Talemaker's Pups Spill Over After the Snow

This is what happened AFTER the pups came in from the snow. As you can see, they are a growing concern. From early on at 2 weeks climbing on the pigs rails to - you think you are going to keep me in this basket - are you JOKING? You will also see - though I wish I had all the video (only could recover a portion) that the gal is an amazing character. She loves the tunnels, teasing the boys and having a grand time and she doesn't take any ahem from them either nor from Katsuro or Shoshi but she still has 'in awe' respect for Risa and momma Wasabi.

We hope you enjoy this part 2 of the snow adventure video. We won't be posting till late tomorrow as we have a vet visit, shots and microchips and then the next day our baer testing. So, at least a couple of days before visitors as we will be a tad sore and probably won't want to be held.

After Bath Snoozing

Somehow, getting a bath usually does us in and we nap and nap for a longer time than usual. Human mommy just covered us with blankets and towels and we settled in for a long winter's nap.

Soon, it will be fiesta time (we already have the coloured background thang going on) as human daddy may get home tonight albeit late but still home...ahhhh and one wonders if he will wake us all up and drive human mommy crazy as she will have yet another night of less sleep than usual.

Check out our video of snow days below...

More later..mommy may take a nap for her lunch.

Havanese Toronto Puppies Snow Days

It was just the pups and I yesterday, soooo the camera work is a bit jerky, do forgive me. But, the pups and older crew had a roaring good time outside before the icy rain hit. It was interesting as they did climb right out of the basket I was transporting them in and that made life oh so interesting and then we got inside and they plopped right out again and that video will come next - when I have time to edit.

We are all missing human daddy who is stuck out in Powell River on business due to the weather. But..as the song goes....oooh heaven is a place on earth - and it is with Wasabi's Toronto pups. I am going to miss this crew madly. Enjoy their snow day...

It's Mine Havanese 3 Way Style

Oh human mommy had big plans for us and that video camera but she saved it in VR mode - argh so until she figures out how to convert those to share, silly mom - must be the lack of sleep - well still photos will have to do.

We have had a roaring good time this weekend. Today started out with a bang or a wet one that is. Human daddy is away on business so it was just the human mommy and the gang and we started it with finding goats milk was pouring out of the fridge. What was THAT! So, priorities, priorities - pups got fed first, brought downstairs and human mommy got to cleanup then go outside and shovel paths in the snow. Oh, I do hope this video converts as its priceless. The crew is really showing their personalities. Oh, we know the old saying - girls are a tad more independent and boys are more snuggly but this lone gal we have - well if you get to see her in this video, she's not only a born snuggler but she holds 2 boys down and wrestles them at the same time and they cry uncle. Oh, yes, they are just having fun but she's a gal that isn't afraid of anything thus far and - well the world is her oyster and she gets that point across to her brothers in a way that makes you smile as it's almost like she is cajoling them. Oh, I will play with you, if you'll do this for me...oh my - it's already begun.

In the photo above, you can now see the little ones are learning a sense of fair play and cooperation. It takes both to play a successful game of 3 way tug and they seem to do it quite well. As we play more games with a variety of items, they tend to perfect and play a tad different with each of the toys.

Today the crew has gone outside twice, played in the family room and hallway twice and in the kitchen 3 times. Human mommy lays in the x-pen at times and has to go yeouch as the teeth are coming in and they are learning how to mouth vs. bite when you make a noise.

The goldens were out playing in the snow with the crew and having a roaring good time. Terra often can be seen now at their level trying to play. It's so important to get them to be exposed to all different environments, larger dogs, different humans and all sorts of experiences.

We did household noises today as background conditioning. The pups thought the vacuum was a toy that they could play with - no reaction to the noise even when laid down. We tested them on the food processor, blender, coffee grinder, door bell, intercom and not a single negative reaction but they would cock their ears as if to say - what is that and then go off and play. Our goal is to get them familiar with all the everyday noises. This week, if the weather cooperates, we get to go in the car, get our shots, our baer test and see how we do.

