Maya tried to go on nearly a full feeding strike when the puppies cut teeth last week. She had offered to nurse standing up, but the puppies were not big enough nor had advanced their development enough to nurse while balancing on their hind feet. Necessity sure is a motivator! Maya learned that she really needs to feed those babies somehow to relieve the milk pressure, and the puppies learned to nurse standing up within half a week. Those in between days were pretty crazy but somehow it all worked with a whole lot of time and creativity.
Gruel:
Goat’s milk is what the puppies have been supplemented with all along. I had intended to feed puppies goats milk for a few days before offering gruel. However when a couple of puppies walked over to Maya’s food station and tried to eat dry kibble straight from her dish, I realized their mouths and stomachs were developing faster than their limbs. Gruel was offered on day 2 of Maya’s semi strike, and the puppies just went crazy over it. They consumed pretty much everything in the dishes. It was in their bellies and all over their fur. It’s kind of like a sticky paste. Those that couldn’t lick it from the bowl licked it off of each other’s fur. All puppies were also fed milk, either from Maya or the goats milk.
First baths:
The gruel was so messy it necessitated baths. So busy washing 13 puppies and trying to dry and keep them warm, I missed getting pictures. *Sigh*😔
Teething:
They have sharp teeth all over in their mouths. They bite each other all day long, play fighting and sparring. Within a week their teeth will likely be long enough to get through their fur pelts and actually hit skin. That’s when and where they’ll learn how to play nice and bite softer during play.
Potty Training:
We started potty training and it’s a very messy endeavor the first few days before they realize what the potty area is for. Their pen is small in order to train them to use this potty area. Puppies are taken out of their pen to spend time with us, the other family dogs, and to walk & explore more.
At four weeks old the puppies are doing awesome with potty training, with about 95% of the time hitting the litter box When they are in the pen.
We hope to expand the pen bigger but only as they maintain doing well with potty training.
Room to play: With the weather too cold, rainy and windy to be outside, we made a play area just outside their pen. It’s turning into a little puppy gym with balance, proprioception & edge training equipment.
Explorers:
At four weeks these puppies have officially hit the super cute phase and act in all ways quintessentially puppy. They are round, tubby fur balls that walk, climb, play, and explore. They are relatively fearless and full of adventure, exploring everything with wide eyed wonder. They have my heart.
Noise Habituation & Desensitization:
As soon as the puppies could hear and they were moved into our living room, they started becoming acclimated to normal life sounds: dishes, dryers, doors shutting, TV, family talking, etc.
Desensitization has begun , in choosing and introducing by measured doses those noises which animals are commonly afraid of: blenders, vacuum, dryers, etc.
The current pandemic has added some unique concerns to socialization and visitation for the puppies and their future families. Animals can get COVID, including dogs and cats. We are being extremely careful about who can visit the puppies, how, and when. These puppies will meet far less people the first 8 weeks than in A non-CoVID situation, but I would rather let each adoptive family decide their own risk/benefit ratio in socialization & exposure weeks 8-16. I’m taking the conservative route and standing on the side of protection. The first visitors to the puppies were our other dogs Gloria and Rex. Puppies now get a daily dose of them, watching, sniffing, licking and interacting with them.
The puppies also met their first human visitors this week. One of our puppies is being purchased by a service dog agency. Service dogs standardly spend two full years in training before they are placed in their working home. This puppy’s future trainer is very conservative with COVID prevention lifestyle (all visitors I choose must be) and got to meet the puppies this week. I desire her to get to know the puppies from very early on so the bond they will forge will be long and strong.
Some of the puppies also got to meet a teenage friend, and my folks. For those people who have been in high isolation because of COVID, the visits have proven beneficial to the humans just as much for the puppies.
Weights:
At four weeks old, all puppies weigh approx 4 1/4 to 5 pounds.
Upcoming adoptive families:
Please review, complete and return your contracts this week. Puppies go home in less than a month!!! Next week I’ll be scheduling appointments for puppy picking week 7 and going home appointments week 8.
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