October 16, 2018 – Katie and Gunner’s pups have gone home to live with their forever families. Always bitter sweet. We do miss them! We’re thankful to all of the families that supported us and have adopted one of these special pups. Because of these families (and Katie and Gunner, of course), we were able to give $2,100 to Amazima Ministries so that children in Uganda can learn, eat, and simply LIVE! It’s a win-win for us. We help bring more joy into the world through these great pups, and we, with the help of our families, get to bring joy to Uganda. We pray for a great life of companionship and love all around with the pups that have just left our home. xxxooo, from all of us here!
October 7, 2018 – The puppies are seven weeks old! It’s been really fun being with them every day. A great litter, all around. All of the puppies are showing great temperaments, and though personalities are barely starting to show at this point, we are seeing that each pup is confident, relaxed with every visitor that comes through the door, and new experiences don’t bother them at all, it seems. They have a really good “chill” factor, which is what we’ve been working toward for the past seven weeks. We love each and every one of them! We took lots of pictures this week. We know our time with them is coming to an end soon, and we’re starting to get ready to let go. Always a little tough. Here they are at seven weeks old.
The Boys
The Girls
September 30, 2018 – We had visitors staying with us this week, which meant more socializing for the pups, and more people to hold puppies! A good thing, but we fell behind on our puppy photo shoot. They are six weeks old now and well into conditioning and crate training. Mostly, they are pretty quiet in their crates for short periods of time alone. As we continue to work on crate time, this will help them transition to the time coming soon when they will have to adjust to being away from their litter. They had baths a few times this week and they seem pretty comfortable with the blow dryer and all strange noises we’ve presented to them so far. We worked on leash training a little bit this week and it’s always weird for pups and takes time for them to get used to having something hanging from their neck. They did well though. We continue to work on sitting to get attention (it’s called “manding”).
We love their temperaments and they love to play, but settle down quickly when they’re picked up. They are mostly quiet, except when they hear the kibble being dished up from the cabinet, and then they just can’t control themselves. That will be something easier to train when there isn’t so much competition for food! We do make sure there is plenty to go around though, and we always like to see a little extra left in the dishes when they are done, just to make sure they got enough to eat. (This is a practice we recommend at home too.) At this point, Hickory and Magnolia are the smallest in the litter, weighing less than four pounds. Aspen is the largest at just over five pounds. The rest of the litter is somewhat in the middle, around four and a half pounds.
Well, they sat nicely for their pictures. And they still love to be held and snuggle time seems to be their favorite time of the day (ours too.). Here they are at six weeks old.
The Boys
The Girls
September 22, 2019 – It’s been a busy week for Katie’s pups. Now five weeks old! An open house with lots of visitors here to see them (and help us socialize them!), crate training time, lots of baths, lots of holding and massaging time, and also their first taste of kibble. They have teeth and they’re eating well now. Starting to wean them from mama Katie. We’re pleased with their progress and their temperaments! They’re doing so well. They’re using the litter box about 95% of the time and beginning to show more interest in humans than in their siblings. These are all good signs. We’re working on desensitizing each day, along with building confidence. Their coats are really starting to fill in now. As their coats are filling in, we can see who will have more of a straighter coat, like Gunner. We love these puppies. Here they are at five weeks old!
The Boys
The Girls
September 16, 2018 – Katie’s puppies are progressing onto the next phase of conditioning and training. They can hear now, so we’ve started introducing them to “scary” sounds like train noises, thunderstorms and blow dryers. We’ve also introduced them to a crate and a litterbox. They started using the litterbox right away. They’re smart! They’ve had lots of visitors this week and even played outside in the grass with some kids. They’ve been held a LOT! They’re calm and relaxed and we like what we see! We had fun with some group photos this week. This picture of them on the couch was hard, but priceless. 🙂 Here they are at four weeks old.
September 8, 2018 – Katie’s puppies are calm and quiet, another great litter! The Bio-Sensor program is through and we can see the difference in the pups. As of today, we’re not seeing signs that they can hear yet, but any day now, they will start to respond to noise. Once that happens, we can start all the sound desensitization to condition them not to be scared or have anxiety with things like fireworks, thunderstorms, trains, and much more. For now, they are walking, wrestling and starting to climb on small obstacles. Katie continues to be a great mother to them and they are well fed, and it shows. They are becoming much more active, yet when they are picked up, they quietly settle into our arms, just as we like to see at this point. Here they are at three weeks old!
The Girls
The Boys
September 1, 2018 – Katie’s puppies were born two weeks ago today. They’ve all more than doubled their weights and are all weighing in around two pounds. All are doing very well! They’re eyes are open now and they’re starting to walk. They’ll be playing and wrestling before we know it! They still sleep in a pack, always stay close to each other and need mama constantly. They’ll be this way for a little while yet. Here they are at two weeks old. They are a healthy, adorable litter!
The Boys
The Girls
August 26, 2018 – Katie’s puppies are one week old now and they have nearly doubled their weight, and are plump and thriving. We always love when we see pups so healthy and growing as we make it through that first, critical week. Katie is a wonderful mama, something that makes us humans so happy about. She is attentive and protective, just as she should be. She is always watching and listening for their every need. If she doesn’t know visitors at the house, they don’t get to come in her room! The pups have been doing the Bio-sensor exercises daily and are being held and massaged several times a day by Katie’s guardian family. The boys are all just slightly darker than the girls, and you can probably see that by the pictures I took yesterday. All are a nice caramel or red color and a few have white spots on their head or chest and you’ll see more of that in later pictures as they get strong enough to sit up.
We’re proud of this litter! And so is Katie.
The Boys
The Girls
August 19, 2018 – Yesterday Katie started labor during the late morning, and by evening, seven beautiful red and caramel puppies had arrived! Mama Katie did a great job, is doing well and all pups are nursing and thriving. Katie’s guardians whelped the litter, as we had all planned and prepared, and will help raise them over the next few weeks until they come to our home for the final weeks of conditioning and desensitizing. Katie’s guardians commented that they are “loving every minute” of being entrusted with the care of these pups. They have years of experience in whelping, raising and even emotionally conditioning puppies. We’re excited along with them to help us raise these pups, and Katie got to be in the comfort of her home to do the delivery.
We’ve themed this litter the “Trees” litter and we welcome to our world, three boys and four girls: Cedar, Aspen, Hickory, Willow, Cherry, Magnolia and Hazel. We’re excited you are here!
https://www.facebook.com/mary.heisler.733/videos/10216788522487843/