Bunjee lives in GA where he is looking forward to an agility career. He has also learned to swim and goes to football games to watch the marching band and shares his home with a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and a Yorkshire Terrier. He has his own Facebook page and several movies on uTube.
Georgette now lives in GA with half-brother Jasper and his ??little girls. Jasper is undoubtedly teaching Georgette about his ponies and how to make little girls spoil you.
Otis lives nearby in Madison with Ashley and Scott. We see them often at puppy school. They’re going to check into herding for him!
At the moment the remaining ‘Boo x Cheery kids at home are Cyd – KeelMtn Silk Stockings, Charity – KeelMtn Sweet Charity, and Tony – KeelMtn The Most Happy Fella. More about them later.
???Trying to get back on track with photographs. Here are the Fab Four at almost 11 weeks. Cyd has mostly had her ears up; guessing yesterday she decided to be sympathetic to Tony. Is it a tri thing? They are now both in tape and calcium and we are praying to the ear gods. Charity is just lovely and easy as pie. Cyd (always the drama queen) must be protesting something – she’s posting here which does nothing for her really very nice topline. I have Tony stretched out a bit too much and sweet Georgette (waiting patiently for her people) is never any trouble.
?
Despite the heat, they get out to run amok and play as much as I can stand it. The aunties and grandmas are doing a great job at teaching them to be respectable citizens. Cheery is SO over them it isn’t funny. As for me, it’s a good thing they’re ridiculously, over-the-top cute and I adore them, otherwise the mess and the noise would’ve pushed me over the edge weeks ago!
Charity
Charity
Cyd
Cyd
Tony
Tony
Georgette
Georgette
Sometimes when puppies have really big or heavy ears – Tony has both – they need some help to stay up, especially when they’re teething. We’re starting off with painter’s tape here, but some also use moleskin, nose strips, extra calcium or other supplements. The problem being when you live with 3 sisters who want to tear the tape off, you have to sleep in your own crate to give the tape a chance to work. But isn’t he the cutest alien you ever saw?!
I may be just a bit biased, but could they be cuter?! L. to R., Tony – Otis – Cyd – Charity – Bunjee – Harmony – Georgette
The Magnificent Seven at Seven Weeks
Where to start? So many thing have happened in the last week, I hardly know where to begin.
The “Broadway musicals” litter had their first professional photo shoot. It was hysterical! The owner of one of Cheery’s puppies from her first litter (Koda’s mom, for those you you who keep track) is a professional photographer. We went to her studio, which is in an older brick building, tall ceilings and cement floors. At 7 weeks there is no real way of posing puppies (or, if there is and you know how, please fill me in), so we just let them run amok and we’ll see what we get. We tried to do the traditional “puppies in a basket” thing, but I think what we got mostly was puppies jumping/falling out of a basket and running around. Can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like. Thanks Renee and Jeff, thay had a blast!
They have also had their temperament tests. Pretty much what I expected, sort of middle of the road with the exception of “pink girl” who is a diva drama queen and has been since day one. And, interestingly, they all seem to be retrievers, hmmm? Thanks so much, Beth!
We also had the “puppy party”! Breeder friends came from Birmingham and beyond to share lunch and evaluate who should be the next show prospects. These ladies have years and years of corgi experience and knowledge of the standard and I was grateful and glad they would give up their Sunday to help me decide. On top of that, they brought gifts for the puppies, which was just over the top! Thanks again Linda, Claudette, Dee Dee, Heidi, Sandra, and Susan for spending the afternoon. The puppies and I had too much fun!
So, here are seven very tired puppies at seven weeks, taken by a very tired photographer and his assistant.
Pink Girl
Light Blue Boy
Light Green Boy
Yellow Girl
White Girl
Black Boy
Dark Green Girl
Taken in a hurry yesterday, so not perfect, plus I forgot to buy spray cheese, which is puppy crack for getting them to stack for photos. Next week…
They are devouring puppy kibble soaked in goat’s milk and, if you’re watching the puppy cam, you’ll have noticed that Cheery is absent most of the day. We’re beginning weaning; she still spends the night with them, much to their mutual delight. After about a week or so, we’ll stop that as well and let her dry up completely before she gets to play with them again. In the meantime, they’re getting to know the other older dogs – they are almost as big as our yorkie, Pepper, so she is a good auntie to them. Phoebe is just facinated by them, she just doesn’t understand why they keep looking underneath her! And today they traded in Classical Pops for CNN on the XM satellite radio.
