The Sings are STILL changing!  They had other big growth spurt and have not quite doubled in size - but close!  They have really spurted in the awareness of their world and their enthusiasm for discovery is endless.  Not sure if that is always a good thing, however, as that does translate sometimes into “you are in to EVERYTHING!!”

Their life of learning to be a puppy meant that this week they got moved to the ‘big puppy play pen.’  Now they have WAY more room to run, jump, play and learn. What they are learning is what hot days, and cool mornings and evenings are.  What is this thing shade, shadow, and sun?  What is that wet and cold stuff in the baby swimming pool that we love to splash around in? Lots of new toys just showed up in their bigger world that are much more interesting to play with.  Best of all, they share a chain link fence with their momma, Lulu. and all their Sing relatives who are very interesting and entertaining.  At this point in their lives they have never seen a dog that is NOT a ridgeback, so later when they go to their new home, new breeds of dogs may be of huge interest to them!!

Lulu is done, done, done with feeding them, “Hallelujah”!!! She still really likes to play with them, so twice a day the Sings get to play with their momma.  They get fed twice a day too with just enough warm water to cover their puppy kibble.  This makes them crunch their food (good for teeth going in and anal glands going out!), but has just enough liquid so that they don’t choke from eating too fast.  I recommend that you stick to this format all of their lives because they will always eat to fast and you don’t ever want to experience manual anal gland expression!

At their final vet check, the nice folks at the Vet office oohed and awed over them and then poked them with a REALLY big microchip needle.  What a shock!!  Then the Sings got  poked with a little needle - the first of three vaccinations for bad things like parvo, parainfluenza, distemper, hepatitis, and lepto.  All of these are nasty to get, treat, and our sometimes fatal, so do not forget to the next two as well. Then the vet gave them a really good once over and filled out their Final Vet check sheet so all systems, internal and external, are checked and documented. Their weights were just where they should be with the smallest at 12.8 lbs. and the largest at 16.8# lbs.  Another yummy de-worming, another irritating toenail trim.   “Shake It Off” was their motto of the day!!

The Sings final paperwork has been put together.  You will receive a manila envelope with all their important papers in it… ie…  AKC registration forms, microchip registration forms, health records, the above check list, and LOTS of puppy raising advice.  Don’t be worried, Grandma June is always here to help with rearing and training advice!

Are you “Ready to Show the Fire of Desire?”

Males:

BUSTER:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, tiny spot on chest, no white on feet, eager to please, playful, goofy, co-operative, people orientated

EDDIE: dark red, very dark mask, 1 cowlick ridge, bump in tail, good teeth, tiny spot on chest, no white on feet, fun, curious, brave, outgoing, interested in new things, lets go attitude

GUNTER:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, white on all four feet, gentle, quiet, sweet, huggable, loves attention, loves laps

JOHNNY:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, no white on feet, fun loving, spunky, happy go lucky galoot, adventurous, go getter

MIKE:  dark golden red, medium mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, small white on all four feet, one retained testicle, attentive, don’t worry be happy attitude, the BIG easy, so willing to please

Females:

ASH:  copper red, medium mask, ridgeless, good teeth, medium spot on chest, minimal white on feet, super people lover, always the first to come, sassy, goofy, spunky

MEENA:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, minimal white on feet, likeable, friendly, gentle loving spirit, very expressive

MISS CRAWLY:  dark golden red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on feet, petite and pretty, dainty and girly, fun loving, watchful and observant

ROSITA:  dark red, medium mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, white on all four feet, playful, easy to be around, very attentive, confident and curious

No need to worry about a thing!!  Just be HAPPY!!  That is the life style of the SING litter. Their playing has turned into full fledged biting, chewing,jumping, hopping, rolling around and playfighting.  All day long they play, abuse their toys, then sleep, repeat repeat repeat! 

Their trilling warmups are over, and they are full throated belting out their barks, whines and growls!!  The acoustics being what they are in the garage, the singing has reach opera level.  The Sings had to have something new to distract them, so out they went to discover OUTSIDE!! Where they learned what grass is, and birds, and lawnmowers, and bugs etc….. All those new things have distracted them and once again they are singing their songs but at a lower decibel !!  They have so mUch to see and learn that they are thankfully exhausted when they come in for the night.

