Decker x Shasta Pups - Week 4

Here is what the following week will bring for the babies:

Week Four (Days 22-28)

• Begin to eat food
• Begin to bark, wag tails, bite, paw, bare teeth, growl and chase
• Use legs well
• Tire easily
• Depth perception starts

Cindy has scheduled appointments for the pup's CERF exam and temperament evaluation already, although those won't be taking place for several weeks still.

A CERF examination is a typical eye screening examination that is done by a veterinarian specialized in ophthalmology. The pup’s pupils will be dilated with eye drops and the examiner will examine the eyes looking for major abnormalities. This ensures that the pup's eyes are healthy when they go to their new homes.

Less is More

Isn't that a phrase on the "Life is Good" clothing?

Ecko and I went to the agility barn on Saturday. The round-trip drive takes me about 1:20 and we trained for about 20 or 25 minutes. In twenty minutes, we got a lot done. Ecko was panting pretty good, but still eager to go when we quit, so I think it was perfect. We worked on:

• Jumping 20 inches (I have been jumping her 16 but she is ready for the "big time"). She is pretty much fine with this, although we did spend a bit of time gradually increasing the height on the tire jump. I will need to do this for a couple of more training sessions before she is quite on-board with the tire being this high.
• A fun sequence of about 4-5 jumps and 3 tunnels. We ran this a couple of different ways and it was a really motivational way to be able to let her run pretty fast while still working on some crosses and those higher jumps.
• We ran the dog walk and a-frame a couple of times working on contacts and also speed on the dog walk.
• Did a full set of weaves about 6 times and....
• Done!

On Sunday (cool and rainy, argh!) I took the same approach to water training.

Decker theoretically already knows all the exercises I will be asking him to do at the trial in mid-July, but he hasn't actually done them in about 2 years. His "review" went really well.

• 60 foot retrieve from shore - Nailed this, including waiting for me to send him. Sometimes he gets a bit over-eager.
• Gear bag drag. Did this twice nicely and in turbo mode both times.
• Float line retrieve off shore. He took direction from the boat to shore nicely, especially since he definitely did NOT see the line on shore. He spotted it as soon as he got close and did an amazing, lightening fast snatch and booked it back out to the boat.
• We ended his session with some buoy ball drop training. We did one send to the marker and target without the buoy ball, just to make sure he remembered his cues. He did that part with no problems so we did the next one with the ball and he nailed that too.

Stoker has been acting slightly stressy ever since some sessions went south last summer. For a girl who seems a bit ditzy sometimes, she has a memory like an elephant.

• I rowed the boat and Julie sat on the platform and fed her cookies. She asked her for simple behaviors like hand targeting, sit, down, changing sides (left to right and right to left). Stokie settled down nicely and enjoyed all the treats.
• We decided to ask her to jump off the boat and here is where it got interesting. With Julie off the platform calling her and throwing the toy, Stoker would jump into shore, or parallel to shore from the boat. Several times she decided she couldn't jump and we just didn't push the issue. When she did jump, it was really fast and she hurled herself off, so that is promising.
• After a bit of a break, we worked on sending to the marker and secondary target in the water for a thrown toy reward, followed by treats. She did super well at this and we only did about four repetitions.
• Finally, we worked on her swimming at my side as I walked 5 or 10 feet at a time in the water. I asked her to hold a rope in her mouth and when I cued her to drop it, would reward her with the toy and treats. Just a few repetitions of this, which she did very well at, and we ended on a positive note.

After we put all the gear away, I got both dogs out and let them have a good romp play-retrieving in the lake. It's good exercise for them and they love it!

Puppy Update - Week 2

Decker and Shasta's puppies continue to thrive. Cindy is quite pleased with their progress and says they are a strong and active bunch.

Here is where they are at developmentally (they turned 2 weeks today):

During Week Two (Days 8-14):

• Eyes should open around days 8-10 (eyes are open on all the pups)
  
• Ears should open around days 13-17
  

Week Three (Days 15-21)

• Teeth begin to erupt
• Puppies stand up and start walking (Cindy says they have already started to do this!)
  
• Begin to lap liquids
• Defecate/urinate without stimulation
• Start becoming aware of environment
• Start playing with littermates
• Develop sense of smell
• Puppies will start to discriminate as to where to relieve themselves

Cindy hopes to have some video clips of the little ones soon.

Pics from the Weekend

The Chili-girl loves to go to the lake and doesn't get to go as often as she used to with two younger dogs in training for titles. Here she is taking a nice snooze in the sunshine on the way home from the lake on Saturday. Just love her!

Deck-man is such a goof-ball, but loves to strike dignified, thoughtful poses in the back yard (and I love to capture them with the camera). A study in contrast, that's our guy.

