FIRSTS Litter - Week 5

Note: all but the last post before this one indicated that there were videos. Blogger doesn't seem to like to put videos in. In the last post and this one, there are links below the videos you can click to actually see the video.

The puppies turned 5 weeks old on Monday. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but then again my brain keeps trying to add a week to their age. I guess that's what I get for being gone for 2 weeks in the middle, I suppose.

In stereo butt wash...

Photos and videos now come fewer due to having to be on top of their every move. These adventurous little ones like to run fast, chew on everything, and bite each other. We had an incident tonight where Blue Girl bit a little too hard on Green Boy's foot. Not the first time they've bitten each other too hard. We do our best to redirect and Mars and Synnie both step in and redirect as well.

Some new milestones for them . . .

We are starting to stabilize a 3-meals-a-day schedule. This helps in being able to sleep all night for the humans. Bedtime is usually around 10pm to 11pm. They eat dinner first, then we wear them out with playtime. When they start wanting to lay down or start wandering back to the puppy room, we put a fresh, frozen bottle of water in their beds and they go and curl up on the bottle for the night. This usually gets us to about 7am, when they're up and crying from their litter box pen wanting out. I made the mistake one night of not latching the pen to the crate and not securing the second pen that keeps the big dogs out of the room. As I was walking down the hall, I saw two little white streaks come running out of the room between the legs of Mars and Synnie headed for the living room where the toys are.

 

Puppies play with Momma Mars

They have figured out chicken wings and are able to pull the meat off the bone. It took them a bit and the first time I offered them last week I think was a bit too soon. They gnawed on them last week, but this week they're putting them between their feet and pulling the chicken off the bone. Once the bone is clean of the meat, they chew on the joint ends with their back teeth until they're tired out and give up. Mars, Synnie and Lilly don't mind them giving up because that means they get to eat the leftover bones. Green Boy is possessive about his chicken wing. When Blue Girl comes sneaking in trying to take it, he gives her a little growl and turns away from her so she can't steal it. He definitely loves his chicken. We started giving them their chicken in Fly's crate where there was lots of room. Right now they are still small enough they can fit through the bars on the crate. Blue Girl, with her first chicken wing of the day yesterday, decided she was going to bring her wing out of the crate and to the toy area. Not only did she get out of the crate stealthily, but she ran like the wind from the crate, through the litter box, to the toy area with her chicken. I didn't catch it at first until I noticed Mars had a chicken wing in her mouth. She had taken it from Blue Girl. I promptly confiscated it and put Blue and her chicken back in the crate with Green.

Being a mom is such hard work.

Both have also figured out the joys of going potty outside. We took them to Amanda's brother's house so they could play with the kids. We were out front in the yard and both puppies pottied and got lots of praise. When we came home, each one got some individual time outside to walk around in the grass and explore. This morning when they awoke from their first nap, I tried putting them in the potty box to go potty and neither of them were having any of that. They both went to the xpen keeping them from going down the stairs and started crying. And the more you ignore it, the louder it got. So, I put them down in the kitchen, thinking that's where they wanted to be. Nope. They sat at the door to the outside and cried some more. Well, that's that then. One at a time, I took each puppy outside to the grass. They followed me around, explored some, picked up a few leaves and shook them to death, and then yep, they went potty! Is there such a thing as self-potty-training dogs?

 "Woooo! I love you, Zack!"

We went on our first outing to visit children. And yes, it was a DRAMA FEST! They cried ALL.THE.WAY.THERE. Then they played with Amanda's nephews for a while and fell asleep. Green Boy found his place on the coffee table and Blue Girl snuggled up next to the couch. When they woke up, we went outside for more playtime. The neighborhood boys came by and spent time snuggling them until the puppies got too cold (is that even possible for puppies who sleep on frozen water bottles?). So we bundled them back up in the car and took off for home. And yes, they cried ALL.THE.WAY.HOME. Reminds me of the nursery rhyme "This little piggy" I used to do with my kids when they were little and I'd grab and wiggle their toes.

A soccer player . . . that's what Amanda said Green Boy reminds her of. When Blue bit his rear leg earlier while rough playing, he was crying OH SO LOUDLY! And he wouldn't walk, would hold up his rear leg and HOWL! Oh! The drama of it! So I put him to bed with his ice bottle so he could rest for a while away from her and 2 hours later, he wakes up and comes strutting out of the puppy room like nothing has happened.  Life with puppies is never dull.

Time to play the name game. If you are on Facebook, check out my page and help me brainstorm names for Blue Girl.