New Pet Partners Promotional Video with Jam

The long awaited Pet Partners Promotional Video has finally been released. Jam and I were honored to be included in the filming of this video. This is a great introduction to their Therapy Animal Program. The video features several teams, including us, from around the country visiting various facilities.  The last segment tells the story of a little girl and how a therapy dog saved her life is extremely touching and will bring you to tears

S-P Pups Day 35: Playing in the Bottle Pool

S-P Pups Days 31-33: Busy Busy

It has been a super hectic week with visitors, work and of course, lots of puppy fun.  We haven't had time to update the blog but it doesn not mean the pups have not been socializing, learning new things and getting exposed to new experiences.  Here are some photos from the past week of our favorite time spent outside.  Due to the horrendous weather in New Jersey, days of pouring rain, the pups have only been outside when the weather has been more cooperative.

 Looking for treats in the bottle pool...

 Eating dinner al fresco...

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.