Three puppies

Things are getting quieter round here as we just have three pups left who won't be leaving until next weekend because of their new owners' other commitments. Dubh is the one on the left eating out of the pink bowl, and Benna (now called Leisha) is the one on the right with the green bowl. Zo (was Rex) will be having a wash and trim soon!

Cally got washed and trimmed. Short back and sides.

Farewell Laurel and Theo

Today Theo (formerly Cacophonix) and Laurel (formerly Pink) went to live with their new owners. Both are settling in well, although Laurel was apparently sick in the car. Here are some pictures and videos of them:

Laurel 'Wywylwynd Adhara'

Theo 'Wywylwynd Betelgeuse'

Farewell to Rana and Fleur

The pups will be 8 weeks old on Tuesday, and Rana (formerly known as Lavender) and Fleur (formerly known as Midge) have now gone to their new homes. I wish them the very best and hope they bring happiness to the lovely couples who are their new owners, and that their owners will likewise bring happiness to them! Two more pups will be leaving on Tuesday, another next weekend, and the last two I am holding on to for a week or so longer so their people can fit settling in their puppy around other commitments.

Unfortunately I did not get any good pictures of Lavender as her people came early in the morning and she had to be washed and tidied up the evening beforehand and the light was not good, but here are some pictures of little Fleur after her wash and trim, and enjoying some final quality time alone with mother Pasha.

More pictures of Fleur in her Facebook album.

Spring and the vet

The vet has been today and the puppies have been health-checked and had their first shots for parvo, distemper, and hepatitis. All the pups are doing well, and the three boys all have both balls in their scrotums (I tried and tried to think of a way to phrase that, that would not sound so crass and vulgar, and I failed!).

Meanwhile, the past few days I feel a hint of spring in the air, and that can only mean one thing: the incubators are coming out ready for hatching season!

I have bought a still air incubator because, although I like the forced air automatic Brinsea Octagon incubator I started with last year very much as an incubator, I was not impressed with it as a hatcher. It was difficult to keep the humidity up, and if the hatch took a long time, the peeps who were last out were sticky from the constant airflow drying out the membranes, and the fan got clogged with fluff from the hatch. The idea is now to carry on setting in the Octagon and use the still-air incubator as a dedicated hatcher, since the conditions in it should be better for this and the peeps will have more room. I am eagerly awaiting word of my goose eggs being ready for me to collect, and hope this year we will have better luck with the geese, as last year only two hatched and they both died of a mysterious disease.

We also have a visitor come to stay with us for a while. This is Twiggy, and as poodles should, she loves people and is bright and bouncy and happy!

Volhard temperament test results

The pups are now 7 weeks old and have been Volhard temperament tested (big thanks to Jane and Graeme Rowden for coming up to see the pups and do the testing). The results have been posted to the individual pups' pages on the website.

There are no real right or wrong answers for this test, but it works as a helpful indication as to what sort of homes and owners individual pups are best suited to. Parts 1-5 look at the temperament of the puppy and how it interacts socially with a stranger. Guarding breeds where strong leadership and training is needed are usually expected to score 1s and 2s, whereas hound breeds which are meant to be independent should score 6s. Poodles were not originally intended for either of these purposes and should ideally score somewhere in the middle. All the pups reacted calmly in response to the elevation, restraint, and social dominance tests, although some of the pups on the social dominance test sat calmly and enjoyed being stroked, and this did not fit any of the options given for the result. Some of the pups were not very interested in coming to or following the new person, unfortunately, although they did not hide or try to run away or otherwise act as though they were afraid of the situation, rather they just seemed a bit bewildered by the unfamiliar environment and lack of presence of other pups.

Parts 6-10 of the test are to do with working ability and suitability for different tasks. Pups who react to stimuli such as chasing a thrown object are likely to make good hunting and sporting dogs, and those who take lots of interest in strange objects will be good candidates for things like agility. On the other hand, a puppy who ignores the stimuli and is non-reactive is a better option for therapy or guide dog work.

All of the pups were tactile and showed no signs of aggression or fear in their responses. Benna and Pink were the most drivey and outgoing of the pups and would probably thrive with people who would like to take up a sport or activity with them. The other pups seem to be quieter and calmer and will do best as companions with a familiar routine.

Also, a lovely puppy from Germany came to visit, but I was too disorganised to take a picture.

