And then there were three!

Giovoni, Roxanne, and #5 are all at my home right now.

Roxanne will be coming and going from our home over the next year, #5 goes to her forever home on the 12th of this month, and Giovoni is staying with us.

They have never known anything but their mama and litter. That has been their world.

We started working on group things in micro seconds about a week ago, mostly recalls – PUPPY PUPPY PUPPY!

Today they had a few firsts while operating outside of litter dynamics –

• harness and leash on
• walking with harness and leash on
• walking in a new area of our farm
• meeting the goats, ducks and quail
• doing this all by themselves – solo, without mama or littermates

That is a lot of new in one day, and they are all happily passed out right now.

Each one was uncertain at first, didn’t quite know what the gig was. We moved at the speed of a sloth and smelled every leaf on the snow, and while I was holding the leash we went in the puppies direction.

I held them when things got a bit too much, and of course held them for Carlos our goat to smell them. He loves to meet pups this way.

#5 liked watching the goats from a distance, and ducks a little

Giovoni thought his harness sucked, didn’t want to move in it, didn’t understand why he was not with his littermates, until he saw the ducks moving, then things got pretty cool, a little cool I should say. That was his ice breaker that made him want to walk around the garden area together. Males develop more slowly than females, in case you were unaware.

Roxanne didn’t want to leave the back porch, so I carried her half way and then she was having fun walking – leaves, old stalks, dried flower buds to munch on, and then quail, oh boy the quail. She was my first to really track movement and she was doing a great job at it. She walked back beautifully, she didn’t care for the squeaky gate closing behind her, but she also did not want her first field trip to end.

With puppies everything is – short, sweet, and successful.

While they were uncertain, they did settle in on their little field trip walk – and that is our start. Each day we will head out on a new path on our property for more micro field trips, expanding their world little by little.

The behaviors we are working on – starting

• perch – stand on platform
• sit
• down
• spin
• twirl
• recall
• kennel up
• shake
• bake
• walk with me
• let’s go
• collar – word I use to put gear on

And tonight will be everyone’s first night in their own crates, and out of the romper room.