Oscar Night STARS !!!
 

Walking the Red Carpet - 4/9/15 - 6.5 Weeks Old

The Oscar Stars are well beyond “walking’ the red carpet - they are hopping, jumping, running, rolling, wrestling - you name it - on the red carpet!!!  They can strut their stuff with the best of them!!!

Weaning is completed and really I don’t think Dayo regretted the loss of that job at all!!!  She is a great mom, and loves her puppies to death, but it was time to send them out and see if they can ‘make it big’.   All the pups have very nice, beautiful teeth with correct bites and scissors, so another important mile stone was passed with no concerns and no more discomfort for Dayo.  The Oscars are eating their puppy chow just great, no more snorkeling in it anymore, and are gaining weight and size so fast you can almost see them grow every day!!   Now they eat out of an elevated giant puppy ring that looks like a donut.  I recommend that for the lifetime of your large breed dog that you feed them in elevated dishes.  I ALWAYS also add just a little bit of warm water and feed it immediately.  This helps them to not choke if they eat to fast, but they still have to chew which cleans their teeth going in and expresses their anal glands going out!!

This week they had another dreaded toe nail trim although they have pretty much given up on resisting my efforts on that!!   The first puppy shots have arrived and so have the microchips so that will be the next project on their health list.  It is best if we wait until after they are no longer nursing to give them their first shots so that there is no maternal interference with the immune system development.  They have their final vet check this week so hopefully their hearts, lungs and testicles (where appropriate ) will all check out fine too.  AKC registration papers are here and I am working on on their GRANDMA JUNE advice that will go home with them.   WHERE has the time gone – it is almost time for the performance of their lives!!

Soon, I hope to move the Oscar Stars to the BIG puppy play pen where they can romp around, play with each other more and terrorize their toys.  They have grown a lot again this week and are enjoying the opportunity to run and jump and chase each other.   I’ve also added a much bigger litter box so that they can continue to learn that there is a right place to go to the bathroom. The goal is that this will help you house train them when they come home to you.   All you need to do is select WHERE the bathroom is going to be in YOUR yard, be sure to CARRY them to that spot the very first time you get home with them and that will help you get started on the right foot at your home.  If you go out the same door, say the same thing and carry the puppy to the designated spot and then reward them with your voice, hands and eyes when they accomplish their goal, they will house break very quickly.  Puppies tend to be about as house broke as their families are!!!
STILL a PERFECT litter!!!  There are very, very minor differences in size, coat color and the amount of black masks they have.   The easiest way to tell them apart is obviously gender and the amount of white on their chests and feet.   They are all just sweet little darlings right now, but in the coming weeks they will begin to develop their own unique personalities.   While taking their pictures this time I did note a few minor things.   Winter seems to be finally giving it up and spring has allowed me to take them outside to begin our daily “walk a bouts”.   It is a wonderful way to let them be themselves, play with them, and figure out what makes each one of them special and unique!!

FEMALES:

BEAUTY – dark red, medium mask, medium size spot on chest, minimal white on all four feet, perfect teeth, medium size.  Kind, gentle, eager to please
GLAMOUR – very dark red, very dark mask, medium white spot on chest, matching white socks on front feet, large female, perfect teeth.   Loving, people oriented, snuggler
STAR – dark mahogany red, medium mask, thin upside down U on chest, sock on left front  foot, perfect teeth, smaller female.   Sweet, quiet, loves attention.
GLITZ – dark red, medium mask, medium sized spot on chest, white on all four feet with sock on left front foot, medium size, perfect teeth.  Playful, fun, goofy
SPARKLE – very dark red, very dark mask, medium spot on chest, minimal white on all four feet, big girl, perfect teeth.  Loves attention, lover, happy go lucky
DAZZLE – very dark red, very dark mask, small spot in right armpit, white toes on all four feet, big, perfect teeth.  Adventurous, independent, lots of sass and swag
SHIMMER – very dark red, very dark mask, almost no white on chest, some white on all four feet, medium size, perfect teeth.  Attentive, cooperative, very willing to please

MALES:

TUX– deep mahogany red, medium mask, huge spot on chest, socks on front feet, medium size, perfect teeth.  Spunky, goofy, full of fun, loves to play, expressive
MC – dark red, dark mask, big spot on chest, minimal white on all four feet, huge male, perfect teeth.  Laid back, big, happy go lucky, easy going galoot
 

All the "STARS" Were Out !! - 3/26/15 - 4.5 Weeks Old

The Oscar STARS have turned into puppies and are out strutting their stuff!!!   In fact, they jump and hop, romp and maybe even try to do a little running which is then followed by some serious falling….how embarrassing!!!   No STAR likes to trip especially at the Oscars!!!   They have gotten  just wild in their whelping box so keeping them entertained has become much more difficult.   Thankfully we have toys!!!  - toys that suffer horribly and do not last long!!!

