This week shows more activity in the pups. They play longer and are
more exuberant and they are starting to become more assertive with each other. Dominance
and social pack order has started. Lily is quite gruff with them now, as she is
starting to wean them off her.
 |
| Caleb |
More confidence is starting to show and often they are venturing further away from the main playing area. There are some usual ones that like to investigate more than others, but often enough the group will all venture out at some point, some just take longer than others to do it.
The group will start to sleep in dog crates for the night as of this coming week.
 |
| Eric |
The weather is still somewhat unseasonable, however I have taken them outside for potty breaks as a group after waking, so now everyone has managed to make it outside (with a few exceptions) to pee. I feed them all outside and they must be hand fed and by doing this I encourage them to follow me anywhere in the yard. I call them “hey puppy, puppy” and when they come to me I treat them, not only teaching them to become good English Shadows, I also am creating a recall that some of the puppies once did not have. So far everyone’s recalls have improved tremendously now that they have to actually earn it.
 |
| Brad |
I’ve incorporated daily chores into their routine and have tried to get them to follow me around while I do these errands. (barn, chickens, back and forth across our yard)
 |
| Emma |
Car trips are still continuing, and off property on leash walk visits to various places. I do this in pairs or individually. One thing I have noticed is that all the puppies are happy confident leash walking creatures, until you get them into a building. This is where they seem to fall apart. They do recover, some better than others, but they all seem to not deal well with being in large noisy buildings.
 |
| Rachel |
They enjoy the comfort of the garage and know the phrase “come on now, were going in’ that indicate we are going in a warmer dry place. I try and keep them in the dog run during the warmer days to help acclimatize them. They are spending more time outside this week due to the warming trend. Everyone is living up to the true ES nature by ‘checking in’ during their play times.
 |
| Caleb leaping onto Ryan |
This week was a planned trip to the local scrapbooking store with Brad, I took Eric to Dance Class (Mary’s) and Caleb will be going to the Post Office.
 |
| Caleb |
We had a visit to the kid’s track and field competition on Wednesday. (Rachel, Alison, Ryan, & Emma) At Track and Field, with over 200+ high school kids things were pretty interesting. The weather was cold and windy and hard blowing so the day was not the greatest for taking pups out.
 |
| Ryan |
On the car trips anywhere they now they are riding in dog crates, and not without a lot of complaining and crying.
 |
| Alison |
One thing we have not yet been able to expose the litter much to is machinery noises (riding lawn mower) since the grass has not needed to be cut, and it is too wet to drive the tractor around the yard.
 |
| Rachel & Eric discussing ownership of the stump! |
I have brought them to investigate the drive shed (our barn) with our chickens, so they saw the birds for the first time today. Most were very intrigued, and others found that chick poop is really excellent as a snack. Most were cautiously curious, sticking together as a group.
