8 Weeks Old Today

Afternoon ouside, the pups becoming bolder and bolder about exploring.
Here, they all are 50-60 feet away from me (with Keogh confined in the house.)

Then, Ke had been allowed out with them for a while when a rain storm dropped by unannounced... no thunder or lightning or even cloudiness... and Ke headed for the house, followed closely by the gang. That's Bud-Light bringing up the rear because, as usual, he was the farthest away.


There will be individual pix of the 4 on the website in a little bit.

Weights
Do I know my stuff or what... some times, anyway! From under 2.5 pounds at 4 weeks to 9 (yes, NINE) at 8. The three boys are all right at the 9 pound mark (with Bart and Bud-Light just a tad over) while little Betty stays little. She is only 6.5 pounds.
According to the 10%/every 4 weeks formula, these weights mean the guys will mature around 45 pounds (ideal weight) and Betty will be 30-35. This formula is a fairly good guess enhancer, but not totally accurate.

Shots
All four behaved pretty well when they got their first shot... except Betty wanted to argue a bit. I think she really just wanted down since she'd been in the middle of moving some newspaper out of the pen when I grabbed her. The newspapers have been Shadow's delight for many weeks and now the rest of the gang has joined in. They shred it all over, after rearranging every sheet I put in there.
BUT they ARE using it reliably so if they want it in a different location, that's fine with me!

A night out
Keogh spent the night in the bedroom! In fact, yesterday, once she decided the pups were in a safe place in the dog room and had spent some time playing with them in the yard, she ignored them completely. And THEY didn't seem to mind.
One interesting thing, when the storm rolled in, I took Shadow, Betty and Bud inside but Bart had already found shelter under a bush and I wasn't crawling under there after him! I left the door open and then got busy on the computer, forgetting about him. Ke did too or so I thought. She slept on the floor by my feet for a while... the storm was a short, light one... then eventually, she went back outside. And stayed there for over an hour. When I remembered Bart was still outside, I found them both asleep under the bush. Now THAT is a great mom!
Betty is her mom's favorite, something that became very obvious today. She spent most Of her time with them this afternoon play wrestling and romping with her daughter, getting up and moving off whenever one of the boys jumped in. I often see moms treating their female pups differently than the males.
One last thing...
Considering how mature these babies are, I do not think any of these puppies would have difficulties settling in a new home right now, especially if there was another dog there. And yet, DAILY I see them learning stuff from each other, as well as the rest of the dogs here, which they would not pick up if I let them go at 8 weeks. For one thing, puppies treat puppies differently than dogs treat puppies. Pups are MUCH less tolerant of being bitten too hard, for example, and immediately bite the offender back which is a great teaching/learning technique. Humans tend to NOT bite puppies, relying on voice commands or smacking the biter to correct the behavior. And mature dogs generally just walk away, depriving the pup of its chew toy.

Emy "heat" update
It IS Em the boys are excited about, but, for the life of me, I can't see why. She has NONE of the physical signs of being in season. And yet she is willing to be "friends with benefits" with each and every one of them. Which means, she is NOT going to be with anyone except Sparky, just in case...!