Coats of Many Colours

We decided to just dress KitKat in various jackets - all that didn't quite fit her right. These were jackets from Wasabi's winter litter.


When getting a jacket think of coverage and ease of use. Layering is best. Before she goes home today, I will try to get some photos of some jackets that DO fit and some sweaters. If not, we will try with Mia when she comes to visit.


KitKat fits in too well here. WE have thoughts of - gad I can't believe we do not have a puppy in this house to can we keep her an extra day? It's crazy but she is going on her pad and now outside. She sleeps in the bed without issue.

She plays with all including the 14 year old golden who indeed has serious signs of dementia at times but she doesn't seem to mind. She actually licks and gives her kisses when she seems to be stressed. I think that is quite special.

Motherhood has even got the play back into Fiona's life.

It's so important to socialize your pups. If you need daycare - even just to go holiday shopping or out to eat, we will socialize your dawgs and they will have a grand time. Yes, there is a cost but it's the best present you can give to your Havanese. They not only have a great time but they learn to get used to other dawgs - learn to read body language and much, much more.

If we are too far away, consider someone local. Just be sure that they will adore your little ones like we do. They are not just a dawg taking up space but truly special. We would like to believe we bring that out in all of them.

Mia Adjusts to No Siblings

When a puppy remains a tad bit of time longer, you get a taste of what life is without the siblings. But its not fair in this house. She has her canine mom and all the pack to play with and they do.

Let's see, she now runs and I mean runs up both sets of stairs that go up to our bed. She has settled in and sleeps the night and snuggles. She lets you know if she needs to go and if placed on a pad, voila. This is at night. During the day she is doing pretty good about hitting the few pads we have in various rooms.

She also plays up a storm with canine mom and all the pack. She kisses Terra and Whitney. She doesn't back down to Treasure and actually knows how to maneuver around the others and read signals. This is good socialization for her.

She crawls into x-pen when she needs to snooze and falls fast asleep and at times she falls asleep in one of the big dog's donuts.

Today we took her to Shopper's Drugs Store. Nathan took her inside and although no one touched her, she got to see a new environment and say hello to people. She was a little nervous about the trip but seemed to be fine. We will do it again before she goes to her forever home.

She did start to get frantic and it was due to her needing to go do her business. We should have had her go before we took the trip but it was a spur of the moment thing.

Mia saw her first hail storm that came and went in a matter of 10 minutes.

Now she has crawled into the x-pen for a long afternoon nap.

For her, life is grand and shouldn't it be for puppies? Gad we will miss having one around.

KitKat's Going Home

This was my first time on the table. I am going to a home today to see if I can grow up and be a show dog. I don't know what that means but if you need attitude, I have it in spades.

These humans here took me outside for a muddy romp and then they had to put me in this tub and wash me. I thought I was wet enough.

Then instead of blow drying me, she dried me with a towel, brushed me and let me play for 10 minutes or so. Then I got the blow dryers in 2 directions.

I told that human Mommy that I wasn't crazy about this sort of stuff with my voice but she told me in a stern voice that I couldn't do that so I guess I best stop that.

I am like Treasure she tells me testing the water to see what I can get away with.

Here I am with a newly placed pad down. I managed to get the side off and that's no easy thing to do. I then shredded the paper as that is what a Havanese loves to do.

I can't help myself.
Mia will be the last puppy to be here from this crew and she gets to sleep in our bed tonight. We will tell you how that goes.

She has a class act attitude but this crew did - and they will all be missed big time.

Pups leaving is happy they are starting their journey but sad that we do not have them in our lives so visits are welcomed...and we do daycare and boarding... so am hoping even for a visit - we see how they progress.

Tiger Lily Goes Home

Tiger Lily was the first to go home. I think even the siblings felt the change but she went to a lovely family who will treat her like the special shining flower she truly is.

She had a bath today and has about 2 inches at the roots of silver coming in.

She's going to turn the colour of her canine dad with perhaps her own uniqueness and those legs may end up being like Fiona. She's something else and we will miss her.

The next one doesn't go home till Monday then another on Tuesday and then Mia will remain till December 3rd.

Puppies...they add something to your lives that truly make things alright in the world.

Oh they can be work but the laughter ad fun they bring - priceless.

Just a Few Glimpses

The pups had a bath today - still not crazy about it but oooh they are kissable clean. They will get baths the day they go to their forever homes.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Stairs Today!

The pups have changed a great deal.

They are really learning how to read other dawgs and get up and down the stairs and all sorts of fun things.

The adore the outside and can't wait till you play with them.

Check out this short video below of them going down the stairs today.

Transitions

The pups start going home on Friday - then another Saturday - another Monday or Tuesday.

How did the time fly? The last one doesn't go home till December 3rd/4th. It happens way too fast.


If you are looking for toys for your little one, keep it to a minimal and change them out daily to avoid boredom. Teething toys are good and so are ones that make noises and move.



Here are a few ideas we had in the past.

The pups are playing outside on an average of 4 times a day with the last one before bedtime. When the weather gets nasty, indoor play and retrieve will be the key.

