And then there was one...

Cookie and Biscuit went off
to their new homes yesterday.
I was sad to see them go,
but very happy with where
they were going!
I can't wait to watch
them grow up!

It is a different experience to have just Zita and Popcorn.  They play for long stretches of time then crash together.  I took her to agility practice last night and she explored the equipment and played fearlessly with a Vizsla and a young terrier cross!  Considering how tired she must've been at bedtime, she still did some screaming last night when she realized that she was alone, but Mom was right outside the pen and she eventually settled.  Out to poop / pee at 5:30 this morning ...playtime with Mom for an hour...out to pee again...now crashed in her pen again...quietly!  She will go to her new home on Monday and then we will truly get to know Mamacita!  Right now she's a puppy thrown into raising puppies herself!  She is  very conflicted -protecting her babies from my dogs one moment, then turning on a dime into a the silly submissive baby she is.

The Rule of 7

A tried and true guide for socializing puppies is: THE RULE OF SEVEN.  Simply stated this guide tells you that by 7 wks of age puppies should have met these bench marks:

• Been on 7 different types of surfaces
• Played with 7 different types of objects
• Been in 7 different locations
• Met and played with 7 new people
• Been exposed to 7 challenges
• Eaten from 7 different containers
• Eaten in 7 different locations
• met or seen 7 different pets (I added this to the conventional list)

Lets see how well I've done so far!
surfaces - grass, gravel, carpet, linoleum, cement, couch, paper, wood (8)

objects - ball, plush toy, Kong, nylabone, white bone, tennis ball, cardboard, stick, leaf, canvas, rubber squeaky, rope, bully stix,   (13)

locations - front yard, back yard, gravel run, grass/ dirt run, mudroom, kitchen, living room, porch, car, bedroom, under the deck (11).

people - 2 kids, 10 women, 4 men, 1 male teen, 1 female teen (18)

challenges - stairs, ramp, low gate, tunnel, whelping box, crawl over legs, box (7)

containers - plastic bowl, plastic double diner, metal plate, metal pan, metal bowl sm, metal bowl lg,  ceramic bowl (7)

eating locations - kitchen, mudroom, porch, kennel run, yard/front, yard/back, crate (7)

pets- cat, sm dog tan, sm dog bi-color, big red dog (female), big red dog (male), big merle dog, big bi-color dog (7)

Phew!  Looks like we're doing okay!    
The pups will be 7 weeks old on WED 8/8 and will head off to their new homes shortly thereafter!  We will miss them, but they are ready!

The more I learn, the less I know

Those of us who make a living helping people with their dogs are pretty well educated for the most part.  Some of us have many, many years of work experience around dogs.  Some of us have degrees in science and behavior.  I, for one, am very good at reading canine body language and am adept at seeing red flags in a puppy's behavior.  BUT  I am not a dog breeder.  I have had limited experience raising puppies from birth and observing nature at work in the form of the mother/ puppy relationship.    To date I have raised 3 litters - all foster litters from my local shelter.  I am no expert!
The first litter I raised was born to a young Mom who had 9 pups and did the bare minimum with them - meeting their needs but not spending alot of time with them.  She did bond strongly with one of the pups whom she had long term contact with though.  And I knew several of the puppies into their senior years, including my own Pogo who is still with us at 14.5 yrs old!
The second was born to a seasoned Mom who cared for her pups very efficiently and lovingly, but did not really play with them much and who had to be separated from them at 4-5 weeks due to being heartworm positive and needing treatment herself.
And now we have Mamacita and her 3 pups.  They have been an education for sure!

At 2 weeks old these pups would growl like little raccoons when picked up. Uh oh!  I stepped up the amount of handling they were getting to desensitize them and hoped for the best.  They improved.  They opened their eyes fairly late and when they did, they began growling, then latching hard onto their mother's face!  Uh oh!  They were 3 weeks old.  This had me pretty worried.  They weren't playing.  They were stiff and intense. I contacted several breeders including a terrier breeder, she basically shrugged it off saying I should handle them alot and let Mom sort them out.  Okay...I watched and worried.  I noticed that their "aggressive" displays did not upset Mamacita much.  She waited the tantrums out, then firmly continued whatever she had been doing (cleaning their face or whatever).  I followed her lead and did the same when they grumbled at me.  I just kept them elevated gently until they calmed, then put them back down.  They started kissing me after settling.  That made me feel better!
As they got older and more rambunctious , one pup stood out from the others as quite fearless and bratty.  Mamacita began targeting her with very rough play.  The puppy was not playing back.  She was defending herself vehemently.  Mama was merciless, darting in and grabbing with her teeth then retreating.  She was clearly playing but it seemed like she was antagonizing the pup.  Frankly it concerned me, so again, I consulted several dog breeders and some respected behavior people.  Mamacita started playing that way with another puppy too, treating the 3rd puppy more gently.  I sent out the following video clip and my concern was confirmed by the responses I received. rough play? (click here)
"Yikes" pretty much summed up the feedback I got! :-P Though one breeder (experienced with terriers) stated that she saw nothing unusual in the clips.

As recommended to me, I interceded when Mamacita's behavior seemed 'over the top'.  I continued to worry, but somewhere deep inside I felt like there must be a purpose to her behavior.  Though Mamacita was young and inexperienced, I couldn't help but wonder if she knew exactly what she was doing!  Though I admit, to all intents and purposes it simply looked like she was tormenting the poor pups!

