One Little Black Male

Cheeto is fine but she had a very difficult delivery. We knew we had three pups and were concerned that they would be big so her food was kept low. Well, they were big for Cheeto anyway. The first male was 19.2 oz, and next female was 19.5 oz and the final female was 21.5 0z. All records for Cheeto. Both females were still born and we could not resuscitate them. The vet had to help us with the last one and still the pup never had a heart beat. So we have a beautiful little black pup to raise. Cheeto is confused. She looks for other puppies. It might be because she has so much milk. That will get better. The puppy visits are still on. They will be even more important as we try and socialize this little guy with no sibs. He is real cuddly already as you can see. We are tired, but are happy to have this beautiful little guy. Since he was the first his color should be white. Seems like it would be good to come up with a nickname. Any suggestions?

There are three pups.

There are three puppies. Of course we would have liked more, but at least there are three. Cheeto is doing well and hopefully this will be easy for her this time. You can see the spines on the x-rays. Due date is still Nov. 20.

We Have Puppies!!!

We have puppies due November 20th! Not sure how many but in one screen we saw 3 at once.

Another great piece of news is that Ollie is the first of the O puppy teams to be certified. Great Job Ollie. We are proud of you! Thanks Julie who raised Ollie, the trainers who worked hard with him and the field representative who finished the job. Great team work everyone!

Barkley Visits

Kari was visiting her niece in Chicago and Barkley stopped by for a visit. Barkley is the one on the left. It is such fun to see these pups. Does Cheeto know it is her daughter? No, I don't think so but they had a great visit.

Emu Working

If you checked out the comments on the last post you could find this amazing video. He is trained on 15 different smells - amazing. He obviously loves this work. Congratulations Emu. This is the same type of work Emmy was trained for also. Way to go E puppies. Congratulation puppyraisers you have done a wonderful job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8B7oYs3BhE

E Puppies Enter Phase III

Don't they look smart? Well here are the E puppies as they enter phase III. Two have been career changed to be detection dogs, Emmy and Emu, and they are doing well. Emmy will be going to Manila. Ellie was released, but is doing well. Congratulations E Puppies. Thank you puppy raisers. Thank you trainers. You have worked your magic. Puppies we are very proud of you all.

4 months and 40 pounds

Barkley (formerly Miss Orange) just turned four months old, and is tipping the scales at almost 40 pounds. So much for being a petite little thing like her mother was! She's a beautiful butterscotch color, with wonderful markings - everybody who sees her comments on them. She is also starting to exhibit behaviors that are nearly a perfect cross of her lab & golden roots - the independence and eagerness of a labrador, with the wiggly cuddliness and laid-back demeanor of a golden.

A lot of the biting and chewing she exhibited as a baby has been replaced by more gentle mouthing, and while she's not the sharpest tool in the shed, she learns pretty quickly and is very good 95 percent of the time. (We won't talk about the other five percent - but then, that's just regular obnoxious puppy-stuff, so I'm sure she'll grow out of it!)

She went to the Lake Michigan beach for the first time the other day, and loved the small patches of sand she found in the snow and ice. I have a feeling that she is going to be addicted to the water once it appears again. She's starting to get the hang of retrieving, and is generally just a lot of fun to have around!

Kari

Emmy is Career Changed

Bill & Amy received a call from PAWS Tuesday and Emmy has been career changed! As we saw in her January 15th update, the trainers at PAWS were working hard on her toy fixation...which they decided they weren't making progress on. Emmy will be relocating to Mid-Michigan Kennels, Inc in Eaton Rapids, MI. There, she will work with Mike and his crew to train to be a detection dog. Mid-Michigan Kennel dogs have gone to work at places such as airports and even for Disney recently. We don't know much else right now, but will keep you updated as we hear things. The plus side to all of this is that we'll likely be able to visit Emmy if we want! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers as we wait to see where Emmy will go!

Bubbly is Growing up

Mary sent me this report: "Bubbly is a spirited little girl and so smart but she needs frequent reminding of who is in charge! When we can get her to calm down, she loves to snuggle or lay by our feet (like right now!) She tries so hard to please......she will make some lucky person a wonderful companion." Looks like she is growing in to a sweet dog. Have fun Mary!

Barkley's getting bigger!

Barkley (formerly Ms. Orange) is growing every day - which is lucky, because she needs those long legs to get through all of the deep snow we've been having here in Ludington! She is having a lot of experiences, meeting lots of people, and doing a lot of socializing.

She got to see her mommy, Cheeto, again when we stopped by for a visit on the way back from spending the holidays in Colorado. It was hard to tell whether Cheeto knew it was one of her own puppies, but they had a great time playing together. There's a definite resemblance between mother and daughter.

Unlike Cheeto, who was a very easy puppy to raise, Barkley is quite willful and headstrong - she definitely keeps me on my toes. Cheeto spoiled me; Barkley reminds me that raising and training puppies for Paws can be a lot of work! But it's also very rewarding, and she's very smart and a lot of fun, and she makes me laugh and smile every day. (submitted by Kari Karr)