Smiling German Shepherds: Four Weeks Old

The puppies are doing great! They are playing for longer periods of time each day. I think that today they ran around and played for about twenty minutes before they slowly tired out and one by one they found a soft place to lay down and then they all napped for an hour or more before any of them started to stir. They have started to carry around their knot toys and continue to wrestle and tousle with each other.

They are also gaining lots of weight, they all weigh between 4.5 lb. and 5.65 lb. I am not longer able to use the small scale we had used since their birth. Fortunately, I have access to a larger scale that will work for the rest of the time they are with me. Weighing them is a bit more complicated now that they walk well and can just hop off the scale so we put them in a small box. It worked great for most of the puppies but one adventurous little girl decided to check out what she could see from inside the box, she was unable to escape this time but I might need to find a bigger box for next week.

We are still giving the puppies warm milk and puppy food twice a day. The puppies now know the sound of the food and milk in the dish and quickly come to have their breakfast and dinner. They have also started to drink water and eat dry food throughout the day. Even with the milk and dry food the puppies still prefer Maddie's milk. Maddie is a fantastic mother and still nurses the puppies about four times a day, although she is starting to prefer to spend a bit more time away from the puppies.

Today was an eventful day for the puppies. We have a several visitors who sat and played with the puppies, they slept for most of the afternoon and early evening. I think they only woke up because it was time for dinner. Although before their dinner they each had their second pedicure, their nails were getting really long again and also had their first dose of wormer.