pUpdates

Gisele

Gisele, with five brothers, can hold her own.  She can be found the most often winning a wrestling match.  To say she has a strong personality is probably understating what’s brewing behind those mischievous eyes.  She is very observant and will sit and watch what we’re doing in the puppy cottage during cleaning time.  When she thinks she’s seen enough, she’ll demand attention by standing up against the wall or climbing over the barrier or onto you.  She is a climber and was the first to escape the whelping enclosure.  If we’re in with them, she will push her way through the crowd to get in your lap and start climbing for your shoulder.  Her little tail thumps with excitement.  Without question, she’s in the Active category.

Garth

Garth is probably our most rambunctious.  When they’re all chewing on you, it’s hard to be sure, but his bite seems to be the strongest, and he’s not one to give in easily.  He has explored nearly every inch of the play yard and is quite enamored with Ruby (our 2yo Llew).  If we had to pinpoint who the leader of this tribe would be, it’d be a close tie between him, George, and Gisele.  While he doesn’t have the climbing skills of Gisele and George, he will barrel his way through the crowd for a spot on a lap.  When he’s winding down, he likes to find a tunnel or corner to curl up in and doesn’t necessarily want a sibling joining him.  He seems fearless and fits the Active personality type.

George

Our heavyweight champ title goes to George, who happens to be Belle’s and Dash’s favorite.  The peacemaker of the bunch, he adapts to everyone readily.  He can entertain himself or play with his littermates.  He makes good eye contact, cuddles easily, and plays longer than most.  He and Gisele are our two climbers.  We want to mention this because we have an adult Llew who climbs fences.  Without knowing this will be George’s affinity, we’ve had to adjust how we contain Savvy.  A friendly heads up on this – a fence may not be enough to keep him in your yard.  He’s a tough one to strictly place in one category or the other.  He probably fits the neutral category, tipping the scale toward active. 

Grant

Loverboy Grant is our boy with the sweetest soul.  You want to go for a walk, he’s game.  You want to curl up with a good book or movie, he’s your boy for that.  Want to take his picture with a basketball? No sweat - he’ll hold a pose as long as needed. ;) We’re confident he won’t be one to miss a meal.  The highlight of their day is getting outside, but a close second for Grant is the food saucer.  He can hardly get enough and climbs right on in and begins his march around the circle, disrupting everyone in his path.  You may have to watch his food intake and get him on a regular feeding schedule.  We personally have never had a Llew we had to restrict food from.  All seven of ours eat like birds so we’re able to offer free choice.  This may not work well with Grant, but he’s also only six weeks old and growing fast.  Of the six pups, he clearly has the most eager appetite.  Because he’s so easy-going, he fits the neutral temperament type nearly to the letter.

Goose

Which brings to our last, bet certainly not least, Goose.  He steals hearts with everyone with the sweetest personality.  In the beginning it took a lot to gain his trust and develop confidence.  He was terrified of being touched, picked up, held upright or on his back, the whole nine yards.  When we finally got him to climb into our laps on his own, it was a huge a win.  Training him will require a gentle touch but he will respond well.  If you don’t have patience (and be honest with yourself), you will struggle with Goose.  He startles the easiest, but he bounds to you when called.  He may study the situation before coming to you to be sure it’s safe, but once he’s comfortable he doesn’t hold back.  While he will climb in your lap, he’ll let everyone else go first.  However, he has no problem getting a sibling to back off if their playing too rough.  He’s very observant and can make good eye contact and has no problem hugging a basketball for a good picture.  He probably best fits the Passive temperament type.

Week 6 Highlight Reel

Week 4 pUpdate

Week four and boy, a lot has happened with this crew!  I always forget how fast they mature from week 3 to 4.  We introduced rice cereal and goat milk on Wednesday.  They took to this well.  With Shelby still nursing them, timing is tricky to catch them when they’ll get the most out of either option.  Shelby makes the best stuff, but they have voracious appetites so we like to get them going on supplemental food once they can hold their heads up and walk around okay.  The cereal and milk were offered morning and night for three days before we switched to soggy puppy food.  Turns out I make soggy puppy food like I make spaghetti.  I could’ve fed the whole neighborhood.  Those little kibbles sure can expand…!

While on the topic of food, we feed Shelby kibble mixed with cottage cheese twice a day.  She has free choice kibble, otherwise.  We are lucky enough to be able to do this with all our dogs.  Them being able to eat when they want takes the pressure off us to be home at a regular feeding time.  They all eat like birds, so we’ve never had a need to control their eating habits.

