6-19 First Individual Pictures of Performance Litter

The puppies are now 5 days old and all 7 are doing just great. As of this morning they weighed between 17.8 and 21.9 Oz. They have gained between 39% and 46% since birth. Here are some individual pictures, a couple of pictures of Stinger and Charlie from the last litter and a collage of Viper from a recent trial. Just like the first litter we got all four possible color combinations and like the first litter all of the colors are very vibrant.

All of the pups went on their first short road trip to the Vet. My friend and Vet Gary Yavitz came in on his day off to check them out and do the necessary tail docking and dew claw removal at exactly the right time. Aaron, my daughter Michele's boyfriend came to take Cougar on a walk to allow Gary and I to do the work. Louise was in on a rare Wednesday and got her puppy fix! Gary indicated that they were all doing great. Joan will see them for the first time on Monday and I'm more than anxious for her evaluation.

This is the first born. She is a Blue Merle Female.

This Black Male was the second pup born.

Number 3 is a Blue Merle boy with a big white blaze and collar.

Number 4 is a Red Male. Like the others he looks like he is going to be a Bi.

Number 5 is a Red Merle Female. I think she is likely to be a Tri.

Number 6 is another Blue Merle Male.

A Black boy was the seventh and last one born.

This is Charlie, a Red Merle female from the first litter. She is 16 months old today.

This is Stinger. He was the first born in the last litter.

 

This is a collage of Viper at a recent trial.. 

6/15/2010 MAJOR NEW ARRIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Early yesterday morning the second Viper/Cougar Litter was born. There were 7 healthy, robust troublemakers. There are 5 boys and 2 girls who weighed in between 12.2 Oz and 15.8 Oz. There are 2 Black boys, 2 Blue Merle boys and a Red boy. There is a Blue Merle girl and a Red Merle girl. All had 1/2 to full tails which will be docked tomorrow morning. Below are a couple of pictures of the litter.

As most of you know the first litter was 3 boys and 2 girls who are now almost 16 months old - all of whom are doing well and exhibiting every sign of becoming great performance dogs. All of them have started Agility and all of them have either begun herding or are planning to in the near future.

Over the next several days I'll take pictures of the pups individually and try to keep the posts up to date. 

4/6 Update

The pups had a very busy weekend that lasted right through Monday. They were at Purina Farms Friday, Saturday and Sunday and had lots and lots of visitors from newborns to nearly deads and had a great time. It felt like we provided the petting zoo but the socialization was terrific.

On Sunday they got their second worming. Today they got their CERF exams and first puppy shots in preparation for going home. Their eyes all tested normal and the Vet pronounced them all in excellent health and they got to play with their Uncle Flint. They weighed between 7.3 pounds and 8.4 pounds - chubby, healthy and happy kids.

Thankfully they are now sleeping so that I have time to write this blog. They stay awake for long periods of time now and like to play and have lots of attention. Yesterday Joan taught them to sit so they have a new game to play for treats. A couple of them figured out that they should just stay seated and the treat machine would continue to deliver without any work - pretty clever. Bye for now, I have to work on posting the Video that Lynn shot last week.

End of March Updates

So much to report. Time has gotten away from me. I am posting pictures today from 3/29 and 3/30. The 3/29 shots are in the yard and just miscellaneous shots of each dog since I have been unable to pose them - they are way too busy. They are real dogs - walking, eating, drinking, running and, of course, pooping like real dogs.

Where to begin. They were 6 weeks old on Thursday and weigh between 6.5 and 7.25 pounds. They go out with the entire herd, Maverick, Jester, Dustin, Neil, Jody, Gracie and Amy. They go for long walks, tug and play like big dogs.

On Monday, I took them to Lawrence for some evaluation. First, Joan took them each for a walk and a little play time. Then, we went over to Ad Astra Farm courtesy of Grandpa Mark Hodges and put them each on a herd of 3 ducks. All of them showed very good to excellent herding instinct at 5-1/2 weeks old. Lynn Morgan joined us and took some video which I will attempt to post this evening. It was absolutely amazing and fascinating. Mark told me that he has seen many adult dogs back off an head for the other side of the arena and none of the kids showed fear.

We let them sleep a little while and then headed over the gym at Mark's school. He built a play area with mats of various sizes and shapes as well as tunnels. He also had various tug toys in there. Geneva, Mark's two legged granddaughter came to play with the pups as well. The pups made a Coppertone commercial by pulling her pants down. They were all over the place, up and over the A-Frames (triangular pads), climbed up the pads, jumped the gaps, untied the ropes, tugged against each other and just had a great time.

Joan kept them the next two days before bringing them back to my house and they went to Purina Farms today. She took them on walks and into her agility arena. They voluntarily went through tunnels and two of them went up a 5' 6" A-Frame - no fear.

3/23 Update and a few pictures

Each day they are becoming more like "real" dogs. They sit and stand like small Aussies and it is unbelievably cute. I wanted to show that to you but I can't get them to stay still long enough to do it. Maybe when Michele comes over tomorrow, we can do it. On Saturday I put the whelping box away and made a large area in the kitchen/dining room for them to roam with a crate in it to sleep in. They found the crate immediate and it is where they sleep now. They now have lots more toys, tunnels, etc and love to play. They received their first dose of wormer and the next one will be in 2 weeks. They will get their first shots at 6 weeks and I have scheduled CERF eye exams for all of them on April 7th. The kids now tug, play with toys, walk the boogie board and sleep through the night. Cougar went home last Friday and there was virtually no adjustment period when they were completely weaned because we had been feeding them whole food for over a week before she left. I have posted pictures of all 5 kids with one of their tug toys and a couple of bonus shots of them sleeping in their crate and trying to escape a box where I put them long enough for me to clean up the pirahna pit.

Dad tried to get me to sit still but I moved before he got the shot. He just isn't quick enough for me.

This is where they sleep. They found it all by themselves. Took them all of about 10 minutes.

They weren't very happy about being trapped in this box while I cleaned up the pirahna pit.

3/18 Miscellaneous pictures

Room at the Buffet is limited. Compare this to the picture from the first post.

Dining at the trough.

Sleeping in the whelping box. A chance for Grandpa to do some other work.


I took some miscellaneous pictures over the last couple of days. I thought you might enjoy them. See the captions below for more info. They are getting just too cute.

March 15th Update

The kids turned 3 weeks last Thursday and celebrated with a road trip to Des Moines and then their first "real food" meal. After eating most of the first plate, Joan made a second. They ate quite a bit of that before proceeding to wear the food and spread it all around the crate - looked like the remains after a bad concert.

They are now on a conbination of ground up Wellness with a milk replacement supplement mixed into a watery cereal three times daily supplemented by mom's milk. Please send newspaper, trash bags and reinforcements! In the last four days, Thursday morning to this morning, they have gained between 10 Oz and 11.8 Oz net of the deposits they have been leaving for me.

Michele and Aaron met us in Kansas City on the way home and we took them out for their first exposure to grass. They were way too mobile. While we were taking pictures, it took 2 people just to keep track of them while Joan and I took pictures on a blanket that one of Loretta's friends made for Cougar's Puppies.

I enclosed a few more photos for you to share.