Family Visits

Today we had a really great visit from Ginger's Family: Pam, Gary and Nicole. They have decided to name their little joy Abigail Ginger. They were so excited to see her and finally hold her. We had a wonderful visit and before they left they decided that Herb would be a wonderful addition to their family as well. So Ginger and Herb will both be going home together..HORRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! They will be spoiled for sure!

The Puppy Spa Experience

All the puppies received a luxurious spa treatment today. First the puppies were weighed. Everyone is doing well with Dogwood in the lead weighing in at 2 pounds 12 ounces.
This is Chamomile weighing in...

The puppies nails were clipped and filed so they don't scratch themselves or Daphne. We have been doing this every week- but this was part of the SPA experience.
Buttercup getting her manicure.

Next- each puppy received some extra pampering with kisses from James who assisted me for the night!

I trimmed everyone's hair around their eyes bc it is growing so long and almost covering their eyes. As an extra added bonus everyone received the puppy Brazilian! A little rear end trim to help Daphne clean her puppies easier (we will forgo photo of that...everyone was camera shy.)Erica stays still for a trim.

Iris shows how everyone got a shot of dewormer and I have never tasted it- but everyone just LOVED it!

Next each puppy received a magnificent warm towel sponge bath with cloud star's lavender and mint shampoo...YUMMY!! Herb is a cutie patootie here!

Puppies get combed and coiffed. Fern loves her new style.

Lastly- puppies lounge in front of the electric heater to prevent chills and dry their hair faster.

What a Life!

Field Trip Outside

It was time for a field trip outside. The weather was gorgeous and although Jim was not ecstatic about puppy tinkles on the unfinished mahogany deck- it was for a short 30 minutes. It was their first extended period outside and although they were a little overwhelmed at first with their new world they settled down and ended up falling asleep after just 6 minutes. Just enough time for me to clean the nursery. LOVE LOVE LOVE DOGWOOD in the pic above. Love everyone- but he is my mini Dempsey!

4 Weeks in the Garden

Oh my puppies are getting so big and beautiful. We had so many escapees the past few days we had to remove the whelping box and revamp the nursery.

I have laid paper down and am keeping it there with a potty smell and i have seen many a SMART puppy get out of their little bed (where they do all retire) as they know it is cozy- and go make piddles on the paper. I have given a chair to Daphne to escape when she needs- and a nice big play area. Yesterday I went into the nursery and sat down. I called to the puppies to see if anyone would come to play with me - and the first one to come was Azalea. She jumped up and tried to get on my lap immediately. Then followed Buttercup and Fern. Then the rest of the puppies just tackled me when they saw all the kisses the others were getting. Rose thought it looked fun- so she jumped in and we were both smothered with love. It was such a great feeling. Their wobbly little steps are no more- they are running and playing and jumping. A few days ago some looked like out of control remote control cars with jerky movements and sudden backwards motion.

They will get dewormed today and I will clip their mails again. Everyone is doing well all weighing over 2 pounds. The largest being Dogwood weighing in at 2 and a half pounds.
Here are their 4 week pictures. Everyone went out to the "Garden" for the first time on such a beautiful day!!!

What a Weekend!!

We were visited by some wonderful families this weekend that will be taking our puppies home a month from today.

We met lovely Ann and Guy who have renamed Fern to "Bella" and will have 2 beautiful cocker sisters Abby and Emma ( and kitties too) to run and play with.

Buttercup who will also coincidently be renamed to "Bella" will go home with the Ecchers from Long Island and have 4 wonderful children to love her!

Iris will be going home with the newlywed Erin and Kevin when they come home from thier honeymoon in September. Have fun at your wedding!!!

And Lucky Dogwood will find a new home with the Deans in White Plains.

I consider myself really lucky to have found forever homes as great as I have for all my puppies.
Thank you all for visiting!!!!!!!!!

Field Trip Outside the Whelping Box

Azalea and Buttercup were playing so nice while everyone was sleeping so I decided to take them for a field trip outside the whelping box. They were so cute walking around and playing with Rose. Azalea gave great puppy kisses. She is so attentive and is the only one who I have seen wag her little tail yet.

