Puppies

 The Vinlands Icelandic Sheepdog pups are ready to go to their new homes - - - but, sadly, they must wait until their eighth week birthday which is this coming Wednesday, February 17, 2021. They are ready. So am I! Seriously? Three or four pups are a good sized litter, imo. They are all eating solid kibble. They are using the pee and poop pads about 50% - 75% of the time. While they may not sound like much to you, that means that my job of cleaning up after them is cut by 50% - 25%. That's huge. I think that's huge. My last litter was also a winter litter. I said that I would never have another winter litter again but nature has a way of interfering with plans of mere mortals. However, these training pads actually work: - not 100%, but enough to make the job easier. This is the brand I chose. I chose them because of the "attractant"; they probably all have that though. 

I found that the pups were likely to rip the paper to shreds if, IF, they were clean. So when I replaced a soiled sheet with a new fresh sheet, I also put a few well places poops (sorry for any grossness) on the corners of the clean sheets. That seemed to prevent or at least reduce shredding events. (I wrapped each sheet around an old metal cookie tray to prevent slippage in the whelping box. I have an x-pen (exercise pen) bungeed to my whelping box. The pee pads are in the whelping box. Fresh water dish, a food dish, and a small crate are in the x-pen with vinyl flooring under the x-pen. That has worked well for me. The pups leave the x-pen to go potty in the whelping box. I didn't train them; it must be instinctive NOT to soil your nest. They've been doing that for more than two weeks - not perfect. But better.)

Last afternoon some swans swam by. I know they overwinter nearby but I've not seen them near my home and they were uplifting regardless.

I'm not sure how the hand-off is going to go. Weather is always unpredictable especially at this time of the year. If I keep them much longer I am definitely not going to want any of them to leave. I'm smitten. Three different puppies. Different fur colors and patterns. Different fur lengths. Different personalities/temperaments. Each one amazing, endearing, delightful.

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