Eight weeks is a very busy age! In the 10 days since my last update, the puppies have had multiple visitors and several outings to friends’ houses. They had their first shots. They were all BAER tested and all have normal hearing (yay!). We’ve had mixed weather but the puppies were able to spend four full days soaking up the sunshine outside in their safe and secure outdoor pen on my back deck, and had lots and lots of wild playtime in the big yard!
All this activity means I’m late getting my website updated. However, to make up for it, I have lots of new stuff to share this week! There are THREE new photo albums in the litter’s photo gallery:
- Seven week stacked photos, obviously taken some time ago but it has taken me some time to get them off the camera and posted.
- Eight week stacked photos.
This was a very problematic photo session. The puppies were not cooperative for their Auntie Mary Downing and my camera was even less cooperative for me. I only managed to get one decent photo from the entire session so I decided to switch and try stacking the little worms myself and give the camera to Mary instead. I thought it would be easier for her to videotape instead of shooting stills. With the exception of Seven’s photo (at right), the rest of the 8 week stacked shots are stills captured from the videos, so they are pretty low quality although the puppies were pretty well behaved for me. I know this is the crucial age for evaluating conformation, so I also included short video clips of each puppy stacked below the stills on the photo album, and while they are also not great quality, they might give a better idea of what the puppies look like. FYI, the sound tracks for these clips are muted, so don’t think there is something wrong with your speakers when you only hear silence. 
You will probably wonder why there are no photos or video of fawn boy #2. Unfortunately he sprained his leg a few days ago and was very uncomfortable during the photo shoot so rather than torture him we decided to leave him alone. However, he looks pretty much the same as he did in his 7 week photo.
- Eight week candid photos, all shot out in the yard on a nice sunny day. During their play sessions the puppies are not just exercising and exploring their world, but learning social skills from the adult dogs. In addition to Lark and Kestrel, who is by far the very best puppy auntie ever born, grandma Wren is now allowed out with the puppies during playtime. She mostly ignores them but will occasionally play with them or more often will don her grumpy grandma hat and very appropriately put a cheeky puppy in his or her place. Ringer has also been granted puppy playtime privileges but I have to watch him like a hawk because he likes to smack them around, playfully of course. Although Ringer is 8 years old now, in his brain he is still 8 weeks old and he doesn’t realize he outweighs them by 400%.
But Kestrel is their very favorite play buddy. She is so wonderful with them. She brings them toys and invites them to play by dropping toys on their heads or shoving them in their faces. Today I laughed when she brought her aerobie frisbee (shaped like a ring) over to one of the puppies and gently draped it over her neck. What a goofball. The puppies absolutely adore her and worship the ground she walks on. Kestrel has played this role for two generations of puppies now. She is spayed and will never have her own puppies but she is the very best puppy socializer I know and I really enjoy watching her interact with the little ones.
Last but not least, here is this week’s fun video, actually shot a week ago when the puppies were a few days over 7 weeks old. I actually managed to get it uploaded to youtube the next day but it has taken me this long to get it on my own website. Enjoy!
