Wrastlin'

We no longer have sleepy puppies that lay around and snuggle all day long. They have turned into rabble rousers that investigate, interrogate, and just generally gnaw on anything they can sink their little teeth into. They are vigorous and ruthless wrestlers when they are tangling with their siblings. But it always ends with them being friends again.
This is Scotch and P.J. There are no rules among these pups. Anything goes in their play. They will stick their opponents whole nose in their mouth and chomp down. Ears, tails, paws, and other things - it's all fair game.

"Grrr, I'm gonna eat your face!"

They are definitely in the teething phase. Having them bite each other is no big deal, but we don't want them thinking the same way about people. We are trying to be vigilant in not letting them gnaw on us, replacing toes and hands with a chew toy instead. It'll take them a little time, they are just puppies after all, but they will get it. 

In the mean time, they are very entertaining to watch! 

Momma Love

The puppies love their Momma, well, they mostly love her milk.

Weaning has been a bit challenging because Jinx is very patient with them and never growls or barks at them when they try to nurse. She might ignore them and walk away, but that doesn't seem to be a big deterrent. She is very sweet to them, allowing them to climb all over her and chew on her lips.

Jude (his new name!) is coming over for some snuggle time. 

Luna (that's her new name!) is getting some quality time with her Momma.

Is this not just too precious? 

Doing a little wrestling.

When the puppies nurse now, which is less and less, they are ridiculously vigorous. Jinx never even bats an eyelash, she just calmly lays there. 

Unless there is a ball around, then watch out puppies! 

Jinx with her "Ain't nobody got time for this" face.

I am sure Jinx isn't going to be too sad when all the puppies go to their forever homes. After all, they are stealing quite a bit of her attention. :)

Puppy Pool Party!

We filled the puppy pool with an inch and a half of water to introduce the puppies to swimming. We left it in the hot sun on the deck and then came back when the shade was covering the pool. This way the cold water wouldn't be such a shocker to their little bodies. They don't like being too hot or too cold. 
I would have thought that romping, playing, and swimming in the water would come naturally to these puppies, but apparently a love for water is something that they learn. So we began the process of introducing these babies to water. After all, their families may want to take them to the beach to play! Plus, all dogs need a bath once in awhile.

Wyat wanted to be in the water with them to offer his support so they wouldn't be scared. 

  

Everyone was a little uncertain at first. 

Wyat wanted to show the puppies how fun water can be. I am not certain they agreed.

Especially Kisses. She seemed a bit insulted that we got her wet and spent most of the time in the pool with this posture.

P.B. walked around checking it out.

P.J. says 'let me ouuuut!'

The puppies and Wyat all mingling in the pool.

Scotcheroo wants out too.

He thought I deserved to have my pants chewed on for making him go in that water.

Raisin was calm, cool, and collected as usual. He's like a rock. 

We actually did the pool 2 days in a row. I thought it might help. The puppies weren't any more excited the second time, but they will get there.

Scotcheroo and P.B. are looking very pathetic.

And adorable.

It's cute watching puppies do the same thing I am used to seeing the big dogs do. Like shaking their wet fur.

When all the puppies had enough of swimming practice, we toweled them off and gave them some snuggles.

There's a future hunter in the mix. He is sitting proudly next to his 'kill'.

We'll get the puppies in the pool the next hot day we have. It's good for them, cools them down and cleans their fur. The more positive exposures we have with water, the better!

First Taste of Gruel for The Labradoodle Pups

Recently it has seemed like the pups are hungrier than usual. Plus, Jinx is less interested than feeding them than usual.She takes great care of them throughout the night but daytime is another story. She just wants to have fun with us and be with us. Often I have to call her over to the puppies and lay her down to feed them. Once she gets there, she doesn't seem to mind nursing them, especially if I stay near and pet her. She does seem to be emptying out more quickly and I know the pups are consuming more. 
All of these factors made me decide it was time to begin the weaning process and introduce puppy food. It will take a few days for them to catch on and truly dig in and eat so I wanted to get started and help eliminate some of the feeding burden from Jinx's shoulders. Puppy gruel is just puppy food mixed with water, blended up so there are no large chunks and made watery enough to lap up.
I was amazed at how well they liked it! They all really surprised me with how well they licked it up and how much they took in. 

Here Tate is putting the gruel in the pen. 

A few of the boys immediately approached the foreign substance.

