The Bath

You guys won't believe this. Momma yells at us for getting all muddy and her solution is to spray us with water! Not only that...she then turns a loud machine that sounds like the vacuum monster toward us and blows at us! It's HORRIBLE! We screamed really loud, expecting someone to come save us, but Momma just laughed at us. At least she didn't have a camera out there. We don't look good in wet.

Our sisters, Pixley and Sage, have gone off to their new homes. Pixley lives just a few miles away and has a new big brother, Prince. Pixley learned how to scream like she was upset and now she gets to run all over the house all day long. We knew she was smart.

Sage flew on a big bird to Texas to live with her Grandma Cha'tima and Grandpa Tucker and all of our relatives there.

It's pretty quiet with those two gone; they were obviously the noisy puppies and we're all angels. So we're working hard to make sure Momma and Daddy don't miss the other girls.

Here are some pictures of us after our horrible baths today. Aren't we adorable?

Delano
Denver
Tipton
Emmy

Let sleeping dogs lie...

I've probably used this blog entry title before, but it bears repeating...at least around here.

"Awwww, isn't that adorable?" I can hear you all thinking it. And believe me, no one loves the sight of a sleeping puppy more than I do. Let me tell you how my Saturday started.

First, the dream. I was trying to get ready for a dog show (shocker, I know) but I kept tripping over puppies, lots and lots of puppies. And then they started screaming because I was tripping on them. What was happening in reality about 4am this morning was that a particular group of puppies was hungry and they were expressing that hunger at the top of their freakin' lungs! Now, they may be 7 week old puppies...but they've got adult sized volume on 'em. There is no sleeping through the "I'm HUNGRY NOW" chorus. Some morning I'll wake up enough to record it for those who think I might be exaggerating.

So at 4am I stumble carefully down the stairs, grab a bag of whatever's at the top of the doggie food drawer in the fridge, go upstairs and dump it in the puppy pen....ahhhhhh blissful silence. About 2 hours later it started again...I dumped the contents of the next bag in the doggie drawer in the puppy pen and went back to sleep. Around 7:30....Yep. Again. But this time Daddy was awake and did the honors for me. AND he let me go back to sleep!

I was going to be the best puppy mom. I was going to document every bit of their growth and development in pictures. Heck, now I know a little more how a new mom feels. I'm lucky I have time to brush my teeth between feeding the puppies, playing with the puppies, cleaning up after the puppies...and starting it all over again 2 hours later!

I wouldn't trade it for the world. But next time I'll think twice before I leave the puppy pen in my bedroom past 3 weeks!

We have names!!!!!

Girl 1, Star, Girl 3, Buff Boy, Whitey and Gray boy.....boring names, no question about it. Now we're the 99'ers. Named for small towns along Hwy 99, the drive from Denali's to Satinka's, Mom & Dad have finally decided to give us names. We're so excited...and pretty certain that we can get away with murder 'cause a) we're cute and b) they won't remember who is who!

Girl #1 is now Madera, or Maddie. Star (aka Girl#2) is now Manteca, or Teca. And Girl #3 is now Pixley. Buff Boy (aka Boy#1) is Delano, or Del. Whitey (Boy #2) is now Modesto, or Des. And Gray Boy (Boy #3) is now Tipton.

The Rule of Sevens

Yep, there are rules for everything! By the time a puppy is seven weeks old, a well socialized puppy will have:

1. Walked/played on seven different surfaces - we've already covered tile, carpet, vinyl and fleece...three to go, we're thinking that grass, gravel and concrete will round out the seven.

2. Eat off of seven different types of bowls - well, tonight's first food was out of an aluminum pan...we're going to have to do some work to cover seven surfaces...I wonder if eating the spillage off of vinyl flooring counts...I'm gonna count it!

3. Experience seven different kinds of toys....right, like THAT'S going to be a problem?

4. Experience seven significantly different sounds - well, they've heard an alarm clock, tonight they got to hear a drill and a vacuum cleaner...I'm sure I can come up with four other sounds...oh, wait, they've heard me snoring! That's another!

