Yesterday the winds came and the skis cleared of smoke for a while. This was the view from my office this morning - thick smoke again heading our way.
Meanwhile downstairs the pups were a flurry of activity and vocalizations. (I do have a video but alas it still resides on the i-Pad.)
The hazy sky and winds made the morning cool enough to take the pups out for their first pup-pen expedition.
The staging point for the expedition began by being dropped off inside the sensory cube.
I was totally unsure how they would react to exiting through dangling obstacles but Koyuk erased any hesitation they may have had by lying nearby to nurse.
Like Western movie cattle stampeding to a watering hole, they were off and running.
Then came serious exploration by some as others slept off their milkdrunk state. Trask is enamored by the pups and closely supervised every wayward path. Cedar has wandered in and out of the pup-pen a few times but I have a feeling she still remembers the sharp teeth and claws of her puppies and stays away when the puppies are hungry.
The outside routine remains the same as inside.
Eat:..
Sleep...
Run around and...
Eat again.
I also ate lunch and attempted to read the Sunday paper but mostly just watched the Chinooks interact. One thing I noticed while the little ones were sucking away, was the quiet of the woods. All of the baby birds have fledged, including the screaming red tailed hawks, and with the extreme fire danger, all motors are forbidden anywhere on dry grass or in the woods. Until this week, the woods all around us have been alive with saws, graders, loaders and trucks in a frantic attempt to salvage the Icemaggedon damaged and down trees. The daily logging activity started at 0400 with log truck jake-brakes hammering down the road and continued until dusk.
Quiet paradise. (This was yesterday's picture. The table and chairs now form a viewing area for the pup-pen).
The canopy over the pup-pen is both for shade and to prevent local raptors from deciding a puppy would make a good meal.
The older dogs did run and play Chinook tag while the puppies slept. I do have a video of their game and of Koyuk allowing her son Trask to nurse but again alas I am at a loss as to how to transfer and edit it.
While Trask held court over the pup-pen I changed the linens in the whelping box down to the plastic tarp layer.
By 1300, even in the breezy shade, it was getting too hot. The pups were put into the their transport bucket and taken back into the AC. (They have outgrown both their warming box and transport basket). Koyuk took advantage of the transit time and went for a cooling swim. As soon as I had the pups back in the clean whelping box Koyuk, soaking wet and slightly muddy, jumped in to join them. I quickly cleaned off the milkbar and let her use her wet body to cool off the pups - another
unplanned new sensory experience for the little ones.
I actually started this post this afternoon during a break from the heat, but the whelping box laundry, weeds and watering beckoned. Soon it was dinner and then cuddle time with the puppies. (Watching news while holding a sleeping puppy makes the world seem a bit more sane and less dire). Alas no more pictures to post for the day until I can figure out video. But rest assured, little has changed from the puppy life routine: Eat hourly. Wrestle with, climb over and chew (gum actually - no teeth yet) on anyone close to you. And Sleep. Repeat.
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