I checked in with our newly adopted puppy families to make sure everyone got home okay and got some nice responses on how the puppies did!
“Great to finally meet you as well!! Thank you for everything you do”
“Good morning Jennifer,
It was so very nice to meet you as well. As my husband says, what you do is amazing and how you do it.
We had a great ride home. Lola did cry a little in her crate, but settled down quickly.
Was not interested in food much but drink a little water. This morning she ate a whole quarter cup of food and seems to be settling in real well.
She is so very smart and seems to have picked up on her new name.
Thank you for preparing all the pups for all of us lucky families.
We love her so much”
“Aww my sweet angel! I love her so much already. She honestly did so well on her travel day – slept the whole flight, no accidents and went potty in the litter box in my trunk as soon as we got to it.
She’s made herself quite comfortable at home and is settling in well. We were up every couple of hours to go to the bathroom but so far no accidents which is a nice start. Thanks so much for bringing us to the hotel yesterday and for giving us a great start together!”
“It’s going great!! Poppy is a tough cookie!
4 hours of sleep and they are back asleep now of course. So cute
We love them together!!
Thanks Jennifer! You raise absolute Gems!!!!!!! ”
“Hi Jennifer!
I’ll let MJ respond to you after school as well, but just wanted to let you know Sweetie made it home safe & sound and has had a very big first day! The entire family loves her to pieces already, and I have a feeling Teddy will be the over-protective older brother
We had a crazy Saturday night that thankfully turned into a special Sunday afterwards!
The sun was just setting on Saturday and I was thinking about getting started on puppy baths and the other things I needed to finish up to be ready for Puppy Delivery Day the next morning.
I was sitting on the couch with the windows open when I started to get a whiff of an unpleasant smell. It grew stronger and more vile as the culprit came closer. A strong smell of skunk wafted in the windows. Yuck!
I peered out onto the front porch and saw Cajsa drooling. Hmm….bingo! I think we figured out who the unfortunate dog was. It smelled awful everywhere but it was too warm to shut the windows. And I didn’t have time to bathe her with puppy duties awaiting me. I had to put Cajsa to bed in her crate in the garage that night which made the garage also too horrible to go into.
About that time, hubby had gone out to clean my windshield for me as it was smattered with bugs.
He soon came back inside and announced, “There’s a pack rat in your truck.” “Seriously?!” I exclaimed.
If you’re not familiar with pack rats or wood rats as they are also called, they are big rodents with rounded ears and flat fluffy tails. Kind of cute, but also very destructive. They like to steal and hoard things to collect for their nest areas. Hubby has found nests in our woodshed before with dried veggies from the garden, chicken food, big chunks of bark, and other things.
I had just driven the truck on Friday, but they can move in quickly and destroy things. So it was imperative that hubby find and capture this little nuisance. The last thing I needed was to get up early the next morning ready to head out for puppy delivery and not be able to drive my truck because the rat chewed through some wiring!
After hunting around hubby spotted the little rascal but couldn’t get to him. So he took the truck for a slow ride down the hill hoping that the bumpy, dirt driveway would shake him loose. But to no avail!
Meanwhile, I starting bathing our little sweeties and getting things ready for the morning.
Thankfully after what seemed like hours he was able to capture the little beast and move him far away from my truck…whew!
It was late when I finally went to bed.
But it didn’t seem like too long after I went to sleep that a wicked storm woke me up. (Yep, the windows were still open!) The rain poured and flashes of lightening lite up the house, followed by loud, booming thunder. And it went on and on. It would diminish for a bit and sound like it was moving further way and then it would sound very close again. This went on for what seemed like hours.
At around 3ish, my foggy brain finally realized that Ben was still outside (he likes to be out at night patrolling the property and surrounding “neighborhood” where my in-laws live). I got up, and went to the garage to let him inside. He gladly accepted my offer.
Then I tried to get some sleep as the noisy storm continued.
My five-o’clock alarm went off way too early but it was time to feed the puppies and get started with our day. Thankfully, the storm had moved on and the morning looked promising albeit still overcast.
Thankfully, the drive and the day went well and we got the girls handed off to their new, excited families after going over instructions and puppy paperwork. This is probably my favorite part of the job; personally handing puppies off to their owners. The joy, excitement and anticipation can be felt on puppy delivery morning!
Love the way these new puppy bags turned out!
So let me introduce the puppies and their new families! Two of them had come back for their second Pinewood Cavapoo! I feel so blessed to have these repeat families come back for more cuteness.
Jasmine who will keep her name.
Tinkerbell who is now Poppy. And little Poppy is going home to a Pinewood big sister, Honey!
Moana is now Lola.
