In July "Penny", CH Elfin Ring Around The Rosy flew to FL for a romantic weekend with "Keebler", CH Bydand Elfin Magic. This like to like breeding of carefully linebred, completely health tested Certified Havana Silk Dogs should produce outstanding puppies with excellent temperaments. The litter was born Sept 10, 2010. At this time, the pups are all spoken for. If you would like to be considered for an Elfin puppy (if one should become available or from a future litter) you can request an Elfin Questionnaire for prospective owners from us at docdvm@aol.com.
This litter will be housetrained using the Potty Park (in addition to outdoors.) See our Potty Park page for more information on this great indoor toilet for dogs.
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| Multi CH Bydand Elfin Magic "Keebler" |
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| Multi CH Elfin Ring Around The Rosy "Penny" |
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On Fri, Sept 10, as I was getting dressed to go to work, Penny jumped into the whelping box and began nesting. She was due Sept 11 +/- 24 hrs so I guess she decided to just get it over with. In typical Penny fashion, she got down to business and without fuss or fluster, produced 5 beautiful babies within a 2 hour span. Her consideration in having the puppies in early afternoon and the ease with which she produced them made the theme for the litter pretty EASY. All registered names will have 'Easy' in the name.
No one likes to be known as just a number so I have assigned litter call names to the pups. These names can be kept, or changed by the new owners. Once we sort out the pups and decide which goes where, I'll start calling them by the names the new owners choose.
These are their names for now.
1. Ashes - she'll undoubtedly be a belton which means her white will eventually be speckled with black freckles growing black hairs so will turn ashy grey. This is also a nod to Penny's real name "Elfin Ring Around the Rosy" and her grandmother, Posy's "Elfin Pocketful of Posy"
2. Berry (Blackberry) - Whether a sweet fruit or a smartphone, she's going to be delicious!
3. Cheeky - this is a reference to the black on her...it's a Boston Terrier style head with black patches over eyes, ears and cheeks. She's also the smallest but determined to get her share. Only 1 oz spread among the puppies...very uniform start.
4. Ditto - The boys names were inspired by their sameness...which ever one is which...their names will describe them both! They are shiny, shiny black beauties.
5. Echo - Ditto.
In the picture below, Berry is the black one in the middle. Ditto is on her left and Echo on her right.
Cheeky on the left and Ashes on the right.
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Week one - Easy Street...
Today the little Easies are a week old and it certainly has been 'easy' street here. They are growing well, fat, sleek, shiny and content. Penny is being a marvelous mom, doing it all and making it look easy. Much to her consternation, our groomer came by yesterday to give her a bath...boy, was she surprised!
Her braids have been undone and replaced with pigtails on her sides, which serves to reduce matting and helps assure that the puppies can more easily find the milk bar.
The Easy sire, Keebler, is known as the 'What, Me Worry?" dog and, so far, it appears that his mellow temperament has been inherited by the puppies. Each litter has its own dynamic and this one is mellow. We've been doing our 'super puppy' exercises this week....a series of daily exercises designed to promote good temperament in dogs. Each pup is handled first in supine position, then head down, then head up...little paws are tickled. The only one I don't do is subject them to a cold wet washcloth...I figure they don't really have to grow up to be tough guys.
Pictures at this age are a challenge as they simply will not hold still unless they are sleeping so, forgive the quality. They will only get cuter in weeks to come!
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Week Two - You see me, I see you, too!...
The Easies have been growing like weeds and their eyes opened and they are now responding to the world around them. Their coats are growing and, already, little tufts are standing away from their bodies and there is a hint of mustache beginning. They are FAT! The top has been popped on their den and now the light streams in and they can keep themselves warm in a bit cooler environment (during the first week, the whelping room is kept at 80 and the den wrapped in a thick quilt so Penny's body heat can keep the whelping box even warmer.) This is the easiest week for me...Penny does the work and I get all the fun of watching them, playing with them and watching them grow. I'm enjoying this week! Penny is doing great, eating like a champ (3 meals and several snacks daily.)
They have already had their nails trimmed twice...they are very good about this. So far, they are a very mellow bunch of pups.
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| Here's looking at YOU, kid! |
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Week Three - We Walk, We Talk, We Wee...
The Easy world is changing. Gone is the towel covered, wall to wall bed they were born on. Yesterday I replaced it with a smaller bed and a piddle pad so the whelping box has a bed and a bathroom. Tonight the piddle pad was covered with a grass mat in preparation to training to the Potty Park. They immediately took to piddling on the pad! Their coats are growing and they now have fringes and waves coming in. Cheeky, it turns out, is actually a black/tan piebald...when ruffling back her cheek hair, I found the tan cheek patches that are found in black/tan dogs.
