Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving Day! 

As I sit on my couch watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the puppies are playing right here in front of me, there's so much I am grateful for I couldn't even begin to list it all out. But because this is my puppy blog, I will stick in that realm. I am most thankful that I wake up everyday and do something I love. Something I love so much that most days it doesn't even feel like a job. Something that has the most rewarding return for my work. I am so grateful to have the best coworkers who I am lucky enough to consider them family. And last, but certainly not least, I'm grateful for how supportive my family has been in this endeavor. 

baby GRIFFIN

It's been a while...

Hey y'all. Remember me? And how I've been the worst blogger in the world and accidentally didn't write a post for over a month?! SORRY! To sum it up, we had our big annual reunion and graduation ceremony, the big puppies went to prison, the little puppies are growing, and we've got another new addition! And not to worry, of course I have TONS of pictures to catch up on.

Reunion was went very well! We announced our newest location for Puppy Development (UNC Chapel Hill Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health's The Farm at Penny Lane), our expansion of our breeding program (placing more into ambassador homes), and FINLEY and TYBEE graduated, along with 54 other dogs!

Some of the gang after dinner the night before 

With my two graduates :) 

The Virginia puppies completed their puppy development phase, and moved into the paws4prisons program. They're all thriving there! Here they are the morning they left me:

THORNTON

HUNTLEY

PALMER

REMINGTON

BRISTOL

WALTER

Up next, we went to one of the annual fundraisers here in Wilmington - the Zombie Run! This event takes place close to Halloween each year and is sure to be a spooky good time! Here's a few pictures from the Zombie Run!

cow puppy and giraffe puppy 

piggy puppy 

WALKER and FINLEY  

patriotic puppy 

sweet Abby and BRITTON 

i love this goofball so much [FINLEY]

AYDEN

TANNEN (and yes, her coat is as soft as it looks)

me and Caroline

And now the most recent pics of the little babies. They turned 10 weeks old yesterday!

BOULDER

REED

CANYON 

EMBER 

FLINT 

GRIFFIN 

And last, but not least, meet our newest little girl, TESSA! She was bred by Bowery Run Labradors, and donated by the wonderful Hurley Labs.  Everyone immediately falls in love with her, and she just eats it up! 

Puppy Petting

Before the wee little ones are able to go out and explore the world, they stay in the safe world of their whelping box. But, that doesn't mean that their socialization can't begin - it just comes to them! At 4 weeks old we start "puppy petting", which allows volunteers to come and get their puppy snuggles in. If you want to see them play, you better come in the first 20 minutes, because after that they're stimuli-ed out, and it's naptime. The reason the puppies don't go out before 6 weeks is that they have not had their vaccinations yet, thus it would expose them a lot of germs that they haven't started building the immunity towards. When people come to see the puppies, they must bring clean socks and clean their hands before coming into the space where the puppies reside. Anyways, we've had a rather large turnout, per usual, and everyone loves the baby puppies (duh!). 

Everyone loves puppy snuggles!

There are probably 4 million (and not even exaggerating) pictures of these little guys all over the place!

FIN says why does no one want to love me?! 

EMBER being extra cute and napping in the bowl! 

EMBER  

Smiley EMBER!

October calls for...

... Costume shopping! That's right, our outing this week consisted of visiting Target and Party City, where we mingled in the spooky sections of the store and tried on a few costumes!

PALMER checking out the clown mask

WALKER is the cutest ever in his oversized bow tie! 

WALKER not so fond of the giant glasses

REMI is sure to be a gentleman in his top hat 

REMINGTON as a race horse!

THORNTON checks out the bird that squawked and flapped it's wings

BRISTOL doesn't know what to think about the owl, whose head turns while it "whooed" 

cool dude YANCEY!

MAGS (yep, my first girl!) is thinking about being a gladiator!

AYDEN rocking the oversized glasses! 

Over the weekend we had gone to the Bellamy Mansion Museum Family Fun Day, which introduced the puppies to crowds, colonial outfits and games, a barnyard, and other surprises like pattern-carpeted stairs!

stepping on a thin metal grate  

BRISTOL learning to stop and go in the crowd during the house tour

They were a little confused at first because the pattern threw off their depth perception, but they got it fast!

pictures with "Mrs. Bellamy"

watching the pony rides 

And a few other pictures, for your viewing pleasure:

Waiting patiently for the "eat" command 

REED fell asleep during his first time eating mush 

selfie with EMBER...photobombed by FINLEY

AZALEA says "don't ya know they have teeth now?!"

cute boy BOULDER 

messy face EMBER after dinner 

AZALEA, FINLEY, and KOURY (tiny KOURY is FIN's littermate if you can believe that!)

More puppy pictures on the way - the babies turn 4 weeks old today! And the big puppies are 4 MONTHS old tomorrow! My, how time flies!