 A View from Inside the
Doghouse - where the puppies were born! I figured I'd get inside and take some
pictures! Sitting on the step is the fawn male, sunning himself but thinking of joining the other five puppies and me inside the house. Zor is wondering what I'm doing in the doghouse and in a few moments she also joins the rest of us! |
 As soon as Zor comes in, the
pups decide it is time for refreshments! It's a fun little party! The flash on the digital
camera certainly lights up the interior of the doghouse. There's actually more room in
here but I can't back up away enough to get a panoramic view of the inside of the house.
I'm sitting with my legs folded under me and Zor eventually lays flat on her side and
feeds all the pups. |
 All the pups
after their snack. Some are a bit sleepy after their meal, so they get pretty relaxed. Zor
only steps out because feeding the pups is hard work, she's not as thrilled with nursing
them on demand 24 hours a day -- and there's just not enough room to visit with me and
still avoid the babies. :)Clockwise from the top: (1) Black-collared, yellowish female on top of the (2) Pinto male - only part of the side of his face and forelegs are visible. She's chewing on the side of his face. He's a confident pup and had rolled onto his back to invite her to wrestle. (3) Greyish female with the pale blue collar. (4) Fawn male has entered the house and is mingling in the crowd. (5) To your left in the picture, the pinto female looks on. (6) The female with the pink collar has her head totally out of the picture. |
 In this pic, the fawn female with the pink
collar is on the far left. Next to her, being chewed on and pawed, is the yellowish, black-collared female who has decided that she doesn't want to play any more. The pinto male is most definitely in a playful mood! He's rolled on his back, again trying to invite someone to play with him. The blue-collared greyish female looks on from the right. The girls appear to be uniformly snoozy and underwhelmed by his enthusiasm. :) |
 They like to nap after their meals of
softened kibble or shorter snacks of Zor-milk. Left to right. by the noses: Fawn male,
pinto female, black collar female, pinto male. |
 Zor is ever watchful with her duties as a
mom. We now have a dog show exercise pen surrounding the front of the doghouse and here
you see Zor resting outside the puppy 'yard' and the face of the pinto male resting on the
retainer board inside the puppy's house. The reason for this portable fence is so that we can close off the puppy area if we don't want them to get underfoot ........ |
 ...or when we need to feed them so that the rascally chickens don't snarf up all their food! In this photo, the pups are mostly done with their chow, and the fawn male and black-collared female are lingering around for seconds. |
 After the pups are done, we let Zor go
clean up the puppy's pan. When she does this, she's usually the target for some attention.
:) If Zor is in the puppy yard while they eat, she keeps any chickens out so there's
no of stealing the puppy chow. She usually waits til the pups are nearly done before
trying to take some of the food herself, on occasion we generally have to tell her to
"leave it" - so the pups finish completely first. (Aslan generally expects us to
provide him with his separate bowl if he asks, he's not interested in competing with Zor,
the chickens and the pups for the pup chow.) :) |
 Most of the time the X-pen is open. After
eating or waking, puppies go into their little yard in front of the doghouse to potty.
Lately they seem to prefer to leave even their little 'yard' to go potty near the
blackberry bushes behind the doghouse or some place a short distance from their little
'yard'.In the background: the fawn male poses with his front paws on the steps; blue-collared female sits to the front (white forepaws), with the pink-collared female (no head visible) behind her. In the foreground with the white mesh toy thing in her paws is the black-collared female. |
 Here the pups are exploring outside of
their little yard. From the background to the foreground: Black-collared female chewing on
the pinto male (yes, he's inviting them to play again!). Standing over him is the
blue-collared female. In the foreground; pink-collared fawn female, and the pinto female
apparently asleep. :) |
 All the pups! Black-collared female on the left, Pinto male. blue-collared female facing away. The fawn male is starting a little gallop into the former group. The pink-collared female is checking out the folded chairs. The pinto female is in the foreground (yellow collar). Personality-wise - These are just basic
impressions. The pups are generally all very snuggly and relax and even fall
asleep when held. They obviously enjoy physical contact with James or me and with their
littermates. They all seem to be equally adept at figuring out the mazes and puzzles that
the X-pen, old dog run and other obstacles in the yard present them. They know that the
only possible route may be to go around something to get to the gate. They don't sit still
and cry helplessly. They're very astute on working out solutions.
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