The pups are growing up and becoming little dogs. So many changes this week for them. The biggest change so far is that they started to eat real food. Yesterday was their first meal, ground turkey watered down with goats milk. They loved it! They had enormous tummies when they were done and went instantly to sleep for several hours :). Mom is relieved that she is no longer the only food source and the pups seem very content. When they nurse they look like they are carrying her off somewhere. 11 is a lot of puppies especially when they are doing something all at the same time !!!
Of course along with real food comes real poop sooooooooo the whelping box needed to be put away and the new pen constructed. The kids and I worked at it all day yesterday and though it took several hours we did it. Cleaned and put away the whelping box, laid down more linoleum, plastic gating, metal exercise pens,and of course the potty box. The new pen is nice and spacious but can't be too big at first or the pups won't get the whole sleep here, potty there. Remember they have been going wherever in the whelping box so this new change needs to be coordinated carefully so that they will learn where it's ok to go and where they shouldn't. One thing I do to help them is wait for them to finish eating or wake up from a nap and put them in the potty spot. Most of the time they go and the more they have success the more they will begin to climb in on their own and go. Sure they will make mistakes which requires vigilance and changing of bedding 50 times a day but that's what washer and dryers are for right ? Mine get a major workout whenever we have a litter and are easily my favorite appliance. This is time consuming but worth it. Their future owners will be grateful that they are a breeze to potty train.... everyone wins !!
The pups had an outdoor adventure yesterday and went out to their new pen to investigate. They huddled together at first which is normal for a litter this age, the wide world is scary right now and requires everyone to stick together. The kids and I hung out in the pen with them and loved them up and after a while they relaxed and began to explore a bit. They ate their meal out there and found a quiet corner to crash for a while.
The puppy collars arrived yesterday and so we've done away with the ribbons and outfitted everyone but Taz with their new collars. They look very spiffy now and quite grown up. Taz is too little for his collar but he is unmistakably cute anyway !!! I was home most of the day yesterday to watch them to make sure no one got caught on anything and so far so good.
After their field trip to the outside pen we brought them back inside to check out their new digs and they slept and slept. I think all the changes made them exhausted but by the later afternoon they were up and ready to go. They seem to really like all the new toys, the favorite being the little step stool that Julia donated to the cause. We were trying to find a way to help them climb up more easily into the potty box. Julia insisted that she had outgrown her step stool and since it's washable and sturdy we decided to try it out. They love to hide underneath it and crawl on it and fall off it, very high entertainment value that's for sure !!
Well, better go figure out how Taz escaped the new pen and fix it before all the babies make a break for it and start roaming the house !!
No comments:
Post a Comment