Rather than looking at the new creature as a friend, they can learn to look at them as an adversary, a threat, or prey.  This leads directly to some of the worst problems a pet dog can have- biting a child, killing a cat, or acting aggressive toward people.

Dr. Ian Dunbar, one of our favorite trainers, recommends that puppies be introduced to at least 100 different people before they reach 8 weeks of age. These people should be of as many different types as possible, different ages, voices, races, and energy levels.  So far the Dark Moon puppies have met about 15 people, none of them children. We need your help!  Anyone who wants to meet the puppies and help in their socialization should come by for a visit. It is especially important for them to meet children of different sizes so kids, we need you to visit!  You can contact us by email at sunhorse1@att.net if you live in the Las Vegas area and want to stop by.

There is nothing like a lap full of puppies to make you smile!

This has been an eventful couple of days.  The puppies moved out of their kennel and into a playpen.

The playpen gives us the space to begin one of the most important aspects of training: house training.  Noone wants an animal in the house if they aren't house broken!  As soon as the puppies are old enough to walk around they try to pee and poop at a distance from where they sleep.  This is a great time to start their house training.  Since we want them to do their business on dirt, we put trays of dirt in the corner of their playpen. They usually poop when they first wake up and again a few minutes after they eat, so we keep a close eye at these times and move them into the dirt when they start looking for a good place to poop. We will let you know how this works, so keep reading!  In this photo you can see our precocious Buddha using the dirt!

teeth put to use

 

The fabulous puppies have been busy growing teeth the last week.  Today they got a pan of puppy food soaked in formula.  We were very excited to see them eat it all up!  then they got another bath...

3 weeks old

The puppies were born three weeks ago.  They don't fit so well in their little box anymore! 

We have had some very interesting interactions between the older dogs as they adjust to the puppies moving around the house more.  I caught this interaction between the 4 year old Freyja and the 4 month old Loki when Freyja told Loki not to be rough with the puppy.

When people choose a puppy to take home they often look at superficial characteristics like color to decide which dog to take home because they don't think you can tell much about a dog's personality when they are this young.  We would like to tell everyone that these guys have very consistent personalities!  We would like to find homes for each of them that fit their needs. This little guy we are calling Traveler because he like to move and explore.

There are two puppies that are very gentle and like to cuddle a lot.  In the center of this picture is the one we are calling Sweetiepie the second (after Ryan's chicken)  He has the sweetest eyes and wants to fall asleep while being held after he eats.  Sweetiepie's breathing patterns sound different than the other puppies so we are keeping a close eye on him.

The other particularly gentle puppy we are calling Stoplight for the two spots on her back.

walking and problem solving

The puppies are all still doing well!  They grow a half inch every day and are starting to explore the  house.

the exercise of walking is very important for a puppy this age because it helps them to develop their strength and coordination. We think this is a good time to teach them puzzle solving skills as well.  We are setting them simple tasks with good rewards like encouraging them to come out of the kennel on their own at feeding time instead of being picked up.


Our older dogs are still interested in them.  Lucia especially is thinking about what it would be like to be a mother herself!

sometimes it is hard to get her to leave the puppies when it is time to put them to bed.

hello!

The puppies are getting more active today.  Judith is letting them find their own way out of the kennel at feeding time, and they are climbing out of the box on a regular basis.

Letting them out to walk is cute, and it has the added advantage of helping them to develop their muscles and coordination.  Here you see Patch, the big male, and Uno, our smallest female, powering across the tile!

Bionic puppies!

Breeders spend a lot of time choosing the perfect parents for their puppies but many ignore the intense period of learning that follows birth.  Our research leads us to believe that about 35% of skills and traits are acquired solely from genetics, and the rest come from early life learning.  One of our major goals when we started the Puppy Project here at Dark Moon Farm and Kennels was to explore different ways of stimulating and teaching puppies starting at birth.  We want to teach them to seek learning, overcome disappointment, and solve problems.  We are starting with information from Dr Carmen L. Battaglia, who has an excellent website that tells more about his program:  breedingbetterdogs

The puppies have been getting a lot of handling as we feed them every 6 hours, so adding the a minute or two of developmental exercises from the "bionic puppy program"  isn't much of a problem.  Here are Patch and Uno doing the "head pointed down" exercise.  This teaches them to be aware of their own body and develop the nervous system in different ways as well as teaching them to trust their handler.

plus, they look like little bats.  spotted bats! 

 This pup has a really big mouth.  He wants to swallow my finger while we are feeding, and he isn't averse to a little chin sucking either.

 Patch decided to dive in to the milk jar when he got too close to it.  He can't quite figure out how to drink that way yet, but he is working on it.

day 14

Puppies are all happy and healthy today!   They seem bigger every time we feed them, and they are starting to show their personalities already.  In this photo you see the male we are calling Patch- for the single eye patch- and the female that is the smallest of the litter.

 Patch is about twice the size of his little sister!

 These little guys have a lot of personality! I keep catching them doing silly things like falling asleep while trying to climb out of the box.  They started trying to climb out as soon as their eyes slitted open, so we think that the little eyesight they have is already affecting their behavior.  You can see the black spots on toes, nose, and ears.  These weren't there at all last week, and there are more every day!

They are getting baths several times a day.  They relax more in the bath than any other time, their whole body sinking in to the water.  Yesterday we noticed most of them were turning upside down as they floated.  I think it has something to do with the specific gravity of a milk-filled belly.  Maybe they will learn to do the backstroke!

