Birth | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8
Week 3 - 16th November
So what has been happening between week two and week three? well, sleeping is still the favourite activity of the puppies at the moment, but they have started to move around a little more and have started to try and walk, or rather stumble, around the basket several times a day. We do keep reminding ourselves that they are still young babies who require lots of sleep, so we shouldn't expect too much from them just yet. It won't be too long before the puppies start exploring our house and we've made sure we have a good stock of newspapers, ready and waiting, for when they do.
Poppy is still managing everything and she is happy to let us hold the puppies more, they love to snuggle up and they love the warmth of a cosy cuddle, it's amazing to watch their little eyes staring up at you as you stroke them. We've got five to choose from and we make sure that each of them receives the same amount of attention.
Finding homes for the puppies has been quite a stressful experience, and the main problem we have faced has been unscrupulous emails from scammers pretending that they were interested in buying one of the puppies or simply people who seemed intent on messing us around. You need to rely a great deal on your instincts and first impressions have counted for a lot during this process, even though the first contact is through email it's a good way to judge someone's character, providing you ask the right questions. All enquiries had come from adverts we placed on two popular pet web sites.
 Jasper |
 Otis |
The web site that brought us the most genuine replies to our ads is one called pets4homes who have been very professional in the way they carefully vet buyers and sellers. They list a comprehensive range of breeds which ensures they attract a lot of people looking to find new pets. The other site we placed an advert on brought us nothing but problems, so I won't mention them here.
We have been surprised how far people are willing to travel to ensure they find a puppy that has been bred well. Enquiries have come from far and wide, we have had calls and emails as far away as London and Scotland, although we didn't take the enquiry from Dr Robert in Zimbabwe, or Ms Losif in Russia all that seriously!
Of course, buyers also have to be very careful too, there are many people who breed solely for profit and have little regard for the welfare of their animals. We wanted to reassure people that our puppies were genuinely loved and cared for in our family home and our web site has helped to achieve that aim, but you don't need a web site to show people you are a responsible breeder, simply be honest and give as much detail as you can about your litter in your advertisements, show as many pictures of the litter as you can and give people as much opportunity as they can to contact you. It's just as important to get people to trust you as it is for people to convince you that they are right for your puppies.
 Little Pop |
 Lola |
We are pleased to announce that we have now
found homes for all five of the puppies. Otis is going to live in Scarborough, Jasper is going to live in Gateshead, Melody is going to live in Beverley, Lola is going to live in Coventry and Little Pop, the last to find a home, is going to live near the Pennines.
Little Pop is the most alert of all the puppies at the moment and she has started to respond to sound and movement before all the others. The video at the top of this page will show you what the puppies have been up to over the last couple of days.
The pedigree certificates arrived today, so we can start filling in the change of ownership forms ready for the new owners on the 21st. We received most of the pedigree names we had requested but some had to be changed slightly as they had conflicted with other dogs on the pedigree register.
 Melody |
 Poppy |
The names we have secured for the dogs are Lola's Diamond Queen, Princess Melody, Otis Junior, Princess Pop and Jaspers Starlight.
Poppy is giving a lot of attention to Jasper, the smallest male, and is always nudging him close to her. It's good to see the smaller pups Jasper and Little Pop feeding when all the others are sleeping, it ensures they get their fair share. All puppies are much larger than they were and poppy is eating twice the amount of food than she usually does, and still some, we can't resist giving her lots of treats as she has been so wonderful.
Tonight the puppies have been very lively and they are starting to respond to noise, we can have them all running around in the basket at the shout of 'PUPPIES'! They are also starting to look excited when they see us enter the room and are already trying their best to scale the sides of the basket. Looks like by next week they'll be all over our kitchen floor - all newspaper donations welcome! >>> week 4