Our puppies

Lisa Trimmel (Animal keeper)

12.08.2022

In 2020 I came to the WSC as an intern and fell in love with the work, the team and the animals. This year I had the opportunity to come back and help as a hand-raiser of the puppies.

In April I started my first day at work. At this time Kovu and Youma, the first two puppies, had already moved into the puppy house. They were initially the only puppies which came to the WSC because getting puppies is hard. But now we have 8 little fellows scurrying around. There is always a lot of playing, barking, eating and of course sleeping. It's fantastic to see how the little clumsy babies are getting bigger and bigger and develop into handsome young dogs. Kovu was our naughtiest little man. Some shoes fell victim to him, and everyone now has some holes in their clothes. But he never meant it badly, he just couldn't always slow himself down. Kovu means good heart and he has that too. Whenever you stroke him, he "falls over" so that you have to scratch his belly. His sister Youma, on the other hand, is a real lap dog. So whenever you sat down with her on the floor, she immediately came to cuddle you. She still likes to do that today, although she has already grown far too big for it.

In the following weeks, 6 more puppies made it to us: Kiano, Inaya, Vitani, Taio, Moya and Sarabi. Kiano is a very laid-back little guy, and so he started playing with the significantly larger and heavier Kovu right away. It seems that not much can faze him. As calm as he is in character, he is less so when it comes to vocalizations. If you hear someone barking, it's usually Kiano. Inaya is our Tea Cup Goldie. She looks very similar to a golden retriever, but in contrast to her siblings she is much smaller. Nevertheless, she is a sunshine with a lot of energy and always has to run around happily on walks. Vitani is our hunter and no flying insect is safe from her. You neither, if you are in the way or if the fly settles on you. Taio and Moya are vivacious and often cheeky. Moya is great at whining when she doesn't get her food fast enough and has to wait. Waiting is also quite difficult for small babies. Sarabi is a little more relaxed than her siblings and loves to lie in a wooden box in the enclosure. She fits in so perfectly that I sometimes had to look for her and she was in the box right in front of my eyes.

For the first 4-5 months the trainers are with the puppies all the time. So also at night. You quickly learn not to leave the pillow unattended for long, otherwise the little ones will occupy it immediately. Likewise, I always slept with a hood to protect my hair and face from nightly bite attacks. You can quickly start training the little ones. We start with sit and down, but you need to be patience with lively puppies. But hard to believe, they can learn this within a few days. It's great to see every training progress and how the puppies develop from day to day.