This week has been a breakthrough week for the puppies. The puppies are crawling, climbing, rolling over, scratching, and some are beginning to clean themselves. Eyes have fully opened, but they still do not see very well. Being able to see somehow coincides with licking each other and chewing on one another's faces; it's often how they like to greet each other. ENS wrapped up. It's always fun to compare how the puppies react to ENS at the beginning compared to the end. Usually there are some positions at the beginning that send the puppies into tension and protests; yet by the end, they are widely relaxed throughout most of the exercises and they learn to go with the flow. That's what I love to see: puppies that learn to respond to stress with a relatively peaceful assurance and confidence. That is one thing we are aiming to train in their foundations. ESI is finished also. Two smells the puppies really loved this week were plumeria and the scent of a tennis ball.
Their ear canals are opening and hearing has gone live. You can tell because all of the sudden, noises I make in the room stir and awaken the puppies, or cause them to direct their attention to the sound. Or something they hear causes them to jump or cry out if it's a loud or scary sound. And they use their voices soooo much more loudly now also. It's at these beginnings of hearing that we are also informing their ears, their audio experiences, with selected sounds and experiences. We are working on noise habituation (what is normal in life) and noise desensitization (those scary noises are not real safety threats), again training their foundations.
Another advancement is the ability to pee and poo on their own, without needing the stimulation of Mom. Whereas this is a very good thing in their development, it is a very gross thing in reality, because the puppies have full function, but almost no control. As you can imagine, it's a very messy, particularly stinky time. The dogs do not appear to be offended by these smells or messes. It's right at this stage, right at the beginning of pottying that they are introduced to a potty area and placed there after eating (and any time I see a puppy begin squatting). We are teaching them that there is a preferred place where all of that goes, and it's not all over the place! These are important foundations for potty training and crate training when they go home.
All of the puppies are teething, as in breaking about 8+ teeth through their gums all at the same time. This has a profound affect on their moms while they are nursing, because sometimes they decide she is a great teething toy. This does not go over well with Mom. So Maya and Gloria are both preferring to feed their puppies in a standing position and offer less frequent and shorter feeding sessions. The puppies are forced to be very efficient in nursing and are disabled from using Mom as a pacifier. As Moms spend less time in the box, the littermates and we humans become more important in their socialization. When I pick them up, they stare at me with their little wrinkled faces, and if I hold them close to my face, they often will either lick or suck my cheek or nose. I consider these puppy kisses and they are very welcome by me. They are so cute and lovable. Thankfully their teeth are not long enough to bite me, but that will be coming in a couple of weeks. It's time for some teething toys for them.
All puppies are continuing to grow well. With Maya having 13 puppies in her litter, and Gloria 9, Maya has a significantly greater demand on her milk supply. I've hand supplemented the smaller puppies from the beginning, bottle feeding them with goat's milk. In the past few days, the supplemented ones were also introduced to gruel which is milk mixed with ground kibble. They devour it. Probably in the coming week, with all puppies having teeth now, both litters will be introduced to gruel and their food repertoire will grow, and the demand on the mamas will be lessened.
Weights this week at 3 weeks old:
Maya's litter: 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 pounds
Gloria's litter: 3 - 4 1/2 pounds (these pups are chunkers!)
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