Puppy wrestling is in full swing – usually at 3 am. Shock and awe in the puppy pen! But mainly they’re just more sweet and cuddly than should be allowed.
Pink Girl
Pink Girl
Light Blue Boy
Light Blue Boy
Red Girl
Red Girl
Light Green Boy
Light Green Boy
Yellow Girl
Yellow Girl
White Girl
White Girl
Black Boy
Black Boy
Dark Green Girl
Dark Green Girl
Wow, little dogs emerging! I’m starting to see what I might keep and thinking about what personalities will do best where. They LOVE to play in their water dish, so pay no attention to my t-shirt. My friend, Heidi, came and loved on them on Saturday and we’re getting ready for lots of company next weekend!
Pink Girl
Pink Girl
Light Blue Boy
Light Blue Boy
Red Girl
Red Girl
Light Green Boy
Light Green Boy
Yellow Girl
Yellow Girl
White Girl
White Girl
Black Boy
Black Boy
Dark Green Girl
Dark Green Girl
Here are a few pics from this weekend. Cheery’s more than happy to clean up whatever the puppies have left behind – which isn’t much – of the puppy glop (which is goat’s milk, puppy ProPlan Selects, pumpkin, and Greek yogurt). We braved the HOT outdoors to try out their fourth surface (remember the ‘rule of sevens’). We also traded in ‘The Blend’ station on the XM Radio for the ‘Classical Pops’ station for a change of pace. (A friend of mine plays NPR in her puppy room claiming it makes them smarter, but I don’t know about that! <g>)
Cheery Cleans Up
What is This Green Stuff?
Happy!
You’re Getting Sleepy…
…Sleepy…
…Sleepy!
Here they are at two weeks and 2 days – growing daily, all eyes are open and they’re starting to motor around on four feet for a few steps before those loaded bellies weigh them down! The “I can eat your head” games have begun. Cheery is still the mom of the year! If she’ll be patient for another week I’ll be happy, by then teeth will be coming in and we’ll try out the puppy mush. I’ve already noticed them purposefully moving away from the crowd to potty so we’ll install the litter box soon. Lots of laundry, but oh, so cute!
Pink Girl
Light Blue Boy
Red Girl
Light Green Boy
Yellow Girl
White Girl
Black Boy
Dark Green Girl
Well, in addition to the continuous pile of laundry, quite a lot actually!
The tri girl was the first to top the two pound mark and open her eyes this morning.
We do a lot with the puppies, even at this stage. We’re making them into “super dogs”.
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/breeding/ensp.htm
http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.pdf
And we’re following “The Rule of Sevens”.
— By the time a puppy a puppy is 7 weeks old, it should have:
1. Been on 7 different surfaces: carpet, concrete, wood, vinyl, grass, dirt, gravel, woodchips, etc……
2. Played with 7 different types of objects: big balls, small balls, soft fabric toys, fuzzy toys, squeaky toys, paper or cardboard items, metal items, wooden items, milk jugs, etc…….
3. Been in 7 different locations: front yard, back yard, basement, kitchen, car, garage, laundry room, bathroom, crate, kennel, etc….
4. Met and played with 7 new people: include children and older adults.
5. Been exposed to 7 challenges: climb on a box, climb off a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, go in and out a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence….
6. Eaten from 7 different containers: metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, china, pie plate, frying pan, etc….
7. Eaten in 7 different locations: crate, yard, kitchen, basement, laundry room, bathroom, x-pen, etc…
The following is a companion piece to the article I posted earlier on fetal development. It tells about the development of the first seven weeks.
Already? They’re doing great – gaining well now that Cheery’s all set and all over a pound. I think the c-section set eveybody back a bit, but it seems like that’s all behind us now. FYI the colors I assigned to each puppy is just the rick-rack that I used to identify them for the first couple of days. It has nothing to do with their colors or markings or my preferences.