The pups are quite comfortable with the goldens now jumping up to play with them - climbing over them - it's rather nice. It still means that when you have their last shots, you still have to get them exposed to all sorts of new things and it will count how you handle it. Never coddle. Be positive and I use a keyword to let my dawgs know if nothing should be a concern. I use silly girl or silly boy in a funny cute voice. Find your keyword and help your pup get slow conditioned. They will be what you do with them.

Garden Play

What is the absolute best fun for these pups? Investigating the backyard and all the trouble one gets in. After all - the Havanese are a fun and mischievous dawg and I love it.

Yesterday we had 4 play sessions outside and fell fast asleep. We are sleeping through the night but they are getting play sessions before bedtime. It tends to get them sleeping and dreaming, I imagine all sorts of Havanese adventures.

More later.>>

First Shots

Well the crew went to the vets and all are healthy.

They got their first shot and their microchip.

All but one didn't make a peep when they got their microchip. But now they are playing and are too tender to do so. They are learning they should take a break. I suspect they will be a tad sore till Sunday with each day getting better.

We also took in Fiona and Treasure for a checkup.

We found out that Treasure's microchips is missing. That means at her next visit she will need an x-ray to see if she retained a dead one or it actually fell out. It reminds me that puppy people should ask their vets to check them from time to time.

Now we have to go through more expense and a heck of a lot of paperwork as we had to do this for Wasabi. This is a rare occurrence and look here we got hit with 2. Our luck - not!

We will let you know how the pups are tomorrow...

Baer Testing

Well, we all had a hearing test today and all of us passed...yeah!

But since we have been home, we have been napping big time. It's stress-filled going to the VEC with all the dawgs and animals and people.

That's okay...we will be back to playing up a storm as soon as dinner time rolls around.

On Friday we go for our shots and checkup.

Friday is turning into a mighty busy day.

First Bath

Pups had their first bath today and no one complained much except when they were in the crate getting blow dried.

What I do is I wash each one putting them in a crate after towel drying them and I have 2 blow dryers blowing in on them on a tepid setting.

When I finish the last one, I start in on the 1st one hand drying her under the dryer and Nathan does the same with the 2nd one that got washed. Then we moved on to the last two.

Pups are now:

First Born -2lbs 11 oz
Tiger lily legs gal -2lbs 10 oz
Brown Sable -2lb 13 oz
Blond Caramella - 2lb 12 oz

This crew is smaller thus far than Wasabi's last crew. They are almost 7 weeks.

They are fast asleep as I type. They had visitors today, a bath and much play time.

They found the under the deck and I said to Fiona - 'go get your babies' and she went under the deck and shooed them out.

Hope you enjoy some of the photos from today.

Visiting Fun With Pup Owners

We try to have new owners over a few times before the pups go home to their forever homes with them. We feel it is important not only for the humans to bond and enjoy and appreciate but it also gives the pups some socializing - slow conditioning to strangers. It's really important that they get exposed to all sorts of noises, people and when they go home this doesn't stop. The more you expose them, the better they are about changes and new things that pop up. This process is one that lasts forever.

Not too long ago we had our dogs in a handling class and the woman that owns it is in a wheelchair. All the dogs - all different breeds reacted. Some owners were adamant that she shouldn't go down the middle of the room as it was frightening.

I didn't like the abruptness and felt it could have been a slower conditioning but life is not that way - is it? After a couple of weeks, the dogs stopped reacting. That's what it is all about - slow conditioning.

Below is a video with the pups and 2 of the owners plus a few of our older dawgs. I hope you enjoy!

Pups 6 Weeks Old

We decided to take the crew outside in the rain to slow condition them. They didn't seem to mind a bit. It was great fun. We were supposed to have 2 of the Wasabi siblings come to visit but that's cancelled till next week due to the rain.

We got a tad wet but still managed to have fun. Still having %$^& video camera issues and no camera but Nathan's but hope you check out our latest video at http://talemakerhavanese.com/

Enjoy today's photos.

Bleepin Day

Here I go spoiling all the fun. We had a great time playing outside with the Wasabi pups and human Mommy's %^$& mini DVD is giving errors so her video is a mess. We are trying to recover cause we missed a great deal of fun.

We really did have a grand time and I hope to have even a bit of it to show you.

The pups are truly enjoying outside and are even willing to play with the big guys. The pool cover is not terribly scary for them any longer and Fiona and the rest of the gang was playing up a storm with the little ones.

Remind the human to save up for a video player with a hard drive vs. using mini DVDs that tend to get errors on them. So much for rewritables.

The camera is also in the shop so we are taking photos with human Daddy's camera. Joy...not...are we spoiled or WHAT!!

Stay tuned...hopefully we will have video.

Today's Outside Jaunt

Hope you enjoy seeing the pups enjoy the great outdoors.

What can I tell you about them? So far the light cream coloured gal runs the fastest and like crazy when you say 'puppy, puppy' but they all had various ideas of what to do outside AND ALL enjoyed the great outdoors with their mom and a few of our crew.

