An eventful weekend

As the pups continue to grow and change and become more entertaining, I have found that I need to increase the activities that I plan for them. Today I told them I would take them on a field trip. What I was really going to do was take them outside for their first romp in the puppy pen. Above you see us having a "team meeting" before we go out.

Next I attempted to pick up Callaghan to take her outside. Fortunately for me, staff picked up the clue (they missed the team meeting) and took the puppies out for me.

This one is pointing-not sure what he thinks he sees. I took him aside and informed him that we were Golden RETRIEVERS, not Golden Pointers.

This being the first time outside for the puppies, there were of course lots and lots of new smells to take in. One is checking the wind, while the others investigate the scents on the ground.

Roisin stalks a dandelion while another puppy looks on.

Roison nears her prey.

Limerick runs to see what Roison has.

Sorry, no punch line-just a cute puppy face.

Here you see them demonstrating their pack behaviour as they fan out.

Callaghan posing nicely.

I have no idea what's going on her, but don't they look cute?

Bono goes off on his own to explore the wilds of the flower bed.

And of course if you are a puppy, being outside for 15 minutes is pretty heady (and tiring) stuff. So staff brought them in, and they passed out promptly, as shown below.

Splash opted for the laundry basket.

Two more passed out under the couch.

And this just about sums it up.

(NOTE-In acuality, after playing outside, the pups were placed back in the pen. However, I decided to use my artistic license and embellish the sleeping part of today's tale. The pups are never allowed to be unsupervised when they are out of the pen. The last 3 pictures are actually from the day before)

"Official" Portraits

Declan-he appears to be wondering if that's how is name is really spelled. When we told him he was looking upside down he was OK with it.

Bono, who thinks he can smell food. Somewhere.

Callaghan, who as already mastered the art of the pose.

Roisin, who ultimately finds the whole portrait taking thing a huge bore.

Dara, she looks bored, but she's actually calling for her makeup assistant.

Limerick practices his wise look.

Brennan refused to have his picture taken without his friend "Hedgie" in the background on the left.

Splash looks guilty of something, doesn't he? He's not-I can assure you that he a very good puppy

Finnegan wanted to make sure that everyone saw his tongue.

Maeve with the "Are we done, cuz I'm stepping out of here" look

Moving on Up

This weekend we bid goodbye to the whelping box. I directed my staff to take it down and install the X-Pen. As the above picture demonstrates, it was a tiring experience for all.

Having the X-pen up allows room for more toys and other gadgets. As you can see, the puppies also like sleeping on the puppy platform.

Here's a picture of the puppies first meal in the X-pen. They are growing quickly and have had their mush ration doubled twice in the last week or so. And they continue to lap it up.

Here's one last view of the whelping box. When the puppies can rest their chins on it, its time for it to go.

And yet one more picture of sleeping puppies. They love passing out on the big yellow duckie

Solid food (sort of)

Tonight my staff mixed up the first batch of what they affectionately call "Mush" to see if the puppies were ready to try something besides their mother's milk. As the pictures demonstrate, "mush" was a big hit with the puppies.

Bono decided to jump in and circumnavigate the dish

Here's a view from the blimp (yes, I know I used that joke last year, but I still think its funny)

I think this one is passed out in the pan

The aftermath-messy passed out puppies

Some of the staff suggested that the puppies were making the "Recycle" sign

Another passed out puppy

Almost Ambulatory

In the last day or two, the puppies eyes and legs have started to work, albeit slowly. Some of the puppies are now able to see me and my staff, albeit blearily, and they have also started to pick their bellies up off the floor when they move. Its not quite walking, but more like "wobbling". You can judge for yourself by watching the video at the bottom of this post. But you will have to scroll through a bunch of pictures.

Did I mention that they still sleep most of the time?

Here's a couple that are trying to walk

More sleeing

Here's Roisin (R0-Sheen) walking, with me giving intstruction.

Spring Break

Some of you have asked that why I haven't updated the blog lately. And the answer is that we have been busy. Like much of the rest of the state of Minnesota, we have been on spring break.

And what do puppies do on spring break you ask? Well, they don't need to go anywhere warm as the whelping box is plenty warm thanks to the heat lamp. And they don't know what a beach is yet, so they have had to make do with beach towels. (Besides, I do enough cleaning without having to deal with sand.) So we spent the whole weekend practicing sleeping in piles. I think the photos will demonstrate that we have had some success.

First we start with cuddling and encouragement.

Then we try to get them to line up. This didn't go so well.

So we resorted to remedial practice in the laundry basket-the sides of the basket help them with stacking techniques, and provide confidence and safety. After the remedial practice, we were ready to try again.

Here you see the first row (aka "the Base") fast asleep and awaiting the arrival of the second tier.But the second tier blew it, so it was back to the basket, and this time they seemed to have gained some confidence.

Here we see the puppies moving into position for their next attempt.

And here you see the result of all our practice. The litter is demonstrating the "Triple Sleeping Puppy Stack"with Finnegan providing the top of the pile. Well done kids!