The puppies are really little dogs now – and soooo cute and fluffy. Each week they have been subjected to weigh ins (just to monitor all doing well), nail clipping, this gets harder as they get more wriggly and want to interact with you, and then today at 5 weeks they start their second course of wormer, boy do they spit and shake their heads after you squirt the nasty medicine into their mouths! Luckily they don’t bear a grudge and are soon back wanting to be picked up and cuddled.
One of the advantages to working from home and having your puppy pen in the study with you, is that for most of my waking day I am close to the pups, it means I can see as soon as they wake up and more importantly, I can spot the body language that indicates they may need to toilet. So yes they pee so much its hard to catch them all outside – plus I cant pick up 4 waking pups simultaneously. But since Sunday all bar one “poo” has been outside, more I guess by my judgement that their wishes, but its a great start for house training.
They all have a great set of teeth now and are munching their way through 4 semi solid meals, and Peli lets them suckle only if they catch her on mass and they have to put up with her standing – she doesn’t make it easy for them. Nature is such a clever thing, naturally the pups are being weaned and Peli’s milk diminishes.
They have met a fair number of visitors – including the neighbours’ 4 year old granddaughter – who is fascinated by them and they with her. As part of their socialisation – every day when I’m out of the office they get the various sound tracks courtesy of the Dog’s Trust website at https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-behaviour-health/sound-therapy-for-pets Not to mention me dropping stuff on the floor or hoovering etc, plus cake mixer, dishwasher and about a hundred online meeting where invariably there is a request to pick up a puppy and show on camera!
(click on the photos to see larger image)
