Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Off to Puppy Park!

The O litter pups were all packed up and ready to go for their next adventure - the ride to CCI National in Santa Rosa and the famous puppy park! Dawna came along to supervise their first car rides and exposure to the larger CCI family. Here are some of the Os ready to go.



On arrival at CCI we were greeted with a welcome surprise. The Breeder Caretakers for Nesbitt, the O litter's sire, were there to see the pups turn in. We had a great time meeting one another as the puppies were loaded into the giant laundry cart for the short ride to puppy park.



For those of you who may not have seen it, Puppy Park is this neat little area within the CCI complex that is off limits to all adult dogs and entered by people only after a walk thorugh the bleach water solution. All this to ensure no unwanted germies get to our little darlings before they have had their first shots and begun to build some of there own immunity. The park has a concrete floor, a wire fence and REALLY fun climbing structures, toys etc for all the little ones to run around and wear themselves out on before they head off to the kennels.  Being the O-Litter, the very first order of business was a drink from (swim in?) the water bowl.




As usual, for Dawna's litters, our parents hung out with Dawna at the bench outside the play area and Dawna carefully supervised both us and the kennel staff playing with and taking pictures of her pups.








Then she wagged goodbye as they were loaded back into the laundry cart to begin the next phase of life as a CCI puppy. This is the time when we get the official announcements of what regions the puppies will be placed in. So here they are: Orvis and Osita -- SW Olha, Olan and Ocala -- NW Orzo -- NE Odell, SE Ortega, Opie Coming to a PR near you. Look out world - the O's are off and running!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Playtime with the O's, the last week: 11/8 - 11/15

Like all puppies, the O's LOVE to play. The weather had turned colder so "out of the puppy pen" playtime moved indoors. Here are some glimpses into the lives of the O's scampering their way through the last week in our home.

Playtime in the hallway.



Playtime in the family room. The O's were remarkably good about using the pooch pad for "HURRY" so they were allowed to play on the carpet.



More playtime in the family room. The tarp is down because the pups, while excellent at using the pooch pad, absolutely adored swimming in the water bowl (we didn't think about that the first night they played in the family room).

Sunday, November 13, 2011

O Litter Picture

One of the fun things about being breeder caretakers is getting a picture of the litter.

Order in picture (L to R):

Orzo, Ocala, Olan, Opie, Odell, Osita, Ortega, Olha, Orvis





Many thanks to photographer Nancy Vice and puppy wrangler Wendy Klock-Johnson!

Of course, puppies don't usually pose like this on the first try... or the second... or the third... or the fourth.  This time around Nancy took at least 22 shots before we got this one.  It's actually hilarious!  What you don't see in the picture are three puppy wranglers (Karen, Kathy and Wendy) just outside of the edges of the couch and flat on the floor just in front of it.  Laughing hysterically!  Here are a few of the outtakes:







Thursday, November 10, 2011

Littler, Bigger: 11/5 to 11/13

Apologies to all O litter puppy raisers! It's taken us a long time to finish the O litter puppy blog. The rest of the entries will be coming in the next few days. Litter updates will be posted on the Dawnapups Facebook page after that.

For now, here are shots of the growing pups. The pictures are a few days to about a week apart.







Orvis








Odell








Osita








Olha








Ocala








Olan








Orzo








Opie








Ortega

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Big Puppy Clothes!

The pups graduated from litter collars to puppy collars yesterday. Here they're having dinner all decked out in their finest duds.
Collars
Collars

Monday, October 24, 2011

Picnic Dinner

Today the puppies had their first experience of the great outdoors. Here's their picnic dinner.
Picnic dinnerAnd then a snack...

You just have to play, too!
Playing outside!
But all of this is exhausting... Clonk!
Tired puppies
Tired puppies

PS - The pups didn't even notice that they had more room and new toys inside!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Yum!

The puppies began the great adventure of weaning today...
Weaning, Day 1

Monday, October 17, 2011

Bitey Face

The O puppies are starting to work out their pack hierarchy. The games start with "Bitey Face". Notice, though, what trumps bitey face...

Sunday, October 16, 2011

HUNGRY

We call this the "Piranha Stage". They start weaning very soon...

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

New Digs!

We has our first pool escapee last night. Thankfully we had a pen around the pool so the little wanderer didn't get too far. But that's a good indication that it's time for the pups to move into larger quarters.

Here's their new home...
New Digs!
And puppies checking out their new home...
Checking out the new home
All that work is tiring!All that work is tiring!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Very busy puppies!

The puppies are growing by leaps and bounds. They are getting very active.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

All Eyes Open!

The Os hit another milestone today. All of the pups have their eyes open. Eight of them are over three pounds and the last two are getting very close. The first of them, Mr. Orvis, will be at four pounds very soon, probably tomorrow.

We've started adding soft toys to the pool for them to encounter with supervision. Olha is particularly taken with the toys. She's gummed and licked all of them. The jack is her favorite.

Pups with toys!Pups with toys!

Olha and the jackOlha and the jack

Look Ma!  I can SIT!Look Ma! I can SIT!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Introducing! Two week old Os

Just in time for their two-week birthday, the O litter names arrived from CCI! Five of the O's are at or over 3 lbs, and the rest are between about two and a half and three pounds. These pups are huge! With no further ado, here are the names (remember, though, they're not official until CCI send the pups out to the regions--name changes do occasionally occur):

Red, YM: Orvis (over 3 lbs)
Blue YM: Odell (over 3 lbs)
Purple, YF: Osita (O-seat-a)
Neon Green, BF: Olha
Neon Pink, BF: Ocala (very close to 3 lbs)
Brown, BM: Olan (over 3 lbs)
Light Pink, BM: Orzo
Orange, YM: Opie (over 3 lbs)
Dark Green, BM: Ortega (over 3 lbs)

We've only had one puppy in three other litters (28 pups total) that had reach 3 lbs at two weeks old...

Here are the proud Os at two weeks old:

The Os at Two Weeks


Here's the lunchtime food fight:



And Mama Dawna taking a much deserved rest:

Dawna taking a break