Week 1 - 11/3/2019

Wow week 1 flew by fast! These puppies are born right in the middle of a busy season that has three major holidays and both kids' birthdays! We'll have our hands full- too bad I can't take a two month sabbatical from work right now... Regardless, every spare minute will be filled with puppy love! Zazu deserves Mom of the Year award!!! I was reading about how good she was on her last litter and realized it wasn't a fluke being a small litter and all- she's just an amazing mom. She goes in the right times to feed and clean the pups, but will take time for herself outside of the whelping box for some love, naps, and walks. I need to give her props again for being super mom while recovering from her surgery. We couldn't ask for a better dog to go through that situation with- Kyra would have totally taken "time off" and made us feed and clean the pups all week. ;) Also want to give a shout out to Connie, Jon's mom, who's been our puppy helper this time around. Couldn't have done it without you!

Week 1 brings about our first round of puppy stimulation exercises. These small stressors are researched to show changes in the electrical activity in the brain and when those dogs were tested as adults it was shown they were more resistant to some forms of cancer and disease, were more stable, exploratory, and learned faster. Our pups have been well-adjusted dogs due to these stimulations and other desensitization and socialization exercises we do as they get older. For up to 5 seconds, we hold them in various positions (like on their back), tickle their toes with q-tips, and put them on a damp cloth. Although they may whine bit, many pups have been pretty chill while going through these exercises.

This is also a fun stage where they're a bit older so not as wiggly when you take them out of their whelping box, but still young enough that they're not mobile. We frequently grab a puppy and just hold him/her in our arms or lay it on our chest while we watch TV or sit and read. Their little warm bodies twitching and their cute little sounds makes us smile! Aedion is making this weird little meow-growl noise that makes me laugh every single time.

The pups haven't been loud squealers (except for that time mom rolled over and laid facing away from them all and was the Great Wall of Chinook cutting the whelping box in half, making them "walk" the long way around her to get to the milk bar...), but they still have their cute little "grumph" noises when you pick them up and their little "mew" noises when they wake up! Even though they're not mobile nor have their eyes open, they are fun and cute.

It's been fun talking about the pups now that we're used to their names. Many of you love the theme and I even got messages from some that you are starting to read the series now... AWESOME! It's hard though when we're on camera to not give away too much of the book series... Some of these characters don't even show up until book 3! Their little animal toys came in so we can take their weekly pictures with them. (No Chaol isn't look that small, his toy is a 12" toy instead of 6-8" of the other ones.) We've added info in their profiles below about their animals and why we chose them.

The Throne of Glass litter (as always in order of appearance):