How quickly things change! From a quick outing outside just last week we seem to spend hours out there now! No problem except that we seem to have missed summer completely..... why the cold, damp and windy weather? Not that the pups mind.
Toilet training is going well, taking the pups out as soon as they wake in the morning, and after every feed. It just came naturally to them and they are pretty much using the paper in their toilet area when inside too. Thankfully they sleep in the crate from about 11pm til 6.30 to 7am, using their newspaper covered toilet area. I say pretty much..... if we should stay in bed an extra few minutes we are rewarded with armageddon! Nobody needs that first thing, not before a coffee!
Anyhow, what goes in must come out. I used to mix the puppy food with welpi at the start, and then I was grinding the kibble with hot water, waiting for it to cool and absorb the water when I found a little pup happily eating the adult dogs dry food! Did I need to be trying so hard? No of course not, so now the pups are fed four meals of puppy kibble, moistened with water and even some dried kibble to finish. No problems at all! Those little teeth are enjoying chewing the food, and anything else they can find. We have learned to wear shoes at all times as they are partial to toes!
Bella does still feed them several times a day, but it looks so uncomfortable now as she stands up and they literally hang, pushing each other aside. Not my idea of fun!
They all chase Bella round whenever they see her and she has to keep her wits about her to avoid constantly nursing. They are all drinking water from a bowl and eating well so they don't really need her milk so much anymore. I will weigh them again tomorrow as they turn 6 weeks but I know they are all little heavyweights now. Only one dainty girl, Turquoise collar, is able to squeeze through the bars of the play pen now and she turns up at odd moments looking for us or Bella, she doesn't mind which!
We have introduced a play pen into our kitchen and put cardboard boxes and clean plastic milk cartons in to play with and chew, as well as the teething rings and balls. The very best toys are the puppies themselves of course, they are so amusing to watch as they wrestle and pounce and chew each others tails, ears, legs etc. The little growls and squeals can get quite noisy. They watch and respond to every movement we make and only sleep for shorter periods of time.
Each pup has its own personality now and love cuddles and attention and our family gives them lots of both. We have lots of visitors coming to see the pups and friends and neighbours pop in too.
I have lots of pics of the puppies playing outside and will put them up later. We seem to fit our lives in around puppy feeds, visits from prospective families, work etc. I'm off to our allotment now or we'll have no crops to harvest come the autumn. Just off to find a coat now. Summer, what summer?
