The Spice o'Life babies didn't seem to be babies for very long. One minute, Salishan was spending every moment of the day and night with them in the whelping box and I practically had to drag her out to get her out the door to go to the bathroom. I gave up trying to get her to leave them to eat and would simply put her food dish right in the box so she could eat and nurse at the same time. After the first few days when I slept next to the pups on a camp cot, I went back to sleeping in my own bed and Shani would come in and wake me if she needed anything. Did she need food (and she consumed copious amounts, over 10 cups of kibble a day plus treats, dogs stew, and meat and bones)? Water? She drank huge amounts, at least a couple gallons a day it seemed or maybe it was just that I was always tripping over empty water bowls. With her body operating at such a high metabolic rate, she needed to go out often too.  For the couple weeks of their life, I didn't get to sleep straight through a night.  

And then it hit! First Kaibab sounded like he was choking on something one afternoon. But by bedtime there was no hiding the fact. He climbed up on my bed and snuggled with me most of that night, obviously feeling like crap. Kennel Cough had hit. First thing in the morning I called the vet. The pups were just two weeks old and it could be devastating if it hit them. I don't normally vaccinate for Kennel Cough (also called bordatella) since it's like the flu and there are many varieties of it. A healthy adult dog can easily shake it off, just like a cold. In fact, I've seen dogs as old as 13 years or as young as 7 weeks get through it just fine. I had it hit a litter of 3 week old pups once and they got pneumonia as a secondary infection so by noon that day we had both Kaibab and Salishan on antibiotics; Kai because he was so very sick and Salishan so they would pass through to the pups in her milk. We also gave her a bordatella vaccination. Elizabeth and Castiel also got bordatella vaccinations. Cas was fine but Elizabeth got a mild case where she would cough a bit in her sleep but felt well enough to lead the parade during the day. The Rain Mountain Slug Ranch went into lock down for a week.  No visitors allowed and I didn't go anywhere that I could take the germs with me. Poor Kai had it the worst, coughing the whole time. I hated myself for having to shove the huge antibiotics down him twice a day but I couldn't risk the puppies getting sick.  Finally after a week the coughing had stopped. Everyone was fine. Hooray!

	This is one of the few times I caught the pups NOT sleeping in a pig pile. I was always worried that they might be too cold since they were always piled on top of each other. I have now decided they just like to sleep that way.
Shani uses the pig rail of the whelping box as a pillow for her head. She has always needed a pillow in her crate or wherever she sleeps.		The pups are so big that Shani began to nurse them sitting up quite early on. As with her earlier litters, she had huge amounts of milk for her babies.

Friend and Chinook owner Mike Choy is wonderful about showing up to take videos of my pups at the perfect times. With the Spice o'Life crew, it was their very first ever encounter with food that didn't come from their mom. He did three short clips, one of the very successful encounter with a pan of goats milk, followed by what he calls a "snack" but I would consider to be their "dessert" provided by Salishan since, as an experienced mother, once she saw me start to feed them, she did a Happy Dance and started singing the "No More Nursing" song. After all, those cute little balls of fluff have very sharp teeth and she doesn't want to be seen as one of THOSE mothers. You know, the ones who actually growl at their pups. But she will if she has to. Finally the main course and dessert / snack are for obvious reasons followed by a heartfelt nap. After shooting this, Mike and I had to flee the house or risk falling asleep on the floor right next to the pups ourselves.

Dinner -   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsA58X9Q7hA Dessert -   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U65mq_DZIwE  Then a nap -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0HOoka6aPc
The pups' 2nd meal was just as exciting for them as their 1st	They dove in with such vigor that Salishan stepped in to referee
Soon, they all had done goats' milk conditioning treatments on their hair and feet.	Salishan joined them for dessert as well as clean-up duties. It was an ugly job but someone (some dog) had to do it.

Tackling the Great Outdoors

This is the near perfect time of year to raise a litter of puppies in the Pacific Northwest.  Though the beginning of April was the wettest in history, the end of the month was clear and dry and the beginning of May brought us some stunning 70 degree days. So as soon as the pups were able to toddle around at three weeks old, I spread a blanket for them outside and took them outside for the first time. Their mother spent most of the time nursing them and it was a short break but it got them away from the Kennel Cough germs inside and let them soak up a bit of Vitamin D in our all-too-rare sunshine. Since then they have been outside almost every day that it hasn't been non stop rain. I'm so cruel that I even had them out once day when it was gently spitting the occasional rain drops, though of the kind that we here in the NorthWet can walk between.