What we are finding out about this crew that they are truly team players. We hope the way that we play with them helps this along. What is also coming out is their mischievous behaviour. If we EVER get that video converted, you will laugh seeing the antics in the tunnel. I know I did.

There is nothing like Havanese...nothing...and the payment you get is laughter, smiles and sometimes shaking your head at their wonderful antics. I swear, they were put here to remind us that laughter - well we all need that!

Well, the video converter is still sitting at 11% and human daddy tells us no planes are flying out of Powell River - for shame so we will have to do without him another night so its just mommy and the crew and we hope he gets home tomorrow as we have doctor visits on Tuesday. We also miss him madly. He's as crazy about the dogs himself and even told human mommy that he watches the videos to stay connected - how nice.

Well, we are all snoozing now till our next big kitchen play session that we have everyday just before bedtime. Usually this tuckers us all out and we all sleep but last night - well it got us even more excited and we played loudly for another hour - later than usual then crashed till 7am. Not bad...

More tomorrow as human mommy needs to get our beds ready upstairs before we wake up.

Havanese Roadkill?

Okay, did we get your attention with that title? Our human mommy was at Globals in Richmond Hill and Eva - quite the nice lady gave us a toy that she fondly called roadkill. Some of you will remember that this past summer, our Havanese mommy was sprayed by a skunk and human daddy had to sleep with her outside.

Well, in that honor, we get to play with a flattened skunk that has a squeak in each end. Can you even see it among us? We just adore it and she's getting more - skunks, squirrels, foxes, rabbits etc all flattened out. Best part is we don't have to deal with stuffings coming out and have a roaring good time playing tug - yes, we now play tug. Mommy has to get a picture of it but with human daddy gone, she sort of has been doing cleanup, playing - tons with us and dogs, dogs, dogs and well, this is the first time she sat down today and guests are coming (Helen and her son) shortly with rumoured giggling vegetables that we can play with - wow. That ought to be fun. Right now though we are snoozing and mommy is going to take a quick nap so more later. if you go get this roadkill toy - tell Eva we sent you. She's getting more in this week.

Havanese Pups Playing Recovery

Well, we had a really full day yesterday. Many human adults came to visit, a few Havanese as well and wow a full day. We were actually quite characters last night as we were overtired but this fine morning after human daddy left and human mommy fed us, well we mostly all crashed. Not that we didn't sleep last night - but we did. We just took longer to calm down. We find an active play session before bedtime helps the deep sleep and this crew has been easy.

Human mommy says the best part of this crew is even when they are in an overtired state, not a whiner in the crew. They find things to amuse themselves (it helps to rotate toys and give them things to do) but also they can see us walk past their room and they are a patient crew but once you step in, they know its time to come downstairs and they rather like that and are WAY excited.

We are going to miss the human daddy these next few days but mommy has a lot of fun things planned for us. We are going to test each on the receptiveness of commands. It's a tad early but it's good to expose them. We will see how they do. Then if the weather cooperates, we will be taking them outside for a romp each day, into the kitchen and into the hallway and family room to give them a different environment.

Then who knows, we will watch some TV and get snuggles and brushes and everything will be right in the world. Ah - to be a Havanese puppy...human mommy wishes!

Long Havanese Day

We had a long day today but a fun one. The dogs are starting to eat Fromm's canned food with Fromm's Dry food softened and they LOVE it. The Chicken Thighs Entrée had them smacking their lips. They adore it. They are starting to eat more and less from mom.

Human mommy is tired so she will fill you in more tomorrow and human daddy is out of town till Sunday.

More tomorrow...when we get our rest...

Havanese Planning

Well, another day down and we were snoozing but mommy and daddy took us upstairs so they can clean out the pen. This is something they do daily completely and partially throughout the day. It gives them a chance to mix it up and give us new toys - fun. Best toy they love so far is that play center, the cat toy with the ball and the tunnels - grand fun indeed!

We listened to dog sounds today - all sorts. the only one that reacted was the retrievers. We go for our baer test next week and our shots, microchip and wellness. it will be a busy 2 days then.

