Monday, January 11, 2010

In Leaps and Bounds

For ease of describing the puppies from here on out, I'll be referring to them by their litter names, much easier than black boy #1 etc. That gets cumbersome.

Billy (black boy #1)





Boston (black boy #2)




Matthew (blue boy)




Chatterbox (black female....who I obviously need to get better pics of, this kid is a going concern and never sits still...even dreaming of going outside in the pouring rain)




Fiesty (blue female #1)




Angel (blue female #2)


I have been amazed since day one how fast these kids grow and develop. It truly is in leaps and bounds from one day to the next. It seems that one day they're little mewling vulnerable little souls in the whelping box, the next fuzzy bouncing, growling, barking, running puppies.

Some of the changes of late that I've been noticing is how they discover their world. Late last week I started opening their pen up when the big dogs went outside and I went in to clean up the mess in the puppy pen. Luckily, I think I'm having it easy, Impulse still cleans up the majority of the mess (she does like poo...I knew there would be some aspects of this job she'd like) and generally all I have to do is change wet papers and dirty towels a couple times a day.

The first day out Boston charged out into the kitchen, the stopped, surveyed and stuck pretty close to my pant leg. He was quickly followed by Matthew and Fiesty. The other three finally decided the great world outside the pen was okay too. They didn't venture very far from their pen that day. The next day, all six tumbled from the pen and explored the rest of the kitchen. From there it was the front entrance to the living room. Today, they conquered the hallway. Chatterbox even ventured all the way to the end of the hall and into the bedroom by herself. It's neat to see how they learn one day and apply the next. Yesterday they tried out the beginning of the hall, but stuck to the living room/front entrance to play. Today there was zero hesitation in going down the hall as they'd already learned it was safe yesterday. And there ends their freedom in the house.

Another recent and constantly progressing change is play. They started with simply playing with each other over the xmas holidays. I loved waking up and looking over the side of the bed to watch rudimentary puppy play. This was a bit difficult as they were just starting to stand and pretty unsteady on their feet. It started with chewing on each other's muzzles, then once they were up and walking, running into each other and pushing the other puppies over. This moved to pouncing and growling. Now it is full fledged wrestling and tussling, with a few arguments starting to arise. They are also realizing there is more to play with than just each other. Late last week the puppies started to notice their toys as more than obstacles to walk over. They started chewing on plastic nubs, sleeping on soft teddy bears, shaking wubbas. By the weekend they were stealing the big dog's toys (the wubba specifically which is double their size) and dragging them into their puppy pen. Then started the creation of toys. The paper, the blankets, pant legs, shoes, they are finding anything they come across can be a toy. Today I really notice they are purposely seeking out objects to play with, testing various objects to see if they're fun. Fiesty noticed a piece of paper on the floor, stepped on it, slid, sniffed it and realized it wouldn't be fun. Then she found the bag that all the new toys came in. MUCH more fun. It rustled and crinkled and I said NO, which made it that much more desirable. Puppies are also starting to play with me more. They love nothing more than when I push them away so they can rush back at me. They love the "hand of death" as I grab their faces and play with their feet on the floor. They are just starting to put together playing with me with a toy. I'm sure that will be the new development in the next couple days.

Another, fun(?) development is that they are starting to get on a schedule. They know that in the morning when the big dogs get up (who attack me when the alarm goes off...everyone's pretty scheduled in this house) and go outside, it is time for puppies to be fed. As in NOW. I have six puppies at the doorway to their pen screaming, barking, howling, sure that they are dying of hunger RIGHT NOW. They also need their morning attention. Often the noise level quiets down after each puppy is picked up individually and snuggled. They all look forward to this short time and then dive into their food. They have progressed in food from one meal of pureed kibble with goat's milk to two meals and quickly to today when they started three meals of kibble soaked in water and mashed. They know that at lunch it's a quick out and socialize and play and back in the pen in 10 minutes or so. They usually come out and play and easily go back in and eat their lunch and crash. In the evening is when they wake up. The big dogs go outside and the puppies are let out. They are up for a good hour playing and wrestling and this is when they are most active. This is my favourite time of the day with them. Watching how everyone is doing, how they've changed from the day before. After that they go back in their pen and have dinner and then everyone settles until the big dogs go out after their dinner. Out again for a few minutes until puppies start to crash around the living room them back in the pen for the night. So far, this is working well, though I'm not getting much done around the house.

Impulse decided tonight that maybe her puppies are fun after all. She and Chatterbox had a couple little play sessions in the kitchen with Chatter chasing after her when she left to continue with the fun! This was a fun new interaction with Impulse and the puppies, and I look forward to seeing how she changes her parent role with them from "milk bar" to "teacher".

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