Day #1 Outside
The four babysitters were ready to go on duty, presuming of course, that Salishan would allow them the honor of getting close to the pups that is. Left to right is Kaibab, Taga, Elizabeth lying in front, 3 month old Castiel sitting behind Elizabeth is from our 100 Acre Wood Litter born this past January.	The pups started out on a flannel blanket
Slowly they checked out the grass	The lure of Mom and a snack was too much to resist
Oregano	Cinnamon
Salishan keeps a close eye on things during the first outing
They ventured off a bit but would come back to the blanket again	The blanket was just such a good spot for snoozing -- and wrestling
Day #2 Outside
Their blanket just wasn't as important today as it had been on their first day out. Basil Jim leads the parade. (Actually they were following Salishan, who was just out of view of the camera.)	Nutmeg looks like she is telling Shani a secret; Poppy Seed takes advantage of the moment to try and grab a slurp. Shani started to wean the pups as soon as she saw me offer them the first pan of goats' milk, which coincided with their getting teeth. She may wean them young but she stays very involved with them up until they leave, playing with them for hours every day.
Though she had not yet turned 4 months old when this photo was taken (she has since), the pups' primary babysitter is Castiel, from the 100 Acre Wood Litter born just this past January 9th.	Cas thinks it's fun when the pups try to nurse from her until they actually bite something
	But every time the pups go outside, Cas is right there with them, playing with them in a surprisingly gentle fashion considering her age and considering how rowdy she was, what with growing up with 5 brothers and being able to deck all of them. The worst she has done is try to drag or carry them around by their collars and luckily they are simple Velcro ones that fall off

Memorial Weekend Visitors

The rain showers were on and off but the company was pleasant. The Gowgiel family came all the way from Oregon to visit, wanting to get to know the fluff balls, one of whom would be going home with them in a few weeks. Later Salishan's favorite family, the Druckers, came to visit and see her babies again. Poor Salishan is not at her best right now. She has weaned the pups though she still spends the majority of every day with them, so she's shedding. And after having a litter, a female sheds EVERYTHING, including all the guard hairs along with the undercoat so you can see Shani's pink skin underneath what blonde hair is left. Thank goodness it's not winter.

Credit for the photos below go to all the members of the Gowgiel family since they were all four adept at handling the family camera. Many thanks for their excellent photography skills and their eye for what makes a good shot. All four of them are equally gifted.

Poppy Seed peeking out from under the front porch. I plan to build a large 3-season porch in a couple years but for now I just have a small one and the pups love hiding under it.	The two most mellow pups are the biggest and smallest, Donny Garlic (left) and Nutmeg (right), peeking out between the porch steps.
Lavender above and Caraway (right) were the two pups that were born gray and have turned silver tawny. Lavender is going to keep her silver mask where Caraway is going to look more like a typical tawny Chinook.	Caraway and Lavender both still have light blue eyes, a sign that they will have amber eyes as adults. It may take up to a year for their eyes to reach their final color and they may turn green in the process.
Cinnamon is bigger than all the other pups except Donny Garlic and likes to throw her weight around with activities such as trying to drag Elizabeth by the tail. This was actually quite a lengthy process and Elizabeth was patiently wagging her tail and allowing Cinni to grab it over and over.	Cinni has lost her black mask but is still quite a cutie.
The Gowgiels rightly dubbed Basil Jim the "Rabble Rouser" of the litter since he's the most likely to dive on top of his sleeping littermates and get a wrestling match going.	Reggie (Oregano) looks quite a bit like her brother Basil Jim but has more dark hair on her body than he does. I have to check the plumbing equipment if they aren't wearing collars and aren't standing next to each other since they are very close in size.

Thank goodness for a long weekend of playing outside since it was followed by a rainy week of cabin for the pupsters. Do you know what a house can look like when eight 6-week old pups are kept inside all day? (Hint: It's not a pretty sight!) Thank goodness the weekends have tended to be dry for the most part even if the weekdays have been wet. I have become an avid reader of weather reports.