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.

girl - spot on the head
the Kelley's puppy

boy - spot on the head

boy - spot on the shoulder

girl - spot on the shoulder

girl - spot on the back

boy - spot on the back

girl - spot on the bum

girl - spot on the tail
the Engle's puppy

girl - spot on the hip

boy - spot on the bum

girl - spot on the elbow

Maddie and Maurie wanted their pictures taken too!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for today! Maddie and the puppies continue to do well. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog very well this past week. The week before Thanksgiving is the busiest of the year for me at work and after working long days all I really wanted to do was sit on the floor and hold and play with puppies and I totally forgot to take pictures or post to the blog (I am actually turning my computer on now for the first time all week).

We had several visitors throughout the week, as we had family and friends looking in on Maddie and the puppies when we were away from the house for long hours, and the puppies have loved getting the love and attention from everyone who walks in the door. They will play hard for fifteen minutes and then slowly, one by one they will wander back into their room and soon all be sound asleep.

 

They are growing and starting to look and act much more like puppies instead of newborns. They are becoming more active and have started to run and tussle with each other. For the first time today they have started picking up and playing with their rope toys. They are also teething and starting to chew on our pant and shoes when they have the chance.

 

 

Twenty Days Old

 Today the puppies drank milk from a large dish on the floor for the first time. We decided it was time to transition them from supplemental formula to goat's milk (the goat milk is more gentle on their digestive systems than cow's milk). The puppies seemed to really enjoy the taste of the goat milk and quickly figured out how to drink from the dish. 

 I also put a little bit of puppy food in with the milk. The puppies didn't eat much of the food, they mostly pushed it around to get to the milk but were able to get a little taste of the food. After the puppies had their fill Maddie was more than willing to finish the milk and the soggy food.

 The puppies did a pretty good job of keeping their feet out of the dish today but most of them still ended up covered in milk.

After the finished eating they played for bit, there was some tussling but mostly they were licking the milk off each others heads and feet. And then like most babies the curled up and took a nice long nap!

Eighteen Days Old

Playing is hard work!

The puppies are starting to become much more active. They are gaining more stability when they walk and are starting to explore a bit more. It is fun to watch them learn about their environment but we discovered a minor flaw in my puppy-proofing. I have been using an old crib rail as a gate to separate the puppies' space from the rest of the basement and it has been working great, until today. I guess I didn't take into account how small the puppies would be when they learned to walk, they have simply figured out how to simply walk between the rails to get to the other side. They didn't go much farther than just a few steps on the carpet but I now need to find something else to keep them safely on their side.



Our little explorers

In addition to walking better and exploring the puppies have started playing with each other. For the first time today I saw them "nibbling" on each others noses and ears. I have given them a few puppy toys but they haven't quite figured out what to do with them yet.

 

Miley is also loving having puppies in the house again. She just can't get enough of them! Maddie still doesn't like the girls to be in the pen with the puppies but Miley loves to just sit on the other side of the gate and watch and smell and lick the puppies. She was delighted today when the puppies wandered through the gate and tried to play with her. Maurie is also curious about the puppies and likes to check on the puppies but she quickly gets bored with them at this age.