This week has been very similar to last week, only the puppies are bigger and stronger! They are doing well with eating three times a day and putting themselves to sleep when they are tired (Which is a huge win because puppies typically get themselves wound up, overtired, and can’t settle down and instead get whiny and troublesome).
They standardly eat Breakfast somewhere 6-7am, play, sleep, and then repeat the play/sleep a couple more times before their next meal. Lunch is noon-1, and dinner somewhere between 6-7pm. Though they would love for us to get up through the night to eat and play with them (which we do not) they are doing well, and remain growing rapidly without eating between dinner and breakfast. If the TV is on, several of them like watching TV too. We found out which puppies are 49ers fans when a few started whining and crying when the 49ers fell behind and ultimately lost the Superbowl.
Their world is expanding as they love to be exploring new things and running and playing outside across a large area. A few puppies took a car ride this week, and tried out swimming on a warm day; but they indicated those were adventures they’d rather try later. Staying dry, eating sleeping, playing, climbing, leaping and wrestling is where it’s at for them right now.
Tales from the weaning pens...
The puppies are into climbing right now. I had a play tunnel leading straight from their eating area to their potty area outside. (Typically they go potty within moments of eating, and we always want to encourage them to eliminate in the right spot). They somehow decided they wanted to conquer and take down the tunnel. Maybe they’ve decided they are potty trained enough and they want to grow up. Half of the litter cooperatively and systematically chewed the tunnel tethers, climbed on and flattened the tunnel.
And one of our puppies (which happens to be the puppy we are keeping) taught herself how to climb out of the pen, and was walking through the house like she owns it. She walked over to the bell (that Maya rings when she wants to be let outside) and banged it decisively with her nose. She was totally bewildered when we opened the door to let her out, to begin teaching her what the bell is for. Maya launched herself over the puppy and played goalie, not allowing the puppy to go outside.
We‘ve introduced the puppies to clicker training which is about marking, reinforcing, and shaping desirable behaviors. Our first puppy growled yesterday trying to guard a cherished item he wanted for himself. We will be working with the litter this week training for resistance to food guarding.
All puppies are growing well in all ways. Puppies weigh 9 1/2 - 12 1/2 pounds today at 7 weeks old.
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