Sierra Explores

I opened the gate and let Sierra out of the puppy pen.
They are always a little hesitant at first to leave the
security of the world they have known, but curiosity
soon prevailed. She went first to this hole in the yard
where she's seen both Della and Serena dig and eat dirt.
And of course she did the same.

It's harder to entertain one puppy than 12 because they entertain each other so well in a group. Sierra was the only pup here over the weekend so we tried to do some new things for her.

Sierra looking pretty stocky here. She was
always the biggest of the female pups.

Della wasn't convinced that any puppy should leave
the safe confines of the puppy yard so she kept
herding Sierra back towards the gate.

Puppies are easy to tackle but she did it playfully and gently.

Della made up for it by playing with Sierra back in the pen.

Della was so good at the whelping process that we have
assumed she's done this before. That would mean that she's
also been through the separation process before, which
could explain why she's been content to see her pups get
adopted. She may be wondering why this one is still here.

Sierra leading Della in a chase around the puppy pen.

I've been trying to get the puppies to climb this
A-frame. With the help of the ramp Sierra made it to
the top and peaked over, but she turned around and
came back down the same side. I should have brought
Maya in to demonstrate how easy it is.

Sierra's family is home and are excited to be
getting her on Tuesday.

I took Zeus and Maya out for a two mile
walk up at Pleasant Grove on Monday morning.

Zeus walks well on a leash and enjoys getting out.

Maya enjoyed getting out again too.
We'll get back to doing this regularly.

I took some dogs out to the pasture again while I mowed. Max is standing over the prized rubber
chicken that someone stole from the puppies. It has now had its head ripped off.

The other new experience I wanted Sierra to have
was meeting another dog. Serena is fine with the
pups but I had to put Della inside while we did this.

Puppies topple over easily.

I combined the Serena meeting with
something else Della didn't approve of,
taking the puppy out of the pen into the
larger yard around the house.

You can just see the puppy's black legs under Serena. She
was careful not to step on Sierra and showed her around
yard in front of the house.

Both Serena's and Sierra's behavior was entirely
appropriate. Serena would have made a good puppy
sitter, but over-protective Della never allowed it.

Sierra had met Serena through the fence but
this was their first nose to nose encounter.