Week 5 - 2/25/2024

Week 5 and these puppies are on the run! It seems like overnight they went from sudden and short bursts of speed that they even surprised themselves with, to running fully across the yard to come say hello, tackle a sibling or chase after mama! In the past Aelin could just speed walk around the yard and the pups would get tired following her, or she’d jump up on the play ramps we have in the backyard to get away, but now those pups can keep up with her and climb up the ramp so she’s safe nowhere! After a short milk snack, Aelin will go into their outside kennel and grab a toy to prance around the backyard to see if she gets any takers. She doesn’t realize that her pup’s attention spans are like 5 seconds, so if she runs too far outside of their play range, they usually get distracted and play with something or someone else! Maybe next week you’ll get more takers Aelin!

If you become a dog breeder, having a dog door with a covered kennel attached right outside of the indoor puppy pen is worth its weight in GOLD!!! Once the pups learned how to get in and out of the doggie door, they used outside for their bathroom extremely well! 98% of poops and probably 75% of pee are all done outside! It makes cleanup time a breeze and a huge help in their future homes with potty training. Between Aelin being so amazing in feeding and cleaning the whelping box and this doggie door, it saves so much “poo storm” time and leaves more time to enjoy and play and snuggle with the pups!

As they sleep indoors we’ve been playing rainstorms, thunderstorms, sirens and fireworks for them. They’ve also heard real life sirens, airplanes, vacuum cleaner, pans banging, kids yelling, traffic, clapping, yard work tools and so much more and don’t seem to be phased by any of it. They also love the addition of the dog beds in their pen. We’ve seen other breeders use them and we thought “man that must be full of pee all the time” but we saw that pups seemed to enjoy them so we tried it this time around with our cat beds (don’t worry, Spyro will get a new one) and later purchased a larger dog bed for them. They just LOVE them! And honestly I think we washed them once in the beginning as they learned pretty fast they don’t want to pee on them. However, one became used as a chew toy so I guess we can’t win it all. LOL

The best part still is when I come home from work, and not being with them all day (Jon and I take turns being home with them), when I go to open the pen for dinner time, they just squeal with delight to say hi to me! They are always pretty happy to see you, but with that time apart it makes the happiness so much greater! They actually choose to say hi to me and try to lick my face, wiggle a lot, and wag their tales a hundred miles a minute before they go over to their food dish. It really makes spending time raising puppies soooo worth it in moments like this.

Our backyard is split in two, with a concrete patio in the middle. Up until this week, the pups pretty much just stayed on the east side where their kennel is and would not pass the “forbidden” zone (aka the concrete patio). Now they have discovered the west side of the yard and now we have to look around more to count to 7 to make sure we have eyes on everyone. Puppy chaos is everywhere; bushes get chewed on, playing under the patio furniture, running back and forth, and puppies terrorizing each other! They sure keep us on our toes now.

Sokka is such a sweet boy that loves to raise his paw when he sees you to wave you over to come play with him! He reminds us of Frosty doing that in our Holly Jolly Litter. Iroh may be our explorer pup, but he does enjoy spending time with us as well. He’ll watch us and then dive in to play, sometimes doing a sneak attack through the tunnel! Katara has upped her sweet game! She is a great blend of spending time with us, giving kisses and playing, but also enjoys playing with toys by herself too. She reminds me a lot of her mom Aelin in this regard. Bumi loves being where the action is, whether it’s exploring the dirt hole momma dug, chasing the tug toy, or hanging out in your lap. Aang has been a lot of fun. He is so incredibly handsome but is such a humble boy. Momo is still very kissy and loves to show you affection. She also is a great player and enjoys being in the midst of everything. And Zuko, also sweet and fun, is such a people pup. He plays with the others but does enjoy playing with people a little more than some of the other pups.

We are still looking for breed potential homes, for both male and especially a female. This litter is part of the CBCP (Chinook Breed Conservation Program) and it’s important that some move on to breed in the future, as their puppies will have the opportunity to be evaluated and become purebred Chinooks! This helps the purebred Chinook gene pool by reducing COI (coefficient of inbreeding), which unfortunately is very high in the Chinook breed. You can learn more about that on the COA website. If interested in becoming a part of something special, please fill out a puppy application today!

The Avatar litter (as always in order of appearance):