Can you hear me?

Tonight the babies had their BAER hearing test performed by Dr. Erickson who lives fairly close to the Monroe, WA show grounds. Dr. Erickson was kind enough to let us take the babies to his home so we could have them done while in town for the dog show. Everyone has hearing in both ears except Black who's deaf in his right ear and Light Blue who is deaf in her left ear. Being deaf in one ear doesn't really effect dogs and they make great pets. We even have a friend who has a uni (as they are called) that she's doing Agility with and he looks fantastic running the course! You'd never know there is anything different about him.

Getting bigger

Tonight the babies turned 6 weeks old - boy time flies! To celebrate, each of them received their first vaccination. This will hopefully boost their immune systems just in time to go visit the vet for their hearing tests which are scheduled for next Saturday evening near Monroe, Washington.

Tunnel Work

As part of the puppies learning and socialization we have a fabric tunnel we place in our living room for the puppies to explore. Everyone in the litter has now braved the scary tunnel all on their very own, several of which have decided running through it full tilt is a blast! The tunnel is great seeing it completely surrounds the puppies, it moves as they go through it and makes a funny sound - all great experiences for them.

Fun despite the weather

Our weather hasn't been good enough to let the pups our again this weekend, but they had fun anyhow. Today they had two more visitors, friends from town who have a 6 year old Dalmatian and a love of puppies. The more visitors the better from here on out, socialization, socialization, socialization is the name of the game and it makes a huge difference in the type of dog each of these babies will grow up to be. So if your reading this and live close enough to come visit, please do!

Visitors!

The puppies enjoyed their visitors from Pullman today. Our friend Jordan and one of her friends from work came to visit the babies today. Each puppy was handled lots which was a great experience for them. They also got to see their first non-spotted dog, Jordan's Rally star Kester. We truly appreciated the girls visiting and especially their help in taking the puppies 5 week stacked photos (see our website to view the photos).

Aunt Lilly Checking In

Lilly was born Sept 2009 and is these puppies father's, sister. :) All the other dogs in the house enjoy the pups and like peeking in on them each day. The pups are just starting to get tall enough to touch noses with the looky-loos.

Lost & Found

Every pup received their microchip tonight. Their 'great-grandma' helped out by loving on each pup before and after they received their chip and helped me by holding each pup while I implanted them. Microchips are implanted between the puppies shoulder blades and are an individual id number (like a social security number) that special scanners can read. Practically every vet and animal shelter now has scanners that can read these chips and can be the difference between never seeing your puppy again and having a successful reunion, if something ever happens and they disappear.

Airing Out

Today was warm and sunny and I had some projects to do in the front yard, so it worked out to be the perfect day for the babies to see the outdoors for the very first time. There were lots of sites and sounds for them to experience, lawns being moewed, cars driving by, dogs barking, leaves burning, etc. Once the sun went behind a cloud they got chilly and were ready to head in. Several of the pups managed to climb up the two steps into our front door all on their own! Wish we were going to more days for them to be outside, but I can't imagine November will hand us too many more days like today.

Birthdays

Today is the 3 year birthdate of our first Dalmatian litter, so we want to with everyone a Happy Birthday!! There mother is Jazz (Ch Patchmt's Jazzin It Up,CD,RN,CC) and their father is Radar (Ch Proctor's Dappled Doppler). This litter consists of: Annie, Lexi, Lola, Mozart, Ranger, Romeo, Tonto, and Willow. Take care everyone.

Ms Raspberry

Ms Raspberry has a black patch under her right ear, so she won't ever get to be a conformation show dog, despite being a beautiful girl. Therefore, our first pet pick home has chosen her. Her AKC name will be Black Diamond Twilight and will be called, Yoshi by her family.

Meet Mr Black

Late night play

I attended the WWKC Board meeting tonight and got home late. Apparently the pups were waiting for me, I was only home for a few minutes before they were all up and playing. In this photo is Brown (front bottom left of photo), Red (above and to the left), Powder Blue (walking in front of LPatch girl), Liver Patch Girl (who wears the purple collar), Raspberry (center of photo), Green (with the orange toy) and Black (far right of photo) - missing from the photo (either in the potty room or sleeping room) are Orange & Royal Blue.

Brown = liver boy

Red = liver boy

Powder blue = liver girl

Purple = liver patch girl

Raspberry = black girl

Green = black boy

Black = black boy

Orange = liver boy

Royal Blue = black boy (with one blue eye)

Color Coded

This afternoon we put collars on each of the babies, officially assigning them their 'colors'. This week we will start taking individual photos of the pups with their colored collars on.

Graduation Day

The pups are now old enough that they have graduated to their new puppy box. This box starts to teach them many things, it gives them more room for walking, running and playing, it teaches them to go through small spaces (like doggy doors) and will help start their potty training. Hit PLAY to watch the short video tour of their new home.

Izza enjoys the new puppy box

As soon as we set up the puppy's new box, Izza took advantage of the bigger space for nursing. She seems pretty happy with the new arrangement.

Play time

The puppies are starting to learn how to growl, bark and play with each other. Of course, each time I grab the camera they stop making sounds. This video they are playing inside their sleeping crate trying to play with each other. This upcoming weekend they will move into their 'puppy box' which gives them a 4x5 play area, a 2x3 sleeping area and a 2x3 potty area.

Itchy puppy

This pup was barking and trying to chase his tail... right up until I grabbed the camera. Oh well. Hit the play button and you'll get to see a short video of some cuteness anyhow.

First Meal

I have today off from work so I decided it would be a good day to give the puppies their first meal. They received a 1/2 can of dog food and a cup of dry Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice Puppy food, mixed with warm water. As you can see, they enjoyed it! They had it all over themselves - the two who are missing from the photo were over on the side licking food off of each other as they were both coated quite well.

Monty heads to Montana

Today was a great day for Monty - he finally got to meet his very own family, Susan and Chuck. His new parents are very active, hiking, jogging, mt. biking and x-country skiing and they have always taken their Dals with them. He's going to have a very active and wonderful life! Hopefully he will love his new buddies as well, two kitties with lots of personality. We're hoping Chuck figures out how to send us the photo we took of the three of them before hitting the road (I forgot my camera and my phone, so we had to use Chuck's phone camera). We're also looking forward to updates about his new life as time goes by.

Happy babies

The babies are almost 3 weeks old and everyone is still doing great. Everyone's eyes are starting to open, although we still can't tell eye colors for sure yet. They are also starting to figure out that they are puppies, starting to bark and growl when playing with each other.