Texaco's Pups' 10th Week

Going to their Forever homes...

Time flies. During early Alika Cotons socialization--from Weeks 6 through 10--we estimate that each pup was held by about 150 different people in locations all over the southern tier of New York. It's been a blast. I had hoped to put many pictures of these fun times on line here, but as you can imagine, it's been busy around here. And now we've gone through the second veterinary health examination and immunization at 9 weeks old and arrived at the 10th week, it is time for the pups to leave their Alika home for their forever homes.

Before taking a pup to his new home, we at Alika Cotons prepare him a traveling kit that consists of many things: puppy food to tide him over, treats, piddle pads, a bowl, harness, leash, metal engraved name tag, puppy instruction book, Snuggle Puppy (that smells like his littermates and even has a beating heart!) and a special gift from his mom, Texaco. The pup is washed and fluffed and kept separate with us to get him used to being without brothers and sisters around. For the pup, the separation from siblings is the difficult part (separation from mom Texaco really occurred much earlier with weaning).

Pups are not overjoyed when separated from their siblings and prepared for the trip that will define the rest of their lives. They are not especially nervous, mind you, just sad that suddenly they will not be bunking with and playing with their litter mates. They get over this quickly, though, after several days at their new homes. At their new homes they quickly see that they alone will be the focus of tremendous amounts of love and attention. All the dog treats and toys and chews will be theirs alone!

Cooper is shown here at his tenth week, all fluffed up and ready to go to his new home. He's not quite sure why he's being singled out. But just a few hours later, he knows why: he meets his new mom, Mary Belibasakis (and later, his dad, Chris King). We drove him to meet them in their home in New Jersey...