3 Weeks Old!

Yeah, we are three weeks of age today! This is the age where they should be first exposed to a variety of noises and sights. This is when the breeder moves them to a more active place in the house like the kitchen. I moved them to the Dining Room yesterday afternoon. It is in-between my Living Room and Kitchen and is a major walk way for us. The Dining Room has a stereo and a piano, and they will hear the TV from the Living Room,and the kitchen noises as well.

This is the week you want to work on the startle response. This week is not a fear imprint stage and they should get accustomed to a startle by a loud noise and then recover on it's own. You would never want to do this during a fear imprint stage as they can be permanently damaged (scared for life in certain circumstances).

This is also the week I will introduce them to puppy gruel. They will definitely still be allowed to nurse, but we will start on liquid gruel and transition into soaked puppy kibble with lots of water on it. Yes this will be the start of a very messy time. I will have to tap into my reserve of newspapers. Joy, joy... you think being a breeder has been alot of work so far? Now the FUN begins... once they start eating food usually the momma dog will no longer take care of the sanitation duties.

LOL to myself... I moved them to the Dining Room thinking I would get more sleep, but I was so worried about keeping the temperature of the puppy pen just right during the night that I ended up falling asleep cramped up on the loveseat, and then later moved to the big couch with Merica and Taffy. So still kind of crunched up in two spots, but spread out... LOL. It is cooler in this room and I still want to maintain 80 degrees in the cooler portions of the pen. But I don't want them getting too hot. I have given them a larger area so have both a heating pad and a trouble light in the warm area. I have sheets and blankets covering the xpen. I put down plastic sheeting on the floor, then a 5 x 5 square of linoleum. Then newspapers and a blanket.

I gave Figgy a snack last night in the middle of the night, to keep her milk coming in. I wish I would have had my camera. I think they are ready for soaked kibble already! They heard her eating, woke up and came running. Then when she was done I set her dish down and BG1 proceeded to sniff and lick it and then stand in it with both front feet and look up at me. TOO CUTE!!! Soon they will get their first taste of liquified gruel. :)