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Bath time!

Bruce H

Well-known member
It was bath time today. Company (puppy people) are coming.

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Gosh they are getting so darn cute!

Jaspar had a bath today too... having rolled in some nice fresh horse poop, so much that at first I thought it was mud. icon_angry He's nice and fluffy now though!

Bruce I've enjoyed the recent updates on the puppies on your forum. That pic of them all eating is also wonderful. :)
 
Thanks! They really are cute, if I do say so myself :) We spent the whole afternoon with puppy people visiting their puppies, I really enjoyed that. Everyone told us how cute the puppies were; if they're not careful, I won't be able to get my head through the door :lol: Nice to know, too, that I'm not the only grown man who talks baby talk to the puppies.

BTW, I figured out what was wrong with the camera. Kris was using it on manual mode a couple days ago and forgot to put it back to autofocus. I'm lost without everything on automatic.
 
Great pictures once again Bruce! Those babies sure are so cute :)
How long does it take to bath all of your babies? Do you have a production line going?
Julie and the girls
 
If we do just a quick rinse with plain water, bath time for the 9 puppies takes about 45 minutes. If we do a good job with shampoo, then it's more like 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. It almost takes as much time to get fresh bath water between each puppy, which we usually have to do even if they aren't very dirty. It also takes about 3 bath towels to do everyone, which explains why it seems we are always doing laundry.

All but one of the 9 (and that one is from Anna's litter) at least tolerate bath time. The one that doesn't like it does everything she can to get out of the sink; she'll get used to it eventually. Once they have been towel dried, we just let them run through the living room and dining room, helps them stay warm. Once in a while we have one that wants to lay down and then gets cold. If we warm a towel in the microwave, that usually helps them. We have thought about trying the cage dryer, but we are a little nervous about freaking them out.

When the first couple came to visit their puppy, he was still a little damp, but they didn't mind. Just showed them we do bathe the pups. In fact, one of the later families asked if we could show them how to bathe their puppy the next time they come to visit; they have never had a puppy as small as these before. Hmmmm, wonder if we could con them into doing all 9 :lol:
 
looking-for-a-friend said:
icon_whistling you could almost hide that puppy in that towel and sneek it out icon_whistling

Didn't you hear? We frisk everyone as they leave :lol:

And you think the airports are tough!!
 
Didn't you hear? We frisk everyone as they leave

I can imagine!! :)

When I went to select Jaspar (he was only 3.5 weeks!) two friends drove up with me as the breeders live about an hour away. They just about had to frisk my friends who each had a puppy on their lap the whole time we were there. We were offered endless cups of tea and long conversations about breeding, show dogs, the old time scene in the UK/Ireland back in the 70s and 80s and some of the great dogs of that time. We also were in troduced to some older puppies to get asense of their size at 8 weeks. It was so interesting! We had a hard time getting away both because of puppies being so adorable and the conversation.

Of course this was just a selection visit -- I didn't take him til 8.5 weeks and would still gladly have waited til 10 or so as they ARE still so small, and Bruce you are so right, as you point out in your forum, 6 weeks is shockingly early. I cannot imagine removing puppies from their mother at this age, especially the more I learn about dogs and how they learn and what affects their behaviours. Behaviouralists generally say puppies need to really be at least 7-8 weeks and longer is better for the socilaising and behaviour guidance they get from mum and siblings. ;)

Some other random observations: From doing cat rescue and fostering quite few kittens/kitten litters -- I know from personal experience that the same holds true for cats -- take a kitten away from its mother and siblings at 6-7 weeks and that kitten will be the one that shows inappropriate behaviour (biting and attacking) - mum would put paid to any excessive behaviour of this type and siblings make it clear (as do puppy siblings) when play is too rough and walk away from the offending sibling -- meaning they learn fast to hold their bite etc. With kittens, this is part of the reason why it is strongly recommended to home in pairs, whether siblings or not. For puppies the opposite is true -- the pups may bond more closely with each other than with humans though I imagine this is less true with cavaliers than with many other breeds. But that is all the more reason why it is a good idea to leave pups with mum and siblings til 10 weeks or so as they really, really benefit from mixing with adults and puppies and getting further behaviour guidance from a parent.

When you see the huge problems that puppy mill puppies have -- which get no human socialisation, are taken at 6 weeks generally and sometimes even younger, and grow up in flithy cages so don;t learn any hygiene -- you really, truly realise what a benefit pups get from loving breeders and lots of human contact, a human and dog family upbringing, and extra time with parents and siblings.
 
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