The Bosun Dog Project

09/03/2025

The puppies had their first visitor this past weekend. How adorable are they?

09/01/2025

These little ones are only four weeks old yesterday and they’ve already had little crates in their pen as sleeping options. They started choosing the crates almost as soon as we added them, which is such a huge head start on later crate training.

You may also notice that two of the crates have pads and one does not. This lets them choose if they want to sleep on something soft and fluffy or if they want to sleep on a cooler surface. We give them these options as soon as they’re old enough to deliberately move around their space. 

08/23/2025

Puppies on Day 17. Eyes open and playing. We call this stage Slo-mo. They are super active but everything they do is in slow motion. 🤣

08/19/2025

It’s transition week! Puppies are 2.5 weeks old and A LOT is happening. Their eyes and ears are opening and they are becoming more aware of their environment. They start exploring and playing and become more independent. Their teeth are also coming in and we have started feeding them.

This is also when they become aware of us! We are super careful to introduce ourselves in a positive, cooperative way that gives the puppies choice. Because they can’t see well, I let them know I am there by putting my hand by their nose. They can then choose to interact or not. Just reaching in and touching them can be very startling and would mean their first interactions with us were negative.

Finally we have moved to whelping box configuration 2.0. We added a bumper bed and toys. Took off the “roof” and use it now as a shade cloth to protect their eyes. Really important we added p*e pads to help define the elimination zone. This is critical to our house training plan.

I’ll add photos and videos of all of these changes as we go along!

08/15/2025

Time flies and the puppies are 12 days old! They are all doing great.

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears still closed but they are not helpless. They can crawl, smell, and detect warmth and touch. This makes it easy for them to find their momma and siblings.

We left a bumper bed in the whelping box after weights and snuggles and this is what I found. They all crawled under, probably to protect their still developing eyes. We mostly keep the lights off and half of the whelping box has a cover.

08/08/2025

The babies are 5 days old and everyone is doing great! They are starting to look fat and round which is always a good thing.

We are exited to announce names this weekend. The litter theme is Sea Birds, to tag along with the Sea Creatures litter earlier this summer.

08/05/2025

Bakka and the 7 are sleeping and eating. Here she is in her current digs. She likes to keep them in the tent area, which is also a great way to protect their still developing eyes.

07/31/2025

It looks like we have 7 new Bosun's scheduled to arrive this weekend! So exciting.

07/28/2025

Nutella (Sea creatures litter) is visiting and entertaining her brothers Garnet and Slate (Gemstones litter). They have the same parents, but are about a year apart in age.

Nutella is potential Bosun Dog momma.

07/25/2025

The gorgeous Bakka is looking resplendent as she enters the last week of her pregnancy. She is also looking quite large and I am dying to find our how many puppies she is carrying.

She goes for puppy count x rays on Wednesday. Dogs are pregnant for about 62 days but puppy bones don't begin to calcify until around day 42! X rays around day 55 give a really good view.

07/24/2025

We are ONE week out from Bakka x rays! We go for x rays next Wednesday and then puppy watch starts. She is due on or around August 4th.

07/21/2025

Check us out on the Functional Dog Podcast! Questions welcome!

This week I'm talking to Dr Laura Sharkey, dog trainer turned dog breeder, who runs the Bosun Dog Project. This project produces lovely mixed breed dogs who are bred to fit well into homes as companions. This episode was actually recorded in person with me and Laura in the same room. We started talk...