Six week update

The pups are now six weeks old already! Hard to believe that in less than a month they will be heading off to their new homes. They are growing well and they have TEETH!! Galena's are more advanced than Malachite Teddy's - she has all her canines and both top and bottom incisors are starting to poke through. Teddy just has his canines showing. Teething means they want to chew, chew, CHEW! We have several chew toys in their playpen and so far we have generally been letting them gnaw on our hands, seeing as the teeth weren't really out yet, but now that the teeth are showing and sharp we will start to work on bite inhibition.

About a week ago we took them outside (when we had some decent weather in this pretty cool, damp and miserable excuse of a spring...!). They were quite happy to explore the big wide world, running around in the grass and romping with Mama and kids up and down the back lane. 

They also experienced their first bath last week. My daughter (chief dog-washer of the family) said they didn't mind the water at all, and Teddy especially liked playing and splashing around in it.

Now that they have the beginnings of teeth, they are starting to eat more solid food. I take the puppy chow and soak it in hot water, then mush it up and add some goat's milk and/or yogurt, egg yolk, a bit of oil, and possibly some cooked sweet potato. That gets mushed all together and put in big batches in the fridge. When it's feeding time, we take some out, warm it up, mix in a few bits of solid kibble, and voila! Supper. As their teeth grow the need for the mush diminishes as they are more able to chew the solid bits. They still love to nurse whenever they can, but Mama isn't so pleased about it any more, especially with Galena who has more and sharper teeth!

The kids hauled out the play-time doll carriage a day or two back and rolled the puppies around in it. They sat for the most part, though tried to jump out a couple of times. By the time they go home, these pups are going to be used to all sorts of different  experiences and adventures!!