A Little Trip to Heaven

Everyone is now on the move. Exploration is still tentative but determined. Mr Black has a pretty good handle on walking but he's much better still at eating and sleeping.

Miss Yellow is one of the more adventurous. She wandered into the dining area and managed to navigate the laminate flooring fairly well.

She does better on carpet though. Those are the chairs for the dining set the puppies won't get a chance to chew. At this age it's not a worry but soon enough they will have to be barred from teething on that shiny black goodness.

Miss Orange got herself stuck in a cul-de-sac but fortunately I was there to turn her around and get her headed in the right direction.

Weasley likes to investigate any room where he's on the wrong side of the door. Since he doesn't have access to the puppy room in the course of the day it holds a fascination that is only satiated when the door is open. Never mind that he can see in when the door is shut - to be IN the room exploring is the most important thing.

Once in though the way gets blocked by little Ridgeback bodies and he doesn't know how to get past. When you're a cat the only logical solution is over. You can't see it very well but he's mid-jump over the puppies who barely register he is there. Soon enough he will have to jump a lot higher to escape their sharp little teeth.

French Kiss

I forgot, in all the excitement about puppies, to post photos of the French door my Dad installed on Sunday. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to my Dad for coming to my assistance with house renos and repairs, without question, whenever I ask. That said ... check out this awesome door. I bought it thinking "How hard could a door installation be?" and realized when I got home ... it's hard. I was undecided whether I wanted it to be a solid door or a French door but am glad I went with this one. I can see into the room(which will be down graded to Dog Room once the absence of puppies renders it so) and the dogs can see out which will comfort them some when I am out - I just think they'd like that. As it stands the door is unfinished, just primed, but I won't be shining it up with interior paint until the puppies are gone. Puppies. Fresh paint. Disaster. For now it opens and closes like a charm, keeps the cool air in the room, I can move around in the kitchen without worrying about waking the puppies, and I can peek through and see how/what they are doing. As a bonus you can see Leeloo's Best Puppy in Show ribbon on the wall to the left and Raimi's Best Puppy in Group ribbon to the right. Just to remind the puppies they have something to live up to.

Just to tide you over until tomorrow here's a photo of a passle of puppies milling around just inside the door to their room. Right now they are still in the curious but cautious stage - when they are comfortable on their feet and more confident it will be no holds barred mayhem. I know I keep saying that but it bears repeating. For those people getting a puppy I want you to look back at this blog when your single puppy is making you crazy and remember that I dealt with ten.

Blown Away

Very tentative steps are being made toward walking. Leaps and bounds are being made toward being cute. I have a couple puppies who are adamantly refusing to eat the mash I provide and a couple others who are happily eating their own share and anyone else's they can get. That is normal and eventually every one will be on board the space ship called Food Dish.  (I haven't posted a photo of it but that's what it looks like - a flying saucer puppy food dish).  The exponential explosion from darling into adorable hasn't even reached maximum saturation yet ... hard to imagine right?

Ya, Miss Purple doesn't believe it either. She's pretty sure that being this sweet is just the tip of the iceberg. Even if her face is dirty with her recent meal ... in a way it just gives her a plus 1 for Cute.

And just who has a lock on so-cute-you-want-to-squeeze-him-until-his-head-pops-off? Mr Blue ... obviously. I haven't had a puppy like him in a litter before, at just 3 weeks old he's 100% personality and knows it. Demands it. Screams it. Loudly.

Mr Black has hit a wall in the Eating Real Food department. He just spits it out and sits at my feet yelling for his Mommy. He hasn't yet realize Mommy doesn't really care anymore, she'd rather lie under the fan and cool off.

I'd have to go back and check chest markings but I am pretty sure this is Mr. Maroon.  He and Mr Blue are having a Who Can Grow the Biggest Head contest. So far Blue is winning but Maroon is a close second. Considering their Dad's head they have a lot to live up to!

Mr Green is Mr Snuggle Pants. He's very big on the cuddling and loves to be held. He's the smallest male by a large margin but he will have a very pretty face - probably a combination of his mom and dad which will be a good balance.

I didn't get everyone in the photos, some of them didn't come out right and some of the puppies were sleeping lumps of puppy snores by the time I starting taking photos. I figure we've had enough photos of sleeping puppy since that's pretty much all they do for the first 19 days. For the next few days it will be mostly sitting and splay-legged puppies which is fine because all too soon I'll be chasing them while they chase each other, the cats, Esme, their Mom, their Dad and imaginary bunnies.

Dinner for Schmuks

Yesterday was First Meal Day at Invictus. Like any decent Ridgeback the puppies took to the mash like ducks to water.

The problem a lot of puppies have with their introduction to food is that for their first 3 weeks of life they have had to suck to eat. Now they have to learn to lap and chew.