The pups are pushing 7 wks old now and it gives me great pleasure to watch Mamacita play with her babies now.  Yesterday they romped together for a solid hour in a completely appropriate manner.  Her pups did not over react.  She did not push them to the brink.  I let out a big sigh of relief. "Tolerance" is a word that one of my behavior savvy friends had mentioned.  "You want pups that develop tolerance" , she stated.
I think that is EXACTLY what Mamacita was trying to instill in her pups by her seemingly badgering play behavior.  And it appears that she has been successful!
Check them out:
appropriate play  (click here)
more play  (click here)

How all this will play out once the pups go to new homes is yet to be seen. These are smart, busy, determined, mouthy pups.  They will need patient, consistent owners, lots of exposure to socially appropriate dogs and plenty of exercise.  I will see them in my classes.  I will stay in contact with their new families, offering as much support as needed.

I will continue to learn from them .

SOCIALIZE SOCIALIZE SOCIALIZE!

This past Saturday was a busy day for my foster pups!   My friend Cookie (yes the pup's namesake) came to visit. My friend Beverly came to visit.  My friend Alice came to visit.  Potential adopters came to visit (husband, wife, grown daughter).  The pups also went out on the grass for the first time.  The pups took it all in stride - they napped in between visits!  But Mamacita was a bit frazzled by the end of the day! Poor mama - alot to worry about.


Is anyone else coming??



Next weekend we're having a puppy party - food, drinks and puppy cuddle time!    The pups will be 51/2 weeks old and soaking up all these experiences like sponges!  Mama will be leashed to my waist for part of the party as she needs to meet more people herself.  Looking forward to the party!  It was great fun with last year's foster litter!

  

Puppy Saga Day 28

The pups are officially 4 weeks old today.  They weighed in at 3lbs (Popcorn), 3 1/2lbs (Biscuit) and slightly over 3lbs (Cookie).  They are getting more coordinated,  though I will miss watching them topple over and wave their feet around like turtles on their backs!  It is SO interesting to watch Mamacita deal with their fiesty, demanding behavior.  She simply ignores it and calmly continues what she's doing until they settle.  I do the same when they get squirmy or growly when picked up or restrained when they'd rather be doing something else!  The pups are starting to wag at us and give kisses.  They like to tug and shake toys. Mamacita likes to play with them which is very different from our last foster Mom who was an older dog and wasn't all that interested in playing. Both good Moms, but very different. It is a riot watching Mamacita wrestle and mouth fence with the wee ones!
                                                                                        

Are these not the cutest faces ever?!
                                                      (Popcorn, Cookie, Biscuit)
On another front...Mamacita and Belle have been introduced and played a bit.  Now that the mommy hormones are kicking down a bit Mama can start spending some time with my dogs.  Hooray!  Belle will also be the first dog I intro the pups to.  She's so good!

Puppy Saga Day 25

Today was a productive day in puppy-land!  The pups met 3 new people and were handled, kissed and played with by all.  Mamacita met 5 new people (2 seniors, 2 teens and my friend Kelly - we won't mention her age! ).  By the time Kelly came by, Mama was pretty relaxed and friendly.  As the mommy hormones kick down she is getting much more receptive to visitors. That's 'all good' as they say.

Introduced the pups to food today.  The pics below are from our 3rd attempt.  They're getting the hang of it!

 Hmmmm...whats this?

                                                    Smells interesting...

 You try it.  No, You try it.

                                                                                                                      I'm goin' for it!
 






If you guys aren't gonna finish this...

Wow.  What a horrible blogger I am!  Here I am raising a litter of foster puppies and not a word has been said about it here!  Sorry!  Not that I have people holding their breath waiting for my next installment! :-P But I started this blog primarily to force myself to write regularly.  Failed experiment I'd say!
Any hoo... 

Mamacita arrived at my house on June 18th and gave birth to 3 pups (Cookie, Biscuit and Popcorn) on June 20th!  Big thanks to my friend Cookie Mac for helping me through the whelping! 

Mamacita was an owner surrender to my local animal shelter. What is she, you ask?  Good question.  My best guess is Rat Terrier and Corgi but it is only a guess.  Her pups are all tri colored with ears that look like they will eventually stand up.  They are 3 1/2 weeks old today.

 I'm not a big fan of the birth process.  Can you say YUK?! But I do enjoy watching the instinctive behavior of both the mother dog and the babies.  They all know their jobs and their purpose and I find that very reassuring. My job as their foster caregiver is to keep them safe and give them a good start in life through proper nutrition and lots of socialization. my husband and I handle the pups several times a day.  I talk to them. I sing to them. I play the radio and run the washer / dryer  so they'll be used to normal household noises.  I will expose them to different environments, dogs (big and small), my cat and lots and lots of people! One of a puppy's key socialization period is 4-16 weeks so it's "crunch time" now as we head into their 4th week.

When all is said and done (at 8 weeks of age) my hope is that I will have helped these pups develop into stable, friendly, potential pets ready to be adopted.  After that it will be up to their new families to continue socializing them and training them. 

But I do all this knowing that there is a big, unknown, black cloud up above that might darken their sunny future.  That cloud is their genetic make up.  The father of this litter is unknown.  Mamacita is shy and wary of strangers at first , but wiggly, silly and affectionate once she gets to know you.  I don't know if her shyness is genetic or whether she was not properly socialized herself as a puppy.  A dog's behavior is always determined by a combination of both those things. Socialization and good nutrition can only take these puppies so far.  They need to have a stable genetic make up as well.   There will be no shortage of folks wanting to adopt them - they are cute as buttons, but finding good matches for challenging puppies is a different story.  Let's hope these pups have solid temperaments.
Only time will tell!

Right now the pups are getting adventurous and Mamacita is trying to teach them some social manners.  They are demanding little beasties.   They are very vocal, attempting to bark and growling when they are frustrated. Cookie is already picking up dry kibble in her mouth and all 3 have experimented with lapping water, so we'll start feeding gruel today.  I hate to start it because my sweet, fluffy puppies will soon be food encrusted messes!  But Mama will appreciate the help I'm sure.

More blogs to come - I promise!