It is hard to believe that the puppies are 7 weeks old already. They have now moved on from the "hooligan" stage to the "outright vandals" stage! They are getting into crafts - mostly working with paper mache, making good use of the newspaper in their pen......a very resourceful bunch of puppies. The cardboard boxes that made such good tunnels and dens just a week ago are now considered giant chew toys. We are putting the increased chewing levels to good use by feeding them whole raw chicken backs. Over the course of the weekend most of the puppies became proficient at eating a whole back, but it takes them about 10 minutes or so.
The puppies are getting increasingly adventurous and our walks from the house to the kennel are getting more complicated, as puppies decide to venture off and explore new things!. We need a border collie to herd them all up! They found an "escaped" plant pot on one trip, and have decided that this is the best toy ever. One puppy will carry it around and play "keep away" with the other puppies. The funny part is that the puppy that is carrying it can't see very well because the pot is usually in the way. Incidently we have pretty much given up on our garden already this year! Too little time and then there's those 10 puppies that insist on walking through the vegetable beds and chewing on the little zucchini plants....
The big event this weekend was the temperament testing on Sunday. Our friend, Maureen, came down from Calgary to do the testing. The puppies spent all day Saturday swotting up for their exam (just kidding). We did the tests in our new (and unfinished) kennel building, as the puppies had never been in there before and temperament testing must be done in a new location, with a person that they have not met before. The good news is that the testing went very well and it confirmed that this is a very outgoing, people-oriented and biddable group of puppies! Every single puppy did the retrieve part of the test (going out and getting a crumpled up ball of paper and returning it to the tester). All of them were very forgiving of the tester after she had held them down on their backs for 30 seconds and they LOVED the loud banging of a metal spoon on a metal tray. No sound sensitive puppies in this bunch! Maureen commented in an email to us later "The puppies are really lovely. You have a nice mix of pups, overall very similar, with only some minor differences, very people-oriented and all really nice. "
Another test this morning! This time we wanted to see how the puppies reacted to a dead pigeon, to get an impression of how "birdy" they are and how easy they may to be train for hunting. Even if not all of these puppies are going to be hunting dogs or do hunting tests, we feel that it is important to maintain the working side of the breed. All of the puppies were very interested in and excited about the pigeon, most of them actually picked it up and even brought it to us when it was thrown! We were pleased. It was very funny to watch them try to figure out the best way to pick up the bird and we saw several interesting variations.
Today's big event was a trip to the vet. It was quite the assembly line as the puppies got their health checks, tattoos and first vaccination. They were happy to give many flat-coat kisses to all the staff at the clinic and charmed everyone there. All the puppies got a clean bill of health. By the time we got home they seemed to have forgotten the whole experience and were ready for more adventures in the yard.
We have a few obedience broad jump boards in the puppy play area. Without any encouragement from us, they love to step up on them and jump off the other side (the jumps are only a couple of inches off of the ground). Great fun! Of course this is probably terrible training for the future obedience dogs in the group - in the ring they are not supposed to step on the broad jump! To the right is one of the liver males in action (#8?).
