Five Weeks Old!

This weekend, Little Bear came to visit and I even sat in the chair with him and played patty-cake with him. I think he enjoyed playing with the puppies some, but he learned quickly to sit in the chair and only play with one at a time, because of their sharp little teeth!

They really ARE little “Land Piranhas.” I love my babies, but they are eating me alive. I rarely get into the bed with them, and I’ve learned to always be on guard. Just LOOK at the shredded edges of my poor ears!

And, you can only imagine what they’ve done to my poor teats as I don’t want to put any x-rated photos up! I have TRIED to be a good Mama, but I finally decided a couple of days ago to go into major WEANING mode, so I only get in the bed once or twice a day for just long enough for them to drink enough to make myself comfortable.

Grammy told me it was ok, and that she would take care of feeding them now that they can eat by themselves. I think she was tired of hearing me cry out in pain! She can’t believe how much they eat AND how much they put out the other end! She says she FORGOT, over the past 3 years since BG and I were babies, just how much WORK taking care of Poop-PEES was.

They wake up and immediately start screaming and fussing because they have to go potty and they don’t want to do it in their Playground, so either my Dad or Grammy puts them in the big laundry basket and hauls them out into the back yard where they usually go pee within a minute or two and poopy within 5-10 mins. Last night, Mercy got out of the box on her own and got all the way out to the doggy door, but she doesn’t know how to open the flap to get the rest of the way out.

Grammy got tired of cleaning up after them indoors after several days, so that was when she decided that they would start taking them outside. She still doesn’t want to take them out at night because they are the size of small rabbits and we have some BIG owls and hawks around here. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to go out at night until I was about 6 months old, and I still don’t like to go out unless my night light that my Dad rigged up, is on.

Now for the pup’s update pictures:

Gimli is getting lighter and lighter cheeks, but his back is still staying black. He weighs 6 pounds now, but is still quite laid back.

He loves being held, kissing whoever all over the face very enthusiastically. He has a slightly longer body. Here is a picture of him on his back so you can see what he will look like when his ears come up.

Mercy is slowing down on her growth and is about 5 and a half pounds now. She knows her name and tends to be the explorer when in new situations.

She, too, loves to be held and tends to come over to people’s feet and whine until they DO pick her up. She is a VERY sound sleeper!

Neelix is staying small, and only weighs in at 4 and a half pounds. He is our Wild Child… totally feisty, attacking siblings, people’s toes and ankles, and even Sadie’s feet.

He doesn’t mind being picked up and fussed over for maybe a minute, but then he wants back down. He, too, is an explorer… even more so than Mercy, and Grammy has to keep a close watch on him because he leaves everyone else and goes off by himself to check things out.

Gracie is still the biggest and most solidly built. She weighs just over 6 lbs. and is still built like a brick—a solid, low, wide little girl. She has a bit of a temper, and will fight back if she gets ticked, like when Nee-Nee attacks her.

Next time, we will post the vids of the babies first outing. Have a great day!

Puppy Playground Continued & Contest Entry

Today, I’ll finish showing you the rest of our Puppy Playground, and, at the bottom, you will see that we are entering the last part as our Contest Entry and explain Brutus the Frenchie’s Contest.

Since the short Teeter-totter didn’t work right, he took it apart and after adding the long ramp to the top step, he left the wooden cylinder block in the box so the puppies could play with it by itself for a while, while he thought about the rest of the things he could build.

Mercy went over and practiced squirrel catching with the swinging squirrel on the other side by the food area...

Robert decided to add a small ramp to the small step, and then made a longer Teeter-Totter for them to play on. Mercy decided she wanted to check it out when he had finished THAT part...

Finally, he added a couple of rawhide chews for them to teeth on and some Pup-Pee Pads to the floor, and the little ones were ready to check it out!!!

Gimli wasn't sure what to think the first time that he got on the Teeter-Totter...




He called Mercy over and talked to her about it and she showed him how to get on...



After THAT, he talked Gracie into checking it out. Neelix came over to that side for a little bit, but he really liked playing with the swinging squirrel during most of the time we were taking THESE videos...