Dark Green Girl
Black Boy
White Girl
Yellow Girl
Light Green Boy
Red Girl
Light Blue Boy
Pink Girl
Six days old and gaining, gaining, gaining. Cheery’s good stuff must have kicked in!
Born this am by c-section (18 hours early labor, started full contractions this am, no progress after an hour, Cheery fully dilated but nobody headed toward the exit at all). There are 5 girls, 3 boys – 11.0 to 15.5 oz. Three are tri colored (2 boys, 1 girl), the rest are sable. The ninth was a 5.5 oz. tri girl who we couldn’t get started. 🙁 Cheery and the 8 babies are doing fine, chowing down.
Sorry for the photo. The heat lamp makes everything orange. More after I’ve had a nap!
…maybe. I don’t know how Cheery can hang on for 12 more days although she seems more comfortable now than she was a week ago. Possibly the puppies have shifted off of whatever was making her uncomfortable. And air conditioning is a good thing too. She’s still starving even getting double rations. And her belly is just BARELY off the floor.
The whelping box will be set up this weekend and the “puppy cam” installed. We’ll shop for ice cream and cottage cheese soon. Our vet is on speed dial. She had a bath on Saturday and I’ll do her toenails again this weekend too. The headcount xray is scheduled for next Monday evening. We’re getting ready!
Progesterone testing has commenced and with any luck the start of another happy adventure is just days away. The waiting is killing me and I’m sure me staring at her constantly isn’t doing much for Cheery-O either. Breathe, Leslie, just breathe!
A year ago today we welcomed our first litter, the “southernisms” gang. Cheery-O free whelped 6 girls and 2 boys. She wasn’t too sure about the first born, a tri girl, but as soon as the second came, a tri boy, either instinct and/or hormones kicked in because from that moment on she was in love with her babies and with motherhood. She did take a day or two to realize she actually had to lie down (and if you know Cheery, you know that being still for any length of time is not her thing) in order for them to nurse, but she fed those big babies (birth weights were 10.4 – 13.5 oz.) entirely herself without any help from me. As a matter of fact, she was most put out with me when they were 6.5 weeks old and we has a talk about maybe, possibly, sometime in the future, weaning the little monsters, um, I mean angels. She also kept her box and her babies spotlessly clean. Thank you, Cheery, you were a wonderful mama and you made it so easy for me!
Guess the nicer weather is encouraging puppy photo ops! 🙂
Abbie – what a pretty face!
Koda Goes ZOOOOOM!!!
Trying out the latest puppy torture device – a Happy Legs knockoff. Darla and Libby had no problem with it, but Dori and Sirri were not amused. We’ll keep practicing. Nobody wanted to show off their pretty faces and my photographer was disinclined to patience at what was the end of a VERY busy weekend.
DARLA
DARLA
LIBBY
LIBBY
DORI
DORI
SIRRI
SIRRI
(Somehow I don’t remember seeing this photo before until I was surfing around today and saw it on Jinnie’s Facebook page. So I stole it. ;-))
Cheery and her newborn son Tripp in one of those awww moments that totally make you forget the stress, and sleeplessness, and the expense of new babies.
DARLA
JASPER
LIBBY
TRIPP
PIPER
KODA
DORI
SIRRI
My ear will get high with a little help from my friends. (Oh my doG, is that lame or what? )
My goodness, such serious faces! It was just about bedtime on Tuesday as Jeri made her way up the mountain to take these for me – thanks Jeri – so maybe that’s why everybody looks so serious. Definitely a reversal from yesterday, when Bob and I came home to find the little monsters had found a way to tear up the linoleum floor. Where were all my puppy cam watchers as that was going on?!?
Darla
Darla
Jasper (was Tucker)
Jasper (was Tucker)
Libby
Libby
Tripp
Tripp
Piper (was Cassie)
Piper (was Cassie)
Koda (was Quinn)
Koda (was Quinn)
Dori
Dori
Sirri
Sirri
Here is Chris at 16 months. Still a young dog, he will continue to mature and fill out. And, yes, this is what that little black puppy grew up into. The emergence of the tri coat is interesting and, having not owned a tri colored corgi myself before, it’s been fun to watch as Darla and Tucker’s (going to be Jasper’s) colors have, and will continue to, change.
