New Litter of Positive Alaskan Sled Dog Puppies

[gwd]

Here is a list of 21 types of ice

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... ms#slide-1

[minkee]

Can we add Calippo, Magnum and Twister to the mix?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/th ... est#kj9na3

[delladooo]

Can we add Calippo, Magnum and Twister to the mix?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/th ... est#kj9na3

If we're branching our ice out how about Olaf (everybody loves a snowman)

[JudyN]

This would never work on the south coast of England - we're pretty well limited to Slush & Sleet, if that. Further north you occasionally get Thick, but that's not a great name for a dog.

Oh, and there's Wrong Sort Of... which is what transport systems blame for their inability to cope with 1cm of snow

[minkee]

Haha we had a person from Finland work with us once and they were completely baffled at the chaos that a sprinkling of snow caused in our cities. "Why don't they just put their snow chains on???"

Slush Puppy would be a great name though

[mansbestfriend]

Hi Swanny, glad the pups and mum are doing well. How about the names Glacier or Powder?

[Suzette]

Blizzard seems a good fit for the little white pup.

[JudyN]

How about Storm, short for Snow Storm?

[Swanny1790]

So far, we've chosen "Frazil" for the little white boy, because it sticks in my brain that Frazil is his name. We're still contemplating the others.

Everyone continues to thrive. The little grub-puppies are growing right in front of our eyes. All are strong little swimmers and none hesitate to shove a competitor aside in the race for the best teat. As a note for those who may decide to whelp their own litters in the future, puppies sometimes don't nurse the rearmost teats as much as the others, which can lead to mastitis. So far this doesn't seem to be an issue with these Stardancer pupsickles.

Mom is becoming more comfortable leaving her litter to eat and drink and is less anxious when Trish and I handle her puppies and temporarily remove them for their daily neuro-stimulation exercises. She is super-diligent and watchful, but isn't trying to take her puppies back from us. She's quickly learning that we will ALWAYS give her the puppies back. I've increased her ration, and she's getting really nice snacks of fatty salmon, hot dogs and other such goodies once or twice each day to help supplement her diet. Nursing moms that are a bit anxious can start dropping weight rather precipitously and we are trying to avoid that with Mama Chetan.

Meanwhile, all of the adult dogs are learning the scent of the puppies. Our routine is to take care of Mom and litter first (while our hands are still clean so we aren't introducing too many dangerous bacteria or viruses), and then we feed, water and scoop the rest of the gang. During the clean-up phase, when the dogs have finished their meals and aren't nearly so excited, we let them smell the puppies on our hands and clothing. Some are intently interested and some just give a sniff or two and are satisfied with that. Orion, who has the personality of a true leader (everyone defers to Orion except females at feeding time) is VERY interested and curious as is Chetan's sister, Animosh. That's interesting to me because Chetan and Ani are none-too-fond of each other.

Meanwhile, Ani is SO busted. She has been very picky about eating the past couple of weeks, sometimes skipping meals altogether, to the point where she only eats well when her ration is well baited with fish oil, salmon, tuna or some other high value stinky treat. I was thinking she might have a toothache, though her chompers all look fine to me. Still, I was considering a trip to the vet (and she still may get one). Yesterday while scooping I had a handful of crunchy little salmon flavored training treats in my pocket, so I offered her a palm full. She chomped and crunched them right down without hesitation. I offered her another and she did the same. I think we can rule out toothache.

She may be just self regulating, as she hasn't dropped any weight at all and her stools are firm and normal, or maybe she just doesn't relish her regular kibble. In any event I think her next step will be a change of venue - I'll move her from the pen she's in onto a swivel post in the yard between a couple of her buddies - and perhaps a 12 hour fast.

Poor ol' Chinook, a St. Bernard X Alaskan husky mix, is on my mind a lot. He's a 13 year old retiree, deaf and with failing eyesight. 4 years ago he had a low-grade cancerous tumor removed from a front leg. Now he is spending a lot of time on top of his house, licking his other leg and doing little else. I just don't know how much longer Chinook is going to be with us (sigh).

On the other hand, Just is doing really well. We haven't detected any more tumors on him and he's keeping himself busy and active and seems to be in good health. He's ready to run. I'm very pleased with his recovery.

