On day 16 Green boy was especially persistent with his complaining and nothing seemed to please him. I tried offering them some goat milk in a dish but their coordination hadn't quite allowed for them to lap it up yet, so that evening I offered Green boy some baby puppy mousse to eat. He darn near ate my fingers with it. It would appear that he just wasn't able to get food from mama down his gullet fast enough to please him. Blue girl enjoyed some starter mousse as well, but not quite as much. They were both gaining weight and perfectly healthy, but Green boy apparently LOVES his food.
On day 17 I offered both puppies a bit of ground chuck with breakfast. They liked it, but I don't think their digestive systems were as ready for solid food as their minds were and there was a LOT of complaining with upset tummies. We made sure everybody was pooping ok, gave tummy rubs, and slowly but surely everything caught up and by day 18 we had much happier puppies.
Days 19 and 20 were big days for coordination. The puppies have a basic programmed idea of going potty away from the nest so as long as they have a smallish area they can define as their nest or den and an area very close they can use to eliminate, they're pretty good about going outside the nest if they can get there, even before they're able to walk very well. As they gain coordination the puppies become more an more able to learn to eliminate in a specific area. For most of the week about half of their area consisted of their "den" and the other half was potty pads for them to eliminate and they have been pretty consistent. For the coming week, now that the puppies are beginning to have more refined control of their toddling, we will begin condensing their potty area and expanding their play area.
Improved coordination is also working to their advantage for dinner time as both puppies are able to take bits of meat from my hand as well as eat their ground chuck and goat milk mixture from a small dish.
The puppies have taken a couple small car trips to visit family and aren't phased by new places and people one bit.
On day 20 green boy started to show signs of his ears opening by startling when I bumped the pen and today blue girl seems to be showing signs that her ears are opening as well. We won't be able sneak in their room and escape undetected much longer. :)
The puppies have become pros at "creative sleeping". They have a couple favorites:
Chin rest:
Butt rest?
Burrow:
Mom stole our bed:
Synchronized sleeping:
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