The puppies eyes are looking a lot less glassy today. They are starting to get very cute, and its tough to find a puppy that is cuter than a lab. I think if someone invented a way to keep them little they would be a millionaire! They are making more and more puppy noises when they are laying around. Lots of moaning, whining, squeeling, whimpering. Its fun just to sit and listen and watch them even though they don't do a lot yet. This is one of my favorite stages just because it is so relaxing to just sit and watch them. Belle is spending less time in the whelping box, a lot because they get around so much better now and they pretty much follow her and try feed no matter where she lays in the box. She likes to lay in her kennel now. I think Remi has officially gone off the deep end now though because when Belle is not in there she is! I thought her cleaning up after them was pretty amazing, but last night when I went out there to put her in bed for the night she was laying by the pups and letting them suck on her. Its almost like she is starting to think she is their mother??? She is probably going to have a harder time letting go of the pups than Belle will! She literally was laying there as if she had milk and about half the pups were basically using her as a pacifier. Like I said I'm not sure if she's gone off the deep end? haha. It is reassuring to me that she is going to be a great mother someday. Belle has always been a great teaching tool for Remi when it comes to the training, finding birds, hunting, etc... Remi is always watching her when we're out working and she learns so much from her watchful keen eye. Little did I know Belle would teach her to be a great mother someday too! They really have a special relationship, and there aren't too many dogs that I know of that would let another dog close to her pups let alone help take care of them. It just goes to show how calm a temperement Belle has and also shows the trust she has in Remi. We also got a few pictures of my youngest daughter Gracyn and the puppies. She is an absolute dog lover. Belle, Remi, and the pups make a pretty good babysitter for me!! The other day I set Gracyn in her high chair by the door so she could watch the dogs out the window. She literally sat there for 30-40 minutes just watching and entertaining herself. She is going to have a special relationship with Belle, Remi, and the pups, and its safe to say she is a dog lover like her daddy!

Yesterday was kind of a big day for the puppies. First of all they celebrated being 2 weeks old already. Its hard to imagine that in only 5 more weeks they will all start heading home with their new families. They tell me they are pretty excited to meet you in little puppy moans. They also officially opened their eyes. They were pretty glassy looking, but they were definately open yesterday. Last night we also gave them their first round of dewormer. This basically helps to keep them from getting worms, which is pretty common in newborn puppies. I oversaw Maddy and Austin taking care of this job. The Dewormer is given orally so it is pretty painless and easy. At first they would squeel and squirm a little bit but when they got a taste of the Dewormer they loved it. I have a short video of one of the pups licking his/her chops. It reminds me of when you give a dog peanut butter and it gets all over their mouth and no matter how hard the try they can't get it all out of their mouths. Anyway hope you enjoy.

Puppies Crawling

Hey everyone here are a few pictures from the last couple days. I've been slacking so I'll try make up for it the next couple days. It was my wife's birthday today so I figured I better give her a little more attention than the puppies because she definately deserves it. Robyn often goes unmentioned and unseen in the blog, but she actually does more work than she gets credit for. She works two days a week and between getting our kids from place to place, taking care of our just about 9 month old, and now watching over the 9 extra babes, as well as Belle and Remi all the time she stays pretty busy. Like I said she does a lot of work with the dogs and pups and I have her to thank that everything goes so smoothly. As for the pups they are wonderful. They were really starting to walk around on all fours today instead of scooting on their bellies. They are pretty shaky yet, and I don't look for any of them to be doing any 100 yard retrieves in the next week, but they are making progress. Before we know they are going to be running too fast for me to catch up to and I'm sure finding their way out of the whelping box. Their eyes still aren't open and I know I keep saying it, they will be open any day. They have little slits where you can see the blacks of their eyes. Tomorrow they will be getting their first round of dewormer. Last night I changed the carpet and the one pictures is of them laying on the carpet while I was cleaning. As you can see Remi has taken pretty nicely to them and she treats them like they are her babies. I'll often go out there and see some of the pups snuggled up under her and the others by Belle for warmth. It just amazes me how the female gender and a mother have those instincts so naturally. She cleans up after them and takes care of them just like Belle would and It has gotten me more excited when the time comes for her to be a mother too b/c I know she is learning and is going to follow in Belle's footsteps. I have a short video that I am going to upload after this post so it should be in there in the morning for everyone.