Speaking of schedules, ours has been atypical for this past week and a half, but we’re finally able to get back into our normal routine.  Jeff’s father passed away, which was unexpected but not quick.  I will spare any details, but our time was divided.  If any of you have teenagers who play high school basketball, you know that’s a long and busy season.  It also came to an end last week.  We love this litter and would normally know them a lot better at this point, but we’ll make up the ground we’ve lost quickly. 

As soon as the weather is reliably warm, we’ll introduce the pups to the dog door so they can get outside in a smaller play area when they want without us supervising.  They have about 32 square feet right now.  Adding the play area will more than double this.  They get around well but are still a little clumsy and uncoordinated.  By the end of this week, they’ll be plenty rambunctious and will need as much space as we can give them to burn off that energy.  Spring break is just around the corner and will be perfect timing for their age, the weather, and us being home for the week.  We’re looking forward to it!

A quick note about some of the pictures for this past week.  We were able to sneak Shelby away for a run a few times.  I’ve included a picture of her at one of our favorite spots which is walking distance from our home.  I also included a closeup of Goose in the sun to give you an idea of how blue all their eyes are right now.  I wish they stayed that color, but they do not.  Sorry to disappoint, but they are spectacular and will be for another week or so before the browns and tans start to take over.  In case you’re curious, we will eventually let our adult Llews in to play with the pups but not until we’re sure Shelby’s ready.  I’m guessing this will need to wait until next weekend, but we have a few eager Llews anxious to meet these guys.

We did deworm everyone again tonight.  We do this as a precaution, not because there is a problem.  Everyone is healthy and gaining weight.  Shelby received a dose as well.  We will continue to deworm every two weeks until they go home.  We’ll check for parasites around week 6 to be sure there isn’t a problem before pups head off to their new homes.

As usual, I feel there are other things I should mention that I’m forgetting.  I’m dreading tomorrow morning because it’ll come earlier than usual with the time change – ugh.  Hopefully you all planned better than I did and didn’t put your pUpdates off until the last minute ;)

Thanks to those who stopped by to see Jeff, Dash, and Brian at our booth at Pheasant Fest this weekend in Kansas CIty.  Sounds like a lot of people – I was just fine staying back on puppy duty.  Everyone have a good week and I’ll be back at it next Sunday with more pictures and information!

Week 2 pUpdate

Like a lot of the Country, week two was off to a pretty cold start.  We’re back to warm weather, but I’m sure our electric bill will be a stout reminder of what it was.  Since our kids’ return to school from winter break, they’ve had more days off than on, but it looks like we’re in the clear for the rest of the school year.  I mention this in case there were any wondering what our son was doing napping with puppies in the middle of what would normally be a school day.  He was home keeping an eye on things and making sure everyone was warm enough.

As the pups have progressed, we updated the coat colors on three of them.  We’re not positive, but our guess is Garth and Goose will be black and white.  With no tan above their eyes or on their cheeks at this point, we don’t think a third color will appear.  The other place it would show up is on their legs, but we won’t see that for a while.  We also updated George to Lemon.  We’re very confident Grant is orange and white, but George’s colors are a lot lighter.  It’s probably hard to tell in the puppy pictures or on the puppy cam, but George has a lot of color over his body, and it looks more yellow than orange.  Again, another difficult thing to say with certainty at this point, but we’re trying to get the most accurate information on each pup as we can for those on the reservation list. 

Speaking of puppy pictures, getting a good shot on these guys is not so simple.  They do not hold still, making it quite difficult to get a good, crisp picture.  It’ll start to get a lot easier now that their eyes are open.  We’ll be able to get their attention more and more, hopefully long enough to get a pause in their activity for a good portrait shot.  With week two ending, puppy portraits will shift to once a week with the pUpdates.  We’ll continue to monitor their weight daily.  Gator and Goose continue to grow, but you’ve probably noticed they’re a little behind the others.  Nothing else about their development is concerning, but it’s a way for us to make sure they’re gaining and growing every day.  They’re both plenty strong as evidenced by the way they get around in their playpen and how much they wiggle when we hold them.  To that end, there’s nothing lethargic about anyone.

We want to give another shout-out to Shelby.  She’s one hecuva housekeeper.  Once we take over on some of those duties, we try to keep it just as clean.  Generally, the pups learn where to play versus where to do their business.  Because Shelby keeps everyone so tidy, this may help in their potty training later.  Truly, we’re not sure what the secret is, but we’ve had good luck in the past with everyone figuring out where they can go and where they should not go.  We’ll see if Litter GG follows this same pattern.