Life on our own little rural island with the Moana litter is FUN!! The “walkabouts” have gotten longer, more frequent and filled with adventure!!!  No one knows how far they’ll go !! All these new experiences, sights, sounds, textures and new ‘things’, help us see how each pup views and reacts to the world.  Some are confident, some courageous, some very curious, some reserved, some like to observe and some are happy go lucky galoots!   I walk, they play, I observe, they get tired!!  Yes!!!   Never forget, a tired puppy is a good puppy. 

Big changes involved moving to the BIG puppy play pen so they have a lot more room to run, hop, jump and stalk each other.  The pool met with an unfortunate leaking situation, (think puppy teeth here), so I flipped it over and now it is a very fun hill/slide/cave etc… that they have found lots of ways to entertain themselves with.  They share a fence now with their big brothers and sisters, so safe and necessary socialization ensues!! 

Twist is tired of being mauled by a gang of Kakamora and has boarded her boat to get outta here!!  She gamely allowed them to nurse while hanging off of her, which looks just awful.  By the long suffering look on her face I think it is as awful as it looks.  She does like to play with them, but she must stay on the move at all times.  The Moana’s are eating their puppy chow with gusto so there has been no break in their weight gain.

Their final vet visit was Friday.  No big surprises, just little things that I had noted before.  All hearts, lungs and testicles (go MAUI!)  were good!!  Pua has that overbite that should ‘reduce’ with the arrival of adult teeth.  Hei Hei had her dermoid sinus removal surgery site checked over.  It is healing, but slowly.  she will have her stitches out before she goes home.  Shouldn’t be a scar there and the hair will grow back but that will take another couple of weeks.  All were weighed- biggest is Maui of course at 15.2.  The girls started at 14.8-with Moana and Pua taking the front and Tala bringing up the rear at 13.4.  Hard to believe these guys started at 17-20  oz only 6.5 weeks ago!!   After lots of poking, prodding, measuring and manipulating, the first vaccines (little ouch!) were over, dewormed for the last of three times, and then the BIG OUCH – microchipping!!  Good thing they did not see the size of that needle coming at them!!  All this great health information will be in their ‘going home’ packet, along with all their AKC registration papers, microchip papers, and lots of Grandma June rearing and training advice.

We are VOYAGERS! 

Male:

Maui – Perfect Pet/Show - dark red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, tiny spot on chest, no white on feet. Big, friendly, goofy, proud of himself, watch me attitude – “Hero of Men!”

Females:

Moana – Perfect Pet/Show – Mahogany red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, medium spot on chest, white on all feet.  Spunky, fun, eager to please. easy easy easy

Hei Hei – Perfect Pet - dark Mahogany red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, extra cowlick on top of her head, good teeth, long skinny spot on chest, minimal white on rear feet. Dermoid sinus. Happy go lucky galoot, sweet, kind, easy to be around.

Pua – Pet - medium red, medium mask, perfect ridge, small spot on chest, minimal white on all four feet, overbite.   Big, Fun, Fun, fun, curious, confident, explorer

Sila – Perfect Pet/Show - golden red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on rear toes.  quiet, gentle, huggable, attentive, watcher and thinker

Tala – Perfect Pet - golden red, medium mask, Long ridge with slightly offset cowlicks, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on toes.  Sassy, fun loving, playful, always eager to HELP with anything you want to do.

“SHINEY!”  That’s how the ridges look on the Moana puppys!!  The fuzz is gone and you can see how long each is and the two cowlicks they are supposed to have!!  “Bang the Drum!”

The sweet, silent, sleepy little pups have disappeared.  Every morning I get up and “They Call Me”.  And loudly!!  They have full fledged voices and know how to use them. Barking, growling, WHINING!! – they have it figured out!! Playing is a continuous learning experience.  Pouncing and bowling each other over is fairly new along with the usual hopping, jumping, and running – sometimes an odd combination of all three at the same time!!  They have sharpened their teeth on each other’s body parts, and have begun to learn that play is good, but biting too hard gets you a correction from your victim and instant ostracism!

