Well happy six week old puppies! This time is flying by.

I have to combine yesterday and today, yesterday got away from me as far as office work. Why? Well …

The older puppies get the more work there is to do.

Our farm is a nursery for more months than it is not. When I have ducklings, quail chicks, goat kids, or puppies, that new little life gets most of my time because this is what I love to do, work with new life – observe, tend to, nurture, and raise with care.

We are finalizing most of our new homes for the puppies – working through transportation, information, and more. I have conversations with people almost every night and I love talking to the larger border collie community that is also natural rearing. I have dog performance homes contacting me as well as working homes, and outdoor adventure families.

We have one puppy remaining.

The numero uno questions I get is – what are the temperaments like. Super good question. There is so little variance in this litter – especially within litter dynamics, strengths in numbers. I will take one and carry around the house just for a brief walk about without the litter. There is no reason to separate or start litter testing at this age, that would be unnecessarily stressful. I have not had a litter this close in temperament, and it is kind of a gift for me. But here is the reality with a litter like this, any litter really, but I am talking about mine specifically right now. As soon as these puppies go to their new homes, their initial life experiences will start the division of nature and nurture, and they will be hard to parcel apart. The initial few weeks in a new home frame how they will see their world with their new families, and new expectations.

I do not have a wallflower, or a bully. I can say in the morning, after their biggest meal of the day and a long nursing session, they all look like bullies and are ready to take down the world – those are normal puppy behaviors, not baseline temperaments.

I think all too often people see a snippet in time and then put a rubber stamp label on a dog from which they can never get out from under. That is dangerous to do and unfair. Behavior is fluid, and ever changing. Each day is new and we get older and so do our dogs. Who a dog is on the base-line is who you work with and move forward with together, what your dog does or their behavior is a reflection of the life you are creating – good, bad, or indifferent.

I hope that helps.

Two new chew items – peeled sweet potatoes, and cardboard boxes. Both are novel, both are great for teething, and the puppies have been enjoying shredding them but not eating them.

NOTE – puppies only ingest inedible objects (PICA) when there is a nutritional deficiency, or they have things ripped out of their mouths and are scolded. If their nutritional needs are being met, and there is good management in the home, and an equal exchange for your body part or an object, then puppies do not ingest objects.