The 007 Litter quickly outgrew the ‘little’ puppy play pen and have moved to the “BIG” puppy play pen.  It is quite large and inside the 2 acre pen where their relatives can meet them thru the shared chain link fence.  They are learning how to make friends and play nice with other dogs who are not their mother.  Once in while they do get to play with their adult relatives whom they admire but play alittle too rough sometimes!  The pups are also learning to play with toys, hunt, track, wet grass in the morning, hot sun in the afternoon, SHADE, and all the noises of being outside –barking, tractors, lawnmowers, motorcycles, airplanes, helicopters, squirrels, rabbits, birds!!  Lots of spying, espionage, reconnaissance, riskiness and peril have occurred!

As if that weren’t enough adventure, the 007’s go on their ‘walkabouts’ daily. Grandma June is the ‘pied piper of puppies’, so they follow me wherever I go whether it is out by the big rocks (our own little stone hedge where the bride and groom stand at the weddings), the flower gardens, the groves or into the original outhouse!!  All these new experiences are my opportunity to watch them become their own little selves.  My observations help me know who is courageous, confident, curious and on the go.   On the other end of the ‘wild to mild’ spectrum, are the quiet, gentle and stick to me like Velcro puppies.  The vast majority of the pups fall somewhere in the middle.   I walk, they play, I observe, they get tired!!  Perfect – a tired puppy is a good puppy!!

Penny was SOOOO done with them that she pretty much weaned them herself so that she could go home to live with her family again.  Although the pups do miss their mom, mostly the snuggles and kisses, they like them just as much from humans!  They are eating very well, drinking, growing like crazy!

They went to the vet for their final vet check this week.  All hearts, lungs, belly buttons and testicles (where appropriate) checked out perfectly.  All teeth were perfect except for Bond whose right canines don’t scissor perfectly just yet.  This is not a big deal, but your vet will want to help you watch that his adult canines come in properly.  All were weighed (14 – 16.4 pounds), poked, prodded, dewormed, vaccinated (little ouch), and microchipped (big ouch).  All this great information will be in their going home packets along with their AKC registration papers, microchip registration papers, and lots of Grandma June rearing and training advice.

My “World Is Not Enough” for these little guys anymore, but I can assure you that these little “Diamonds Are Forever”!” 

From “Grandma With Love”

MALES:

Bond – Red wheaten, full mask, no white anywhere, good teeth with offset right canines, perfect ridge.  Laid back people lover, eager to please, loves attention

James – Red wheaten, minimal mask, 3 squiggly spots on chest, good teeth, 1 colic ridge.  The Big Easy, happy go lucky, first in line for the fun.

Q –  Red wheaten, medium mask, big ‘x’ on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge. Easy going, curious, observant, a watcher/thinker from your lap

Fleming –  Dark red wheaten, heavy mask, pi’ looking spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Adventurous, confident, go getter, action seeker, goofey

FEMALES:

Bibi – Red wheaten, minimal mask, no white anywhere, good teeth, perfect ridge. 

Curious, confident, loves everyone, so willing to please

Jinx – Red wheaten, medium mask, small backwards C on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.   Bright, active, eager to please, goofy and fun

Vesper – Dark red wheaten, full mask, bat shaped spot on chest, good teeth, perfect teeth.  Quiet, gentle, sweet, huggable lap lover

Severine –  Red wheaten, medium mask, “7” shaped spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Happy go lucky, playful, likes to be where the action is

Domino – Dark red wheaten, full mask, small spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Silly, spunky, sassy, full of spit and vinegar

Solitaire – Red wheaten, full mask, long, small skinny spot on chest, good teeth, perfect teeth.  Sweet, kind, snuggly, squeeze me attitude

TEETH!!  Somebody gave the 007 litter a License to Kill with those things!!  They are sharp and very effective.  Penny has had it with the teeth already, and spends much less time with the pups.  The teeth have jettisoned Penny into the “stand only when feeding” mode which is the beginning of the end for the pups.  On the positive side, all the pups have very nice teeth!!

Not to worry, their tummies stay nice and full with their puppy mush.  They have gotten very good at eating without making an absolute mess out of the area and each other!  They have figured out that “snorkeling” is not the most efficient way to eat and now just ‘wolf’ their food down like they think they will never eat again!!  Besides the introduction to real food, healthwize Grandma June was at it again with the annoying toenail trim and the semi yummy de-wormer goo.

The 007 pups have done an in depth investigation of the world OUTSIDE!!  Grass is very suspicious because it pokes you in the stomach, worms should not slink around like they do, and certainly everything outside is new, exciting, and not quite understandable.  They sure find their new digs WAY more interesting than their whelping box world.