Poor Lulu just could not keep up on their food demand! It seemed like one day they were looking nice and round and chubby and the next day I was seeing a little bit of rib!!  That means they got to start learning to lap up their milk replacer and how to eat like a dog.  A few meals later and they were ready for the ‘’mush” made from puppy chow and milk replacer.  Soaked overnight it is nice and soft and oh so messy!!!  They pretty much snorkel in it, spill it, and bathe in it so thankfully Lulu is more than happy to clean them up.  Every few days I soak the puppy chow less time so that it gets a little less messy and, well, gross looking!!

It doesn’t help much that the Sings got their teeth and have really learned how to use them.  Between that and the ever growing toe nails, poor Lulu has about had it!!  She has started spending less time laying with her puppies and spends more time close by just watching them. 

This week along with the usual torturous toenail trim, they got wormed for the first time with the yummy tasting wormer.  How do I know it is yummy?  Stuff occurs and I assure you I don’t have worms either!!!  All pups have very nice looking teeth coming in, most have very nice ridges – one is ridgeless, one has only one cowlick, one bump tail, no dermoid sinus, no outey belly buttons – not much to note at this time.

As long as we live, there is never enough SINGING !!! 

Our Singing Soloists :

Males:

BUSTER:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, small spot on chest, no white on feet, eager to please, confident, co-operative

EDDIE: dark red, very dark mask, 1 cowlick ridge, bump in tail, good teeth, tiny spot on chest, no white on feet, curious, outgoing, fun

GUNTER:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, white on all four feet, gentle, quiet, sweet, huggable

JOHNNY:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, no white on feet, playful, spunky, happy go lucky galoot

MIKE:  dark golden red, medium mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, small white on all four feet, attentive, easy going, don’t worry be happy attitude

Females:

ASH:  golden red, medium mask, ridgeless, good teeth, medium spot on chest, minimal white on feet, super people lover, always the first to come, sassy

MEENA:  dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, minimal white on feet, likeable, friendly, funny and goofy

MISS CRAWLY:  golden red, medium mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, small spot on chest, minimal white on feet, petite and pretty, dainty and girly, fun loving

ROSITA:  dark red, medium mask, perfect ridge, good teeth, big spot on chest, white on all four feet, playful, easy to be around, very attentive

These little “Lulu’s” are doing it THEIR way!!  At about 2 Weeks, I was playing with them in the morning and by evening, all their eyes were open!  Like magic – boom – there they were!  Cloudy and blue, and not seeing much except light, but they were open!!  Of course, a couple days later and once again doing it their way, their eyes have turned a milky bluish golden brown (cuter than it sounds!) and they definitely see.

I swear one morning they were all laying around like little walrus’s, and by noon they were walking! – well sort of!!!  They skipped that 2 or 3 days of GI Joe crawling and went right to getting up on all four feet and wobbling around!! I couldn’t believe it!  Their way of ‘walking’ is somewhat dubious – lots of falling, tipping over, running into things, but they are doing it!

Their way of playing has really changed just over the last few days as well.  They had been doing a little bit of mouthing each other and rolling around as much as a walrus can!!, but again one day they just started true puppy play – chewing on every body part they can get ahold of, piling on each other, rolling, batting at each other and today I saw an early version of play bowing!!

The noise level has increased exponentially almost every day as well.  One day they were doing a little moaning, groaning and whining, the next they are singing their puppy ‘trill’, and the next day they are trying to bark and growl!  The singing can be so loud AND high pitched that I have to go find the little vocalist with the big lungs and play with them so that their ‘tryout’ is over!!

Doing it their way again, their ridges have disappeared into puppy “fuzz”, making their ridges nearly impossible to see.  Normally, it is about a week that their ridges are AWOL, but with this bunch it will either be a few days or a few weeks!!

Just for fun, we always pick a litter theme for the pups so that we can have fun names that are easy to remember and not repetitive.  I can only talk about so many Mr. Blue’s and Miss Pink’s - as denoted by a ribbon around their neck or painted toenails.  I have never had good luck keeping any kind of ribbon/collar on them and have been concerned that it could be potentially hazardous.  As challenging as trimming toenails is, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to paint those little toe nails!!   The litter name helps us talk about each puppy individually and we all know who we are talking about.  You can name your puppy anything you want to when you take them home.  Fair warning, I do tend to remember them by their litter theme and litter name over the years, so you just have to be patient when Grandma June calls them by their ‘’litter’ name!! 

This unpredictable litter lives by and sings their own song  -  “My Way” !!