I think the pups' GrandPaw did a really nice job of creating a stimulating, challenging playground for his, and my, Grandpups, and they are really enjoying themselves in it. Now, he's figuring out the playground he is going to create outside where he says he can REALLY spread out!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our Puppy Playground. We read about the following contest on our friend, Brutus the Frenchie’s Blog about the most ridiculous things people do for their dogs. The contest is to celebrate his 100th Blog Post, and we found out about it just after Robert finished the playground, so Mom thought that we would use that to enter with. (Robert says it is NOT ridiculous, but Mom said that a lot of “People” – NOT “dog people” or dogs-- might think it was.) Anyway, below are the rules (copied from his blog,) and our entry picture:

Entry into Brutus the Frenchie’s Centennial Blog Contest

We want to know what the most ridiculous thing you humans out there do for your loyal doggie companions. It might be special food or some sort of grooming or spa treatment to pamper your pooch, or perhaps a crazy ritual that you must indulge them in. If it raises an eyebrow from you, your significant other, your neighbor, a passerby, or your whole neighborhood - if it's ridiculous, we want to know about it!

So, without further ado, here are the rules for the contest we are calling: "That's Ridiculous"

1. Each entry should consist of two things: a photo (or photos) as well as a short story (a few sentences) to explain what it is that you do, and perhaps why you do it.

2. Your contest entry is a post on your blog. Please include our "That's Ridiculous" button and link to this post/our blog. It would be helpful (but not mandatory) to also post the button on your blog to help spread the word (it certainly can't hurt your chances of winning, wink, wink)! The more the merrier!! Oh, and if you don't have a blog, you can still play - just email your entry.

3. Once you have posted your entry, just let us know we need to come & get it! You may comment on our post to notify us, or if you would prefer (or don't have a blog), you can email the notice and/or the entry to hrnchardds@yahoo.com .

4. We will accept submissions until 12:00 EDT on Friday, October 16th. One entry per dog, please (for those of you with packs, each dog can have their own entry, or submit one entry as a group - humans' choice!).

http://brutusthefrenchie.blogspot.com/2009/09/our-centennial-post-and-contest-to.html

With THAT said, here is our Entry

As we’ve been showing, Dott’s Dad, Robert, built her puppies a “Puppy Playground.” He takes his GrandPaw status VERY seriously and wants to be sure that his Grandpups have as much “brain stimulation” as possible, so he made the Puppy Playground with that in mind.

He started with 2 huge boxes, and added a puppy door to get them used to doggy doors. He also created a mini agility course for the babies to play in, on and through. There are steps, tunnels, ramps, mirrors, and a Teeter-Totter in one side, and the other side holds a bed under a lean-to top, a water and food bowl, a squeaky toy, large rawhide chew (for teething), and a squeaky, swinging squirrel (sort of fishing rod style).

We had to do TWO posts to get it all in! If you want to see the beginning vids of the building and the pups enjoying their Playground, read the last post, too!

I ask you… Has the young man out-done himself or WHAT??!!!

GrandPaw Built Us a Puppy Playground!

Mercy: GrandPaw made us a Puppy Playgwound! Do you be-wieve it!?

Gimli: We aw having so much FUN and lowrning a LOT!

Grace: We wewren’t vewy happy when he fust put us in cause it was so bay-wr, but it did have someting cawd a doe-wr.

Neelix: We could go fwom one worwld to an udder. Is dat enough wittin’ fow today, Mom?

Dott: Yes, Dears… Now you can go and play.

Hi, everyone! We are trying to get the little ones to learn a lot of things while they are still young, so, sometimes, I might have them write a line or two. After all, I wrote a book when I was about 6 months old, and THAT takes a lot of work!

I talked it over with my Dad and we decided that the little ones needed to have a lot of stimulation for their little brains, so we came up with a Puppy Playground for them to play in during the daytime. They will also be using it to sleep in this weekend because Little Bear is coming down for the weekend, and Grammy is SOOOO HAPPY! He wasn’t allowed to stay here during the time we didn’t have running water. I don’t know why… Must be a people thing!

