Bigger and Better

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. The pups are keeping me busy! They are so cute and so interested in everything. I'll get some new photos tomorrow.

The carnage starts

It is a choice between needle teeth and 96 degree heat with 80% humidity....I'll take the teeth for now but in a week I'll be crying. The pups have learned to use their mouths to play and capture moving things. I am so pleased at how keen they are. They love my pants legs for this.

Meanwhile their coordination is improving and one of the little boys tried to jump out of the kiddy pool today. I was really wowed by that at this age.

I'll try to get some video tomorrow. It's kinda dark in the house for the primitive video capacity of my camera and really hot outside. But I'll see what I can do.

A Morning of New Focus

This morning some of the more developmentally advanced pups have a brand new look of focus. They will spy something of interest, gather the body together, ears forward, eyes steady on their target, and then suddenly, rush forward to....well, my pants leg...or a litter mate...and bite. Good morning new brain cells!!!

Lest I sound a bit too analytical...this is so much fun and I am enjoying pups and mother lots.

Circe is enjoying her pups. They attack her beard and pull on it and with a bemused look she gives them a great big lick with her tongue covering their face and over they go. This stage will end soon as they are developing coordination and not falling so easily.

Sluggish Air Conditioning

It's a very hot day in Atlanta today. I walked into the puppy room and thought, hmm!, it seems a bit too warm in here. I went to check the vent to make sure it was open and the air was working, but I found it blocked by foreign objects....3 pups sound asleep all in a row on top of the vent...two of them on their backs with feet in the air. I didn't have the heart to move them. I'm sure they'll wake up refreshed.

Puppy Coming Out Party

These developmental stages the pups go through are quite startling sometimes. Today saw a transformation in the pups. Their previous interaction with each other and their environment was awkward, all efforts at how to get the mechanics working to grip one another or some object. They were pretty uncoordinated and fell over a lot. Today was such a transformation it seemed that my litter had been replaced while I was out for the afternoon. I came home to pups running across the floor, trying to climb up my legs onto my lap, grabbing at my shoes and pants legs. They were attacking their mother's legs and springing at each other to do battle. These next two weeks will be so much fun. I am sorry that you won't be here to see it. It is one of the most engaging periods of development. I'll try to get some film clips for you.

TV Pup .. oh, and teeth emerge

OMG, one of the pups, a little male, suddenly noticed the TV this evening as I was watching So You Think You Can Dance. He was walking across the living room and looked up, no doubt attracted by the flickering light, must have seen the people on stage...it was a very large, round rap singer in close contact with a tightly clad dancer both doing what could be considered aggressive movements. Puppy barked several times in his strongest baby voice and went directly toward the TV. I picked him up to see the whole thing from a higher altitude and he continued to watch, but barked again in my hands when the singer and dancer got close to each other and made more violent moves. Hmmm! Then I redirected him towards playing with me as he is too young for violence and sexually explicit TV.

Brain Development of Pups Dr Michael Fox

Boy Pups First Explorations

Girls First Outing

Boy Pups

First Outing for the Pups

This evening was the first field trip for the pups out into the world. I separated the boys and the girls as I cannot carry them all at once, and took them with their mother into the yard. Hopefully I will have gotten some good photos and short film clips. I'll try to upload them in the next couple of days. The pups did great, moved around a lot. The grass was high for them...and when you see the photos you'll think I don't mow the lawn but it was mowed only four days ago but it rained lots. The pups are getting more active every day. I found an old book by Dr Michael Fox about puppy development and it shows photos of the brains of pups at very early ages and then how rapidly the brain develops. Very interesting. I'll try to get my scanner speaking to my computer again and see if I can scan and upload this interesting stuff.

Finally a Photo

This is the way pups look at 18 days.

The Naturalist Observes

I've been trying to observe the advances in behavior in the pups. I started noticing during the first week that they already had a startle reaction when areas near the eyes or the top of the head were touched suddenly. This is consistent with some neurological development of self protective zones around the head. As their motor skills develop, I have noticed the gradual perfection of skills as clumsiness and inaccuracies turn into proficiency. I have created a bedding environment of quilts, sheets and bath towels that I and Circe turn into little hills and valleys to negotiate. The pups have a softly cushioned opportunity to gain steadiness and sure footedness. But as they begin to interact, it's easy to see that they must perfect their ablity carry out the behaviors they set about. A pup may focus on another pup very keenly (and this always from a short distance as they can't see very far at this age), then bow up and do their very best puppy roar, and launch forward at the other pup....but fall over instead of hitting the mark. With practice they become much more fluent in their aim and then have to perfect what they do when they make contact. Yesterday I caught a pup (still toothless) practising various different knawing techniques on his brother's front leg as the brother slept.
Today I decided to open one of those tiny baby food glass jars...strained chicken...and see how the pups would cope. They were instantly attracted to the food but had difficulties with accurately aiming to get their mouth in the opening of the jar to lick the food. Much effort was spent experimenting around the rim of the little jar and the outside of the rim. There was considerable trial and error about getting the nose into the jar to lick the food. By the second opportunity, some learning seemed to have taken place as the attempts were far more directed, efficient and eager.

