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Week 5 - 30th November
Toilet training has been the main event of this week and we were surprised how well they all have taken to it. As soon as the puppies wake up from a sleep, which they still do a lot of, we place them on the Training mats and each time, without fail, they will go to the toilet. There are of course many accidents, especially if they venture too far away from the mat, but on the whole they are all doing very well.
Some of them are actually making the short trip to the mat themselves where as others have far to much playing to do, to even consider taking a toilet break. Update: tonight all five ventured over to the mat themselves!! Looks like it is possible to teach them from an early age after all, contrary to what we had been told and read about, you just need to be able to spend a lot of time with them.
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They are starting to venture out of the room that has been there home from the past four and a half weeks, and the kitchen is now 'the place to be seen' - plenty of room to stretch their little legs but also plenty of things to bump into. We have seen several times puppies headbutting our shiny kitchen table legs, when they see their own reflections, expect they are tryng to pick a play fight with themselves. A quick break to regain their composure before they are off again in search of the next obstacle to bang their head against.
The only thing now separating the puppies from the full run of our house is a child gate which we have securely placed on the kichen door. The gaps are not yet quite small enough to contain the little pups at the moment though and we have had some escapees through the bars. It's great they are confident enough to explore but we have to make sure that we keep an eye on them as cleaning puddles on carpets is not the best way to spend an evening.
We're starting to recognise the squeeky barks of each pup now and Little Pop and Jasper are the liveliest of the litter they're the ones who seem to be the first to wake and the last to sleep. Playing looks to be great fun but it dosen't last very long. Ten minutes play is all they seem to able to manage at the moment and after that they retire to their bed/blankets, cuddle up together and all fall off to sleep once again. What a wonderful little life they have!
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Poppy is starting to show signs of getting a little fed up of the whole process now. Every opportunity she gets she will slip away and come and sit with us. She is still a very caring mother though, no doubt, and trips outside in the garden are still very short as she still worries about them if she is away for too long. She is wondering why she can't go for walks and is getting a little fed up of simply going in to the garden. The vet advised us against take her out in case she brought something back and passed it on to the puppies. They have not been vaccinated against anything properly yet and the little protection they will have received from their mothers milk does not give them adequate enough protection against many common canine diseases.
As the puppies are getting larger it is quite an ordeal for her to have them all feeding at once and it can be quite a feeding frenzy when they're all fighting for the best position at dinner time. Otis and Melody are the largest at the moment and usually find the best place to be, if we aren't there to manage things that is. If we are then Little Pop and Jasper are guided to nipples that look the fullest as they are the smallest puppies. We have also started to give a little complmentary goats milk between feeds which is easy for the puppies to digest.
We have noticed the teeth have actually come through now which we first noticed while little pop was chewing our fingers. The teeth are probably another factor when it comes to Poppy feeling a little wary when it come to feeding them. If anything this is making us feel a little less concearned about how she will feel when the puppies do finally leave. She may well be happy to have her old life back - the only difference to that being that she will be spoilt a lot more than she was before, for what she has been through over the past few weeks.
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There is a lot of scampering around at the moment and anything in sight of the puppies leads to a little puppy investigation, the curiosity of these little fellas is quite intoxicating to watch. When they came across Poppy's water bowl, not knowing what it was they simply stuck their noses in to the water then proceeded to sneeze as the water went straight up their nose. Another new experience, one of many to come. As I type this I have little Lola staring at me through the child gate - her head is too large to fit through the bars, unlike Jasper and Little Pop so she is staying were she is for the time being.
As well as the rubber toys we introduced to help with the teething we have also given the puppies some soft toys to play with, we are conscious of being able to stimulate the puppies as much as we can. As they grow, and sleep less,we will need to try a little harder to keep them occupied. Food will help this process and strategically placed dog biscuits or puppy milk will have the puppies working for rewards. Giving toys also avoids the chance that your puppies will start chewing your shoes, carpets or furniture, it's all about keeping them occupied and happy. A bored puppy is a mischievous puppy.
The days are starting to pass faster now and we can't believe we have already reached five weeks. So far so good, three weeks and three reports to go. >>> week 6