Wednesday, October 10, 2007

They have voices!

Yesterday, as I worked in my windowed office overlooking the backyard, I heard the puppies bark. That in and of itself isn't unusual; they each bark now and then. But this time all eight chimed in at the same time.

Just for context...I've been allowing the pups to remain outdoors for a few hours safely in their pen where I can see and hear them from my office where I work, partly so they get the idea that it's okay to be outside and so they realize it's okay to be away from people for short stretches of time, too (they've been with people nearly all waking hours since birth). And, to boot, I simply needed to get some work done and it's far easier to concentrate with them outside.

So, there I am, working at my computer, glancing at the sleeping pups now and then. The next thing I know, they're all barking! At the same time.

Of course, my first thought was something must've gotten into the pen.

So I looked more closely.

Nope.

They were playing, just teasing each other!

Two pups hid behind the tree trunk, two crouched on one hammock, two stood on the second hammock, and two trotted around the pen. And they were all barking at each other.

What a riot!

And this on the day when they were supposed to be sleepy and not feeling well from their shots the night before.

I thought, wow, my grandbabies are growing up! Isn't that something! What fun to hear them vocalizing out there so well!

Then they brought their vocalizing indoors.

LOL ... what chaos.

I caught just a glimpse of a couple of the pups barking at and pouncing on and wrassling with each other in this next video. It's only a taste, though -- nothing compared to the real thing.

I had to stay farther away so they wouldn't notice me (they stop barking when people show up), so the video isn't perfect, but it will give you an idea.

This was filmed last night in the middle of a wicked thunderstorm. They didn't even notice the thunder (oh, and the growling you hear in the background isn't all the barking pups; it's two other pups off screen wrestling in front of the whelping box).





Now where did I put my migraine meds?

'Til next time,
Joan

6 comments:

JuliaR said...

That's hilarious! Sorry about your headache, though. :) Uma hardly ever vocalized in the first months that we had her but one day, while I was driving somewhere and she was in the back seat, standing with her head looking out the front, she barked! I almost went off the road! Well not really, but it was a big surprise. I think she surprised herself too.

Joan said...

It IS quite startling when we hear them bark the first time. And like your Uma, not of our gang (as in Baxter, Elsie, Kenya, and Ridge) barked for the first week or two at home. LOL...I didn't even know they barked like this in their litters (our first litter didn't do this).

But now we know, eh?

Oh, boy. It's a rainy day here. What in the world am I going to do with all these pups! Yikes!

Joan

Anonymous said...

Joan...wow...I'm missed the activity around your place...so caught up in my life at the moment...

Congrats...now you must make an excuse and give them all a big huggle from me....

Bets

Anonymous said...

Bets by the way is Lost in Scotland...I forgot my blogger sign in at the moment...and I'm off to class in a minute...

Patty Nason said...

Oh my dog. That is so cute - man, puppies are amazing. Woof woof! I bet you have some fantastic photos of the little stinkers - would you like to enter them into our World's Coolest Dog and Cat Show? We'd love to have your entry, and you can vote on all kinds of other adorable photos...come check it out!

http://www.dogster.com/fetch/super_cool_dog_show

Woof!

JuliaR said...

I miss you! A whole week without a post - ahrooo! What shall I do?