There seems to be three stages of development evident in the litter. 

The most “mature” pups are able to move into new spaces and be secure within themselves with me. 

For example, we train cutting horse so each day I “run the flag” for my husband.  This means that I run an electronic device that moves a “flag” back and forth across a “wire” that stretches across the ring.  Two puppies (Happy and Cleo)  come with me across the pen to the chair where I perform this action.   The rest of the pups watch at the gate.

All the pups are walking down to the barn to get the puppy food and walking back with me.  The other day we had an “issue” during this walk.  Their Dad took off after a barn cat.  I don’t allow that! So I began calling him off.

This commotion caused the pups to scatter  in an interesting way. Two pups stayed with me ( Happy and Summer.   Two pups ran back to the house (Lisabeth and Cleo) And the rest ran to their Mom.

Thinking about this and watching the pup behavior this week, I think we are seeing 2 more different levels of maturity.  The pups that are secure as long as they are with their Mom.  And the pups that are secure in their home turf.  

In the beginning all the puppies were most secure in their den (home turf area).  As they develop, they begin to move around the farm with their Mom.  (Secure with Mom stage).   A little more experience and development and this is transformed into the Secure with My Person stage. 

This week has seen Summer going through some of this transition.  She has been out with her Mom and now is coming with me.  She is moving around the farm ( within the space of the house and backyard) by herself.

Lisabeth is wavering back and forth.  Some times she has some independent and some times she reverts back to her previous “security blanket” level. 

Jewel is also making this transition and she is anxious to become more independent.  Happy is the leader of the pack in development.  Very secure.  Very calm and Very polite.  Cleo can be very independent but can  revert back to needing more security.

If you have kids, you know that all this sounds normal for little  kids.  Some days, some moments they are very mature and then in a heart beat, they can need to be held by their Moms and Dad.   

It is so hard to name puppies before I know their personalities.  I like the method used by many Indian tribes:  Babies were named as their personalities developed.

My first intimate exposure to this pup happened this morning.  It was stormy and rainy.  I was down in the barn and heard a pup cry out.  Running back to the house I called to all the pups that are behind the bushes up by the front of the house.  This little girl came out of the bushes with her hind leg up in the air. 

She was shivering like she was cold and a bit scared.  I scooped her up and put her in the house.  There I wrapped her up in a fleece blanket and craddled her till she was secure.

Going into my office, I placed her on my lap and she fell fast asleep.  After about an hour, she wimpered a bit and I put her down on the floor by my desk.  She is still there.  Laying peacefully on the floor on her fleece rug.  

No crying. No fuzzing. No fretting. Just comfortable.  You would think she had been raised in my office for the first 5 weeks of her life.  Neat puppy.     

She has a white around her nose narrowing to a thin stripe between the eyes  widdening out to a white blaze ending on the top of her head.  She has a narrow white collar.  Her front feet are white.  Her back feet are white at the bottom with brown and black coming down the leg.  

Cleo is short for Cleopatra. This girl is a take control kind of gal. She came in for some tv time and immediately decided that Jim’s arm was more fun – it was something to chew on. The chair was wasn’t big enough or interesting enough so she decided to explore the rest of the furniture.

She has white collars that split into two in the middle of her neck. This pup has 4 white legs.

There is another pup with the almost the same face markings so I have be sure not to mix them up. I believe the other pup is not as “dominant” as this girl.

This girl is very secure. All the pups came around to the back porch and played with the rest of the dogs. After tiring, they all retired to the front porch, their home base except for Cleo who stayed behind and played by herself with the big dogs. That is a big step for a little pup.

Lisabeth is an interesting puppy.  She was the most “mental” of the puppies on first encounter.  She was very cuddy and wanted to nuzzle into Jim.   She was not insecure but exploring him with naive quiet confidence.

Very interesting pup.

Note: This girl has a very small umbilical hernia.  It should disappear as she matures.  In the past, the vet has told me this is nothing to worry about. It is so small that it could have been done when the Mom was cleaning the pup up after it was born.

Jimani, this is the pup that I think is the twin to Cleo.  She has a big wide collar instead of the 2 narrow ones.

We didn’t get a good read on this pup. It was getting late in the evening and the pups were ready to go to bed.

More soon! 

I renamed this pup.  She is a very nice pup. Very friendly. Social.

Her first trip to watch tv went well.  She was a bit uptight for about a minute or so. Then she got into the idea and settled right down to being petted and rubbed on.

Many pups are like this at 5 weeks of age.  Puppies are like kids.  Each one of them has their own development schedule.  This is not just a bold as some of the other pups at this age.  

She is a very colorful pup.     She has two narrow white rings around her neck and a half white ring over her hip.  She has brown on her face and all 4 legs are white.

Today, I was sitting down on the grass as the pup ate their dinner.  Several pups were coming by and getting rubbed and loved.  Summer can right up and sit down in front of me – sort of like “I would like a little attention if you don’t mind”  Not pushy but not timid either.  Sort of polite.

English Shepherds are basically born with manners.  They come and sit and watch. Of course they are still puppies and love to pull on your pant legs.

Every litter has one puppy that has a big smile. Meet Happy. This was Happy’s first time in the house. She is watching tv with my husband. And she is loving it! Very confident pup.

She has lots of white. Big Blaze. Big Collar.

This evening she came in the house and laid on the floor – just watching the other dogs. Inside at the moment, we had a pocket beagle and 2 pugs ( a boy and a girl). Her Mom was laying off by herself in another part of the house. Happy laid quietly around the living room and then after about an hour went back outside with her Mom.

The biggest pup. I haven’t figured out the “ranking” of the litter but this pup is towards the top.

Very easy to see so I can tell that she is  a leader.  The pups are starting to move further away from the house and she is one of the pups that is the bravest.  Very confident but I don’t see her being too bossy.  She gets along well with all the pups.