Week 6 - 6/15/2014

Week 6 puppies are all over the place! Running around our backyard, playing with each other, squirming while we’re trying to take their pictures… At least they are more fun, but more fun also means more trouble. :) Just ask our poor plants outside as the bushes are shaking and losing limbs and the ground cover is all squished and flat. As I prepare to write this I always check the write ups on our last litter, the Sun Gods, to see what shenanigans they were up to at this age. One sentence struck me funny as it said, “They love the sound of the sliding door as we open it and will whine to go play outside.” The Lion King litter is the exact opposite; when the sliding door opens they all make a beeline to it and whine to go INSIDE where the A/C is! Luckily this weekend gave us a little reprieve as it was quite nice out in the evenings for the little ones to play up a storm outside.

With the few exceptions of a couple of pups falling into the pond, or us dunking them in purposely, the pups have been good to pay attention while nearby the pond to not fall in. The other day they were all following Kyra around trying to sneak a milk treat, and Zazu came running from across the yard hoping to join in. She took a flying leap to jump over her siblings with all four paws stretched out in the air. Jon and I were lucky to be watching at this moment, but there was no ground on the other side as she came in for her landing and those four paws ended up diving straight into the pond! You can imagine what went through her head as she landed in the water thinking “what the heck just happened!?” She recovered as gracefully as she could, but she missed her chance at that afternoon’s milk treat. :)

All the puppies are most definitely people puppies as they get so excited when they see you and they run up to you with their little butts wiggling in sheer excitement! Rafiki seemed to have claimed the “Top Dog” position in the pack for now; she’s a sweetheart, but is also a fair pack leader and is never too rough on the others (much like her mother).

Kiara and Shenzi are in a competition for the most LPM title (licks per minute) and will promptly wash your face off if they can reach you! Zazu decided flying was not too fun and will keep her feet firmly on the ground. The boys Kovu and Askari have both ears pricked straight up and are pretty much twins if Askari was just a tad bigger (as I write this Kiara’s right ear is thinking about coming up while everyone else’s are still down). Simba is just being himself, a sweet, wonderful, big boy.

This upcoming week the pups will get more car rides and the “oh so much fun” meeting with the vet for their first checkup and vaccination appointment. We’ll do their final evaluations and then lock ourselves into a room to pick the final puppy and family placements. This is always the hardest yet most rewarding part of raising our puppies. Ok, so it’s a close second reward because you just can’t pass up puppy kisses as the most rewarding! :)

The Lion King litter (as always in order of appearance):