Puppy Pics and Theme

There are pics of Decker and Shasta's pups now in the "media gallery" on Cindy's website at:

http://www.cascadepwd.org/

They still look like little aliens, but it is fun to look at their markings. Cindy said they were quite active and squirmy during their photo session.

The litter theme for this litter is Northwest's Best Seafood, with the pups litter names being seafood restaurants. Here is the line-up:

The boys are:

• "Port" (Anthony's Home Port)
• "Chandler" (Chandler's Seafood)
• "Ivar" (Ivar's Seafood)
• "Ray" (Ray's Boat house)
  

The girls:

• "Salty" (Salty's)
• "Elly" (Elliot's Oyster House)
  

With the cool, rainy weather we have had all spring, typing the list of names made me long for a nice hot bowl of clam chowder! :-)

Whirlwind Weekend and Puppy Progress

Woke up Saturday morning to cool, overcast weather (was supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny), a splitting headache, and the realization that we were supposed to meet at the lake for water work at 8:30 AM. Ugh! After spilling coffee all over Julie's car and launching the boat without the plug in (fortunately, we caught that quickly, loaded it back up, drained it and relaunched with the plug in before it sank!) the day began to improve. After the clouds burned off, the temperatures really did hit 80 and the lake was beautiful. The water was reasonably warm and I was smart enough to take Chili (who is a blast to train at the water) and Ecko (who is training on easy, baby-dog working stuff) so I had successful training sessions despite the fact that my headache would NOT go away.

Returning home from the lake around 2:00 PM, I found that Dick and Ginny had already arrived for their visit. They let themselves in and were lounging on the patio with Reef, Decker and Stoker when I walked in the door. Jan arrived a few minutes later and we all had a nice late lunch on the patio.

After lunch, Reef got his monthly haircut. Dave and Rebecca arrived with their two PWDs from the agility trial in time to watch Reef endure the final snips of his grooming torture, then we all enjoyed a relaxing evening hanging out with the dogs and chatting.

It was up early again on Sunday and out the door to the agility trial. Decker and Jan were entered and we timed our arrival just slightly too late for him to walk his Excellent Standard course. Ugh! The guys did a creditable job on the course with just a brief detour over an off-course jump. Both Deck and Jan were hot and lazy by the time Jumpers rolled around in the afternoon and missed the weaves there, although the rest of the course was smooth.

PUPPY STUFF

No pics or videos of Decker and Shasta's babies yet, unfortunately (I think Cindy and Rick have their hands full!), but here is some of what the pups would have been up to during their first week.

• 90% of time spent sleeping, 10% eating
• Susceptible to heat/cold - cannot regulate their own body temperature
  
• Instinctive reflexes: crawl, seek warmth, nurse
• They can right themselves if placed upside down
• Need stimulation for urination/defecation (Mama cleaning them does the trick.
• Rapid development of central nervous system
• Rectal temperatures 94-97 degrees Farenheit
• Pups may lose 10% of weight after birth, but should start gaining again and weight should double by end of week

The pup's eyes should begin to open during the next week.

And then there were six...

It isn't unusual for one puppy from a litter to not survive those crucial first few days, and we said goodbye to one of Decker and Shasta's male pups yesterday, leaving 4 boys and 2 girls. Sorry little guy, wish you had the chance to grow up strong and happy like your siblings hopefully will, but it wasn't meant to be.

My report from Cindy says the rest of the bunch is gaining weight like crazy and that they feel like little sausages, they are so round and full.

They're here...

Decker's puppies were born on Saturday morning. Shasta did a good job with the delivery and is being an excellent Mom, as she was with her first litter. Apparently Decker and Shasta didn’t get the message that I am looking for a girl puppy, as they had lots of boys!

There are five males and two females. All pups are black with white markings with one being Irish-marked. Two are curlies (both males) and the rest are wavy.

I can't wait to see the little guys in a few weeks and will share photos if Cindy sends some...

The clock is ticking....

The countdown is getting close on Decker's puppies being born. We only do the puppy thing every couple of years so when there is a litter due, even long-distance (Shasta is with her family in Washington), it is very exciting.

Perhaps Shasta will follow Rick's plan and have her pups on Cindy's birthday on Friday? Cindy reports that Shasta is very big now and all she wants to do is sleep and eat. She got her pre-whelping haircut last night. Hopefully all will go well for this sweet girl and there will be a lovely, lively litter of pups to show for it.

Until then, we will continue to wait expectantly for good news...

I took some time tonight to dig out some baby photos of Decker and his siblings and reminisce a bit.

Decker's brother "Marlin"

Decker, keeping cool...

Come on people, I'm trying to nap here....

Decker was one of the "Ocean's Eleven". Yes, there were really 11 of them, so this is just over half! Their litter names were sea critters, Otter, Squid, Marlin, Moray (that was Decker).... I can't remember all the others.