3 Weeks Today - Lots of Advances

They are growing and getting more mobile each day. Their interactions are also more sophisticated and they are starting to grasp one another with firmer grasps with their little toothless grips. They are starting to lap water and they'll start eating a couple of meals a day on Sunday. I'll be giving them goat's milk with some yogurt and meat baby food jars at first until they get some teeth, then follow with the same plus some cooked ground meat alternating chicken, lamb, beef and turkey. I used to use raw meat, but I'm concerned with only having a supermarket source that it may not be as "clean" as I'd like. I carried a few of them outside today and was concerned about the 6 lb tigress that lives outside and brings in much bigger rabbits than these pups are right now. She was Rebel's best friend but the look on her face about the pups was a bit too keen. Kitty, the feral who adopted my household, may have to be crated for early puppy outings to prevent issues between her and Circe.

Clash of the Mini-Titans

Development comes fast now.
Each day the pups have new powers.
This morning they have started to face off against one another with all their might....mini might...which amounts to slow, oddly coordinated mouthing targeting the other pup's head and neck amidst fierce baby growls. Soon they tire and fall asleep from the effort of their battles.
They are investigating more and this morning one of them showed that they are beginning to try to pick things up with their mouths. One of them started the quest to conquer the sofa, little feet up on and air sniffing what might be happening at that strange altitude they get a look at when I pick them up for their daily enrichment exercises.
This is a very joyful time as personalities start to emerge.

A Bouvier Fish Story -- The One that Got Away

Arion's Ruff Daddy, twelve year old son of Brinks and Morgaine, lives in a country home with a river running through it. His owner Nancy was walking him last week one day when he stopped and started to stare intently into the water. Nancy was just contemplating that he would get dirty if he decided to jump in, when he plunged into the water, head going completely under, and came up with a large catfish in his mouth. He was so proud and pranced up the bank and placed it on the ground. Nancy wanted to throw it back and approached the fish but Ruff didn't want to lose his prize so he picked it up again and moved it away. This sequence repeated itself about three times before Ruff got the idea that if he put the fish down in the water, Nancy might not go there for it. But when the fish felt the water, it gave a mighty push with its tail and swam away. Ruff starting digging and splashing and barking furiously at the loss of his fish....the one that got away.

"Shame" Cougar Kim van de Vlaamse Beof video

Here is a video of Cougar Kim van de Vlaamse Boef "Shame", the Grandfather of the pups, Cyrano's father, earning 96 points in his protection routine at the NBC Championship in October 2008. http://www.dailymotion.com/user/pakkie/video/x746cm_carmen-en-shame-combinatiewedstrijd_animals

And here are some wonderful photos that show the charms of the Bouvier.

http://www.bouviers.ch/Shame_pic.htm

In Memoriam Arion Bouviers and their People

Mandy and Shawn shared the sad news of the passing of Arion's Reggae, 1996 -2009, a daughter of the great Nottingham's Sergeant Brinks Sch III, IPO III and Arion's Morgaine. Our condolences go out to Mandy and Shawn and family. They gave Reggae a great and loving home for many years. Thanks.

A note for those who think Reggae was shaved down....no, this is the natural old fashioned coat...I wish I could breed them all with these wonderful easy care working coats.

The Great Escape....Puppies on the Loose

The great escape has happened. I came into the living room to find all the pups out of the whelping box and investigating and interacting with each other. They are 17 days old today. Their mother is excited about this new development and thinks it's time for them to start playing, so she was tossing a latex squeeky toy at them, hopeful that one would engage in play. They are starting to play with each other a bit, growling and pushing and slightly biting at each other's necks and heads. Very awkward still.

They get wormed today for the first time. My vet recommends it at two weeks and I hedged a few days because stools are looking good.

I've been doing a lot of the "super puppy" type developmental stimulation to increase brain development. They've had the exercises Dr Carmen Battaglia describes of rotating body direction and stimulation of feet plus putting them on a cold surface, but in addition to this, I do skin/hair stimulation and rocking and rolling on little hills formed by a nice padded quilt so that they roll down the hill and climb up the hill...all before eyes opened.