COMSTOCK PUPPIES - Page 6
The earlier growth of our pups can be seen on the following links:
Birth to three weeks please visit COMSTOCK PUPS - 2002. Three to six weeks please visit COMSTOCK PUPS - PG. 2. Six to eight weeks please visit COMSTOCK PUPS - PG. 3. Eight to ten weeks please visit COMSTOCK PUPS - PG. 4. Ten to thirteen weeks please visit COMSTOCK PUPS - PG. 5.
Caroline was practicing stacking the pups yesterday. She just sort of baits them into a free stack. If she trys to set their legs the pups tend to move. They look pretty good if I do say so myself. Somehow missed getting pictures of Spice. Tomorrow - Spice.
As promised yesterday here are some pictures of Spice. She is a real sweetheart. We think she is the smartest of the four pups and, certainly, she is the one who wants to please us the most. She is learning the stay command although not with a food dish in front of her.
So now, as a late dinner approaches, I have about 20 pictures that I have to crop, color correct, title, date and thumb nail and upload. Sigh! This may call for a second beer with dinner (in which case you can forget the update being accomplished today).
The weights for the pups at 14 weeks (give or take a day or two) are listed below. I'm showing tenths of pounds on our dogs (and Thumper) as a result of our new digital scale. (The scale may not be that accurate but if the digit is there-use it. That's my motto.) Jay reported that "swimming and playing with other dogs have built Chaucer up quite nicely-he's noticeably more muscular!" (Awaiting picture.)
Lucah 46.0 lb. Riley 45.2 Buttercup 43.4 Spice 40.8 Thumper 47.2 Obie 47 Rio 47 Chaucer 41 Maisie 40 Leia 41.1
This past Sunday Thumper came to visit and have her first swim lesson. She went right in with Ginny and really seemed to enjoy it. Caroline took Riley who is our most enthusiastic swimmer. Caroline set Riley on the entrance ramp and then moved back a few feet and yells "Swim to me Riley!" Riley made a leap into the water, swam to Caroline and then tried to climb on her head (sorry I missed that picture). Its a good thing the pool is only 4 ft. deep or Caroline might have gone under with a nearly fifty pound dog trying to climb on top of her.
The picture on the far left shows the basic corner fittings that I use. The picture adjacent to it shows the parts laid out (inverted) prior to assembly. The dimension of the cross piece is for a 5-quart stainless steel pan. A smaller pan would require a shorter cross piece. I do not glue the parts together. They fit plenty tight and trying to glue four corners true is difficult. The threaded male fitting at each corner allows for some leveling if all the legs aren't cut exactly the same.
The picture on the right shows Lucah eating out of a 10" (approx.) high feeder. This was the first time he ate out of this feeder stand although I have been using it for a water dish in the garage pen for some time now. (The raised water dish tended to minimize the pups playing in the water for a while. Now they are big enough to easily reach into the water dish and splash water all over their pen floor.) He had no problem with the feeder so I will make similar feed stands for the other pups.
I bought all the PVC fittings for the 4 corners and a 10 ft. length of 3/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe at Home Depot for a total cost of $7.73 including tax.
The weights that I have for the pups at 15 weeks are listed below. They seem to be gaining about the same-4 to 5 pounds/week.
Lucah 51.8 lb. Riley 50.4 Buttercup 47.8 Spice 46.0 Thumper ---- Obie 51.5 Rio 50.0 Chaucer 47.0 Maisie ---- Leia 44.5
Chaucer. New photos of Chaucer were received from Jay a couple of days ago. His swim and diving lessons continue. Afterwards it appears that Caucer is giving some serious thought to climbing up on the couch for a nap.
Sixteen weeks and still growing! We weighed our pups today as shown below. I will update the weight table as the various families report in.
Lucah 54.4 lb. Riley 53.0 Buttercup 51.6 Spice 49.8 Thumper ---- Obie 56.0 Rio 58.0 Chaucer 50.0 Maisie ---- Leia 46.0
Caroline made the pups a new toy out of some strips of material that she braided and knotted at the ends. It is a great tug toy. It is long enough for all pups to participate in a tug-of-war as is seen in the far left photo. (Although it is not clear whether Lucah is actually helping Riley pull against the girls or is just chewing on the toy.) In the near left photo Spice takes a time out for hugs and kisses. In the right photo three of the pups continue to play with their new toy (Riley went off to dig in the lawn).
After the afternoon play session they all crashed in their crate in the garage. That 700 size crate now barely holds all four pups.
Well... our pony...I mean our puppy, did a little growing last week. He weighed in at home at 60lbs today. (same as Connor!) He goes to the vet on Tuesday, where he tends to be 3-4 lbs lighter there. He doesn't look fat at all, just big boned.:-) I have enclosed a few more photos from today.
Actually Martha sent us an update (with pictures) on Princess a couple of days ago but I forgot to include it in yesterdays update. (Sigh! Getting old I guess.) The picture shows Princess asleep next to her new dish stand. As Martha puts it - "I am attaching some shots of her dreaming the water bowl will turn into her food bowl." Note that Martha has added rubber feet to the PVC legs to prevent slipping on wood or tile floors.
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