A little after without Daphne knowing I let Dempsey and Delilah out to play. Dempsey definitely knows they are his puppies. His was so adorable licking and smelling them sooo gently. I was in awe. He always barks at the squirrels and chipmunks outside- and they are not much bigger than that- so it surprised me a bit.

Puppy Kisses from Azalea

Rose and Azalea

Rose's favorite puppy is Buttercup and she makes sure she tells everyone who stops by- so I have included a picture of Rose with Buttercup.

3 weeks in the Garden

Ok- so I am on time this week and the puppies are exactly 3 weeks old. They are growing rapidly and are starting to walk around thier whelping box. Most are almost 2 pounds.
I will be adding another area to start setting up for the potty training. They say if you do it right- they will be paper trained to go in the potty area by 4 weeks...we'll see...LOL! I can't believe how big my puppies are getting. We had some visitors this week and everyone wanted to hold puppies! We also received lots of calls about them hopefully we will have some more homes for them. I have added some toys in the box for some diversity although they really can not play with them yet. Hope you enjoy the pics!

i was really interupting his nap....

Can I get A Whoof??

As promised here is a video of at least one puppy (IRIS; my sister's favorite) walking. I think I got a little too in her face- cause she gave me a WHOOF! The first, most adorable whoof ever! But I did not push it - just bc I did not want to scare her. LOL!

Just for Fun

Vote for us:)

Week 2 in the Garden...Open Your Eyes Sleepy Heads..

This week was a little crazy. Lots of fun things starting to happen in the nursery. At day 14 they all started to open their eyes. Chamomile was first, so i thought I would give her the courtesy of recognition. Then the rest followed one by one. Then I noticed that their ears started getting a little more droopy and started to open up.

I cut all their nails for Daphne's comfort. She is really surprising me with her mothering skills. My poor girl has diarrhea since these little critters arrived. I have a call into the vet- just waiting for a callback. I am making sure she has plenty of food and liquids as I am a little fearful of dehydration- but she seems OK. For those of you that do not know; Usually if you lift the skin on a back of an animals neck and it stays tented and does not return to normal right away that means they are more than likely dehydrated.

I have to say my little puppies are growing nicely and we do have some reserved.
Azalea will be adopted by Lisa in Texas,
Erica will be adopted my Rosina and CJ in Yorktown Heights, NY
Ginger will be going to live with the Cummins in Upstate, NY
and we have a few visitors coming to see the rest of the puppies at the end of the month when they are a little more active.
I noticed yesterday that they are trying to sturdy themselves to walk a bit and then they use each other for support. It will be any day that they will be off and running and then my job begins. I have had it easy for the past 2 weeks as Daphne tends to them diligently. I handle each one every day for weighing and some lovin' and occasionally bring a cat or other dog in for some sniffing. Rose also gets her chance on a daily basis to hold her pick for the day.
Dempsey is the absolute cutest. He seems so enamoured by them as if he knows they are his puppies. I have a cute video of him sniffing away and wagging his tail in pure delight. I will try and posted soon. I will also try to post the wobbly puppies starting to walk. I am trying to get the web cam going. It is just a matter of moving yet another computer into the kitchen...bc my mac is a little to elderly to handle the task...sorry mac.

I was in fact not 100 percent sure that my brown girls were sable until this week. I am pleased to say that time has told that their beautiful chocolate covered caramel and toffee coats (some of them also marshmallow dipped)..YUMMY!!!! are definitely sable. Yes- i know that is totally over the top- but that is the best way to describe the colors if you can't see them in person. Plus they are just scrumptious. I knew that the genetic compilation was factored properly for sable...but this is nature we are dealing with- so one never can be sure. Hooray for sable! For those that so not know...sable is a beautifully rare color in cockers that has a rare percent of happening with the the most precise genetics and allot of LUCK!

On a personal note, this week was very sad for me- and i thank my friends, puppies, daughter and dogs for keeping me busy enough not to overly ponder the death of one of my dearest friends, Ron. He was my past employer, mentor, confidant and most importantly dear friend. He lost a battle with leukemia on Saturday and passed away. He was fond of animals and they were always fond of him. I write this small tribute to him because he was more than a wonderful human being. I thank him for sharing laughter, tears and just life with me. I loved you - and I will miss you Ron and their will always be a piece of my heart for you. Thank you for everything.