Speaking of teeth and biting – poor Twist has begun the final stages of feeding her pups.  She doesn’t lay with them anymore, stands to feed them, and then splits as fast as she can.  The long suffering look on her face while the pups hang off of her is just painful to watch.  Toenails were bad enough, but now teeth too!! Sooo…… new in their life is the yummy, full of fat, milk replacer.  Learning to lick is a big accomplishment and learning that you don’t walk in the big puppy ring while eating is a big accomplishment too!  I haven’t started feeding them the puppy mush yet, as they are staying quite chubby.  I know once I start feeding them puppy mush, they will start pooping with more gusto and with a decidedly more potent by- product! Could this be “KAKAMORA”?  How appropriate!!!  “Blame it on the Pig!”  

This week was another obnoxious toenail trim, and the first dose of that yummy wormer stuff.  Puppies are just wormy, especially once they start going outside to learn how to be dogs. Parasite eggs are just a part of their environment and parasite carrying mosquitoes are too.  The life cycle of an intestinal worm is three weeks which is why it is important that you buy good, effective products from your vet.  Also learning to be a dog, this week, the little Voyagers went outside for the first time to experience GRASS!!  and bugs, and strange noises, and birds, and sunshine, and noisy farm equipment/lawn mowers, and on and on!!

“Knowing where you are, by knowing where you have been!”

We are VOYAGERS! 

Male:

Maui – Perfect Pet/Show - dark red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, tiny spot on chest, no white on feet. Big, friendly, goofy, proud of himself, watch me attitude – “Hero of Men!”

Females:

Moana – Perfect Pet/Show - dark red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, medium spot on chest, white on all feet.  Spunky, fun, eager to please and always the one under your feet.

Hei Hei – Perfect Pet - deep dark red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, extra cowlick on top of her head, good teeth, long skinny spot on chest, minimal white on rear feet. I felt a dermoid sinus in her neck, so I will have it removed before she goes home. Big galoot, sweet, kind, easy to be around.

Pua – Pet - medium red, medium mask, perfect ridge, small spot on chest, minimal white on all four feet, overbite with incorrect scissor.   Go, getter, curious, confident, explorer

Sila – Perfect Pet/Show - golden red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on rear toes.  quiet, gentle,  huggable,  attentive, watcher and thinker

Tala – Perfect Pet - golden red, medium mask, Long ridge with slightly offset cowlicks, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on toes.  Sassy, fun loving, playful, always eager to keep up with anything you want to do.

Well actually they are all ON their backs most of the time! It’s always a good excuse to wrestle around with each other, or ask for a tummy rub!!  They they have begun to notice each other as something more than a pillow or a snuggle buddy.  Once in awhile, they will actually ‘play’ a little – well they sort of roll around and bat a paw now and then but a START!!!

In just 10 days, these little coconuts have again doubled in size.  How do they do that!!??  Lots of great grits from Momma Twist, who continues to just love them to death -   Wicked tongue lashings and all!!

Healthwize all is good!  No dermoid sinus’, belly buttons look good with no ‘outies’ and dew claw removals are almost completely healed.

Their eyes have opened into little squinty, cloudy blue slits, but every day they open a little more and I think they see a little better.  Their sight gets better as they turn from blue to either deep amber or chocolate brown whichever color best matches their coat color.

They have been GI Joe crawling for a few days now.  There is lots of tipping over and face planting happening but they are low to the ground yet and a litter mate pretty much has their back as they fall!!  The trilling has begun which lasts only a few days, but it is the cutest most pathetic cross between a growl, a bark, and a whine you have ever heard!! Usually, they can’t figure out where that new noise is coming from!  Soooo cute and with a LOT of try!!

FUZZ time is upon their ridges.  They’re kind of prickly with their hair sticking in all different directions!!  Think a coconut here.  A little bit of banging on the drum time, and their ridges will be back better than before.

We have selected their litter theme and now we are just waiting to see who starts becoming who before we start assigning names.  Have you guessed the litter theme yet?