They often simply attempt to suck the food up so I give them a little assistance and eventually each puppy manages to get a little food into their bellies, then Leeloo tops them up with milky goodness.

The point of the exercise is not really to fill them but to simply introduce the food, over the next couple days they will learn to eat properly and then ... it's no holds barred and total mayhem when the food dish arrives. This will continue until the day they die.

Prepare yourselves. Ridgebacks are *NOT* free feeders and must be regulated. They are not supposed to look like marshmallow Labradors (and in fact most Labradors you see are not supposed to look like marshmallows either but I digress). 

Leeloo, once she realized the puppies were being fed actual food that she could be eating, was distraught. She was barred from access to the puppies and stood looking forlorn. At the dish.

Her expression is one of real concern, not for the puppies, but for the food they are getting instead of her. That's my girl ... consistent to the core. When a puppy ventured toward her she was all over it licking the food from its feet and face. She was rewarded for her patience with the left over mash and the puppies enjoyed the beginning of the end of nursing from their mother. The flip side of this is that now they're getting 'real' food, they will be pooping real poop and as I already surmised .... Leeloo ain't touching it.

Soul Surfer

In all the excitement about the puppies The Boy hasn't had much of a mention. He's kind of important because he's half of the reason they are here. Those long weeks ago when he molested Leeloo have come to fruition and now he's reaping the rewards of an absent Mommy, a harrassed Leeloo and a passle of kids he didn't know were coming. Fortunately he's a pretty easy going guy so much of this is taken in stride. He doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about what they are doing and doesn't actively seek their company. He's not bothered by them or scared of them, he just doesn't care. The primary reason for this is obviously because I am his sun, his moon, his everything. Ergo, wherever I am, he wants to be.  Even if it means getting into the whelping box to have a nap while the puppies nurse on the dog bed outside the box. He mussed up the towels and papers but once it was comfortable he lay down and slept while I supervised puppy dinner time.

When not sleeping on his kid's bed he's sleeping on mine. I had to fold some laundry and for want of a place to lay the folded clothes I just put them on him since he was in the way. He makes a marvelous clothes horse, didn't move a muscle and tolerated my amusement with endless patience.  A Ridgeback breeder friend put it best when she said that people like Raimi because he has a good soul - nothing the show ring can offer can top that. Plus, a Daddy who will put up with this kind of torture surely will produce some pretty awesome puppies.

The Princess Diaries

So Miss Pink gets her own blog today because I did miss her in the past two entries when I was trying to get everyone's photo on the blog in a failed attempt at being fair. I guess this is an early lesson for her about how life isn't always fair - that's one lesson best learned as soon as possible. She gave me a disbelieving look that said "Whatever Extra Mom, just put me on the blog."

She has grown to be the same size, and larger, than some of the boys now. Clearly Her Highness gets her fair share of the food and then some. She is always sporting a full tummy and chances are she feels this is exactly how it should be. In my world a full puppy is a quiet puppy so no complaints here.

I am impressed how active this litter is, they are making leaps and bounds in the walk-about department and are incredibly steady on their feet for just over 2 and a half weeks. I even have one trying to get over the side of the whelping box so with their large number, high activity rate and two attempted prison breaks I had to move them into their larger expen earlier than anticipated. Miss Pink demonstrates her mad skills at walking ... now she just needs to get that royal wave perfected and she's set.

Fantastic Four

For me it's all puppies all day - fortunately I love to watch them do puppy things like sleep and eat and learn to be alive - the novelty doesn't wear off until they get to 6 weeks old when they turn into Minions of the Underlord. Today though we continue our trip down Adorable Avenue and enjoy the sweet puppy breath and soft downy fur of little Angels. Miss Yellow *swears* she will never chase Ceilidh, pull out Esme's coat, poop on the carpet, chew my shoes, or pee until she is outside.

Mr Green promises that he will only ever chew on dog toys, eat dog food, gnaw on bones and will never ever touch the rungs of my dining chairs. Once he gets teeth of course.

Mr White can't possibly imagine anything worse than running through the house with soiled newspaper, unravelling the toilet paper from the roll, or pulling the tea towels off the cupboards and dragging them through a fresh puddle of pee. Who could think such a thing?

Mr. Maroon? Well, he laughs at his siblings because he knows they're totally fibbing. He's going to do all of those things plus bite at my pant legs, grab at The Boy's dangly bits, try to run off with my shoes while they're still on my feet, work in tandem with accomplices to pull down my curtains, scream bloody murder at inappropriate hours to be fed and let out to play, unravel the edges of the floor mats, chew on the newspaper box and smear a mixture of puppy poop and pee across my floor at every opportunity. So, while they are still at the age where my patience is at a premium we can bask in the delights that are 2 1/2 week old puppies.

And for those paying attention yes, I missed Miss Pink so she will get her very own blog tomorrow ... she demanded it when I realized I forgot her and as we know, Princesses get their way.