Last night I decided to bite the bullet and announce to the world through social media that the tiny tot of the litter was staying. Puppy Geraldine will be puppy Siska, but I think most people were suspicious of that anyway. I don't think that currently little miss looks like any previous bitch in the line, but of course time will tell and no doubt I'll go back looking at photos to compare.
It's funny how many people tell you to keep two, or say "I'd be keeping them all." Trust me you wouldn't! Take it from an idiot who did it sibling are at best hard work, at worst a nightmare. Mikey was so needy of Asha and until she had her own litter he just couldn't cope without her. Her time away in the kitchen with her litter did him a huge favour. The sister started to fight at about 4 months, and by that I mean fight. It was the worst situation ever. I thought, I'm a trainer, I'll sort it, I'll cope. I didn't, I could never trust them again. Now they live separate lives, we can only hope that human error never lets them down. I guess the Seffe and Dexi scenario was different, he left for 4 months and came back, by then Seffe had already bonded with me. She and Dexi loved to play, but neither were needy of each other.
We have two weeks left with the little guys, the law is that puppies stay with the breeder until they are 8 weeks old. I agree that puppies reared in a home can learn a lot from their family and their environment, but maybe for puppies reared in kennels going to their home a week earlier would be beneficial? What do kennel puppies learn over that last week? How to play harder and fight harder! When I made such a suggestion on my Facebook post a friend commented; "Even my Shelties are ready to go by 7 weeks. By then their need for human company and direction takes over from their need for their mother and siblings." So not just me then! To be honest I never did let them go at 7 weeks, it was always 7.5 weeks, but now the law is clear - puppies have to stay with the breeder until they are 8 weeks.
These little buggers are already scrapping, they all want the same toy or a wresting game gets out of hand. It has to be sorted, unless Kaiah is there to sort it we have to show our disapproval. Of course they still cuddle to sleep and there are lots of fun times together too. They have now discovered the pleasure of eating poo and someone was screaming their head off at 3am. I didn't get up, If I go running to tantrums now then they will soon learn how to teach humans to do recalls! This morning they were all asleep at 7.30am, I felt like running in and going ahhhhhhhhh ....... childish? Yeah!