I wonder if “Dr. No” felt as worn out as I do some days!!!  “No Puppy, don’t eat dirt.”  “No Puppy, get that stick out of your mouth, you have no idea where that has been.” “No Puppy, leave the worms alone.” “No Puppy, get out of the tulips!”  “No Puppy, you mustn’t chew on the wires of your kennel, because you get your teeth stuck on them!”  No Puppy, Don’t BITE!!

They have done very well learning to use their litter box to go to the bathroom and now grass. The point of the litter box is to use their natural instincts to NOT go to the bathroom anywhere near their eating and playing area.  You will want to determine where the bathroom will be at your house, so that the moment they get home you can carry them to the selected spot, set them down, and tell them to go.  After that until the pup and you are house broke, you will always want to carry the pup to the designated area to do their thing.  Then you reward them with your voice, hands and eyes and move off to play somewhere else.  Puppies tend to be about as house broke as their owners!! No pressure!!

This is an amazingly consistent litter!!  Probably the most difficult litter I have ever had to tell them apart!  They have very little white on them, and what they do have is already fading and going away.  All of them are red wheaten with lots of bone and muscle mass already.  They do have different amounts of black mask and you can tell them apart a little bit by the shape of spots on their chests.  All of them have big square heads with lovely round eyes.  Right now, they are all happy go lucky little galoots!   At about 6 - 6.5 weeks old, a light switch turns on and they start becoming their own little selves.  We will begin to go on our ‘walkabouts’, where I get to observe them playing, sleeping, adventuring and reacting to all things new!!  My job is to figure out and share with you what makes each of them special and unique!

Their 5 week old pictures are always fun because it is the first time they have ever been alone.  Each of them has a different reaction to the scary studio in Grandma’s kitchen and all the weird noices she makes to get us to look at her!!!  Let’s investigate who the 007 Litter really is!!??

MALES:

Bond – Red wheaten, full mask, no white anywhere, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Easy, willing, attentive

James – Red wheaten, minimal mask, 3 squiggly spots on chest, good teeth, 1 colic ridge.  Fun, goofy, playful

Q –  Red wheaten, medium mask, big ‘x’ on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge. Curious, outgoing, engaged in process

Fleming –  Dark red wheaten, heavy mask, pi’ looking spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Adventurous, spunky, full of himself

FEMALES:

Bibi – Red wheaten, minimal mask, no white anywhere, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Interested, cooperative, curious

Jinx – Red wheaten, medium mask, small backwards C on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.   Attentive, eager to please

Vesper – Dark red wheaten, full mask, bat shaped spot on chest, good teeth, perfect teeth.  Quiet, gentle, sweet

Severine –  Red wheaten, medium mask, “7” shaped spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Happy go lucky, playful

Domino – Dark red wheaten, full mask, small spot on chest, good teeth, perfect ridge.  Confident, spunky, feisty

Solitaire – Red wheaten, full mask, long, small skinny spot on chest, good teeth, perfect teeth.  Sweet, kind, snuggly

The Terrific Ten are on the moooove!! One day, they started GI Joe crawling with their chubby tummies dragging the blankets. The next day they were toddling and starting to do laps around the whelping box. By the third day, they were bowling around the whelping box thunder balling each other over!! Lots of falling, tipping over, wobbling, rocking and rolling ensued!!

I increased the size of their playground, because they have grown so much they need to have more room to PLAY!! This week they figured that out too. Ears, tails, toes and noses are all at risk. Poor Penny even has to endure her share of their abuse! To help save her sanity, I blocked off a section of their puppy playpen so that she can escape them whenever she wants to, which she does more and more often!!!

They have also gotten very vocal!! They make this ‘sound’ that is sort of a cross between a bark, a growl and a howl – sort of a ‘trill’. It is very pathetic, in a cute sort of way, and only lasts a few days. Then they started truly barking and growling – still cute but very identifiable!!

Not so cute for them was another annoying toenail trim but this time combined with their first de-worming with that yummy banana tasting yellow stuff. How do I know it tastes like banana’s? Things happen. They will be de-wormed two more times before they go home to make sure they don’t have any ‘passengers’ that come along too. You should always de-worm your puppy monthly as they put everything in their mouths and worm eggs are on everything!!

The Early Neurological Stimulation exercises are complete so hopefully they have learned all those positive life lessons!! Now we just hold them, hug them and squeeze them for the fun of it!!

Surprising NEWS!! All of the pups have been DNA typed to figure out “Whose Your Daddy?” …. Drumroll - they are all Charms’!!! That was unexpected!! Poor Rocky!!

A few of you must be fans of “Bond, James Bond” !! I have never seen any of the movies, but with momma having a name like 007 Money Penny, we figured it was the obvious theme!! It will be great fun to see who steps forward to be James, Bond, Ian, Fleming, 007 or Q, and Domino, Vesper, Solitaire, Honey Ryder, Plenty, BiBi, Severine or Jinx!!!