Here is a glimpse to see how much everyone has grown. Remember the photo of Jinx in her bed where the puppies were born, where you could see 5 tiny white tail tips peeking out from under her fur. This is the same bed today.
It's a bit of a challenge to get 5 active puppies to pose together for a group photo.
If they stretch and put some effort into it, puppies can now reach Mom's raised water dish. The puppies are so proud of themsevles when they eat out of the "big" dog bowl and drink out of the "big" dog water dish.
There are still so many things for puppies to learn. One of the things they are just learning is to wear a collar. Their first collars are soft narrow ribbons. Right now, they wear them for an hour or so at a time a few times a day to start getting them accustomed to having something around their necks. Spash's collar is red and Blaze's is purple.
Over the past couple of weeks we have watched the puppies personalities developing. They are all outgoing, friendly, playful puppies but each one is also uniquely different. Bandit is the most active and energic. Splash is very interactive and eager. Blaze is lively, curious and likes to explore. Panda is sweet, cuddly and gives lots of kisses. Sock
s is playful, gentle and likes to snuggle.
Puppies have a very full socializing schedule with car rides, visits and outings. Some of our very important visitors are children as they play and interact with puppies in a whole different way. Puppies are learning manners and tolerance and love all the cuddles and kisses they receive and give.
This morning, the puppies went for an outing to go visit Cocoa's havanese friend River. All the puppies had a good time exploring and checking out new surroundings. After an hour of playing, they were ready for a very long nap. They snoozed for over 2 hours.
For puppies, playing and exploring is how they learn. Wrestling is a favourite game which helps them learn to control their muscles and strength. So far puppies have mostly been on mats and blankets as they learned to walk. Now that they are much better at walking, running and jumping, they are practicing on different surfaces like tile and hardwood. Those take a bit more control to walk on.
Every week or so, we try to change the puppies bed so they are exposed to many different nap spots. Right now, they have a cube to cuddle in. Its completely closed in so it makes a little cave and has large holes on two sides. Splash thinks the edge is just right for resting his chin when he has a nap.
Puppies are now big enough that they have moved out of the nursery and into the kitchen where they can be right in the middle of things. Their new home is a special puppy pen. This one has a roof as well as a raised floor (to protect them from chilly winter drafts).Puppies have their snuggle sack bed, a play area and toys, a potty area and a water bottle.
