Puppy Update!

These guys are developing so well! As you can see in the above video they are starting to play and interact with each other. This play helps them develop physically and mentally (and is just really stinking cute!). The pups have also started on dog food in the last couple days in addition to Cime's milk. They are still nursing as their main source of food but over the next several weeks Cime will reduce the time she allows them to nurse as other food becomes the backbone of their diets. By the time they go to their forever homes at 8 weeks old they will be completely weaned onto puppy food (this litter is weaning on to a Fromm puppy chow).

The litter box has also been introduced to the pups in the last few days as the pups have become mobile enough to use it. Cime still does a great job of keeping everyone clean, but the pups are starting to potty without her help and we are working on getting everyone to use the litter box. Not only does litter box training help keep all the pups clean it also helps them potty train at their forever homes. They are familiar with the concept that there are appropriate and inappropriate places to relieve themselves and that makes it easier to have them not potty in the house, car, kennel, etc in the future.

We are also doing several socialization exercises with the pups at this point. They finished their ENS exercises about a week ago but that doesn't mean that the learning is done. Everyday we introduce a 'novel' experience to the pups. This can be a new toy, being carried around to new parts of the house, and hearing a new sound. We also use a startle recovery training technique that helps the pups learn to recover from a 'shock' in the future (think seeing something scary or the noise of fireworks). The pups don't even realize that they are learning so much since mostly they are just drinking in love and getting cuddles. And we get to enjoy the cuddles too!