Dayo is a great mother and a very sufficient milker, but she is starting to have trouble keeping up with them and honestly she is not nearly as impressed as she used to be by their celebrity status!!!  She spends more and more time elsewhere, any where, so that she can get away from them but still see them.    We have begun feeding them their puppy mush, soaked with milk replacer to help Dayo out.  Mostly, they snorkel in their food and make a HUGE mess - very unseemly!!  Dayo, does a great job cleaning them up much to our appreciation.

They got wormed for the first of three times this week.  Yummy, sticky stuff that tastes like bananas!!  Hmmm ….how do I KNOW that?    Another toenail trim not only made Dayo happy but at this point it also protects little eyes and noses that might get scratched too.   Belly buttons, dew claws, all look great, eyes have turned brown, teeth are just starting to emerge.  Dayo will call it quits for sure once the teeth come out!!!  TRUST me!!

Still looking for flaws but not finding much to note - that is a good thing but a surprising one!!!    You really have to know them to tell them apart especially when there are no flaws to help you.   Right now the boys are pretty obvious but the girls are much more challenging.  How much white is on a food or the chest is about it.

Let’s meet the “OSCAR STARS”

Males:

MC - medium red, full mask, white on all four feet, big spot on chest, biggest pup
Tux - dark red, full mask, white on front feet, long TUX like spot on chest/ belly

Females:

Glitz - medium red, full mask, white on all four feet, big spot on chest
Glamour - medium red, full mask, white on all four feet, big spot on chest
Dazzle - dark red, full mask, little white on all four feet, medium spot on chest
Shimmer - very dark red, full mask, small amount of white of feet, none on chest
Sparkle - dark red, full mask, little white on all four feet, medium spot on chest
Star - medium red, medium mask, white on all four feet, medium spot on chest
Beauty - medium red, medium mask, least amount of white on feet, medium spot

Alignment of the STARS! - 3/16/15 - 3 Weeks Old

What a difference only 10 days makes!!!   Their eyes are open with even a little shimmer of understanding in them!  They are still kind of a bluish color and unfocused sometimes, but with time they will not only focus but they will also change colors to either a deep chocolate brown or perhaps an amber brown depending on what color their coat is.   They can clearly also hear now as their ear ‘leathers’ have flipped down so they look more like the hounds that they are.  This can happen only when all those little inner ear parts lose the protective swelling they are born with so that they can start to hear.  Their sense of taste, touch and smell continue to be just fine as they know exactly how to find the gourmet meal laid out before them fairly regularly!

With seeing and hearing added to the mix, they just have more FUN because they can see and hear their littermates!!  They have begun to roll around a little with each other and do a little batting of paws - mostly fails but they do try!!!  Occasionally, they manage to get one or another’s foot or nose in their mouths and do a little chewing on them.   Ears are also fair game if one happens to fall into someones else’s mouth!!!  They don’t have any teeth yet so no damage is being done!!

Dayo continues to be a fabulous mother.  She keeps her little darlings very clean with her relentless and not very much appreciated tongue baths.  So annoying!  Even more annoying however, are the weekly toe nail trims.   Momma Dayo on the other hand is VERY appreciative of the toe nail trims!!  

We continue to monitor their growth and development.  Belly buttons are looking really good - no outies!!!  - so hopefully no hernia’s.   Dew claw removals are healing too with only minor scars on the front legs.  Still no dermoid sinus’s so that might be a done deal, but we will continue to feel for them frequently just to make sure.   We think all of their ridges have the required two cowlicks or crowns, but right now is not a good time to be looking at them as they are going thru their ‘fuzzy faze’.   Their hair gets well  …. FUZZY and all of it stand straight up so the ridge is sort of just lost in fuzziness.  In about 10 days they will be back to having beautiful easy to see MOHAWKS!!

Choosing a “litter theme” is always a big part of the fun.  Each of the pups will have a ‘litter name’ to identify them with, but when you take your new puppy home you can name them whatever you want to.  As always the ‘litter theme’ sort of just happens!!   The evening Dayo was preparing for the pups to be born was Oscar Night, so we will see who wants to be “Tux, MC, Sparkle, Beauty, Shimmer, Glitz, Glamour, Dazzle & Star”.