The 4-Wheelers are 6 Weeks!

Hello all,

Well, here it is, the six-week mark.  The veterinarian will be here tomorrow to give all the puppies their first set of shots and a thorough examination. We will then make it known to the “first picks” which puppies are available to choose from. It’s an exciting time for all and I understand how unnerving it can be as well.

Once upon a time I wrote about pick of the litter and how frustrated I become over it. I ended up deleting that post by accident, but I will be rewriting it. I’ll just say quickly that when making the decision to chose a pup, I feel it is the most important thing to research the pedigrees, know your lines, know what you want. Pick your breeding and breeder, tell them everything about you and what you are looking for, and then close your eyes and pick one–or let the breeder pick for you! No one does this, except us, perhaps! In the original post, I told all about how we usually just take the last pup of the litter. It’s all in the breeding. Trust your breeder and know the lines. Your breeder wants you–and the pup–to be happy. Okay, enough about that. On to the good stuff…

Sierra is no longer the smallest pup. Wow, she has really put on weight this past week. Ranger is actually the smallest, now! They are all around 6 lbs, now.  They received their 2nd worming today.

The puppies have completely transitioned to dry, puppy kibble. Shay would still gladly nurse them–and they hunt her down like, well, animals! Ha ha.. I am removing her from the room for a good day or two. It is time to get down to business. There is much to do before the puppies start leaving. In the next week, I will be working on several things.

First, I realized that I have never put their ID collars on! I am doing that right away. This helps get them used to a collar. We have introduced a few crates around the room and I will try to start getting them used to staying in them for short periods of time and gradually increase it until they are spending nights in them. I will also be working more and more on the paper training and hopefully getting them to go to the door to “go” outside.

The weather in PA has been horrible and the puppies have not seen much of the outdoors because of it. It has either been pouring down rain or sunny and bitterly cold! Way too cold for puppies to go out–at least at this age. They did get to venture out today a bit, but it was raining–ice–all day, so they just went out and right back in. A few of them ventured a little longer. We have a little area outside the basement door fenced-in temporarily. I leave the door cracked open enough for them to go in/out. I just get the wood burner really going to keep things warm in here.

Titan escaped the whelping box last night–with the door up! So today Scott removed the pig rail and installed the boards around the top of the box. That should deter them for a few more days, but they will most likely be able to get over that as well, soon.  Titan got out and I woke up to him chasing Shay around the room! Too funny. But, that certainly had the rest of the pack all wound up–they wanted out, too! At 4:00 am, after just getting to bed only an hour or so before, it was a bit irritating. 🙂 They are way too adorable to be irritated with.

They are really a lot of fun, now. Ripping and tearing around the room, barking and carrying on. It is very cute. They are setting the order of the pack, but I find it difficult to really pick out the dominant ones with this litter. They really seem so even in temperament. Libbey, Sable, and Tahoe seem a bit more laid-back. That could change. But, they just don’t seem to get into much trouble as the rest! Those 3 are also very cuddly. All are so curious and nothing much seems to bother them at all. It is very hard to get much done–especially cleaning. They think it is a grand time to chase and bite the broom and mop–and even some, the sweeper. They are chewing, chewing, chewing. I am so grateful for puppy toys and bones!

They have started to sight point one another. I love that! All have pretty stylish and intense points for 6 weeks. Scott plays with the wing a bit with them and oh my is that ever fun to watch. It amazes me to see this with every litter. It’s just “in there.”

Here are some new photos–and wow is that difficult, now! They are either sleeping or in high gear running a-muck! I really wish I could get them outside to romp in the yard a couple times a day. The yard is just a mud-slide at the moment, though.  I will be trying to get all the individual pups’ pages updated tonight and tomorrow. Gosh, I am so far behind on things. I really apologize. I have been very blessed with work lately and after that and the puppy care, I just can’t seem to get the site updated.

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