From Russia With Love: 06/06/11

FIRST FULL DAY out in the SUN!!!!!

Over the last few days I've had the french doors open and slowly moving the puppy play area toward and out the door. Just outside the door is a three foot overhang that gives the puppies a sense of security. My first litter was brought out to the deck without a gradual introduction and they felt too exposed. After all, they've spent their entire life indoors... all 3 weeks of it :) Despite full spectrum lighting the room isn't as bright as the spring time sun (when it's out!) and even a puppy can tell that the sky is WAYYYYYY up there. The gradual process works beautifully and yesterday they trotted out onto the deck without any hesitation. I had two dog beds about a yard from the front door where they hung out to nurse. They are just starting to get into some serious play and there's only one thing better then and watch puppies playing in the sun.....Watching Mica playing with puppies!

Then, just when things couldn't get any better .... Diana dropped by to see if she could figure out which puppy she might get. It was fun to watch her analyzing each one of them . She came knowing that she wanted a small girl and left with the notion that a big boy might be in her future! Of course it's way too early to know what their final personalities will be. There's still a lot of learning, developing and changing to happen. It's still fun to play the game of "What's the TRUE personally of that puppy."

162 Toe Nails

Time to do puppy nails again. It's getting more difficult since the hair on the feet is growing and now getting snagged in the nail clipper. For the most part the puppies don't even know I'm doing it. When they were smaller I was able to do it while they nursed. Of course the whole idea there was to clip nails and manipulate feet while they were getting the positive reinforcement of nursing. Now they're too squirmy and big so I take them into my lap for the process.

You can see that the tips are white. The nails are white at birth and slowly turn black.

Some breeders say that if the nails are all white than the puppy will be silver. Almost all the puppies in the litter had white nails... ironically the only one who didn't was Blaze who is definitely going to be silver ;^)

Guess what else we can start counting?

Mica continues to be enthralled by the puppers and Nickel continues to place herself between them. I don't blame her at all since he's such a big boy, but he has been showing lovely control and surprising body awareness when he's around them. He usually lays down when he interacts without them. I had to teach this to Eureka but Mica seems to do it naturally. He loves to lick their faces... it's very sweet.