S-P pups: One Month old! & new digs!

 The past week has been full of excitement and we haven't had time to update the blog with all the news on our Fast Times litter. The pups moved out of the whelping box into their puppy pen located in our living room; talk about being in the heart of our home.  They are right off the kitchen and we spend many hours in here watching TV and reading.  The puppy pen has super comfortable rubber mat flooring which gives the pups excellent traction, a litter box, dog beds and lots of toys, which we will rotate.

 The pups have grown and are now playing with each other and we see their personalities developing.  They are being exposed to many new things including sounds like the vacuum cleaner, hammering and dogs barking.  We've had visitors of all ages who played with them and handled them and helped us Dremel the pups nails.

 Savi was feeding the pups when we first moved them into the pen along with their kibble meals but now they are being weaned so are on the food 100%.  We bang their metal food dish with a metal spoon at feeding time to ingrain loud noises with a positive experience (food) and they get very excited at the sound of meal time!

 Like all Weims, these pups are creatures of comfort and love all the different dog bed.

 They have many new toys and we will rotate the toys to continue to expose them to different textures and noises.

 We even have a crate in the pen which is the start of their crate training.

The weekend was a crazy one and we will post those photos and tell you all about the puppies' cool outdoor space and the bottle pool.

Mia-belle new OA title!!!

Huge congratulations to Jessica Scharff and Mia-belle for earning their Open Agility (OA) title yesterday with a 1st place!  This also gives Mia-belle her WCA VX2 title! 

Mia-belle is now CH Grayhart's Special Request, CDX,RA,JH,OA,NAJ,NSD, RD, VX2 (Zeke, CH OB's 38 Special x Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really A Waitress, CD, RN, AX, OAJ, V BROM). So proud of this awesome team and our second Grayhart VX2.  

S-P Pups Day 25: The modeling gene

Our little pups are already showing amazing focus.   I was able to get them to practice a quick group stay and even look at the camera!  

S-P Pups Days 21-24: Growing leaps & bounds & a big adventure!

The Fast Times pups (Parker x Savi) turned 3 weeks old a few days ago and it seems overnight, they have become more active and playful. They have now begun the developmental period called the Awareness or Identification Period, lasting from age 21-28 days. 

  From Pat Hasting's book, Another piece of the puzzle: Puppy Development:
Since this is the first time the puppies have use of all of their senses, they now need a stable environment and the influence of a stable dam.  Sight and hearing are functioning well.  A variety of noises (music, radio, bells, vacuums, etc) and sihgt (change in light level, moving objects and vibrations) should be part of thei daily life.  

 The exposure to sudden loud noises must happen during the  3rd week when fear has not yet developed.  The startle response should be encouraged so that the pup will startle and then return to normal on its own-something it must be able to do throughout its life.  

  Puppies must now learn that they are dogs; recognizing their mother (filial imprinting), recognizing other species - specifically humans that are part of their social relations (fraternal imprinting) - and have experiences that mean survival of the species (sexual imprinting).  A poorly imprinted puppy will have problems being a  "good" dog in the future.

 ...The puppies will begin "play-fighting" during this week, with a loose pecking order starting to form,  Barking increases. 

Yes, we've noticed all of these things and more.  Most of the pups escaped from the warming box while I was changing the pad in the whelping box and even explored the room!  Now they ge put in a crate while we clean the whelping box.  Their first experience being crated. They are also quite vocal, barking and growlingm and I think they like to hear the sound of their own voices.

 The pups received their "big dog" buckle collars and look very cute in them.

 They also made their first trip outside to the backyard.  We were thrilled to see how confident and bold they were as they explored the new place.  It was very hot, which made it a short trip, and they passed out for an afternoon nap when we brought them back inside.

Happy 5th Birthday to our Hendrix litter!

Happy 5th Birthday to our Hendrix litter!!! 

These pups out of Parker, BISS GCH HiBourne's It's All About Me and our Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really A Waitress, CD, RN, AX, OAJ, V, BROM, have a very special place in my heart as this was our first litter. We've developed wonderful, lifelong friendships and look forward to many more years of fun! 

All our love to...

• "Marshall", CH Grayhart's In From the Storm, RN, CGC, 
• "Sky" CH Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain, RN, TD, JH, OA, AXJ, NSD, NRD, CGC, VX, 
• "Mia", CH Grayhart's American Woman, CGC, finished with 2 Specialty Majors
• "Jam", CH Grayhart's Purple Haze, CD, JH, AX, AXJ, SD, CGC, V, 
• "Ranger" Grayhart's Midnight Lightening (Specialty Major Pointed), 
• "Monty" Grayhart's Stone Free, JH, CGC!!!

