"Walking is hard work,"

says dark pepper & salt girl.

In this video, you can see that pups are learning to walk, but still have a ways to go before everything is coordinated and can be sustained over any distance.

"Yes, think I need a rest," says this girl.

Meet the Boy!

Here are two videos starring the one and only boy pup. He is very funny, a real burly teddy bear of a pup. He loves to sleep upside down, just like his sire Ash did as a pup. He also loves to have his ears and chest rubbed.

In the following video you can see him sleeping upside down before he wakes.



In this video, you can see him awake and whining plaintively for Iska, who is sitting (off-camera) outside the whelping box, but refusing to go in to him. She can tell from his noises that he is not in true distress, so she's teaching him that it's okay to be without her.

Very Expressive Girl

This girl clearly has her eye on me!!

I better watch out because as you can see from the last photo, she is one determined pup!

Still Sleeping ...

a lot!

Even with all of the big changes that have happened in the past few days, pups still sleep, and sleep, and sleep.

I can't tell for sure, but I think that one pup is even sleeping with one eye open!

Wonderful little paws

Week 2: Coat Studies

The morning light looks so lovely on the pups' coats.

Click on the images and you will see them much larger and be able to appreciate the textures and play of light on the sleeping pups.

I love the way that the cool light gives the black coats blue-ish tint in some photographs.

In these shots of the pepper & salt girl, you can see the individual banded hairs that make up the pepper & salt coat.

Each hair is banded in both black and white. This combines to create an impression of a grey dog when seen from a distance.

It can take some time for all of the hairs to become banded and it is common to see more and more hairs showing the white as pups get older.

All Pups Eyes are Open

As of this morning, the eyes on all of the puppies are open.

The pups are light-sensitive, but when eyes first open do not seem to be able to make a meaningful connection between having vision and the world around them.

This evening--after a long day at work and with the pups in Iska's and my husband's care--I noticed that the pups whose eyes opened Saturday or Sunday had made a connection between Iska's smell and the sight of Iska when she comes next to the box. Those pups lifted heads and shambled towards the box door and their mother. (Their ears are not open, so they cannot hear Iska--yet! This is very soon to come.)

Happily, I also think that a couple of pups recognized me when I was next to the box without Iska because, as I sat watching them, two pups must have first smelled me, then looked up, saw me, and half walked, half undulated/crawled towards me.

Very cute and a neat time in their development.

Still doing a lot of sleeping

At this age, puppies are still doing a lot of sleeping. In fact, other than when Iska visits the whelping box for nursing and cleaning them, the pups do nothing but sleep.

Although this may seem a bit dull, I try to savor this quiet and slow time because soon enough, puppies will be walking, trying to leave the box to explore the wider world, playing roughly with each other and toys, and even barking!

All of that is quite fun, but it is nice to have this time as well.

Dream Away Little Pups

Big Day! Eyes are opening!

Yesterday, eyes began to open for some of the pups.

This is always an exciting day. You can see here the little opening of a partially opened eye.

Sleeping Portraits, Week Two