Tomorrow we have our Havanese daddy's human mom coming Beth Obrecht from Rockhurst Kennels to visit and Sonrisa's Havanese Rita Thomas so we are resting up so we can really show them what we are made of.

Human daddy had mommy hold us today while he did nails. The gal was the absolutely squirmiest and most vocal about such an act. Still, it was done and we moved on to playing and snuggling.

The crew went out again today and only the double mask is shivering but no one lasts as long as the guy we call Tux. He just adores the outside and gad he just snuggled and snuggled tonight.

Well, human mommy had a very busy day with work so she's calling it a night too. Have-a-neese night! Yeah the rest of them except for the pups sleep with us. Great fun!

Havanese Puppy Games at 7 Weeks Old

Wasabi's pups are loving playing games with their psuedo auntie, Shoshi, uncle Katsuro, auntie Terra - all of the canine persuasion. They have such a zest for life. It's amazing to watch!

Havanese Noisy Days

This morning we are doing traffic noise conditioning. We started out awake and look at how we ended up listening to all this bloody noise. Human mommy is going crazy listening to it but us - we said fu-get-about-it! Every now a loud horn blares, a dog barks etc and one or the other lifts their head to look but traffic and all the noises in the background including people, horns, crashes etc seem to give us a yawn! heh

We had more of a reaction to storms yesterday but even that was just a - what was that look especially on the loud sounds of thunder or wind.

Maybe we will do wildlife soon.

Today, the double mask and Tux played with Terra and she played back. Where's your camera when you see these moments - argh...we will be doing one on one with the others. We also watch TV cuddling one or another, looking in ears, between toes, rubbing bellies and just loving being the one selected and oh they do...look where I am but all get a turn so they are also learning patience. :-)

More later...

Sound Conditioning

We condition our dogs by playing realistic sound bytes that simulate anything from a roaring thunderstorm, to rain to street noise, to traffic and much more.

Tonight we are concentrating on the sounds of storms. We will change the sounds and vary the level of the sound throughout this process. This way when your puppy hears his first real noisy traffic or a roaring storm, they will be less apt to react to noise as it will be familiar.

Each day, from now until they go to their new homes, they will experience sound conditioning in a place - their xpen next to my desk where they feel secure. At times Wasabi (Havanese mom) may be feeding them, others we will be playing with them and at times they will just be sleeping or playing with the guys. By associating sounds with various 'good memories' we attempt to minimize the startling effect that we all have from a loud sound.

Our oldest golden retreiver was a rescue and a prisoner of her fear till we did slow conditioning with her. No one and nothing should be a prisoner of their fears.

By practicing positive slow conditioning, we hope to eliminate these common fears that occur with loud noises in 'some' dogs.

We fear what we don't know.

The Start:Housebreaking Your Havanese Puppy

We do everything possible to get your little one to start the journey of housebreaking by starting them in a secure small area and increasing their awareness by introducing them to a larger area - our kitchen and the outside. This way they become aware of the smell and where you want them to eliminate.

In our x-pen, they are getting really accurate but in our kitchen area, they still have some accidents as the area is large and we are now finding that if we bring a pad already used into the kitchen area, they find the pad easier. It's one of the tricks that you learn by trying and seeing what works. They seem to be rather good at going outside as cold often gets their bladders to empty (bonus the wintertime) but you must go out with them at first.

Check out our housebreaking tips file. You'll be able to find it by a menu on the left hand part of the screen under food for thought or linked here.

More About Today
Our pups had a rather busy weekend and was very tuckered out. They slept in till 7amish after going to bed a tad after 10pm. That tells me that with a lot of activity, they are already able to sleep for a chunk of time. That's great news but we will continue to strive to get them sleeping through the night every night. A change in environment may throw them off at first but they will be on their way to getting to be all they can be.

Today they had a visitor (Audrey) our groomer who loves the pups. She was here to do our goldens. We usually bath all of ours but every now and then we have her visit us to trim nails, clean up the pads, and just give human mom a break from cleaning so many. The adult Havanese have been having such a roaring good time with frozen bones human mommy put out back that they gave managed to look a tad wet and droopy from all the wet snow. Still, a good brush will take care of that. We are working on a grooming file so look for it soon.

