the pups of our D-litter...

...are doing well, some owners e-mail or call regular, others once in a while.
I received some lovely photos from Dao (Xin-Feng's Dao) and his aunt Ginger (Xin-Feng's Charming Ginger) by e-mail, here a nice one:

Smooth Demi (Xin-Feng's Demeter) was enjoying the cold weather before Chrismas:

And rough Demi (Xin-Feng's Draupadi) stil likes to sleep with her stuffed crocodile (Gladdich amputated the tail of the stuffed crocodile that stayed here):

Winter in Lelystad and catching up

It has been freezing for some days and the trees are white with the frost.
The pampagrass and conifers look great too covered in frost.
Gladdich would like to spend all day outside in the garden, he loves the cold and dry weather. But he likes company too and the other family members prefer to be inside. Chimay has not yet regrown her fur (the old hair is nearly gone, but the new coat is not completely grown back yet), so her fur coat is not as warm as Gladdichs.
Gladdich had some trouble with his right knee. We don't think it is a ruptured ACL (yet), but he was limping earlier this month when the weather was very wet. We try to make his muscles stronger and take him for a leashed long walk every other day. It seems to help because the limping is getting less. We have had enough ACL surgeries for the rest of our life with Nemo and Pandora a few years back!

Life has changed with Frank having a job. Yesterday evening I was thinking how much more he does and can do, a world of difference in comparison with a year ago!
Wednesday evening he went to work the night, had a few hours sleep there and slept 3 hours back home. Then we went to Naaldwijk (nearly two hours dive with a lot of traffic) to see the psychiatrist and from there we went to my parents. And yesterday (Friday) Frank went to Rotterdam by train to visit his father, did some shopping and went to café Haagse Bluf to spend the evening with some friends, took the last train back to Lelystad and was home at 2:00, tired, but not exhausted.
This would not have been possible a year ago, the trip to Naaldwijk and my parents would have been so exhausting, he would need a week to recuperate. It is unbelievable two times a day half a Ritalin makes so much difference...

I am getting used being without Frank two nights a week. It is a tremendous help that I have some people here who I can call if needed. Not that I needed to call someone, but knowing thay are available gives me peace of mind.

puppy time is over

The last pup left Friday, our home is quiet again.
Chimay and Gladdich were a bit down when Demi (Xin-Feng's Draupadi) left, but not for long. They have been playing a lot together the last days.
It is good to sleep in bed again instead of on the couch in the livingroom!

We heard back from all pups, all are doing well.

Demi (Xin-Feng's Demeter) has a great time with all the Shiba Inu's, we get regulair mail and photos, she loves to sleep with Daddy on the couch:

Desna (Xin-Feng's Desdemona) gave her Mom and Dad a hard time the first nights, but is behaving much better now.

No photos yet from Bobbie (Xin-Feng's Don Leo) and Dante (Xin-Feng's Dante).

Dao (Xin-Feng's Dao) lives with his aunt Ginger (Xin-Feng's Charming Ginger), here they are together in the kitchen.

And Demi (Xin-Feng's Draupadi) is with her family, like she was here, a joy to have around.

Gladdich the great

Gladdich is doing great with the pups. But he is a show-off, so when other people are watching he tends to be a bit more rough with the pups, so he is not allowed to play with the pups when we have visitors. But otherwise he is doing really great.

Here a video of Gladdich playing with Demi (Xin-Feng's Draupadi:


Meanwhile four pups have left, two rough girls still here. That is a lot less work as six, both for Chimay and us ;-)
Frank worked his first night and it went well. I survived the night alone very well too.

Gladdich does well with the pups and he does well working for me too. In the past weeks I had two panick attacks, while walking Chimay and Gladdich. Both times Gladdich calmed me down fairly quickly and Chimay did her job: she led me home.

the pups 7 weeks

Today I took the last photos of the pups on Franks lap. Next week the first pups are going to their new homes, the last one goes in two weeks time.

I also made a video of them all:


This litter was very early housebroken: at four weeks!
Two males did their last pee on the paper when they were four weeks and two days and two days later I removed the papers from to puppy-pen because they were useless.

But housebroken means we have to carry six pups from puppy-pen in the livingroom to bigger puppy-pen in the garden (and back), day and night... So we are happy the first ones will be leaving soon.

Frank has a job!

Franks health has greatly improved since he started taking Ritalin. In Rotterdam he used to lay in bed for 12 or even 13 hours a day. Now he sleeps about 9 hours and has more energy in the hours he is awake.
He applied for a job as night-guard at a home for young adults with disabilities in the autistic spectrum.

Today he started in his new job.
No "real" work the first two weeks, but meetings, introduction and instructions. The 17th his first nightshift. It feels a bit weird: after nearly 15 years Frank is working again, it will take some time to get used to it!