Anyway, Dad got two big boxes and put them together, then cut a puppy-sized door between them (so that they could learn about doggy doors. I don’t think they were to impressed when they first started to check it out…

Next, he put in steps for climbing, and made the big step into a short tunnel. (Oh, Dad says to apologize that it sounds like Darth Vader takes these pictures, but he thought you might like to hear the puppy sounds) They thought it was a bit more interesting, but still whined about not having enough to play on…

Then, their GrandPaw thought about trying to put in a Teeter-Totter. They thought that was interesting, but it was a bit short and didn’t work right. They had fun playing with it for a little bit, though.

Next, Dad put in bedding, a tent, and a swinging squirrel… never to young to learn to attack squirrels, after all! He also added a water bowl and food dish in the “Bedroom” side, and a couple of disks (for mirrors) in the playground side.

There is more, but this has to be short as Grammy has to get ready to leave to go on the long drive to pick up Little Bear, and I keep having to stop to break up Puppy fights… That Neelix and his A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E! He has gotten into fights with all three of his siblings during the time I’ve been trying to write this, and brought them to screams, except Grace who just got ticked and got in a BIG fight until he decided to leave HER alone. Good grief! Grammy finally put him in a time out in MY chair, which is my refuge from the little “land pirrahnas…” (said lovingly... sort of...)

Mercy ran to Grammy to be picked up and “saved.” She gave her totally enthusiastic kisses all over her face for saving her. Had Grammy totally giggling and sniffing up puppy breath by the lung fulls! She says she has to get in a lot of extra sniffs in for all her friends, who are lacking puppies… WHATEVER…

Either me or Mama OC will post the rest of the playground later. Have a great weekend!

They’re Eating By Themselves…

My grandbabies are starting to eat by themselves now, so my Dotter is having a chance to rest more. She is pretty happy about that because their teeth aren’t so little anymore, and she doesn’t want to spend a lot of extra time in the box.



About a week ago, Mom started teaching them about eating by holding them and letting them lick spoonfuls of canned puppy food mixed with puppy formula. Here are some vids of the way they started learning to eat last week. First, Mercy, took her turn…

Then little Gracie tries out this new stuff…



And then Gimli… he took to it a lot faster than any of the others. He is bigger than all of the others too, though.



Gimli ate so fast THAT day that he ended up getting the hiccups and went to sleep in Mom’s arms.



Little Neelix was NOT having any of it at that time, though he is finally starting to eat some now that the others are eating off of a plate. I guess he had to see the others doing it to learn how, and he is the one that DOESN’T want to be held (confined) in any way. They are still holding him some, every night, though, because he needs to get used to it a little.




After they have eaten, they like to play around with each other for 15 to 20 minutes before taking a nap. I guess they are all "energized."




I went around and sat beside Mom and gave her a hug while we watched my little grandchildren.

The next day, Mom and Robert brought the pups out and let them explore again. They are all pretty curious and love looking around in the Front Room when they get the chance to get out. As usual, Mercy takes the exploration lead.

> Here she is checking out Sadie and vice versa… it made Dott a bit nervous and she told Sadie that she had better be careful with the babies! I guess she forgot the way she loved to play with Sadie when she was tiny, and how gentle Sadie was with her, but then, I've never really trusted Sadie either...

After that, Sadie was careful not to look too closely. I also came out and told her “NO touching!” I guess Mercy decided that she'd better leave.

I went over and warned little Grace to be careful, too, and then followed Mom.

Well, I’d best close for now. Bet you can tell I’m proud of my grandpups! Just wait until you see the playground their GrandPaw Robert built for them!

Another Week Has Flown By…

Can you believe ANOTHER week has flown by? My Babies are 4 whole weeks old. Things have been pretty busy around here and Grammy hasn’t been able to get all the vids edited yet, but we do have some snap shots for today. The little ones are definitely getting their own personalities, too, which will show in the videos when we get them posted.

Little Gimli is a little over 5 lbs. now, and he is really sweet. Grammy really likes Gimli, though she still thinks his name should either be Panda or Oreo. He is a bit larger than the others, in a way. He is a bit taller and longer than Gracie, though he weighs about the same. He is a pretty mellow boy, and doesn’t mind being held and snuggled. He tends to look you in the eye, too, and wants to bump noses.