S-P Pups Day 16-17 How they grow

 The pups are growing like weeds thanks to the great nourishment from Momma Savi.  This week, from 14-21 days of age, is what we call the transitional period.  The pups can now see, hear and interact with each other.  They are all walking and show a startle response to sounds, although they are not capable of fear at this age.  We introduce all kinds of sounds, like the vacuum, to ensure they are not noise sensitive and comfortable with all kinds of noises.

 The pups are enjoying the different toys we've added to the box and we will continue to alternate toys that are made of different materials to give a new tactile experience as well as make all kinds of sounds.

 Savi is looking terrific 2 1/2 weeks post whelp.

 Hmmm, we must taste and smell all these toys!

 Soon the warming basket, which is used to hold the pups while we clean the whelping box, will go away as the pups are beginning to escape...a few brave ones have already jumped the wall!

Rockstar Update: Rigby & Roxie...pirated post from Rigby's blog!

Thank you Nina for Rigby's (Summit x Jam) fabulous blog posts...now for your reading pleasure...

Catching Up a Bit

I haven't posted for a while about Rigby and her exploits, so in order to bring the blog up to date this posting will be a mix of subjects, stories and photos.

As Rigby continues to grow and mature into a lovely young dog she is going through some mischievous times and her curiosity leads her to many new adventures.

BURIED TREASURE

The couch in our living room is a sectional that curves along a corner of the living room, creating a bit of an open space where we have a lamp placed.  Since Rigby's arrival, that space containing the lamp has also become a storage area for our throw pillows, keeping them safe from puppy teeth.

Recently Rigby has become more interested in the open space and she takes her toys to that area of the couch and holds them there while gazing into the void.  Now it seems that she thinks it's a hiding space for her treasures and, when we can't find one of her toys, that is the first place we look.

The other morning, as I was preparing to take Rigby for a walk, I could only find one of my tennis shoes sitting by the couch where I had left both of them.  I searched high and low, room to room looking for my other shoe, not understanding how one shoe would be where I expected, but the other one totally gone.  Then it hit me, Rigby must have taken my shoe.  Sure enough, when I looked behind the couch, there was my shoe in her special hiding place!

CRATE GAMES

Rigby's favorite crate game is not one you'll see on any video for training dogs to love their crate, it's one she has developed and perfected on her own.  She loves to take her Nylabones and stick them through the openings in her wire crate and drop them on the floor.  Now, as you might imagine, this takes a bit of skill to get the bone positioned in her mouth just right so that she will have the correct angle to line the bone up with the openings in the crate, then to push it far enough through until it falls out of the crate.  Sometimes she will even use her paws to get the bone into the desired position.  

She knows that when Rocky hears the bone drop he'll come to get it and go chew on it.  Then she protests loudly, crying and barking, until Dan or I fetch the bone from Rocky's mouth and return it to the crate.  Because she has several bones in her crate, at times there will be two bones laying on the floor near her crate that she has pushed through the bars. 

IN THE PINK

Rigby loves pens and so we try to keep all writing utensils out of her reach at all times.  The other night, though, I fell asleep on the couch with a red marking pen in my hand.  It must have fallen onto the couch where Rigby was chewing a toy beside me.  I woke up to the voice of my husband telling Rigby, No, and him trying to wrest the pen from Rigby as she was totally destroying it.  There was red ink on a couple of the throws we had on our couch as well as Rigby's legs and her chest.  She did a pretty good dye job on herself, but we're just pleased that no ink got on the couch.

Aww, don't tell everyone what I did!

You can see the pink on the white spot on her chest!

Rigby Red Legs -- she might start her own baseball team!

This shows the ink on her chest and her legs.

These stories show just a bit of Rigby's personality, the crazy puppy side.  For the most part Rigby is maturing into a well-behaved family dog, who listens pretty well.  She has been accompanying me to many different places and meeting people along the way.  Her manners are improving nicely and it's seldom that she attempts to jump on people.  Her mouthing has gotten to a minimum and usually only happens when unknowing people dangle their hands above her head as though they are toys to play with.  Her play time with Rocky has taught her to enjoy other dogs and she is always friendly and happy to meet new friends.

A PUPPY CELEBRATION!

One of Rigby's sisters, Roxy, (formerly known as Miss Yellow) had a big day with her family earlier this spring as she reached an important milestone in a puppy's life -- at least a Jewish puppy's life -- when she celebrated her Bark Mitzvah!  Here are some photos from the celebration, as well as some family photos.

Roxy at the synagogue.

Roxy and her family.

Aunt Danielle got in the photo, too!

The perfect pose -- Roxy is ready to follow in her
mom's footsteps for a modeling career!

Roxy on the day of her Bark Mitzvah!