I have talked to a number of people about adopting these puppies when they are ready to go to their own home.  We are going to do everything we can to give them a good start and send them to the best homes.  We will be looking for people that are willing to adjust their lives to make sure the dogs get what they need, from play to exercise to socialization.  When the time comes we won't sell the puppies to their new people, but we are definitely asking for help with the expenses as they grow!   We need a constant supply of puppy milk replacement- which is costing about 80$ each week- shots, rags, towels, and chew toys. If you are interested in a puppy from this litter, or just in helping them out, please contact me at sunhorse1@att.net. 

eyes!

Day 11- we have little slits of eyes on almost all of the pups today.  There was a bit of a scare when one was breathing oddly after their evening feeding, but at the late night feeding they all ate and squirmed in a strong and healthy way!  Judith thought the pup with the odd breathing pattern might have eaten too much and been suffering a tummyache.  I was careful not to overfeed tonight.  Look for more pictures tomorow!

day 10

Today was a very eventful day for the puppies!  We appear to have purchased nearly all of the puppy milk replacement powder in town, and these guys are only 10 days old!  We have several more weeks of nursing time ahead of us.  Fortunately our friends at Animal House are expecting more in tomorrow.  The costs on this stuff are mounting pretty quickly.  If anyone is interested in helping out by purchasing some powdered Esbilac Puppy Milk Replacement or 20 ml syringes to use as bottles Animal House will set it aside for us, just order it over the phone and tell them it is for Judith's orphan puppies.  You can see more about Animal House here:  Animal House (775) 751-1777


This morning we started to see eyes opening on several of the puppies.  You can't quite see it in the pictures, but this one was too cute not to share!

I am happy to report that their bladders are all working well.  When they are very young they cannot pee on their own, we had to tickle their bellies to stimulate urination.  (That is why I have been smelling like puppy pee, in a case anyone was wondering.)  Today they are definitely able to pee on their own.  While this is a good sign physiologically, it does present some housekeeping issues.  Afternoon feeding time found the puppies all wet as they lay in their pile, so they got a bath before we fed them.

Their strong suction ability makes a good life preserver while they are in the bath!




The other fabulous development is that their spots are coming in.  This morning we saw one puppy with grey freckles on her ears and another with little spots on his feet.  By the afternoon feeding nearly all of them showed spots!

You can see the grey bits really well when they are wet from the bath.  Tomorrow should be a whole new puppy adventure, so stay tuned!

biomechanics, common sense, and a death

Feeding puppies is an art.  It seems simple- even a dog can do it, right?


Not so quick there.  That dog is designed for this, the puppies are designed to match her, and they are all primed with mamma hormones to seek and enjoy the process.  Me, I have a tall naked human body and am all the wrong shape and texture.  Spending an hour hunched over puppies can really give you a crick in the neck!  So I keep reminding myself- use correct posture.  Keep the shoulders back, relax unnecessary tension, keep breathing, don't hunch forward, don't twist your wrist or hold tight with your hand.  Correct use of human biomechanics is incredibly important!

And common sense...something else the mamma dog has in spades but I seem to be weak on.  Guess what I learned last night?  if you hold their head UP instead of down, less milk dribbles out of the puppy's mouth.  Well, duh, you say.  I am not generally considered slow on the uptake, and yet it took me nearly a week to figure this out!  I have to practice looking at what is in front of me more.

The sad news is that we lost one of our big males to aspiration pneumonia.  This is one of the major dangers to puppies who are bottle fed.  Aspiration in medical terminology is the entry of foreign materials into the lungs.  In this case our greedy little boy- one of the largest in the litter- got too enthusiastic with his drinking and breathed in some milk.  He wasn't able to cough all of it out and by the next feeding he was too sick to eat.  I always say that one of the best things you can learn from animals is what the entire life process from birth to death looks like.  I just wish the time between hadn't been so short.

Foster puppies wanted!

About a month ago Judith and I decided we would like to foster some puppies.  We are constantly reading and researching.  This gives us a lot of ideas!  From temperament testing to socialization, there are a lot of things breeders and owners can do to give their dogs a great start in life if they think ahead.

We have done a lot of thinking ahead with our morgan and arab horses.  Our horse breeding program starts with carefully chosen bloodlines in our favorite breeds and parents that prove themselves to be capable and versatile.  The mother's nutrition and stress levels throughout pregnancy and the foals' handling and exercise from the moment it is born are carefully planned.

We want to be just as careful-if not more- when we breed dogs, because dogs are such a huge part of people's lives.  So many puppies are accidental or poorly planned that huge numbers end up in shelters.

While we look for the parents of our ideal puppies, we decided to take in a litter or two from a local shelter or rescue organization, raise them using the ideas we have from our research, and match them with good, lifelong homes.  When we left our names with local rescues we imagined a mother with 5 or 6 pups.  Then our friends at Animal House, the local pet store, called.  They had been asked to take in 11 orphaned puppies.  John and Jaime at Animal House do a lot to rescue and rehome pets, but they don't have the facilities for pups this young.  In another case of "be careful what you wish for" we agreed to take them on.

So earlier this week we got 11 orphaned puppies.  Their mother died when they were 3 days old.  We are told they are pit and dalmation cross, 7 males and 4 females.  Today they are 8 days old.

We invite everyone to follow their progress and send your best hopes.  These guys are awefully young to be without a mother!