Yesterday was very busy around here, but in good ways. We bought and fetched home a good stock of surprisingly high quality straw. Straw has been in short supply locally, but a friend of ours purchased a big lot and was selling surplus to pay for the fuel required to haul it home (about a 200 mile round trip). I normally calculate that we need 1 bale of straw per dog per season, but we also have the chickens that need bedding in their coop replaced pretty frequently. With yesterday's purchase, we have 30 bales in the storage shed, so I'm confident that even if it turns into a truly nasty winter we'll have plenty in stock.

After unloading the straw, Trish and I drove out to Chena Hot Springs for a good, long soak in the mineral hot springs. That does wonders for aching muscles and joints. We still had plenty of daylight when we returned home to do the puppies' exercises and all the evening chores before a nice supper of bison stew.

Overnight a couple of inches of snow has fallen - the first significant snow fall of the year. That is perfect timing as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of timing - it's time for me to start feeding, watering, scooping and most importantly, inhaling a lungful or two of puppy breath.

[Nettle]

Aaaah, sniff those puppies for me, and admire their unbearably cute little pink pads, little pink smiles.

Just to be awkward - all my pups have favoured the rear teats and been less interested in the front ones.

[gwd]

Just to be awkward - all my pups have favoured the rear teats and been less interested in the front ones.

Mind never avoided the hind ones either......... but of course the term suck hind teat exists for a reason.

[Nettle]

Okay so I have peculiar puppies

You are a mine of information gwd

[Swanny1790]

We seem to be naming 1 pup at a time, a rather slow way of doing things, but we don't have to be in a hurry. We've decided that Glaciar is a good fit for the larger, silver colored male. While doing the neurological stimulation exercises yesterday evening we observed that nearly all the puppies are now able to make purposeful attempts to move away from the damp cloth used in the final exercise, half of them already using their rear legs quite effectively. Basically, they are learning to crawl rather than just swim around using their front paws only.

With the fresh snow came a small flurry of activity around the place. Along with some other small projects that were needed around the house and property was a fair amount of work in the kennel. Chetan's whelping house is elevated from the ground on concrete paving bricks, which left some gaps along the bottom. Not willing to risk a puppy getting 'trapped' underneath I stuffed a bunch of straw underneath to fill the space. That will help Chetan keep her den and babies a little warmer.

We had one pen with some serious excavations that made it impossible to firmly seat the dog houses anywhere they wouldn't be used as escape platforms, so some pick and shovel time was spent leveling off, filling holes, and putting it right. Then I moved some dogs around the yard, giving some of them different pen mates, moving others to different spots around the yard, and so forth. Animosh is now on a post rather than a pen, in between Denali, Midnight's Son and Chinook. and in front of Capella and Seamus in the pen fronting her circle.

Since I already had straw out and the whelping house project didn't really take a lot I figured I'd let all the dogs celebrate the first snow of the season with the seasons first bed of straw in their houses. Just as we enjoy fresh sheets on our beds, the dogs equally enjoy fresh straw, and many of the crew spent much of the afternoon just luxuriating in their comfortable nests.

While scooping last night Shadow, the reactive border collie mix house dog, came charging along the perimeter of the yard trying to herd sled dogs. Being mostly BC, Shadow has "rules" and knows her job is to enforce the "rules" to gather all the sled dogs together and herd them around. Sled dogs may have their own rules, but if so they are nothing close to Shadow's version. Shadow and Selene have always had a thing, so they go wildly dashing up and down the fence line, barking and shouting at each other.

Selene, who is the sweetest and most inoffensive little dog in the yard, is sharing her pen with Beau, an older very steady neutered male. They are now living right next to Chetan. Chetan's reaction was to simply come out and watch the game. She didn't even seem particularly concerned or worried about it. Just watchful.

It's looking like today is going to mostly be a "people" day here. Trish and I will be meeting with the neighbor we sometimes help with sled dog tours, as a pre-season planning meeting. It sounds like she has some plans to expand her business so it should be an interesting meeting. I know she already has a musher and team lined up for regular work.

