Week 7 - 3/10/2024

Week 7 has come and gone (sorry for the delay writing this!). Our puppies continued to have big adventures and exposure to new things. They all got their first car ride to the vet for their 7th week checkup. They took turns being the designated whiny pup on the way out but it wasn’t for the entire ride, and the ride home they were pretty wiped out so that was nice! They got to ride in the wagon into the vet’s office and hung out with us in the waiting room. Some pups chose to just lay down next to us while a few explored the room. It was a whirlwind of checkup, shots and microchips, so they zonked out really quickly. They all got a clean bill of health and were diagnosed with “Freaking Cute Puppy Disease” which is lifelong, so I hope their new families can handle the puppy cuteness for their entire lives! LOL!

During the puppy party we brought out the colored balls we purchased and made our very own ball pit by putting them in the play pool! As always, the pups don’t find the amusement we do with such things… LOL! They’re just like cats and kids, play with the box not the toy. So we decided to up the ante and sprinkle dog food in there and we got all 7 to jump in and use their puppy brains to find the kibble mixed in! Then we brought out some ice cubes for them to crunch on. Those were a big hit with the pups!

The pups had some cute or funny moments that we just didn’t have a camera ready to capture, which is always the case when it comes to animals I guess. Iroh had quite a conversation with Jon about his empty water bowl! I kept telling Jon he had a dissatisfied customer and he needed to get on that, as Iroh was barking and pawing at the water dish (it was so much cuter than I’m describing it here of course). So far I think three of the pups may be talkers like grandma Zazu. Iroh, Zuko and Katara seem to like to “talk” to the other dogs and mama Aelin to get them to play.

We had another puppy party this weekend for our co-workers and friends. A few showed up to give lots of love to the pups. We had our youngest visitor when my co-worker Raj came with his two young girls, 7 and 1 ½. The youngest actually was excited to pet the pups and sit on their bed, while the older one watched them play. Jon’s co-worker Cristina came with her husband to be and took some very important time out of their busy weekend of preparing for their wedding. They had so much fun cuddling with the pups (an excellent pre-wedding de-stressor!). And my good friend, Michelle, came with her daughter (9). She has come to every single Desert Sol puppy party we had here in AZ! The only one she missed, was our last litter, because she was living in Baltimore at the time, so I’ll give her a pass on that! She has since moved back, and just in time to keep her puppy party streak going strong!

Momo may be the kissing champ, but I think Iroh is trying to steal her spot! He’s become very kissy lately and puts his ears back when he comes over to do so which is so endearing. Momo is very people oriented and gets elated when she sees us and wants to immediately come over for some love. Zuko has been frequently found in my lap more often than he used to.

It’s funny how week to week each pup's personality changes a bit and ones that were more quiet are now more active or cuddly, and vice versa. Bumi has also relaxed a bit and spends a little more time hanging out and cuddling us after a few kisses. He still enjoys playing with toys though, especially the squirrel on a stick. Sokka still loves to lay on his back, waiting for tummy pets from us… or a sibling to walk by to start a play fight with him! Katara loves to grab a toy or a stick and run around the yard playing “keep away”. She’s pretty fast and good at it too. If a pup knocks her down and she fumbles the toy, she usually pushes the pup back and recovers her fumble and takes off again! And our sweet boy Aang. He plays smarter not harder. The other pups will rough and tumble but he’ll stay juuust out of reach and sneak attack or bark at the other ones that are tumbling together.

It’s going to be so hard saying goodbye to these pups in the coming weeks! We’ll be happy to have our lives back to mostly normal, as we are keeping a puppy so we won’t get full rest just yet! Thank you to everyone who applied with interest in our last available puppy. I’m happy to say all pups now have homes! If you didn’t get a pup from this litter, I hope you keep us on the radar for our next satellite litter we hope to plan for this summer. We also chose the girl that will be staying with us… KATARA! It was a very close and hard decision, but this girl squeaked her way to the top! She had a personality we think will mesh very well with our current pack. Momo will go on to be spoiled (as well as the boys) with their new families.

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