Puppy Milestones!

I am ALWAYS amazed at how quickly the time goes with growing puppies. They change so much so fast it's hard to keep up! This week we all grew tremendously but are closing the gap at the same time. Little Cranberry is catching up, Gravy is still the biggest and he is such a sweet boy! Everyone else is filling in the middle. I could not be more pleased with the curve in the graph that tracks their weights. It is perfectly perfect, just like they all are to me! Yam, Bean and Turkey are all so close in size, Cider and Pecan are only a little bigger than Cranberry now. Pumpkin and Biscuit are so close if they didn't have their marker ribbons on I would have check their undercarriage to tell them apart.

I use a program called Breedera that charts their growth as well as keeps track of other details for me all in one place! As the puppies mature, they take up more of my time to socialize, train, expose to new sounds and surfaces, feed, clean, hug, receive kisses and so much more. I appreciate the organization that programs like this can provide for me!

Potty training is coming along quite nicely and for that I am always thankful! They are almost 100% using the tray for poo which is fantastic at only 4 weeks of age! They still miss the potty part some but it will come along. And that is far less mess for me! We have graduated to the big kid boxes and they took the transition perfectly in stride. Not only do they use the box/tray for it's intended use but it turns out it makes a great pillow......They say puppies don't like to sleep where they eliminate and then they do this! Go figure, this puppy is Turkey! His name is proving to fit him perfectly as he is developing his personality.

We had our first full blown baths and they all were so calm and relaxed. Made my job a piece of cake!! I had given the little "spit" baths just to clean up accidents but this was the first full body bath with soap. We start slow, like with everything. Just let them sniff and listen to water exiting the faucet, then lightly getting wet. The shampoo part just means they get a good rub and then an easy rinse. After all that, a fantastic hug and cuddle in the towel to dry off! It was a perfect experience and they all were so great!

We created a separate play area outside the whelping pen. Still indoors but not heated to 70 degrees like the whelping room. This is also good exposure for them! This area contains a potty box (of course) several other toys to challenge them, the wobble board and slide are sometimes scary at first but these guys did not blink for a second! SO MUCH CONFIDENCE! Exactly what we are hoping to achieve. Puppies empowered by their own confidence to explore new things. These are the building blocks to build great dogs out of exceptional puppies. When they go home to an entirely new environment with strangers this foundation is their base. We will continue to use this area to introduce more new surfaces, sounds, people, and toys.

Their little voices are coming through large and in charge! Just loved this one of Cranberry.....she had a story to tell me!!

I am still supplement feeding Cranberry but she doesn't really need it anymore. It's more for me cause I love her snuggle time with me. People always ask me if it's hard for me to let the go home. Normally, not really because I go into it with the goal being to set them up for success with a forever family. But this little one is crawling into my heart for sure. I am going to guess that those of you that have been following her progress will not disagree!

All the puppies are taking to eating gruel beautifully! We take the puppy kibble, grind it into powder in the blender then add water and little powdered goats milk. They lap it up like champs! We have started leaving a few whole pieces of kibble in the slurry, eventually we won't use the ground up version but will soften whole pieces of kibble. They also get a scoop of NuVet immune supplement, and a pre/probiotic. They are still pretty messy but that is why the towels are there! That is all we will feed them for the next 4 weeks. When we start "training" with food, we will only use their kibble as a treat. This all helps keeps their digestion on track and prevents the dreaded diarrhea! Nine puppies with upset tummies is not my idea of a fun time!

Just a few more pics to show off how cute we all are!!!!