Then we had a grand play session in the kitchen where they munched on Terra's (goldens) legs - all 6 at once - oh my but that was fine. When Terra had enough she went outside after saying enough with a correction growl. Shoshi played great with them, Kat played some and now they are all fast asleep.

They are now starting to eat more solid food. Ah - to be Havanese...nothing better. Catch you tomorrow!

Solitary Havanese Play

Havanese are highly sociable and love people but they can also amuse themselves. Watch this little guy play with this toy while his siblings are snoozing this fine early morning.

Havanese Food Challenges & Play

Ah Mommy Wasabi - you are eating OUR food...no fair..well it doesn't look so hot anyway. No wonder why we are not eating it.

Kitty Braund, publisher of 'Our Havanese' a must have subscription to a magazine of our breed gave us a recipe to get the pups to enjoy the mush more but they won't even touch it. Oh my....It's old fashion - cook slow oatmeal, some egg and goats milk all soft and mushy and they sniffed and went no way. At least the soft kibble they ate somewhat. Now back to the drawing board - so to speak. Hmmm why does mommy like it?

Had an exciting day today. We all went outside and tux and the one with the moustache like me (Wasabi) just couldn't get enough. Wow is that a change since the 1st try.

Human mom and dad was taking 2 of us out at a time to play with the guys. The little one behind was running as fast as possible as if to say - what about me then played its heart out.

All are sleeping now after a full day. We have many visitors tomorrow so we have to snooze in between or we won't do anything but catch some zzzzzs.. So, long day but fun one in store. We all can't wait!

The Havanese: Do You Really Have To?

Here's one of my dawgs saying - what does a Havanese have to do to get some sleep around this place. Human mommy and daddy want to cuddle, Havanese mommy wants to check us out, clean us up and coddle us and 5 siblings - well it's rough to get some sleep around here. Oh, but I try.

This was one of my pups after playing its heart out with Katsuro yet again. We all did and what you don't see is we are spread out and crashed but I was the only one with that eye open - just watching.

Well, my pups had their 2nd outing into that great vast yard with snow - hmm think that's what they call that white brr cold stuff. Three of them sniffed around and did their duty, 1 said - are you kidding - its FREEZING and the other 2 well it wasn't our time - you know but human mommy and daddy will be timing these outside adventures after we eat. This way we will 'get' what this outside break is about other than chillin' and getting conditioned to this cold.

Human daddy stuffed us in his jacket when we were done and took us out 1 at a time with the rest of the adult pack.

Well more later.

Havanese Pups 1st Snow & Much More

We have been busy. Now that the pups are older, we do a lot of things with them throughout the day and evening before bed to get them to be all they can be. Today was their first exposure to the snow.

Here you can see human daddy, the pups, Wasabi, Katsuro and Risa helping them get the lay of the land. They were only out 5 minutes. We will do slow conditioning to the cold.

Last night we also did some socialization with the adult Havanese and our Katsuro had a blast with them. The video that I am uploading is under 5 minutes but he played with them like that for over 30 minutes - wow! Check it out below.

We also did some big dog socialization. What was funny was our youngest retriever wasn't sure what to think but our oldest just hung out, watched and let one gnaw on her leg and watched in awe. It was rather nice. We will continue to do this throughout to get them used to larger dogs.

All I can say is the dogs are tuckered out, eating mush these days for at least a couple of meals and are doing rather well. I just love their sense of play.

More later....

Havanese Crate Time

Some people think that a crate is not a fun place for us but if done and used correctly - as a time to relax, veg, play, enjoy - then it is a *good* thang! You see, sometimes we may need to be transported in one and a slow conditioning to one is a positive thing. Plus my gang rather likes sleeping in one with a cushy, soft pad. But...they are not spoiled.

Ha -human mommy says!

Positive experiences are a must! We use a crate inside the x-pen so they can climb in and out.

