Leader of the Pack!

The pups are having a wonderful time playing in their outdoor space. But regardless of how wonderful are the various toys and different surfaces, their favorite playmate continues to be Mom!

More new friends

The pups got a visit from new people today. Friends of our stopped by for a visit. The pups had a great time interacting with all the new people. One of the great lessons of the visit was that puppies find leather cell phone cases fasinating (and great places to try out teeth...)

Pooped!

The pups LOVE playing outside. There are lots of different surfaces and toys for them to try. One of the favorites is the bosu which moves around as they play with it. The play starts with just tipping it. As they get more confident and better "sea legs" the pups start climbing up on it. They eventually get to climbing all over it while its tipping around. Great balancing puppies!









All of the outdoor fun leads to pooped pups!

Training wheels!

The pups got their first experience of transportation today. There are cars, buses, trains, planes, boats, and many other modes in their future. It all started for them with a garden cart.

The pups outdoor play area is on the patio and their indoor area is in a guest room. The two aren't connected so we have to move the pups from inside to outside and back again. The garden cart seemed the simplest way. The pups love it--and so does Dawna who gets to supervise the whole way!

The parents are the best teachers...

We are close to finished with the weaning process but the pups still get a little "dessert". Tonight we saved dessert for outside. Dawna loved being in the outside pen with the pups. After they nursed and she cleaned, she spent time playing with them. She was very particular in demonstrating to them how much fun several of the toys could be. And then they all had a snooze.

Storming the Gates!!

The pups quickly learned that the gate to the pen was the second best source of all goodness (Dawna being the first).

We needed to make a gate because the double pen we're using for the indoors barrier doesn't come with gates or doors. The local hardware store had 18x24 inch sheets of 1/8 inch Lexan ®. Lexan ® is a very strong plastic and there is no way that the pups could break it. So we had it cut to 14 inches high and then drilled holes on either end for computer ties. Good to go! Until this morning that is...

You see, the 1/8 inch plastic is very strong... and flexible. When we went to feed the pups this morning, they were in their usual place, at the gate--some sitting but many more with paws on the top of the gate pushing forward. So the plastic flexed. And the little lemming puppies started swimming over the gate! It was very cute. We got them back in and added the other 4 inch strip at the top to provide a bit more of a barrier.


Off to the hardware store tonight. We got a 1/4 inch thick piece of plastic, cut to 15 inches high and drilled holes again. Success!! A strong enough gate to hold back the puppy storm!

Postscript -- Of course, being CCI puppies, we don't enter the pen until they've quieted down, they're not pushing frenetically and at least one or two are sitting. Good puppies!!

Pups on Parade!

The pups got another chance to play outside this morning. Here's a sample of pups on parade.

Farina

Fawn

Feather

Felipe

Ferge (Fergenson)

Finnian

Fitz

Fluffy

Funston

Happy tails happy pups!