Happy Fourth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY FOURTH! The pups are four weeks old today.
The pups are amazing me each day. The other night, after talking to my friend, Carole, I heard little toenails from the upstairs hallway. (The pups have been in the upstairs little bedroom, since they were born). Lo and behold little man Ash was out and walking around. Then in matter of seconds, I watched Lily Rose & Aspen hurl themselves over the side of their babypool. Talk about observational learning!!!
The whelping box I used to have, has sides that were 12" high-I think the baby pool is taller than that. So, I took out the pool and put up the x-pen with bedding on one side and papers on the other. They had all been walking to the other side of the pool to "go" when they woke up, anyway. There was no getting used to it fussing-they just went to sleep.

Then this AM, I wake up at 5:45 to hearing little toenails again overhead.....to find that Mr Moss is out and about. So, they will be moving to the bigger digs downstairs soon-just trying to figure out where to set up the x-pen. Fflur is not worried about having the other dogs around the pups-Clayton, Wicked & Reve have been spending lot's of times hanging out with them. But, I don't like to overwhelm the pups with too much, too soon-tends to have the opposite effect of hindering not helping their socialization.

Speaking of which-no sign of any overly sound sensitivity-but working on exposing them gradually anyway. I have to vacuum daily with this crew of hairy monsters and have been running the blender a lot. Rachel made a fantastic kid noise CD for me to play for the pups, which will be played very low and then volume increased over the next few weeks. Played Renee Fleming arias, Madame Butterfly, Bossa Nova from Astrid Gilberto/Tom Jobim, Enya and a little John Coltrane and Miles Davis to round out their muscial repetoire. Different tempos & base lines definitely affect dogs. At this point, having them further from loud noises, by being upstairs, helps them to assimilate better.

Cedar is the one who has most changed in the last couple of days. He loves the other dogs visiting, and although he is low-key compared to his brothers, he is the one showing some of the best understanding of the of the big dog's body language. Just shows that the less reactive/thinkers are not always worriers as some people might interpret-they are assessors, figuring life out at their own rate.
Ash & Aspen are very cuddly, like to have their backs rubbbed and will roll over. Moss has actually fallen asleep on my lap!! and kissed my chin when picked up. Lily is the comedienne. She is very funny and cracks herself up.