They are toddling around now and got their very first toys. And they are responding to their environment and becoming more aware. Now I can get their attention with noise and picture taking will be getting easier as they are attracted by squeakies. By next week, they'll be going outside and playing.
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| Remodeling the bath |
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| Toilet complete! |
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| Easy to look at, Easy to love! |
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Week Four - Moving to Easy Street...
Big changes happened this week. We moved from our birth place to new digs in the kitchen. When we first went to the new place, all that was there was our grass potty. We all used it and then we got beds and toys and a visit from Mom.
We have neighbors now...our cousins and aunts and grandma and sisters got to meet us. Lark and Dancer want to play with us SO badly...Lark loves us and kisses us and wants to play Mommy. Penny (Mom) gets to come in to visit us when she wants to but she doesn't want to nearly as much as WE want her to now. Doc gave us a plate of meat and it was interesting but we're just not hungry enough to try solid food yet. But, we know how to wag our tails and talk to each other...and we are getting better at sitting still for our portraits.
Tomorrow we get to go OUTSIDE for the first time. Real grass will be interesting and there will be lots of new smells to sniff out.
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| Go to the Potty Park page to watch the video! |
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| Lark LOVES us! |
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| Fingers are YUMMY! |
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| Taking life easy! |
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Week 5 - There's a great BIG world out there...
Oh, has this been a FUN week! We get to go outside...grass tickles and the sun is hot, but outside smells great and feels good. We are eating very well now that the milk bar's dried up. We like canned ProPlan and pumpkin and greek yogurt! We have been using our PottyPark Grass perfectly, too...the cleanest little puppies in town. Today, Friday, we went on our very first road trip and we were the best traveling puppies ever...no fuss, no muss, we just settled down and went to sleep. We spent the day at Doc's animal hospital where we got our nails cut, feet trimmed, and got our very first ever baths. Liza said we were the best first time bath puppies! We just hung out, slept, played and got our portraits done. By the time we got home it was dark and we polished off our supper then went to sleep...yawn...it was a long day for little puppies. Doc says we got our daddy's mellow personality...and that's a really good thing!
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| Berry, Ditto & Echo's 1st day out. |
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| Ashes & Cheeky stepping out. |
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| Our first group portrait! |
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Week Six - On the road again, and again...
We've been so lucky to have mostly decent weather this week (well, except for Wet Wednesday...ugh!) so we've been able to go outside every day and we love the grass and playing outside. The lawn guys finally came last night so we don't have to leap over long grass...looks a lot different now that we can see OVER the grass. We are completely weaned now (definitely not OUR idea...thanks, Mom!) and eating three meals/day. We like Greek yogurt for breakfast, just like Doc.
We have been doing super terrific on housebreaking...we never miss the Potty Park. Yes, we have the whole thing now. After using the grass on the floor for just a few days we are able to climb onto the Park itself and we are the most excellent puppies about using it. We are also excellent about getting baths...very cooperative and we travel well (except for Echo who howled today...there's an Echo in here??)
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| Cheeky is melting! |
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Week Seven - to the National, and back...
There are times when you are just having SO much fun that you don't have time to talk about it. Apologies for missing the Friday update but we were in VA Beach at the Havana Silk Dog National Specialty. We got our Fri bath early on Wed and left town, arriving at the Wyndham Oceanfront Wed evening. We were the best little travelers on our maiden voyage in the Cocoon (Doc's nickname for the new Sprinter van, since it is grey and filled with Silks!) After a bit of protest, we all just fell asleep and stayed that way for the whole trip. When we arrived, Doc set up our room in the living room with our toys, beds and PottyPark. We were excellent! We had so many visitors and after we pottied, we got to run around the room and look for trouble! Some of our new families came to the show and we all had such a good time. Our Mom, Penny was there along with cousin Lark and 1/2 sister Star. They all made us proud in the show ring! Lark finished her Certified Championship, Star her Junior Championship and Penny won the Brood Bitch class. Star's sister Lexie won Best Opposite Sex on Fri and brother Jack got an Award of Merit on Friday and took Companion Best of Breed at the National! Our cousin Tanni came, too...she won her class on Fri and escaped from the babysitters Sat and tracked her Mom down at the Banquet during the auction! What a smart girl!
