Update on bottle babies....

[firehouselabs]

Here's the latest pictures of the five pups still in residence with us. The yellow "Flare" is going to Baton Rouge next week so we will be down to the black pups, three of which we are planning on holding onto for a while. We may make that four!! They are going to be 12 wks old on Tues.

First up: FIREHOUSELABS EMERGENCY FLARE "FLARE" 22.6 LBS


FIREHOUSELABS B.L.E.V.E "BOOM" 26.4 LBS





FIREHOUSELABS CHARCOAL AND ASH "CHARLEY" 28.6 LBS




FIREHOUSELABS CHARRED RUINS "RUIN" 22.8 LBS




FIREHOUSELABS DOUBLE ALARM "DUECE" 23 LBS




Here's AN additional picture of "Charley" and her "skin problem".

[1st retriever]

My friend has a blf that has the hound skin too. Glad things worked out for you! They are really cute!

[firehouselabs]

Well the only problem I have with all the extra skin is, she is going to grow into it!!! Seriously, she looks just like her father did when we got him at this age, he is huge! Good thing we were wanting big pups!

[Melanie Foster]

three of which we are planning on holding onto for a while. We may make that four!! They are going to be 12 wks old on Tues.

Sincere question here. How do you find the time to properly raise and socialize (individually) that many puppies from the same litter?

Melanie

[firehouselabs]

by having them in the house with us whenever we are at home and individually crating them at night. It has worked for us in the past with holding back several pups until they are 6 months or older before selling them as older pups that are housebroken, well started on obedience, water, various cover, gunfire, birds, etc...
We took two of them this saturday to our HRC mock hunt test for exposure to other dogs, gunfire, birds, being quite in the kennel and on tie outs. We will take all four to our next training day since three of our older dogs should be back with our trainer by then . In the mean time, they are getting bumpers, frozen ducks, and walks on lead daily at our house.
This is why the laundry pile is growing, the dishes in the dishwasher have not been put away, and oh yeah, I still need to finish up our taxes. With daylight savings time here and the days naturally getting longer, you make the time. Just like I did when it came to bottle feeding the litter.

[Melanie Foster]

Hi Raina,

Really, I didn't mean to insinuate the puppies weren't well cared for no matter how many you kept back. I guess I was thinking in terms of competition dogs who need to bond primarily with humans rather than being able to run around with their pack until that age.

I kept two pups from litters that were just a couple of months apart once and keeping them completely separate besides very limited play time about did me in.

I was just curious as to how you all handled multiple little kids all at once. Best of luck.

Melanie

[firehouselabs]

No offense taken! I knew what you meant about one on one socialization with the pups, keeping them from bonding primarily with each other etc... These pups will not go any further than hunt tests and hunting, they are not field trial prospects by any means. We have had up to four pups plus two adults full time in the house before with very good results. The pups stayed in the house up to 8 months of age, then where transfered to outdoor kennels at night with the other adult dogs. They still got their routine training, like the big ones, along with some play time with all the other dogs, but primarily when in the house they mainly just ate, slept, and would follow us around the house from room to room picking up the toys as they went.
They have to sit to be feed, sit before being sent through doors with their name, and they have to sit to be petted. We do not put up with jumping around, barking, pawing, etc.. in the house. Calm and submissive in the house, bundle of energy outside chasing flightless ducks!