Those sweet snuggly puppies have been tearing around the perennial bed with increasing ferocity. Thankfully, all the plants there are hardy and there’s no long term damage done as they tackle the coneflowers and race through the hostas.

The puppies were unaware of the “big dogs” until recently. Now they are clamoring for Chev and Xupe’s attention when they see them. The puppies engage easily, albeit rambunctiously, with visitors and are increasingly curious as they explore everything they encounter outdoors – leaves, garden hosing, perennials, tree trunks, Biff’s boots sitting outside the barn, etc.. I laughed when I saw #2 slowly approach and bravely bark at the tire of Biff’s Suburban today. It was as if he was barking down a dinosaur!

Yesterday, visitors Zan and his sister, Tia, played with our puppies while their adorable 11 week old puppy, Scout, hung out in the house with their mom, Nina. Our puppies weren’t quite grown-up enough to play with our charming canine visitor. Zan described his new puppy as “an angel.”  We get it.

Biff set out an empty and doorless crate a few days ago, for the puppies to investigate and play in. I added a little blanket two days later and #2 settled down for a nap shortly afterward, looking pretty comfortable.

Below is a link to an AKC article about the reason for and the how-to’s on crate training a puppy. Two tips they don’t offer are 1. Keep the crate in a location close to your activity and let your puppy have access to the crate at any time so he/she can play or settle in whenever they want.  2.  If needed, to skip past the issue of them being resistant to going into or staying in the crate, you can slide your already sleeping puppy from your arms into the crate and latch the door.  They’ll happily wake up after sleeping, perhaps with a toy there as entertainment. Open the door after they’ve awoken and get them right out to “pee.”

http://www.akc.org/content/dog-training/articles/how-to-crate-train-a-puppy/

The photo below was taken today, after breakfast. It was a beautiful morning and the puppies have begun some of their naps outside, often falling asleep just moments after rough housing with each other. They can go from 60 to 0 in about 10 seconds!

Biff brought pigeons out for the puppies to see yesterday. Their responses were amazing. Good bird dogs!

With little to no help, the puppies are using the flap to get outside. It’s a little trickier to push the flap from outside to get back in, but that will come in time. It’s fun to see them go out on their  own and explore for a while, even if no one joins them.

We’ve fed them (and offered water) “al fresco” and Finley seems to like nursing outside, too.

This is a tweaked re-post from two years ago…

If you’re going to have dogs, you’ve GOT to have polar fleece.  We use 5 – 6 yard lengths of it folded up for dog beds and as “throws” to cover our upholstered furniture when it’s just us at home and the dogs have free run of the house.  The dogs don’t rip it apart as they occasionally have done with other bedding.  It launders easily, is inexpensive, doesn’t fray and comes in an unbelievable array of colors and patterns.  Finley is modeling two different fleeces (above) on the sectional sofa and we’re using a lot of it out in the barn with the puppies and in the big dogs’ kennel spaces.  Whoever invented this faux-fabric was brilliant.

Tip: If you go to stores like Michaels or Jo-ann Fabrics, make sure to Google their coupons before you get to the check-out. I’ve never purchased polar fleece full price. There is always a 40 – 60% of coupon you can get on your phone on one of your items.

(Yes, that’s our newest hedgehog polar fleece! Biff came home with three huge pieces of it before this litter arrived.)

Here is an array of photos from today, from morning through evening when we came in from outside.  At five weeks they are romping, wrestling, vocalizing and exploring to the max, nursing from Finley and eating softened dog food, sleeping for long chunks of the day and night, peeing on (or near) the “pee pad” when they’re inside and peeing and pooping often outside. They look like little dogs now as their proportions have changed. They are incredibly sweet. I have to believe there’s an endorphin release that occurs from snuggling a puppy. (#2 in the photo above has a leaf in his mouth.)

The puppies are playing with the toys during their awake times when they’re not wrestling with each other or exploring leaves, grass and the scents they pick up in the breeze. (I noticed #2 follow the flight of one of our pigeons today!)

We have a pretty good collection of soft/plush and harder “chew” toys and they seem to like them all. Our criteria for puppy toys is 1. Rugged enough to withstand chewing and tugging and 2. Machine washable/dryable or scrubbable.

For our big dogs we’ve found just a few toys (like Kongs) that hold up, but the puppies are able to play with many plush toys that wouldn’t last a day with the big dogs. They haven’t responded to those that squeak or crinkle yet, but I expect they will become favorites when they’re a little older. We have some that are mostly harder chew toys and I substitute those for my arm and toes when they try to chew on me.

We transitioned the puppies to the barn today, beginning with a playtime outside, then we moved them into their fenced grassy area where they explored for a while. Next we opened up the gate to their covered outdoor space and, finally, brought them inside. (An intro to the doggy door will come later.) They were very curious and a little cautious with the changes and it didn’t take long for them to zonk out for an afternoon nap.

The “barn” that Biff designed and built a few years ago, primarily for dogs/puppies and to have a “man cave,” is now ready for Finley and her puppies. He’s been cleaning indoors and out for a couple of days to make the space ready for the puppies and for us to live in while the puppies are out there. The puppies will have access to outdoors, via the “doggy door” that you can see below, left.  The outdoor space provides both cover and grassy space in the sunshine.  We’ve accommodated twelve puppies in the same area that our three will now have as their own. Gotta say, it’s pretty luxurious.

The photo below is a couple of years old, but provides another view of the kennel level of the barn. Upstairs there’s a “lounge” for humans (and big dogs,) which includes a sleeping space for whichever of us is “on duty” with the puppies overnight.