Then a buddy and former handler of mine wants to come meet puppies and talk about some personal issues at 2:00. He is usually a 'drop in' visitor but with a new job and some other things going on I suspect his life had gotten more complicated, hence the appointment. This evening our friend Nita, another member of the Hedlund Husky Preservation Project and the friend who helped Trish get Chetan and the babies to the after hours vet is going to come by with another friend of hers. Nita has already committed to adopting at least 1 puppy from the litter, and may be interested in a pair. Nita's friend Brian is a recreational musher with a small team who is interested in adopting a dog for his team. He probably won't choose a Hedlund, as he's looking for somewhat smaller sled dogs in the 40 to 50 pound range.

Meanwhile, Phoenix's owner, Linda, and I are exchanging Emails and messages trying to sort out the logistics of getting her two puppies from Alaska to Minnesota. The general plan is for me to use an airline mileage ticket to fly them down to her, but timing is a bit of a problem. My work schedule dictates flying during or near peak holiday seasons which is difficult using an award ticket. We are considering bringing her babies to her at 7 weeks of age.

Years ago, gun dog experts recommended adopting a new puppy at 7 weeks (rather than 8 weeks as is currently recommended) to help secure the bond between hunter and dog. Today we know the additional week in the litter is important for puppies to learn how to properly interact with and relate to other dogs. I wouldn't dream of a 7 week placement if they were going to "pet" homes with little contact with other dogs, but these guys will be going to an active working kennel where there are lots of well mannered dogs to teach them how to interact with other dogs so I'm willing to consider it.

What do you guys think? We have so much expertise on this forum I'd be a total fool to not solicit advice here.

[Nettle]

Many years ago, pups in UK changed homes at 6 weeks, which is within a bold learning period, and worked most of the time because dog keeping was way different from nowadays. Dogs were either in yards with other dogs, in a household (but usually not with the run of the house) with people around most of the time, or free to roam. So those that survived did their own socialising and ended up pretty sound.

If I buy a pup in I like it at 6 weeks to imprint myself on it as the centre of the universe, but I work for myself so I have the luxury of arranging my time to be with it. If I breed a litter, they are mostly ready for their new owners at 7 weeks. The odd one needs another week or two. I do find raw fed pups mature crazily young, self-weaning at 10 days or so and ready to go to new homes very early. But we are talking very savvy new owners here. My stock is so work-driven they are unsuitable for inexperienced owners as a rule. There are always exceptions.

I agree that the crux of good dog manners means meeting suitable adult dogs as soon as possible. My own adults ignore puppies until they are of an age to mind their manners, and get up and leave them if they are being obstreporous. So for my type of dog, the home change age is more individual to each pup and each home than a particular age, and whatever age they do change homes at - for instance, in the recent litter (my breeding plan but not raised by me) there was one very forward, very sassy little lady who did not find the right owner until she was 12 weeks old. We would have kept her for longer if necessary. She took to her new people at once and they adore her.

It's my opinion that they don't learn all that much from their littermates from after 6 weeks that they haven't learned already, but that's only opinion. I have found that Mommadog teaches things I don't want taught yet - such as hunting - if left to educate her own pup.

[Swanny1790]

Nita Fowler (Sirius Sled Dog Tours) brought a friend and her two winter handlers over yesterday evening. Nita wanted to learn more about the neuro-stim exercises we do, and the handlers are interested in the Hedlund Husky Preservation Project and sled dogs in general. I'm horrible with names (sorry), but one of the handlers captured some photos while Nita and I were playing with puppies. You can see how much these little babies have grown in only 5 days. (Wow, has it REALLY been five days?)



The neuro-stimulation exercises consist of 5 different exercises that put the puppy into positions or situations s/he wouldn't normally encounter at this early age. By inducing a mild stress, they help the puppy develop neural pathways that make it easier for the dog to cope with stress for the remainder of his or her life. They also offer cardiovascular and other health benefits.

The first exercise is to tickle the pads of one foot. One can use a cotton-tipped applicator, but we found straws handier.


The second exercise is simply holding the puppy straight up and down, with his or her head up.


The third exercise is holding the puppy in a head down position.


The fourth exercise is holding the puppy on his or her back.


The fifth, and final exercise, is to place the puppy on a cold, damp cloth.


Each exercise is done for 3 to 5 seconds (I count them out) before smoothly transitioning to the next. They are done once each day for 13 days, and only once each day. This is in addition to all the other normal handling and puppy cuddling one does.