Mercy weighs just under 5 lbs. and she is a snuggle bun, too! Robert holds her a lot and she fusses so that she will be held whenever she wakes up. She tries to look you in the eye and kiss at people’s noses, or push their noses with her nose.

She was the first to find out how to get over the edge of the sleeping box, though she still didn’t escape because the play area walls are higher.

Neelix is still the smallest, weighing in at just under 4 lbs. He is so much smaller, but he has a HUGE A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E!!! He also seems to be rather hyper and wants to be GOING at all times.

He does NOT want to be held very much, though he loves to be played with on the floor. He DOES seem to settle down when Dad puts him on his chest and just pets him. I think he just doesn’t want to be confined. By the way, THIS picture is more like his real coloring, I don't know why the other one makes him look redder.

Grace is still as big as Gimli, and also weighed in at just over 5 lbs. Grammys says she is “built like a little Hummer,” … Wide and square! Grace is strong, and built very solid. She eats WELL, too, and FEELS heavier than any of the others- even Gimli. She is starting to move much faster than most of the others,too, except maybe Neelix.

When Mercy wants to wrestle, Grace will wrestle back until she gets tired and then she just bowls Mercy over onto her back and says “That’s ENOUGH!” with a little barky growl. Mom seems to think that Grace is the prettiest in color and markings of the lighter three.

Puppy Shower Continued...

Hi... We are back with the rest of the Puppy Shower that Sasha and her Mommy hosted for us. By the way, the gifts are getting a lot of use (the ones that weren't eaten right away, anyway.) It is so cute watching the babies when they wake up from their naps. They stretch and move around, then jump up and toddle really fast off of their blanket and onto the Pup-Pee Pads to do their business. THANKS AGAIN, Sasha and Mommy!

Let's see... last time we had gotten all of the gifts open. Right away, BG took the drumstick chewies over to Grammy and told her that she needed to open them.



Grammy said that first, we all needed to clean up the wrappers from the presents, so we got busy cleaning...

Mama OC was excited to get to the snacks, too, so even she got busy cleaning...



By all working together, we got everything cleaned up pretty quickly!



Grammy was busy with the camera, so she had Mama OC take the package of drumsticks to Robert so he could open them up for us.



Those things are TOTALLY YUMMY, and all of us enjoyed them completely. I even got two!!!



When we were done with those Yummy snackers, Robert brought the pups out. Gracie started barking... She wanted to play!



She wanted to practice playing bitey-face, as she has been studying Mango's technique. She got Mercy to help, and they got down to it. Gracie: Hey, Mr. Mango, is this any better?



What about this? Do you think I'm getting the hang of it, Mr. Mango?



After the little ones played for a while, Robert set out one of the Pup-Pee Pads to let them look at and sniff. They thought it was very interesting...

After that, he showed them that pretty squeaky. Neelix and Gracie snuck up and gave it the once over.

Gimli thought it was barking at him when Robert squeaked it, so he barked back!

He wasn't at all sure about that toy that barked back at him...

Robert tried to get everyone lined up for pictures, but the pups weren't in a co-operative mood. Neelix snuck away to give that "barking toy" a closer look, again.

Since then, as I mentioned before, the Pup-Pee Pads have gotten plenty of use, and they still like to play with the pretty squeaky. We all had so much fun at our Puppy Shower!





We can't thank you and your Mommy enough, Sasha. You are truly special friends, and Grammy is sending up special prayers that blessings come your way! Bye for now... Dott

Sasha Sent us a Puppy Shower!

Wow! We have got such WONDERFUL friends! Everyone has had such sweet things to say about me and the babies, and now, Sasha sent us a BUNCH of presents for a Puppy Shower! There are so many that it will probably take a couple of posts to get them all in!

We could hardly wait to start opening them! First, we pulled out stuffing paper...

Then we got the first gift out and opened it up...

Oooo... would you look at THAT! My Favorite! Chicken Breast Jerky!



Mmm... I wonder what is in this interesting smelling paper... Oooo... It's PRETTY, and it squeaks... A pretty squeaky! I love squeakies! Grammy says it is supposed to be a perfume bottle, but I don't smell horse apples, cowpies or mud hen...




