Avita Whippets

The little biggie piggies were free in the house while I quickly cleaned their room as it had gotten too hot to leave them outside.  There were the two or three little puddles for which I was prepared. 
Today I discovered that at some point they managed to bite through the computer speaker wire.   Ergh!
Today Princess was the bully.  Don't know what got into her.  Taser and Key boy continued their new affectionate ways.   RaRa has the whippet stare down pat and today Princess demonstrated that she can do the whippet head lock - locking one in the chair by the sheer weight of the head and neck.  They are all better at running and were positively scampering about the lawn today.   They are just so much fun.
On the down side, I'm out of newspaper.  I'm trying out ordinary white printing paper that is meant to be shredded.  Not a very good substitute.

It's striking how much their personalities/characteristics can change in just a few days.  Taser, former tormentor of the littler ones is now as sweet as he can be to all.  He is also coming over and asking for hugs.  On the other hand, the Dude, once the laid back big slacker, is moving along the dimension that heads to tormentor at the extreme.  Key Boy has turned into Mr Affectionate Cuddler.  I think he found he really liked all those hugs he got this weekend.  In contrast, he is also a bit more assertive with the others while playing.

Their play has matured.  They are now going into play pose to invite another to play.  They are loving the small stuffies and have learned to make them squeak.  They are also beginning to play tug games with one another.

I'm so lucky to be able to arrange my schedule so I can watch them during their play periods.  They are so darned cute!

Poor Dude was omitted from the individual shots through the error of photographing Cosmo twice.  In our defense, they are both blonde as am I which probably explains a lot if jokes are to be believed.  Friends helped me correct this error and you can see his first go at stacking for better or worse by clicking here

Time to rebuild the puppy pen.  Yesterday, Mr. P and Princess were climbing out regularly.  Today, it's the Dude and Princess.  Time to get the taller ex-pens up.  Shoot - now I won't be able to just reach over to pick them up or put something in the pen.

Finally had a chance to post a few of the candids from this last weekend.  We had so much fun.  See the pics here

The pups have been spending time in the back yard several times a day.  They are so adorable as they romp about.  Fortunately, we've had some visitors who have taken wonderful pictures.  Watch this space for those. 

I'm lucky that being self employed I'm able to take an hour in the morning to have my coffee and watch the puppies cavort in the yard.  Could there be anything cuter than a puppy bounding with some treasure?  This morning I discovered that the Dude, ever precocious as he is, has learned to bark.  He let a couple of his litter mates know what he thought of their play fight without him by giving them a good round of barks.  I thought I heard a bark from the puppy pen last night but assumed that I was dreaming.

This morning, the Princess was all cuddle bunny.  She played for a while and then climbed up my chair to get in my lap and snuggle.  What a sweet little bundle of softness.

Except for the Dude.  It was quite a week with my puter's untimely death, the older dogs going through the plate glass window (amazingly unscathed), etc.
The best part was that several friends came to visit and amongst them were Burt & Donna (Abby's folks) and they helped me get some individual pics of the pups.  Check them out here

The inevitable first break out happened this morning.  There were puppies wandering all over the room and I scooped them up, putting them back into the puppy pen.  Then I counted...one, two.......eight.   It kept coming up eight no matter hw often I counted.   Where was the ninth?  Not under the bed.  Not behind the desk.  Could it have somehow gotten out the door?   A check into the living room revealed the culprit.  Key Boy had found Corky's snuggle bed and was settling in.  He gave the sweetest tail wag and smile when he realized he was busted.  I had to put him back anyway.

Yesterday the little Piggie Biggies were one month old.  I reorganized the puppy pen so that they had more room.  I also replaced the remnants of the whelping box with a crate.  This went over very well - except that by evening it is already too small!  It's said that they grow quite a lot during the fifth week and I guess these pups are right on schedule. 

They got chewies as a treat and it was fun to watch them munch away on them though they didn't really get anywhere.  They enjoyed it though!

There's a slide show of the pictures at click here.

This morning I added a puppy gate as an additional panel in the pen which gives them a bit more room.  And they got to go out on the patio in teams of two for about three or four minutes.  They were impressed but quickly learned to climb the steps to get back to me.

Woot, Abby and Momo took in some lure coursing this weekend.  It was a big entry of 30 open whippets.  All of the girls did great though only Woot came away with a point.  We'll get em next time! 

The little Biggie Piggies took advantage of their free time and kicked back with our friend Kellee who, along with Corky & Big Mo's help,  did an awesome job keeping them entertained, fed and cleaned.  Go Kellee!