Tri-umph ‘Taint No Saint
Well, phooey, these didn’t come out as well as I had hoped. 🙁 I’ll have to beg Jeri to come over next week. Be that as it may, they’re all growing wonderfully and happy and silly – and as big as our Yorkie, Pepper! (Pepper’s wise to puppies. She “trains” them while they’re little, so once they dwarf her she can still be the boss of them! LOL!)
DARLA
TUCKER
LIBBY
TRIPP
CASSIE
QUINN
DORI
SIRRI
Trying to catch up on events. Yesterday we had the puppies evaluated using the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test, also know as temperament testing. It is done when the puppy is 49 days old, a time picked because the puppy is neurologically complete and untainted by training. (That’s what the Volhards say anyway. I wonder how “untainted by training” they can be since they’ve been using the potty box for almost a month now; that seems like training to me.) Many, many thanks to Beth Fitzgerald for taking her Sunday afternoon to evaluate the puppies, thus missing her husband and one of their Rottweilers earning an advanced agility title.
The results were not too surprising to me, mostly 3s and 4s, except for little Quinn. I have found her to be the most affectionate, sweet, and snuggly of the litter, while her testing was mixed bag of 3s and 6s. Kind of hard to decipher – 3s are very middle of the road and a good prospect for most families and obedience training, while 6s are independent and the Volhards say “not affectionate and may dislike petting and cuddling” – not my experience with this girl at all!!! Still, as Beth said, this is but a snapshot in time with a puppy and a person. Take into account this day was also their first car ride and several of them thought looking at themselves in the mirrored wall in the training room of the Huntsville Obedience Training Club where we did the testing was more interesting than what Beth was doing, it’s entirely possible they were a little thrown off. After the testing was over, we set them loose to run amok in the big room; that was much more fun for them!
These pictures were taken when we were setting them up for 7 week photos. Thanks Marti! It was a hoot to watch Sirri try to make friends with your pretty Dobie girl through the crate bars!
The puppies play hard and crash hard. After 45 minutes asleep in the car on the way home, they were ready and revved to play outside until the sun went down!
Yes, I’m woefully behind in posting. These photos are from the puppy party a week ago Sunday. A smallish crowd due to the ugly weather, but good, experienced eyes. And the guys in my office were more than happy to eat the leftovers of lunch on Monday. The puppies had a great time! Thanks to Heidi and Jeri for the photography. (And blame me for the smallness of the pictures. I’m sure I’ve done something wrong; I just can’t figure out what it is. Besides, you just wanted to see the pics, right, rather than wait for me to be technically competent? Good luck with that! ;-))
Linda, Heidi, Janet, Jeri, and me with the kids!
Linda and Janet make their critiques.
Stacking for the folks watching on the cam.
Linda lines up sleeping puppies.
Charlie, at 5, is already a practiced puppy socializer.
That doesn’t look at all comfortable!
If I sleep IN the bowl, nobody can take my food!
Just can’t believe how much they’ve grown and developed in 6 weeks! They are really little dogs now and so much fun – so happy to see us when we come in the room, so bent on destruction of anything they can get their little teeth on, and they are definitely corgis – they eat everything put in front of them! If you’ve been watching the puppy cam, you’ve noticed that Cheery is mostly off camera all day; we’re slowly getting them them weaned and Cheery is getting reintegrated to the “big dogs”. While I think she’s grateful for the break, she’s always happy to see them in the evening when we put them to bed together.
DARLA
TUCKER
LIBBY
TRIPP
CASSIE
QUINN
DORI
SIRRI
The doGs smiled on us – Monday was not only warm and dry, but I was off from work and was able to let the puppies play outside that afternoon. While Cheery pretended to nap under the garden bench, all the while keeping an eye out for any danger, the little dogs got to learn about the big, new world known as the puppy yard. They had things to climb on and under, slides, tunnels, lots of different balls, and grass! Of course, I was too busy playing too to take any photos of that and didn’t pick up the camera until they started to tire out. You can see from the photos that we have a few ears up and their color is breaking – look at the red coming in on their heads, both on the sables and the tris (most noticable behind their ears). They are becoming very vocal while playing with each other. They are also becoming very messy! They’re pretty good about using their potty box, but somebody’s little alligator teeth tore open Cheery’s pillow and they joyfully pulled out all of the stuffing! Nothing is safe now! LOL! No doubt a lot of work, but we are having too much fun!
