Photos Of Opal's Nursey
Below are photo of Opal's nursery. Opal has two family rooms that are only a foyer apart. In the second family room she has the maternity nursery setup. Puppies are only in there when they are little bitty newborns. It is a much quueter room for them, and keeps them away from the rest of the household pets until they are a little bigger, have their eyes opan and are moving around playing.
Mommas are let out out to play and potty about 6:00 AM, and are returned the the nusery pens when they choose. They are let out into the house and backyard if they want out every hour or two. When the babies are newborn mommas want back in after very short times out. As the puppies get a little bigger mommas choose to stay out longer. In fact, the mommas are let out often enough there is rarely ever any 'accidents' in the pens. Although the pens are cleaned a minimum of twice per day.
When the puppies have their eyes open and start wanting to move around and play they are moved into the main family room into baby playpens and returned to the nursery pens only at night. When the puppies are just a little bigger and more playful they are moved from the baby play pens into the play pens that are actually on the main family room floor, giving them more room to romp and play.
As they reach weaning age they begin getting the run of the main family room, the foyer and the kitchen and potty training efforts begin. Needless to say Opal is constantly mopping.
From birth on, the puppies are made part of the family. Especially once they a couple weeks old and move to the baby playpens. By the time they are three or four weeks old they are well accoustomed to being held, cuddled and played with. By that age as well they are used to being played with with little stuffed animals and other toys.
The mommas love showing off their babies once they are big enough to be in the main family room's baby playpens. When company comes mommas almost demand guests come to the playpen and admire their babies. It is like a circus. we have gotten a video camera and will begin video tapong more so you can see with your own eyes that home raised puppies are the best.
They are healthy, full of confidence, playful and love people.
By the time the puppies are 8 or 9 weeks old they pretty much have the run of the main family room (which is HUGE), the foyer and the kitchen. That is the part of the home that everyone watches TV in, visits in etc.. other than bedtime.
As you can guess, we have a limited number of puppies each year. But each and every one of them is well adjusted, happy and ready for their own families when they are old enough. Usually by the time the puppies go to their own homes they are beginning to get an idea about potty training, too. The puppies are on a good schedule of naps and bedtime, too. Which illiminates a lot of the normal stress people go through when they get a new puppy.
99% of the time (or more) someone is home and most usually in the family room or the back yard, (and usually mopping or cleaning up something or other). Opal, being retired, devotes all of her time to her babies.
Click on a small photo below to see it larger:
These first two photos are of the newborn nursery.
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These next two photos are of a couple of the retired moms. They were spayed at age 5 years old and are now quite a bit older than that. They still love the other mommies babies, and play with them after the puppies are old enough to roam free in the main family room. It is winter here which means the dog get dirty when they play in the backyard. These girls have pretty short hair cuts, which makes it easier to groom etc. Opal was a bit embarassed to have their photos put on the website because the girls have been playing in the backyard and aren't looking their best. Both of these old girls have great thick silky coats, but for ease of winter grooming their haircuts are kept short. I put the photos on here anyway because I wanted you to see this is a home enviroment and see our mommies are loved and cherished family pets.
The old girl on the back of the sofa is named Fancy. She is one of the larger older retired girls. The one snoozing under the end table is Miss Maggie. These two old girls, still love the babies so much. They sort of foster the puppies when the younger mommies wean them. They clean them and watch over them as if they are their puppies.
The first photo is Fancy Girl, sleeping in her favorite spot, the back of the love seat. The second photo is Miss Maggie, snoozing in her favorite spot.
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The next photo is a photos of a photo of Rascal. Rascal was a rescue a few years back. He was immediately nuetered since he is an odd cross breed we didn't want any accidental puppies from him. We will soon put a photo of rascal on here, but while we were taking photos he was out rooting in the mud, and leaves in the backyard. Rascal, was going to be re-homed after he was rescued, but he was such a great guy and loved playing with the weaned puppies and was so good at letting them waller him, we fell in love and couldn't part with him. When the little puppies are in the playpen and start whining or something he runs circles and demands someone instantly go get the whimpering puppy. He stands watch over them, and is a real tattle tail if a puppy is in need of attention. You'd think he was a momma instead of an old foggy guy. Rascal loves toys and will carry toys to the puppies and teaches them to play tug of war. He is so gentle with the babies it is just too darn cute. We will have to get some video of it for you to see.
A FUNNY STORY: Fancy is a retired female and she LOVES babies. She watches over the babies when they are in the playpen (when the babies are old enough to move to the paypen). a couple days ago, Opal was bringing a momma in from outside to go back into the nursey pen to feed her babies who are little bitty babies. Fancy ran ahead of Opal and hopped into the pen and grabbed (gently) a baby hopped out of the cage and ran full steam ahead back to the family room, she laid down and snuggled the baby up by her tummy and Opal (who is a tiny woman herself) comes racing out of the nursery hollering, "Fancy give me that baby!!" Fancy looked at Opal like she wanted to cry when Opal picked the baby up and returned it to the right momma in the nursery. Fancy, LOVES babies. For about an hour after that Fancy stoof at the nursey door staring at Opal like she was soo forlorn. The crawled up on the back of the sofa and had agoodsnooze.
Fancy takes her roll of watching over the 5 to 8 weeks old babies when the mommas are outside very seriously. But that day she decided she qwanted a tiny baby. It was hilarious. Normally, that would be strange behavior, but Opal has a couple retirees who just really love babies and can't seem to understand all the babies are not their personal play things.
The photos below are just snap shots of Opal resting between chores. as you can see she is always 'covered' or surrounded by her babies (meaning the puppies and the adults) The sofa and love seat have throw covers on them, which are frequently changed and washed.
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