Storm and Tempest

Saturday morning found the roof blown off a small outbuilding and all but two of the turkeys blown away and killed by predators. This is pretty much the end of the chapter for the turkey venture. Although they are nice birds, we are going to have to rethink our pen arrangement and start again once we have something better, because they are too wild and will not roost in the buildings and insist on going up the trees, and slowly they have been disappearing one by one all the time we have had them. We have not even had one meal of them to show for it, and it is a great annoyance that most of them have probably served as fuel for the local fox scourge. I have offered the remaining two hens to a neighbour who keeps a few other birds as pets in exchange for eggs back later; if they do not have room, I will be selling the turkeys on (if they survive long enough to get them to a poultry auction).

Meanwhile, the pups will be 7 weeks tomorrow and are doing well. Yesterday a huge family with children of all different ages came to meet them, and today they had chicken wings for dinner. Three hours later, the pups were still playing with the remainder of them, and the scene looked like I had disposed of a body!

More car rides

Yesterday the other three puppies went for car rides. Rex and Dubh went with me in the van in the morning to get chicken food. Lavender is the calmest pup, so I decided that she should be the one who would be OK without a car 'buddy'. Unfortunately the van broke down (although it did manage to be convenient and do it in the garage at home) so Lavender had to go in the car. All the pups are coping well with the car rides, although some of them are a bit slobbery afterwards. Videos below:

This morning, Benna escaped and had fun playing with the adult dogs.

I am having to make a long round trip this weekend, so will likely be incommunicado until Sunday night. My husband will be looking after the pups, which should be interesting! I hope the car does not break down. What with the van breaking down and the car having a flat tyre last week, I am not having too much luck with vehicles at the moment.

Going for a spin

Yesterday, Pasha's pups were 6 weeks old. The pups are now eating dry food without it having to be wetted first (they also still eat tinned food and frozen food too which should make it easy for them to adapt to whatever their new owners prefer to feed them). I did not post an update yesterday because I was busy and I took Cally to agility, which was our first time back since before the pups were born. Cally was so excited to be there again she could not concentrate and was fairly useless at it.

Today four of the puppies went on a car ride. Tomorrow I will take out the other three.

Benna and Cacophonix (whose name is now Theo)

Pink and Fleur

Video of Pink and Fleur

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO DRIVE AND MAKE VIDEOS OF PUPPIES AT THE SAME TIME

;-)

The videos in the car were all made on my own land. This is not a public road and nobody was at risk.

On my tod

Today's video: a mad half hour. The crazy bouncy cream pup is Fleur.

Today the pups had some practice being on their own for a short time in a crate. Reactions varied!

Cacophonix: chilled out

Rex: noisy

Dubh the relaxed and very photogenic

Pink being incarcerated stylishly

Benna trying to escape as usual

Fleur the cute

Lavender: the most chilled of the lot

Out and about

Today I took Dubh for a short walk with the other dogs. He didn't walk of course, but was carried all the way, and unfortunately I don't have any pictures, as my hands were full. I don't think he liked the cold wind, because he grumbled to himself all the way!

Loki didn't like the pups playing with his cuddly toy. Benna wanted to do her own thing and Fleur would rather play tickling games than play with a toy!

Pups at 5 1/2 weeks

Some more visitors came to see the pups today. The pen has been extended fully now, so the pups have lots of room, which unfortunately doesn't seem to dissuade Benna from trying to escape! Starting next week I will begin taking pups out into the world individually, one pup each day of a week, since we have seven pups.

Washing Lavender and Fleur

Today the last two pups, Lavender and Fleur, were washed and clipped:

Lavender

Lavender's Facebook album

Fleur

Wywylwynd Capella

Fleur's Facebook album

And today's video is of the pups playing in a tunnel. Fortunately the tunnel is wipable, because one of the pups wee'd in it.

Washed pups Benna and Pink

Today Benna and Pink got washed. The black/blue girls have all been registered but I did not specify the microchip numbers on the registration as the people who are first on the list for one of them requested a name but have not yet decided which one they would like. The other two people wanting a dark girl have unfortunately both dropped out, so two of the dark girls are available, although I'm not sure exactly which ones at this point.

Benna

Benna's Facebook album

Pink

Pink's Facebook album

Pink was funny to groom. She kept licking my hands while I was trying to do her feet, and licking my forehead and trying to bite my forelock. Benna was a fidget and I think the picture of her stacked is on my sister's camera.

My sister and my nephew came to visit, and credit for the following pictures goes to Laura Old (and William Old for posing with the pups) as Laura has a much better camera than me and is more skilled at using it.

Rex (above)

Benna

Cacophonix

Dubh

Today the pups also got some tripe chews, as they seem to like chewing the cardboard in their pen. All of them are at various stages of growing teeth. I have found with all my poodles that they are completely disinterested in plastic chews, so natural chews like these edible dried tripe pieces work well for them.