being mean

It's a terrible thing when the puppies first realise that more than only pure unadulterated good stuff comes from my hands.

At this age they are starting to interact with us.  They respond when we speak to them and when we come into the room to the box, they come to the edge wagging and asking for attention.  So far, we have been the fonts of all good things - clean bedding, food, cuddles, tummy rubs.  But then the day comes when they must be wormed.

Oh, it's a terrible event!  The wormer is a thick white liquid that must be administered to the puppies 3 days in a row every 3 weeks.  I squirt it into their mouths using a tiny syringe and they tell me it tastes terrible.  Truly terrible.  It tastes so bad that they shake their heads and squawk and try to spit it out and it flies all over the place and even out their noses sometimes.  Ah, the poor little puppies!  Suddenly they realise that my syringes hold more than just yummy warm milk.  The second day is tougher than the first.  And the third day?  Yep, they clamp their little jaws firmly shut against any hint of the syringe.  Eventually I lull them into a false sense of security with squirts of milk, then - bam! - in goes the wormer.  Terrible, sneaky human.  Treacherous, mean human.

Luckily they don't hold a grudge and it's cuddles all round again.  After Keksi has cleaned them all off, obviously.

This is how big they are now:

Keksi rarely lies down to nurse them now - or if she does, then she quickly jumps to her feet when they descend upon her like a pack of tiny vampires.  Frequently she will stand in the box doing a general clean up while the puppies hang off her undercarriage.  She is starting to leave the majority of the feeding to me, and that's why the workload is ramping up all the time.

This weekend the puppies will move downstairs and that will be a relief for both Keksi and me.  I won't have to run up the stairs every 7.2 minutes and Keksi will be able to hang out with the gang downstairs, which she really misses.

"Oh, go on, let me come downstairs.  It's boring up here!"















Puppies doing puppy stuff:

The boys cuddling up to the cool water bowl.  There's always one.  At least one.

Brown Wolf discovers that a sibling makes an excellent pillow.

Little Ilo & Hopea showing off their bellies.

Toes spark out & tongue out.