Snow White is Sweetie. Sweetie has big brother Teddy waiting at home, the family’s first Pinewood pup.
And Ariel will now be called Nash.
What a fun day!
And the drive home painted a much prettier picture then the morning’s sky.
Well, we wrapped up our last weekend with the girls here. This morning they’re on their way to meet their forever families!
We crammed the last few days with fun and training.
I turned the play structure into a ball pit. Of course the balls didn’t stay in there long. They went everywhere!
We continued to work on crate training. They still have a long ways to go but there is definitely improvement.
I like to cover the crate with a blanket. This usually helps to settle puppies down quicker. They can still hear me moving around, but something about them not seeing me makes things easier.
Oops! This blanket had a hole in it! Who’s nose is that?
“Hey, let me out of here!”
So much fun and so much love to give their new families! ❤️
The girls got their swim suits on and decided to have a pool party! 😜
I got an old kiddie pool out, scrubbed it up and put it in their play area. They were so curious as the hose streamed water to fill the bottom with a couple inches.
They stared at the water for a minute Then a couple of them started to test it out with their paw.
Pretty soon Jasmine, Ariel and Moana had all climbed in to investigate and lap at the water. Tinkerbell and Snow White were happy to watch the activity from outside the pool for now.
I think they enjoyed their pool party. But they definitely need baths now!
We are wrapping up our last week with Indy litter of girls. They go home on Sunday. We are continuing to work on potty training and crate conditioning so they have a good start when they arrive at their new homes. And continuing to handle, work with, expose them to things, and love on these girls.
Please be aware puppy parents, even though we are practicing all these things with the puppies, the first few days are always an adjustment and can be noisy and stressful (for humans and adults). The most important points to remember are to be consistent with training, reinforce the behaviors you want to reproduce and ignore the behaviors you don’t want to see continue.
What do I mean by that? Well, if puppy is in its crate with breakfast and just ate (don’t worry if they don’t finish their complete meal at first. They don’t always eat really well when they first arrive at their new home) and it starts fussing, ignore the cries and whines! But as soon as you see puppy settle and be quiet then let them out and give them some love. I find it helpful when crate training puppies to cover the crate with a blanket. It helps them settle faster. And those of you with small children will have an extra challenge. What kid doesn’t want to go comfort his new, crying puppy? But giving puppy attention at that time just reinforces that behavior. Puppy learns if he fusses, he gets attention. Teach your kiddos to wait until puppy is quiet before giving them attention.
For nighttime crating, I give puppy a small blanket and a stuffed animal to cuddle with. Sometime it also helps to leave a radio or some soothing music playing. I also find it helps to cover the crate with a blanket. If you use essential oils, lavender is safe for dogs and has a calming effect. Make sure you are using a pure essential oil from a reputable company and not something diluted or with added fillers. Lavender oil can be used in a diffuser in the room where puppy is crated. We also love the Doggie Calming Spray from Rowe Casa Organics. Whatever your do, DO NOT scoop puppy up and put them in bed with you! You have just wiped out all the training I have put in to get your puppy started for you! Puppy will adjust to his new home, crate and pen. It takes time and patience. It will get easier if you stick to the schedule and routine and don’t give in to puppy’s “demands”.
And setting up that essential Iris pen (or exercise pen) is soooo important for your new puppy! That will basically become their own “room” or space. That’s where puppy is when you aren’t home or even when you are home and can’t actively watch your new puppy. Nobody can watch their puppy 24/7 and it’s important to have safe space for your puppy to hang out. Most people give their puppy far too much freedom at first. Those are the ones who call in a few weeks and say, “I can’t get him potty trained!” Keeping your puppy in its confinement area when you are busy is not mean. You are keeping the puppy safe and giving him every chance to do the right thing. I always have a litter box in the pen with puppy so if I’m busy the puppy can go potty in the appropriate place. And no, it will not confuse your puppy to have a litter box available and also teach it to go outside to potty when you can work on that. (If you decide to sign up with Baxter and Bella, they do things a bit different, so go ahead and do what works for you and your puppy).
Putting the pen in your living room, family room or somewhere where the family spends time helps puppy to feel a part of the family and gets them used to you leaving the room and coming back in. This helps them see that you leaving and coming back is not a big deal and will help prevent separation anxiety to develop. (Speaking of that, never make a big deal of leaving your puppy, whether it be just leaving them in their pen and leaving the room or leaving the house. And the same goes for when you return (from another room) or return home from work, school or an errand away from the house. When we “hype” up our puppy and make a big deal of going and coming we can just heighten their anxiety and make them think it is a big deal and create separation anxiety in our dog.