5. Been in seven different locations. We're going to have to work on this one. So far they've only been in my bedroom. But hey, they're just three weeks old. We've got time for this.

6. Met and played with seven different people. Well, now that their eyes are open, we should probably start this count over :-)

7. Been exposed to seven challenges - well, this will be fun. Some of the examples I read include: climb on a box, climb off a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence

8. Eaten in seven different locations - this one may be tougher. Do you know how messy puppies are? My general rule is that they can only eat in easy to clean places.

Sheesh. And this is after we did the Day 3 to Day 16 "Super Puppy" exercises! And some people think this breeding thing is easy. I've got a word for them...but I don't think I can publish it on Blogger!

Something new every day

One of the joys of puppies is watching, almost hourly, their development. From finding their feet to being able to navigate the bedroom on the tile floor (under supervision of course, otherwise I'd have to go fish puppies out from under the bed!) to finding their voices (not so thrilled about this one at 3am!) they seem to change on a daily basis.

They've finally figured out that there's a big world outside of their whelping box. How they made the connection, I'm not sure. We take them out of the box to play a couple times a day, but they're always pretty content to hang out in their bar and have the mobile catering unit come by when called. It seems that little bit of nirvana (mine). All too soon it'll be time to set up the downstairs puppy pen and let them explore a little more of the world. I know it'll be a lot quieter at night when their world encompasses more than just my bedroom!!!

Today we discovered our feet!

Six little toddlers running around the whelping box. That's what's happening in my bedroom these days.

Just a couple of days ago, Girl #2, aka Star, started opening her eyes. Little, tiny, squinty eyes...but I saw eyeballs! Slowly her brothers and sisters followed and this morning, when I went up to torment...errr...play with the puppies, they all had their eyes open a little bit. Some of them don't seem to be as inclined to open their eyes and face the world as quickly as the others. Here's Sunday's group picture. That's Star there on top (see how creative we got with her name?) and that yawning puppy on the right? That's one of the boys. Don't ask me which one, can't you see how similar they all look?

And watching them try to walk is SO adorable. They'd get up on their feet, so darn proud...but a yawn or a too-fast turn of the head would send them tumbling like defective Weebles. (If you don't know what a Weeble is, I don't want to hear about it!) I went upstairs about 10 minutes ago, in response to a cacophony of noise on the baby monitor (yes, we got a baby monitor so I could listen to Satinka and the puppies...next up? KaosKam!). They're WALKING! The whelping box is a hive of activity with the little dudes and dudettes toddling across the blanket. Satinka doesn't look as excited over this development as I am. She really has to rush to get into the box and into feeding position because now they move really fast...well, compared to before when they were simply dragging their little bodies across the blanket.

Today we toddle, tomorrow the Iditarod!

And, yes, if you haven't checked lately, there are new pictures from last weekend's photo shoot on the website. And we'll take more this weekend, but it may take me a few days to get them up because...drum roll please...I have a new job! Of course, it happens just as the puppies are getting interactive...but hey, it'll pay the bills!

The Satinklettes have arrived

From the first squeak at about 4:30 this morning to the surprise #6 puppy at about 10:30, the Satinklettes made their way into the world. The first one out was a gray girl (gray, not so surprising, girl, very exciting). Then, after about 30 minutes, gray girl #2 showed up. She's the one with the diamond on her back. Then, after another 30 minutes or so, gray girl #3 showed up! I can't tell you how excited I was at this point, because I wanted a girl. Now I have three girls to choose from.

Then the boys started arriving...boys as in PLURAL! We were hoping for one more, and the arrival of the bonus boy, #5, produced cries of joy (after all, we didn't have to do anything but watch).

Then a little bit later Sean hollered "there's another puppy!" Number SIX! WOOHOO!

Six darling gray and white puppies, three boys, three girls. A little later today, after Mom and the kids have had some time to bond and eat and rest we'll take their Birthday pictures. For now, we're just going to enjoy them!