Not Your Grandma's Antimacassar

Waiting for the kids to get home...

Video of Puppies at 4.5 Weeks

Toy Box

The puppies really like their toys now...the more so because their sharp little teeth are poking through.  They are getting a little "mouthy", so we always keep toys at hand to quickly substitute for our hands so that they do not develop biting habits, even in play.  

They are particularly fond of this little ducky, which unfortunately, has an irrestible attraction for mom as well, who keeps carrying it off for her own enjoyment.  She became tired of repeatedly finding it tossed back into the puppy enclosure and I have found it hidden under cushions and down the back of the sofa.  This morning I found it outside.  (Note to self:  Need more duckies)

The Girls

The Boys

The two boys really like to play with each other...no more roughly than the girls though!

Here they are re-decorating their play area by dragging the blanket off to another corner.

Boy #1:

Boy #2

Rites of Passage

Puppies are getting used to sleeping in a crate (open door) to get them used to eventual crate-training.

Appropriate socialization is critical to a puppy's development.  These puppies live in the breakfast nook at one end of our family kitchen.  While they have their own private space, they are still exposed to the noise and bustle of normal life. They get very excited when the family goes into their enclosure for gentle play.

At the puppies' impressionable young age, we want all of their experiences to be positive. All interactions with people are carefully monitored and controlled so that they leave nothing but good associations.

 

Table for Seven...

The puppies are so big that they can't all be served simultaneouly in the traditional lying-down position, so Mom has started to feed them standing up!


They have graduated from personal one-at-a-time supplemental feeding to the communal bowl...

..but it still gets messy! 

Caught in a rare moment of sitting still

Headshots

The babies have been active today. There have been frequent bouts of wrestling and play-biting, punctuated by angry outburts of little sounds remarkably like barks.