Five Weeks Old - Celebration!

Yes, 5 weeks have passed since we made our debut.

We made sure that Human Mommy was up all night and Daddy half the night just so we could all come into the world on that wonderful 09-09-09 date.

We are all around 2lbs now. We are enjoying our time in the kitchen and outside. Humans...we are excited about but don't wake me up from my sleep as sleep- well it gives us the energy to play and play.

We are really finding toys are fascinating but not as much as humans and the litter mates.

We don't mind running water but a noisy dryer gave one of us pause but that's what slow conditioning is about to get us used to all sorts of sounds.

We are at the halfway mark before going home. Too fast...too soon...

Puppy Kisses

There's nothing like puppy kisses and these two do it all the time with each other. I just laugh and laugh especially cause the lighter one was sleeping and the other one would have none of that.

The pups are all just a bit under 2 lbs. We wanted to get them out again but we have been dealing with too much rain. We are hoping to do it the next sunny day.

The pups slept in a different environment to help them adjust to changes and they LOVED it. They were practicing runs. The area was a tad larger than this so they had more room to practice in. It was really great to watch.

They are still sleeping a fair amount of time. They play and play then sleep and wake up - eat and play and do it all again.

Gad they are so soft - kissers and quite the personalities coming through. I can't wait to see how it all develops. Stay tuned.

Smart Adventures

This morning the crew was out in the kitchen as we have imminent rain me thinks.

At least I got in all the cushions in preparation. Who knows with this weather.

The puppies are smarter than ever.

I have my screen door with a doggie door in it and they were trying to open it up to go outside.

I thought to myself - nah never but various ones keep at it.

They were watching the big dawgs go out and learning. The thing is the pups learn good and bad so you have to stay on top of them to guide them.

No one got out but.....

One decided to slide the door open to get out that way. I just about died as that is a Treasure and Terra trick.

Too smart for its own good - I say!

The pups had a play session out on the kitchen that lasted about 45 minutes and then when they get tuckered out, I put them back in their x-pen.

They take a solid sleep after a play session like this and I do it at least a few times a day.

The pups have teeth so I am going OUCH loudly a great deal so they can learn.

Pups are no longer sore from their shots and microchips.

You can click on any of the photos to see a larger view.

Pups are now eating their softened kibble with shredded chicken thrown in and as you can see in this photo, they think it's amazing. I never saw such enthusiasm.

They are rarely feeding from mom and not at night any longer. She lets them feed for 3 minutes about twice a day if that. By next week she will have them totally weaned.

It helps that Nathan is not here cause I can do this tough love thing and get them sleeping all night and not eating from mom. Oh, he would do it too but it would be a slower process. It's not that my heart isn't as big - it's just that I know as a mom you got to get from A to Z.

It's difficult when it's plain easier and you want to just love them up but it's our job to get them ready for you.

They are now playing up a storm. Drinking from both the bowl and the sipper and learning as they go. They are totally a smart crew and I just adore each and every one of them.

Only a couple of weeks till they go. Not sure how we are going to part with them.

But as I said to someone - then they come back for a visit and we see how happy they are and we go - we did right.

Cat Toys and Havanese

It's interesting how this cheap cat toy holds interest for old and young alike. Treasure screeches at it as she can't get the ball out but she tries and tries. It's a puzzle for her - though frustrating as she can't solve it.

Now we have puppies interested in it as well. Not all cat toys are safe for your dog but some like this one after removing the cardboard that is used for scratching is. It's cheap too.

We also get some bird toys as they are rugged and can be chewed on during that teething stage.

Let's see - the pups are getting conditioned to storms - vacuum cleaners, mops, we grass. They have seen a fair number of dogs and people and we will continue to expose them to help them to be balanced but it's also your job to continue that.

They won't have their 2nd shots when they go home so no parks or walking around pet stores etc but you CAN expose them to friends minus their dogs and you can walk them in your arms in a pet store and have kids and adults give them a treat. After their next shot, it is wise to start getting them on that floor to meet and greet safe dogs and get exposed to all sorts of things.

If you put in the effort to expose them, they will be much better off. It MUCH easier when done when young vs. getting them conditioned when older. Both are doable but why wait. Show off your dog and enjoy. Just do it after their 12 week shots.

3 Weeks 2.5 Days Old Havanese

The Pups are 3 weeks and 2.5 days old and growing. We mixed things up. Last night they slept upstairs in the double whelping box and today we left the boxes upstairs and introduced a crate, beds, blankets, toys and a piddle pad. Each time I see them try to go, I will place them on the pad. This is the start of training. We will also start training them to go outside when they are a bit older. This way they are comfie in various methods. You never know if you get snowed in and that piddle pad may come in useful. But they will also know about grass but you will have to teach them about snow.

Here's some photos of their new digs. They didn't know what to think at first but in less than 3 minutes, (some immediately), they were out investigating. Then they ate and settled in for a snooze.

If you want to see larger photos, select View All Images under the slideshow.

Hope you enjoy...