There was some sniffing and tasting.

Then came some good old fashioned chowing down.

You know what surprises me? That puppies naturally learn to lap up liquids. Cool huh? Because really, how would I teach them that?

Here's Scotcheroo. Not a huge fan of the new puppy pen.

"Let me ou-oooot!"

He also was leaning against the pen with long suffering. Look at his cute little messy snout after eating his puppy gruel like a boss!

Although the puppies are used to being contained, the outdoors are very different then the basement and these walls are see through, unlike the puppy pool. So their little worlds are expanding. 

Here's Mama Jinx. Feeding the pups is definitely more intense than it used to be. 

The pups will continue with their mushy puppy food for a while. I will slowly decrease the amount of water and they will slowly learn to chew as their teeth come in. 

Feeding time is a huge mess. Puppies have no idea that they are supposed to keep their paws out of the food. In fact I think they like eating it better when they are nearly submerged in it.

Fortunately, Jinx is happy to help with the clean up.

3 Weeks and The Puppies First Outdoor Adventure

As part of the puppies social development, exposure to the outdoors is important. Previously we have had them in a quiet room in our basement with a few forays upstairs. Sunday, I decided it was time to expose them to the great outdoors. As they get bigger, and messier, they will be spending more and more time outside. 
Their reaction to the outside was mixed. Mostly, it stressed them all out a little bit, but that is okay. We stayed near them the whole time to offer security. Although, when Jinx is near, all they want is milk! 

We introduced them to the grass first, but I was too busy to get any pictures. Sorry about that. A few of the boys tried tasting the grass to see if it tasted any good. I don't think they liked it. It was really sunny and warm in the grass and everyone was complaining. I moved them onto a blanket in the shade and that seemed much better to them. It could be that the bright light was also a bit harsh on their eyes. 

Here is Scotcheroo making sure we know that he isn't a fan of this adventure. 

Raisin however, took it all in stride. He was also the most adventurous, wandering the furthest away from the crowd. Fearless little beastie! Did you notice how he can sit up now?

Is it not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

They can all sit up and they all walk around like little drunken sailors. It's adorable. They are getting sturdier all the time. 

Scotcheroo decided to hunker down next to the basket and his brother. The outdoors weren't very interesting to him. He later walked over to me and snuggled up. 

Kisses did what Kisses does, she didn't stress out about it. 

P.B. explored a bit and didn't seem too bothered by the outside. 

P.J. however was very vocal in his dislike of being outside of his comfort zone. It won't be too long before he loves being outside.

We will keep taking them outside every day and lengthening the time they spend out there in their little puppy pen. It'll soon be a place they love to be. 

Labradoodle Pseudo Names - As Promised

You can't have a littler of puppies and not call them each something. Calling them all 'Puppy' seems a bit boring. So, being the creative people we are, we decided to give the pups each a temporary name until they get their forever name from their new families. 
I thought we would stick with a theme in order to simplify the naming process and to help us remember the different litters down the road. 
Wyat Latched on to this guy and originally dubbed him 'Brownie',  

To honor that we thought we would go with a food theme. After a bit of teasing about naming a brown dog, 'Brownie', his name was changed. 

His official pseudo name is Raisin Brownie Beaber.

You can call him Raisin.

He's big for his age and he likes to chill out. He's our biggest boy. Don't let his color fool you, he could change colors like his dad by the time he is 2.

Next up is our little girl. Seth was in charge of picking her name.

Meet Kisses (like Hershey Kisses).

She is a sweet little snuggler. Although born 2nd, her size makes her the runt of this litter.

Tate picked the name for our golden boy with the pink nose.

Say hello to Pepper-Jack. He is more pale than his brothers. This guy was the first born of the litter and is just a bit bigger than his sister.

I got to name the next little guy.

This is Scotcheroo.

I love his cream color and black nose and paw pads.

He was the first one we saw trying to play with his siblings.

Last but not least, Hunky Hubby's hunk of cuteness;

Meet Peanut Brittle. He is also a big guy. We call him and Scotcheroo the twins because they look very similar with their black noses and paws. But P.B. looks to have a little more red in his coat. I won't be surprised if he darkens up over time. 

So there they are. Our adorable babies and their temporary names. They are starting to play with each other and us, walk on all fours, and go potty by themselves. They are growing so fast. 

Wouldn't you like to take one home?