Becoming DOGS!
- royalgoldens801
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
Puppies are no longer little potato lumps. They look and act like REAL dogs! They have gone from scooting and being drunken sailors to actually walking and playing. They can get on the potty tray, into the beds, in and out of a crate, play with each other and EAT! Nursing from Mom is still a priority and is important for their health and hers. Now that supplemental food is available their growth goes crazy. Mom will slowly but surely taper off her feedings and the humans with food become more important. When we bring food we always use our "Puppy, puppy, puppy" recall to begin the ingraining of coming to the humans when called. Much of this ground work training is subliminal but they are forever imprinting all these experiences into their little brains. This evolution from neonate to toddler is fascinating, rewarding and forever blows my mind how quickly it all evolves!
We started the feeding process by just learning to lick, only water at first. Then very watery gruel with kibble that is ground up in the blender. It is made thicker every time until we start adding pieces of whole kibble to the gruel. Eventually it will only be water softened kibble. Everything they learn and do is introduced slow and steady.
With all this new food, as you can imagine, they have real poop and we are so thankful we already started the potty pads. Now they have actual potty trays with a wire grate over the top so the poop falls through they don't step in it! By adding the potty trays, we had to make the box a little bigger so there is room for Mom to visit. She stands up to feed them by choice now and it's much more of a utility feed than the loving comfort she used to offer. For one thing, they have teeth! The other is they are too big to line up single file. By standing they can get to her from each side so it's much more efficient and takes less time. The potty trays are quite efficient too! They are hitting them about 90% of the time so our clean up is much easier!
We still need to keep their space super small, this is the key to potty training. Even when the puppies get home, you can't give them too much space until they 100% have this figured out. "Never give them an opportunity to make a bad choice". Sure wish I had been aware of that philosophy when I was raising kids! If all they have is a space to sleep and then potty, there is FAR less room for error!
There have been some new exposure experiences this week. 3 week old puppies are still too young to go "outside" to play but the stroller enables us to get out to smell the outdoors and enjoy the feel of sunshine. This also gave them an easy introduction to Auntie Cypress! These strollers are great for us now but will also be useful for the first few weeks when puppies go home. They can't go anywhere other dogs may have travelled since they aren't old enough to be fully vaccinated against parvo. Unfortunately, parvo is a very real concern as it's everywhere, extremely easy to spread and could be deadly to a young puppy. We absolutely do NOT want it so let's just go for stroller walks for the first few weeks after arriving home!!
With their "Living" area now being only big enough for sleep, potty, eat and a visit from Mom we need a place to play! We set up the "playground" with lots of toys, new surface and ways to explore. Puppies are so curious right now that exposing them to sounds, textures and motion is super fun for all! This sets them up to be fearless later when thunder and fireworks enter their world. A rocking dock, uneven ground, learning to ride on a paddle board or boat will be second nature to them as they grow older. Our goal is to have them desentized enough that the 4th of July is fun event and not fearful.
Puppies have met the dreaded vacuum cleaner and we make loud noises by banging on a metal bowl, music playing, and lots of handling. Of course, nail trims are every few days......all things they will have to tolerate the rest of their lives! The very best thing that happened this weekend is getting have visitors!!!!
My personal favorite is all the "toe beans" and cuteness that abounds around here!!!!!
Makes it hard not to have a permanent smile right now!!!!
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