My, what a difference a week
makes! These pups are now MOBILE!!
They are walking, running,
pouncing – in a very toddlerish way, but still, they are doing it! While they
are still spending the majority of time sleeping and eating, we are seeing more
and more short and intense bouts of playfulness. These tend to occur after
waking up from naps and after eating. One puppy will lunge towards another, who
jumps at the first and then they tussle. They mouth-tussle, locking jaws and
wrestling. They make short stampedes across the playroom floor. Then – collapse
in a heap and nap some more.
We have begun feeding them
too. This is not yet weaning, but simply supplementing Mama MoMo’s milk as they
are growing so fast. For the past week they have been getting a mixture of
goat’s milk, baby oatmeal, plain yogurt, egg yolks and oil. Now we are adding
mushed puppy kibble, tinned dog food and a bit of pumpkin to that. Soon they
will start to get teeth (in fact we can feel the beginnings of teeth in a couple of mouths), at which point we will be able to reduce the amount of
liquids and soft food and stop mushing up the kibble so much.
Over the long weekend we will begin
to introduce them to the rest of the house and also to the out of doors. We
have already had them outside on our porch and let them feel the tickle of
grass. They will soon be ready to start taking very short walks with us or
going to the nearby field and playing in the grass there. That is one of the
benefits of spring puppies – it’s so easy to take them out of doors when they
are still fairly young. As for the rest of the house, they have ventured beyond
their puppy corner once or twice when we’ve left the gate open.
Three days ago, when red girl
wandered out, 5-month-old Scarlett sure wanted to play with her!
But little red girl was rather intimidated and didn’t yet understand this
behaviour, so she just crawled under the cupboard to hide. I rescued her and
put her back in her safe area. Yesterday evening, on the other hand, we had the two big pups and Phoenix together with the little pups and they were all playing quite well together, with the little pups pouncing right back at the bigger ones - and promptly getting knocked over by a lick or a nudge! The more they venture forth and interact with
the other dogs, the more they will learn.
For now, we are enjoying
watching them tussle and romp in their little indoor space. We hear their tiny
barks and squeaks and laugh when they tumble and slide. It’s so cute to see
them!
As of now, if anyone is
interested in meeting the pups we will be welcoming visitors (who have
submitted application forms and are seriously interested in taking one). It is still early to get a sense of the pups’
personalities, but this will come through more strongly as time goes on.
Black boy
Cream boy
(mmm - tasty toes!)
Apricot girl
Red girl
Red boy
Kids having fun!
And - just because it's pretty
No comments:
Post a Comment