We did have lots of fun but we were glad to get home. Hotel room carpet is green but it is NOT grass and you are NOT supposed to pee on it! We promise that this week, update will be on time. It's going to be a busy, noisy week and we're going to get used to new and different things as the crew starts residing the house on Tues...bang, bang, bang! Our personalities are really developing and we are becoming individuals so it will be interesting to see how we react to this project. Next weekend is our Puppy Aptitude Test...we'll be studying ALL week!
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| Fun at the beach! |
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| Pup Hotel...all tenants out playing. |
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| Gorgeous faces at 7 weeks. |
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Week Eight - Testing, Testing, 1,2,3...
We had SO much fun at the National last week we had no idea how we'd top that this week...but, we found some new and interesting experiences this week, too! On Tues Ernesto and his crew arrived to begin re-siding the house. Guess what...hammering, hammering, hammering...we're going to be the most laid back puppies on earth cause all that noise and the walls shaking, and pictures falling down aren't phasing us at all (and it's not because we can't hear...we had our BAER test today, Friday, and we can all hear it, we're just too cool to get upset about it.) There's a big mess outside but our secure front yard is still clean for us. The big dogs have had to go to the office every day cause they are not nearly as cool as we are and they want to bark at the workers. Today we not only had our BAER test (and not a single cry when Doc stuck the needles in our heads...we're EASY, after all) but got our soaped pictures done and we are beee-u-tiful! Tomorrow we get our PAT (Puppy Aptitude Test) so Doc can be sure that we all go to the perfect homes for our personality types. We are just the best little puppies...really, we ARE and Doc says she already is pretty sure who is going where but she won't tell us until the PAT confirms it...after that, we get our new 'take home' names. Oh, one more thing...we are still using our PottyPark just great except that someone (not mentioning any names cause we don't know who) misses once in a while and wets the floor...when that happens, we all mop it up for him (well, it just HAS to be a boy, ya know!) so he won't get in trouble, and that's how we get to be stinky lil pups who have to have a bath every week! At least we never poop on the floor cause we don't want to have to clean that up! 
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| We are growing up and more beautiful each day. |
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Week Nine - Easy to the End...
We are heading into the home stretch and we have truly earned our name. This week has been pretty exciting as we've gotten to ride in the big grey Cocoon to Doc's office every day. Bunches of guys have been here hammering and sawing and pounding and measuring and prying and making lots of noise so Doc decided we'd be better off at Cardinal than here, proving we can hear and watching the pictures fall off the walls.  The house is looking really pretty with the new siding, though, so we guess it's all worth it.
We are world class travelers now. We don't fuss, we don't get car sick (never have) but just settle right down and sleep all the way. At the office we even spent a couple of days up front, in reception where we got to see all the people coming and going and everyone said what good, handsome puppies we were. Yesterday Auntie Mary Ellen came to visit us and she sat right down in our pen and we used her for a jungle gym and she loved it!
Today was not quite as much fun...we got another bath (drat), Auntie Shantell, the world's greatest dog groomer, trimmed our feet, butts, privates and nails AND we got our first shot...guess what? we were so busy chewing our liver treat that we didn't even notice the needle! What brave puppies! We have our real names now, too. The picture below has our new names ('cept for Cheeky who is staying Cheeky and she is!)
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| The Cocoon...our cool ride! |
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| The end of a LONG day! |
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| Our almost last group portrait. |
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Week 10 - Homeward Bound...
Well, the time has come for the Easies to leave Elfinland. This week has been one of new and interesting experiences. We got to ride to Cardinal Animal Hospital in BIG dog crates, we each had our own crate in the Cocoon instead of all being in one crate. And, we were very, very good about being separated. It's a good thing we practiced cause brother Jet (who used to be Ditto) left today for NC and his new dad said he was really good all the way home...practice makes perfect. Before he left we all played on his blankie and towels so he would not feel lonely. On Tues we got our new microchips. Ouch! We surprised Doc by being so good...2 squeakers and 3 'whatevers' and it was over with a minimum of fuss. Doc hates sticking BIG needles in little puppies so we were extra good so she wouldn't feel sooooo bad. And we got yummy liver treats afterwards which is great painkiller.
Tomorrow the rest of us get to go home...sure is going to be quiet at Doc's house Sunday! We're excited cause we're each going to have our own fulltime people to serve us and play with us and love us and spoil us rotten. We've done the best we can to live up to our names, Elfin Easy to Love, Elfin Easygoing At Cherrywood,Elfin Easy Rider, ElfinTaking it Easy, and Elfin Easy Like Sunday Morning...and here is our last all together portrait. This is the Easies...signing off.
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| Easies, the Farewell Tour. |
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