Never use a crate as a punishment and it will remain a comfort to them. Everything we get exposed to and find enjoyment in, makes us better dawgs. Daddy says our goals are always to make our pups balanced and happy and as you can see in our videos and photos, we are that for sure.

Well, today we are expecting snow but we are still too young to go outside so human mommy says if it really snows like they say it will, then she's going to bring some into the house so we can get familiar with it. Now that ought to be interesting!

Looking at this photo, mommy is noticing our looks are changing. The mostly white one is thinning out - still teddy bearish but way handsome and he's such a character - well they all are Wasabi says but each are clearly different these days and as the week goes on and we hit week 6 and 7, well personalities will continue to unfold but not a skittish one in the bunch. Some are quieter than others but none are off the wall spaz cases or human mommy may be working to change that. They all seem to have mommy's calming demeanor but some more playful than others. The job - well it's easy this time around as they are all so equal - but as we say unique and that's quite nice!

Well, it's playtime so off the keyboard I go and we get to tucker the little ones out. They play and drop dead asleep and are now eating at least a full meal instead of me - Wasabi so I get a break! As time goes on we will make that 2 meals then three etc...

I couldn't be in yesterday's video as they wouldn't leave me alone. Sometimes they just think I am the milk factory - sigh!

Well....more tomorrow!

Wasabi's Havanese in Toronto Pups Video

We hope you enjoy it! Now the furry crew is off to bed and human mom too!

Havanese Non Stop Fun

My pups had nonstop fun and thanks to a Havanese friend of human mom's - Maureen who gave her the idea they got a new cat toy in the mail today and here it is. Here they are trying to catch that ball and boy did they have fun. Even the adult Havanese had a roaring good time with it.

We had a really full day today. We are increasing our eating from our dish, drinking or is that playing in water. Well, hey human mom you were the one that introduced them to that bath and water - tsk tsk!

We also had a play session out in the kitchen that was a roaring good time. We are going to try to get a new video up tonight or tomorrow.

All my pups are now 2lbs even or over but all under 3lbs. They are 5 weeks and 4 days tonight. We have our vet visit for shots, microchip and wellness set up for December 4th. Human daddy has to make a baer appointment to make sure we can all hear well but there's no doubt with that the way they react now. They hear everything and seem very curious about all sorts of noises including the vacuum cleaner, the door bell that rings and they even reacted to the crew barking when someone rang the door bell today. It wasn't a bad reaction but a cock of the head and a run to the edge of the xpen to see what was going on. My crew wants to see everything that is going on.

Well, they are all sleeping after the kitchen play. We will try to get a video up soon. Look for it.

Snuggles and nail clipping and tomorrow we are going to try combing hair with a baby comb to get them used to being brushed and combed. We will see how we do about that. Human mommy is looking forward to that as it gives her one on one time. She rather likes that!

Havanese Thoughts to Ponder

How many pups can you count enjoying their play?

A wise person said - "He never bit anyone, which is more than you can say for most of us." The dogs are getting teeth and I - Wasabi are starting to correct them and so are the humans by saying yeoch in a louder voice and they are catching on FAST.

Another wise person said... "People love their dogs." "People have the relationship with their dog that they expected to have with their spouses or their kids. Dogs never stab you in the back, probably because they don't have opposable thumbs. And they lick your face when you cry. You can't say that of anyone else. Nor would you want to."

Wasabi says: My pups are now at the age where they are licking your face, running to you when you near the x-pen, playing joyfully even with the other Havanese but when they try to feed off the other Havanese, well they are correcting them . We must do a video as soon as time allows.

We had a rather full weekend and are trying to wind down from that. Life is amazing with the little ones, human daddy says but they now need an x-pen upstairs vs. a whelping box. Although some of us a a tad under 2lb and some a tad over 2 lbs - we feel the need to spread out unlike Risa's crew. No one stays out of the play these days and all are highly curious. We change the environment to slowly condition them to feel comfort in change. This makes it easier when they go to their new homes. We are also walking them around the house, getting them used to water running on them if they need a bit of cleanup and praising them when they hit the pee pad.

More later...and look for a video soon!