Love that new puppy but give them boundaries and training ❤️
Yesterday was the girls check-up time at the vet. And they did amazing! Happy little tails wagging and giving out kisses to the staff that came in the room. I bet half the staff stopped by the exam room sometime while we were there to get some “puppy therapy”; snuggles and kisses. Those gals work long hours and their job can be stressful so we’re glad to share some puppy love with them. <3 And it’s a wonderful part of the socializing process for the puppies to meet the vet and staff and get lots of cuddles and love.
Potty break before loading in our crate in the truck.
Precious cargo!
We’ve arrived safely and now for another potty break before heading inside.
We’re here Dr Jessie!
Time for Jasmine’s exam
Next it was Tinkerbell
We’ll just wait here
Moana made sure the doctor got kisses
Let me out of jail!
Snow White’s turn
And last, but not least it’s Ariel’s turn
Then we headed back to the truck for another potty break before loading up and heading towards home.
All loaded up
They got some good crate practice in since I stopped to fuel up, then dropped off some recycling and drove through the bank drive-thru before making the last leg of the journey home.
And then I let them out in the garden play area for another potty break and some fun before dinner.
Ben hung out with us too.
Dinner is served outside tonight since they had a long day in the crate and driving around.
Last week dog class started again and I signed up for only one class this time. And who is our new student? Why it’s Miss Shiloh!
But before class on Thursday, I had a few stops to make. Thankfully, these are all pet-friendly places so Shiloh could go too. It’s getting to warm now to have a dog wait in a car during the daytime.
We went to two different feed stores to get supplies.
She definitely liked the loves she got and the cookies from the employees
She wasn’t too sure about riding in the cart though, although she did okay.
Then we had time to visit the dog park before class to let her run a bit and potty if she needed to. I’m not a big fan of dog parks per se, but ours is very quiet and low key. Most of the times I’ve visited we’ve been the only dog there. And ours has two sections, one for small dogs and one for large dogs. We did have a bigger dog show up in the other section while we were there and Shiloh thought she had to act ferocious at their first meeting through the fence. The other dog was very chill. (Little dogs sometimes think they’re “big” and probably why when I worked at the vet, that we ended up stitching up many more small dogs that instigated fights).
When we got to class she was very well behaved, probably a bit intimidated by all the dogs. At home she can be a bit of a stinker!
And what was fun, was there were only about three large dogs, the rest were all small dogs. I don’t ever think I’ve seen a class like this before with this large amount of small dogs. In fact, there were two other Cavaliers! That’s a first for sure!
She did very well at class and acted like an old obedience pro! She reminds me a lot of grandpa Dickens when he went through class.
Let’s talk about socializing your puppy! Socializing is of the utmost importance. What you do or don’t do during the puppy’s socialization period will affect them for the rest of their lives. I’m including a visual charts for reference for some ideas of what socialization is.
A puppy’s socialization period starts at about three weeks (when ears and eyes are fully opened) and continues until around 12-14 weeks of age. That doesn’t mean you can’t “socialize” after that period, but new experiences fit more into the “desensitizing” category. During the socialization period your puppy is a little sponge soaks everything up, whether good or bad.
On the other hand your puppy has to go through a period of puppy shots (vaccinations) and is not fully protected from things like parvovirus or distemper until she has completed that series of shots with the last one given at 16 weeks or later. The reason why they go through a series is because we don’t know (without titer testing) when the mother’s immunities wear out and puppies immune system is fully covered by its own vaccine protection.
So what do you do when your puppy is not fully protected from diseases until 16 weeks, but their prime socialization ends at 12-14 weeks. You can do a lot! Yes, you need to be aware and careful, but socialization is soimportant. Do not skip it and cloister your puppy away at home until they are done with their shots.
Since we live in the boondocks, it’s a bit more challenging to socialize puppies, but we do what we can with what we have and try to give your puppy a good foundation for you to build on.
Having the puppy play area in the garden is handy for exposure to the “traffic” we get. My BIL frequently zips in on his four-wheeler, son has a car with a loud exhaust, Fedex drives in for deliveries, etc. The hubby and son are always working on cars and making banging noises and using the air compressor and air tools. Hubby takes a couple days to mow all the yards either with the push mower or the riding one. So there is always lots of noise and activity out front. Big dogs visit, small dogs bark in their yard, the chickens and horses add to the chaos. So though we don’t have typical town noises, they puppies are hearing and seeing things that will help in their socializing,
We try to introduce them to different people, although we don’t get many visitors out here. I invite friends with kids over (like yesterday’s post) and if my grown kids are visiting, I twist their arms to interact with the puppies. *wink
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and they are back asleep now of course. So cute 
Love the way these new puppy bags turned out!
Ben hung out with us too.
I’m coming to get you!
❤️
