Housetraining: The New Reality Show

Dawson leaves on Sunday and I am talking to a woman about Madison, so Madison may also soon have her forever home as well. Dawson had several interested people and I hope Cadi produces enough puppies to provide for all the wonderful homes we have waiting -- especially those who want boys.

Speaking of Cadi -- she is quite large with two weeks to go. Galen thinks there are 12 (perish the thought!!) but most of us are guessing in the 7 - 10 range. I will take and post pictures of her as we get closer.

We are doing okay here but the next litter needs to go home at eight weeks! Multiple puppies who need to be housetrained is a chore and sometimes I feel like I am in some strange comedy reality show. I take all four out and I get two to potty so we all come in, except one or two decide to chew on a stick so I have two in and two out. I go to get the two who are out and the other two run out in another direction. This goes on and on sometimes! In the meantime, I am trying not to let the cats out and I am freezing and barefoot! Yes, I need slippers for these early morning adventures.

Faith moves downstairs with Galen tonight so that will help, and soon Dawson and Madison will also be gone -- and then I will miss them and wish they were back so I could engage in this crazy game some more!

I wanted to mention a couple of things. Karen's vet noted that Maya (Darby) has vaginitis -- I think almost every girl puppy has this (or so it is said) and I do not even worry about it. I am a BIG FAN of not treating things that will resolve on their own so for puppy vaginitis I just trim hairs around the private parts and it works itself out. How abnormal can it be if most puppies get it? Apparently Maya did not appreciate the bikini trim she received!

And last night we had two incidents of diarrhea with a little blood -- most like from the same puppy. I do not let this freak me out. Puppies eat so much stuff that it is a wonder they do not always have bloody diarrhea. All puppies are acting normal and so my strategy is to just keep an eye on it, add some pumpkin/rice and not stress about it. Running off to the vet with every little thing is a sure way to waste money and expose the puppy to things s/he does not need to be be exposed to -- including unneeded medications. Of course, if a puppy is acting sick (not eating, lethargic, etc.) we need to go to the vet but I think going too much is just as bad as going too little -- a sensible balance is important.

I wanted to mention some resources for berner owners. First, everyone who loves berners should be a member of the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America! The website is www.bmdca.org and you can find membership info under "forms" -- if anyone needs sponsors let me know I am happy to help out and find you another one if needed.

All berners should be entered into the BernerGarde database: http://www.bernergarde.org. I already have the F Litter in but now need to input the individual puppies and then the owners will take over the upkeep of their puppies' records.

The Berner-l is "the" on-line community for berner owners: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Berner-l/

Anyone interested in training a berner is welcome to join the berner working group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BMDWorkingevents/. This group is a great resource for ideas, support and getting to know others who appreciate the importance of giving our dogs things to do.

Terri sent a picture of her two puppies in the safety harnesses she made for them -- the smaller puppy is Peaches (Sula). I have included a picture of Faith (Lolo) -- doesn't she look great?! And there is a close-up of Madison and one of Madison playing with another puppy.