learning ... to play

One of the funniest stages in the puppies' development is the period of 2-4 weeks old as they learn all their new noises.  It cracks me up every time a two-and-a-half-week-old puppy growls.  And I enjoy the howling too; ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ooooooooo nose in the air, wolf-style.

I don't enjoy the tempermental screeching that the puppies often do at this age.  They get over-tired, their mouths are hurting as they are growing their first tiny teeth, they might have a touch of colic, and they are, well, babies.  But luckily we are coming out of that phase now.

The other new skill they are working on at this time is playing.  It starts pretty much as soon as their eyes open and they see each other, and they get better and better at it.

First, they play with each other.

Mealtime is always a good time for a game, so says Sox

Get ready ... get set ...

... and ... play bitey-face!

And again

Meanwhile, the girls are wrestling

By 3 weeks they start to show interest in toys too and begin to learn that most crucial of skills for a puppy: amusing themselves. 

Tuulen with hedgehog

Tuulen with giraffe

Fiia with giraffe (and looking pretty pleased with herself)

Fiia with hedgehog

Mini saving the elephant for later (after her nap)

And then there comes the playing together with toys.

Games with mum*

Around the 4-week mark, Tuuli starts to play with the puppies too.  And when they move downstairs and granny Neka gets involved, then she plays with them too.  The only complication is getting Tuuli to share the toys with the puppies, because as far as she is concerned, all the toys in the house belong to her.  Once we manage to convince her to let the babies have the puppy toys in peace, then the next challenge is getting her to leave the puppy bones alone.  Oh, and that applies to granny too.  Everyone is partial to puppy bones.

Like mother, like daughter - "I'll just save these 'til later."

* I don't know what's up with this photo - it looks perfectly fine outside of the blog.  Oh well, you're getting it looking weirdly like a negative because I don't have time to fool with it and it's too cute to omit.