A couple days ago, I started the pups on straight puppy food softened with warm water and I remembered some tricks I taught Ruby when she was about 9-10 weeks old using just her kibble and wondered if I could start with these little babies and see what sticks and who is an early processor and who I’ll have to entice to learn in other ways.

The first thing I have done is set their routines, so they know what to expect of me and their mother. I’m not exact on feeding times, as one old cowboy taught me with my horses, don’t let them boss you around on the times you feed. If you get delayed, you don’t want the animals so inflexible on their timing that they freak out or can’t handle any flexing or delays. There are times when traffic will be bad or a meeting will run late or someone else will have to feed and they might not do it exactly like you do, so teach your animals to appreciate what you offer them when you offer it to them, don’t just become a slave to them. With that in mind, I do the same things to feed them and I’m predictable – but not completely. Breakfast may be at 7:30 or it might be at 8:20. Lunch might be at 11:30 or it might be 1. Dinner might be at 5 or it could be at 6, but there are some things that happen in order that they can begin to rely on. One, I’m going to greet them. Two, they are going to be encouraged to potty before they come into the kitchen on their potty pads or the turf, and when there isn’t 4 feet of snow, they will go out side from their crates immediately to potty and then come in for a reward (pets, praise, and initially, treats). The next thing they can count on is that I’ll be scooping kibble and warming water, and they play while I do this. Occasionally, one misses the potty pad, but 5/7 of them are getting it, for the ones that miss, I have a tub of slightly soapy vinegar water and some microfiber towels that I use to clean up their messes, and when this happens, breakfast is on hold while I clean the floor. The pups notice that delay and go get busy playing or follow me to where I’m cleaning and challenge me with their prey drive and try to snag that towel. It’s a little game we play. I rinse those towels out in the tub and then hang them up in quick grab places in the room so I can throw one on a pee spot right away to keep paws from tracking through it. Once that kibble is softened but not mush, I scoop it in the big O feeder and add more water to it and set it aside. By this time, the pups are all watching me, there is some whining but I’m teaching them to sit and wait for me by offering a bite of kibble to those who sit on command and using sign language for eye contact. In 3 days, 4 times a day, I’ve got 5/7 pups sitting on verbal command with this pre-feeding exercise. I am trying it at different times of the day unrelated to feeding time and even doing some one-on-one with a few of them, and it’s just amazing how quickly they learn and what they retain and seem to understand.

I’m a snacker, and I like healthy things like carrots, apples, blueberries, cheese, and guess what? My big dogs enjoy all of those things, too. I use CostCo organic carrots and cook them slightly so they are not super hard, but are not mush, and slice them and offer those little disks as a reward for our training, too. I’ll use blueberries, cheese, and tiny apple pieces, too. My dogs like high value snacks like steak, cheddar cheese and roasted chicken in the ring, and I’m starting to stack them now using cheese.

Speaking of stacking, yes! We are doing that daily, even if it’s just a 30 second practice session. 5/7 enjoy it, and the two that don’t, might grow into it, but one thing is for sure, they can position themselves in a free stack so much better than I can, so I’m going to begin to encourage that with some positive reinforcement and see if we can’t get a few early adapters.

There is something pretty special about these little sponges – picking up things so quickly and developing just as you would expect. I’m really enjoying playing with them and socializing them with our visitors and with enrichment tools like noisy daily activities, crinkle toys, fun tunnel, teething toys, the Bosu ball and balance board. I’m posting some videos of these fun activities on the Queen of Hearts Dalmatian Facebook page if you’d like to click on the “F” and watch some of those reels and see some visitor/pup photos.

What’s next? 6 week head, hind-end, front-end, off-side, and show side pictures on Saturday. Wish me luck!

After that? We have 4 more groups or single visitors scheduled, some with hats and glasses and some young, and older. We have the BAER hearing test on the 14th, and will do temperament testing on the 16th. I’ll post more before then!

If you are interested in a 4-legged spotted best friend, who is well-socialized, confident, happy and healthy and would like to learn to show, or just see what you can do with a well-bred pup in the performance world, please reach out. I’m always happy to visit about our good dogs. The puppy application gives us some great talking points, so if you would like to be considered for placement of one of these 7, please fill that out and it will send to my email and i’ll call you. Or call or message me. I’m text and Messenger friendly.