Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Ridge Watches us Weigh the Pups

Many of you have asked about how the our canine crew is reacting to the pups. The short answers are these:

Baxter: nonchalant
Ridge: curious, excited, and interested
Elsie: same as Ridge :o)

Here's a really brief video of Ridge watching us weigh the pups. He's at the gate blocking entrance to the kitchen. Off screen to the right are the pups in the whelping box with Elsie. We're weighing pups at the kitchen table immediately next to the whelping box (also off screen).

Ridge alternates his glances between the pups and Don (like he's saying "oh boy, what are those things making noise over there" and "hey, Dad, what's that squiggly thing in your hands?"

Kenya joins Ridge at the very end of the clip. Both are just incredibly interested.


3 comments:

kate Flynn said...

oh what a handsome proud daddy he looks, you can see the smile on his face as he's carefully watching what's going on- clever daddy!

JuliaR said...

When will it be safe to allow the other dogs around the puppies? I suppose domestic dogs don't have the same structure as a wolf pack so there could be some small danger to the pups?

Joan said...

Yes, Kate, Ridge sure acts like a proud, interested daddy! He's attune to every noise he hears from the whelping box!

Julia, we won't introduce the pups to the other dogs until the pups can stand well, and even then it will be one dog at a time (carefully supervised with collar in hand). I don't really think the other dogs present an intentional or aggressive danger to the pups (they're just curious), but in their exuberance (you know Labs) they could easily step on a pup or be a little too playful, which could result in pup injury. So we'll be extra careful.

When the pups are getting closer to release age, we'll give them more exposure for added socialization. :o)

But we haven't seen ANY sign of aggression from Baxter, Ridge, or Kenya. Baxter is oblivious (doesn't seem phased or interested at all), and Ridge and Kenya just seem happily interested.

We'll keep you posted!

J.