Goodness! ANOTHER gift... This one says it is for everyone. I wonder if I should let Mama OC help me open this? Hey, Ma...



Mama, look at this! It says it is for you, BG and Sadie, too! Help me open it, ok?



Mama, do you think you can get that side open? I'll work on this side...




Oh, WOW! Would you look at THAT! MORE crunchables! Drumstick treats! Cool!

Isn't this GREAT! Look at all the totally neat stuff that Sasha and her Mommy sent for our Puppy Shower... AND we still have something else in the bag!

Wasn't that a nice picture of Sasha... and what a SWEET message of congratulations. Let's see what's in this last package... Mmmm... THIS REALLY smells interesting!

WOW! Would you look at all the LOOT! Yummies, a Pretty Squeaky, and Pup-Pee Pads! THOSE will definitely come in handy because these little guys are really full of it and it is getting hard for me to keep up with the clean-up job!

I'm going to go and play with my pretty new squeaky. Something pretty always cheers a girl up when she is feeling tired and chewed on...

This is getting pretty long... I told you we would have to break it up into a couple of parts, so you will have to wait and see the rest next time. I'll catch you later... I'm going to go back and play some more with my pretty squeaky! Oh, Thank You, Sasha... and your sweet, thoughtful Mommy, too! This is just what I needed to cheer me up! I might even share this with the babies later and let you see what THEY think about all of this!

Another Week Has Passed...

Where IS the time going! The puppies are 3 WEEKS OLD already! Every day they seem to learn more and more things and can handle their little bodies better and better. They’re not quite “drunken sailors” anymore. By the way, you guys… Mom’s been singing/humming a crazy little song under her breath ever since you mentioned that! Something about “What do you do with a drunken sailor, earl-i in the moooorrrrning…” Says it’s STUCK in her head!

Gimli (which Grammy sometimes calls "Panda" or "Oreo") is still around 3 lbs. and he is starting to eat very well the few times a day that Grammy helps me to feed them. I’m so glad that she is starting to do that because they are so BIG and did I mention TEETH… They DEFINITELY have TEETH now!!!

At the rate that they are growing, and with the TEETH... Did I mention, TEETH!... that they are getting (which my Dad aptly describes as little needles) I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I should quit nursing them sometime soon... I don't like to stay in the bed too much anymore because they seem to think I'm a teething toy!

Mercy is about 2 1/2 lbs. now. Dad says that he thinks she looks a lot like I did when I was a puppy.

Gracie is as big as Gimli . She is 3 lbs. too!

The last one to be weighed was little Neelix. He is a LOT littler than the others, and Dad and Grammy wonder if he is going to take after me and one of my other brothers that stayed pretty small. He's pretty fiesty, though, for his size!

The pups really love to play with their GrandPaw, and run right to him when they see him.

AND, would you look at these MOVES! Are those Corgi herding "hip checks" ALREADY, or WHAT!!!




I also think that I'm going to have to be careful what the kids look at on the Computer Monitor. I think they've been watching "Bitey Face" vids from Mango...

Ooooo... Guess What! When we went down on our mailrun today, their was a package from our friend, Sasha and her Mom. Mama OC said something about a "Baby Shower," but I don't understand THAT... I keep my babies totally clean. Why would they need a shower?!

Ohhhhh... now I understand. Grammy explained that a "Baby shower" is when someone sends gifts for the babies! Isn't THAT COOL! I can hardly wait to open it and see what's inside!!! THANKS, Sasha and Your Mom!

Night Time Wrestlers...

The babies are continuing to grow in leaps and bounds... They aren't JUST sleeping, eating and... uh... needing to be cleaned. Now, when they wake up, they are exploring their new, expanded play area that Dad created for them. They are also starting to rough-house with each other.

Gimli is the biggest, and he is always trying to get everyone else to play with him. Here he is bugging Mercy and trying to get her to play.

After she left, he went over and started picking on his little brother, Neelix. Neelix may be smaller than Gimli (actually, he is the smallest of the four) but he is feisty as you can see!

While Gimli, the little Panda Bear, likes to wrestle, the girls would rather explore and check things out...

Well, it's late and I'll have more tomorrow with my babies 3 week old stats. Have a good night!