LIBBY
TRIPP
SIRRI
A bit more cooperation this week from some. FYI I post them in birth order; no secret line up as to who I think are the next specialty winners. My favs have remained pretty consistent although movement remains to be seen as they get steadier on their feet. Half are up over 4 pounds now. Ears are starting to get “lift”. They are in full swing of playing, eating, etc. If the weather ever gets halfway decent I’ll be glad to give them some time outside to run for short periods and to expand their universe a little bit.
Darla
Darla
Tucker
Tucker
Libby
Libby
Tripp
Tripp
Cassie
Cassie
Quinn
Quinn
Dori
Dori
Sirri
Sirri
So whaddya do when the coldest temps that Alabama has seen since the 40s and icy mountains roads make going anywhere a bad idea? Why, you stay home and eat, of course! The puppies has their first “food” today – kibble soaked in goat’s milk – yum! They thought it was fabulous, caught on very quickly, and were surprisingly neat eaters.
(And in case you wanted to know, in the “puppy star”, starting at 12 o’clock and going clock-wise are Tripp, Tucker, Cassie, Sirri, Quinn, Libby, Dori, and Darla.)
Okay, I don’t know what on earth possessed me to think I could get anything resembling a stack from 3 week old puppies, so I won’t even bother to post the side views. At least you get to see their sweet little faces here. They were NOT amused! We’ll hope for better next week.
They have teeth! They now beginning to play with each other, their toys, and their ever-patient mama. (Although with those teeth coming in I wonder just how much longer her patience will last. I’m going to hope for a couple more weeks.) Cheery is beginning to teach them manners and will let them know when they’ve annoyed her past her limits, which is what a good mama does. They will all come toddling over when you approach the pen and then listen very solemnly when you cuddle and baby-talk to them. They also growl and bark at each other – fearsome! LOL! Can you guess that very little of any import is getting done here because we’re just too busy playing with puppies?!
Darla
Tucker
Libby
Tripp
Cassie
Quinn
Dori
Sirri
Two weeks old and not very cooperative – seems like they all had someplace to be today other than getting their picture taken. Tripp is up over 2 pounds with the others right behind him. He also has his eyes open, as does Libby, Quinn and Sirri. Dori and Sirri are so similar I often have to refer to my notes to know who’s who.
DARLA
TUCKER
LIBBY
TRIPP
CASSIE
QUINN
DORI
SIRRI
Puppy Pile
Tripp and Darla
Cassie and Dori
Libby and Sirri
Quinn and Tucker
A glimpse of things to come – the pups’ sire at 2.5 weeks. Now we just need to nag Marian into taking some newer photos to show off Chris in all his manly grownup-ness!
Chris at 2.5 Weeks
Here they are – a week old already! By this time next week their eyes should be open. All but little Quinn are over a pound already. Cheery’s taking very good care of them. (By the way, these are just puppy names – we had to call them something other than “red girl” and “green boy”, etc.)
Darla (tri girl)
Tucker (tri boy)
Libby (sable girl)
Tripp (sable boy)
Cassie (sable girl)
Quinn (sable girl)
Dori (sable girl)
Sirri (sable girl)
Hungry puppies, tired Cheery!
Here are Cheery and her babies doing what they mostly do. So sorry for the delay in posting; it’s amazing how much time you can waste just watching puppies eat and sleep! If you want to waste time too the “puppy cam” is now functional.
Your login is “guest” and the password block can be left empty. Happy viewing!
(I will warn those with small children at home that we will be banding tails this evening and it will be another 4-5 days before they drop off. If you think this may upset them, you might not want to turn on the cam until later next week. I’ll let you know when they’re all done.)
