What an amazing experience. I know a couple of people that have commented before were either thinking about breeding, or getting ready for their first time. My advice- as long as you're going to do it right, do it.
One of the things that changed as we went along this road was recognizing the value of enrichment- both physical and mental. Having a litter is easy. Growing a litter takes work. We realized fairly early on that we needed to find a way to challenge them; letting them run around outside the whelping box with a few toys and giving them lots of one-on-one time with us wasn't going to get it done.
So- first I built the Adventure Box. Easy-peasy. Found the instructions here:
I'm not so handy, but even I was able to put this together at a REASONABLE cost (not as cheap as you might think). Hint- go to the dollar store. It's amazing what you can find there.
We have a puppy pen, so we fashioned a play area for them. In addition to the Adventure Box, we added a ball pit (don't cheap out on the balls) using an inexpensive kiddie pool. We also added a wobble board- which, amazingly, they didn't even once injure themselves with. One of the things I loved about it; the non-skid surface helped keep their nails short (we also trimmed their nails weekly).
The final addition to the play pen was a tunnel. I'm telling you- this is a must. I was wondering if they'd use it... they LOVE it. I'm pretty sure that, with the possible exception of snuggling with my wife, this is their favourite thing.
The worst part of the process, for me, was the selling- and not because I'm so sad to be losing them (which I am). We started advertising immediately after they were born. We sold one right away to a friend of our daughter, who, I might add, has been REALLY helpful to us as far as transportation goes. Then.... nothing. Almost six weeks of advertising wherever we could think of to no avail. We had over 1,000 views on one ad- and 6 e-mails, with zero sales. It started to keep me awake at night; what if we couldn't sell them? When do we drop the price? I was advertising in several places- so I thought I'd try dropping the price by $300 in one of them, to see if it generated more interest. It didn't, so back up it went a week later. Then, bang. Bang. Bang.... the remaining five puppies all sold in just over a week. Not only did they sell- they've all found what we believe to be EXCELLENT homes. The owners are all as excited to get their new puppies as we are for them. Only one is local- we'll drop him off this weekend. The rest will all be flying off to their new homes within a month or so.
Was it easy? Heck, yes. For the first three weeks. After that- not so much. I don't know how working couples do it... happily (for me), my wife is retired, and did 98% of the work. Our house isn't trashed. It doesn't smell like puppy. She kept on them from when she got up until they went to sleep around 10:00 pm. One of the things that REALLY helped- raw food diet. They don't get added salt, so they don't pee ALL THE TIME. And that soft-serve ice cream poop? Not these guys. Pellets from the time they were weaned.
It's been an exhausting, thoroughly enjoyable experience. We've learned- a lot- and had to on occasion change things up on the fly. At one time, I think we were both wondering if we'd do it again. Now we can't wait.
Thanks, Meg. Thanks, Red. You guys are the best....
Thanks also to Shawna, Kabir, Sarah, Michelle, Emily and
Kerri & families- and congrats on getting an awesome puppy!
Love this crew. So much.
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