outside – Jema Golden Retrievers

Yeah! Pups are 6 weeks old today! Folks out to meet puppies last Saturday and although cloudy with a breeze, the heat was still stifling for the fluffy pups. What a brilliant idea of Mark’s to bring out the kiddie pool and soak pups to cool them off! Pups went from lethargic, hot, fur-balls looking for shade to perky, playful puppies which is their normal selves!

Pups SO LOVED meeting people and time outside

Perky puppy now that they are cooled down! (Again, I purposely did NOT post any photos of children! I will send those photos privately!)

Patiently waiting for a turn in the pool and being “splashed”!

Puppies continue to be GREAT little eaters now eating solely solid food (no more nursing!) The benefit of this is better poops! You might expect some softer poops upon the transition to your home(s) when you first take home puppy but with consistency and patience, poops should firm up quickly again. Until pups are acclimated to your new homes, I would recommend you NOT feed any additions to their diet at least not right away… At least until they have their “sea legs” again and are getting used to yours and their new routines in their new homes.

Today was much cooler out, although quite humid! Pups are now doing single steps and followed me out to the “dog room”. There, Beanie (the French Bulldog) proceeded to bark at them and as everyone knows, her bark can be a bit shrill. Poor pups just looked at her wondering what on earth was HER problem? Kudos to the pups who walked right up to her and licked her nose! They probably thought she was one of them? She IS their size!!

We didn’t stop long but proceeded to work on learning “doggy doors” today! Again, stepping up and over was no problem for pups (as long as I held the flaps open for them to see where they were going!)

Once outside, a whole new world opened up to them! First and foremost was “chasing the broom” as I swept! After dining Al Fresco, pups enjoyed running up and down the covered run (on cement; another surface mastered!) Because we had rain on and off all day, I didn’t pull out a ton of toys but they all enjoyed running through (and trying to climb over) the tunnel!

I need to prune these evergreens! And tonight, Mark did just that for me so we won’t have sticky/sap puppies!

But the outside slide was the “big hit” of the day! Pups climbed through the tunnel-like slide and enjoyed “spinning” the toys hung on the side of the slide. Funny to watch the pup on the inside of the slide spin the toys back to the pup on the outside of the slide!

It was a full day for pups being outside in the covered runs and then back through the doggy door and back inside everyone went. Some play time, some napping, and then dinner was eaten outside again this time on the grass. Pups had a “mini-bath” since the grass was wet from the rain. Inside just before the rain started again, this time with a bit of hail! Definitely a full “puppy day”!

Weights for this week:

Blue (M): 7 lbs 12.6 oz
Black (M): 8 lbs 8.6 oz
Purple (M): 7 lbs 13.6 oz
Green (M): 8 lbs 1.2 oz
Hot Pink (F): 8 lbs 5.6 oz
Lime Green (F): 7 lbs 12.4 oz
Red (F): 8 lbs 1.2 oz
Yellow (F): 7 lbs 8.2 oz
Orange (F): 7 lbs 5.8 oz

This is probably the biggest weight difference between puppies since birth. Heaviest puppy (Black Boy) at 8 lbs 8.6 oz to the lightest (Orange Girl) at 7 lbs 5.8 oz. Nine puppies all within essentially one pound of each other means… VERY UNIFORM weights between all puppies! The weight difference is really negligible. Puppies de-wormed again today as per their schedule. You will get this info, along with their feeding schedule, when you pick up your puppy to let your vet know. It is standard protocol to de-worm puppies, based on their weight, at 2, 4, and 6 weeks.

And while this probably won’t mean much to most people, both Mark and I have felt both testicles on ALL the boys! That’s a good thing!

“Go play with puppies”, Mark says. That sounds like a GREAT idea! But sitting on the tile floor in the puppy pen about kills my knees so I have this great idea… I’ll take puppies outside! I check the temp; only 88 degrees and it IS cloudy out so I decide pups will have a good time!

I start pulling pups out of the pen past the soon-to-be-surmountable barrier. I can do two at a time except for a few out of reach. I step into the puppy pen to get the pups farther back. In the meantime, pups already out of the box decide to pee… THREE of them! I throw down paper towels as I call them to the back door.

Holding the door open, I lift pups two by two outside the threshold. As I’m holding the door open, three flies fly into the house. Drats! I finally get all the pups outside on the back patio and two of them are pooping on the concrete. Oh no… I call them onto the grass (because it will be easier to pick up the poop); some follow, others do not. When you have to go, you have to go!

And then the sun comes out! I go back inside to grab their water bowl and after refilling, I take it outside. Now I’m doing that “count to nine” thing again. I only count eight! Deja is supposed to be “helping” me but she takes off towards the side yard; yep, there is the ninth puppy meandering off! Deja comes when I call and that puppy follows mom. Good girl, Deja!

I leave pups for a moment to grab the pooper-scooper (remember the flies earlier?!) Now I can’t find where they went (except for the ones on the back patio of course). Some puppies are hanging out in the shade but the others, some go right; some go left!

I go out to the grass where I can see them all. Snap a few photos until they see me and then, they come running. I have one biting my ears (I’m lying on the ground) and another chewing on my camera strap. I disentagle the puppy chewing on the camera strap and do my count again… all accounted for!

And then, two decide our little water fountain looks interesting and climb up on the lowest edge peering at the trickling water. I call them back to their water bowl but it is the trickling water that is fascinating pups.

Several are panting by now. I start picking them up two at at time and take them back to the puppy pen. I make three trips with two and two trips with single puppies. I’m missing one! Back outside calling for puppy… P-U-P-P-Y! P-U-P, P-U-P, P-U-P-P-Y! And I hear before I see that last puppy deep in my planting bed! As she comes towards me, she will have to go through a rose bush. I quickly swipe her up thus avoiding the thorny branches of the bush. Whew… all nine pups accounted for and back in the house!

I pull out frozen water bottles and ice cubes. A few lick the ice cubes while some lie on the water bottles to cool off. I sit with puppies until none are panting any longer. As I leave the puppy pen with everyone fast asleep, my parrot starts calling… “PUPPY, PUP, PUP, PUPPY!”

Lesson here: DO NOT TAKE THAT MANY PUPPIES OUTSIDE BY MYSELF!

5-Week Weights:

Blue (M): 6 lbs 3.6 oz
Black (M): 6 lbs 10.0 oz
Purple (M): 6 lbs 1.0 oz
Green (M): 6 lbs 4.6 oz
Hot Pink (F): 6 lbs 9.4 oz
Lime Green (F): 6 lbs 5.2 oz
Red (F): 6 lbs 7.8 oz
Yellow (F): 5 lbs 13.6 oz
Orange (F): 5 lbs 14.8 oz

In other news: Puppies are now eating only slightly softened food. I sat with them to make sure none had a problem chewing the harder kibble the first time. All did great! Watching them wrestle with each other (and chew on each other), time to add more “chew” toys! And time to make sure Deja doesn’t try to steal them from the pups because… everyone likes a good chew toy!

Tag: outside

Puppy Pool Party!

“Go Play With Puppies”