4 weeks old

 

Have you ever seen such a fluffy 4-week-old puppy?  Me neither!

Joulu has moved out of the cats' domain upstairs and now has a palatial pen downstairs where he is enjoying the extra space and the extra features such as pussycats and cardboard boxes.

He has teeth now, which Suvi isn't impressed with, and he tucks right into his kibble mush now. 

He full-on plays with his toys now, as well, shaking them to death (falling over in the process).  Luckily he doesn't realise he's lonely without any siblings.  

Here is a selection of cute shots from his 4th week.

 

Catching Zs

There are eyes in there somewhere...

Did someone say 'show stand'???

Hanging out with mum

4 weeks old

These photos are not quite as good as they might be, but they are truly the best I could manage on this occasion.  This was before their baths as well, so they're quite crunchy with dried in food.  But pretty cute, nonetheless.

Neot

Penny

Fowey

Trever

Kensey

Ottery

4 weeks old

This has been a big week for the puppies.  They are being regularly groomed - touched all over, toes, teeth, eyes and ears all inspected, nails cut and brushed with a soft puppy brush.  These puppies love to be brushed, so I fully expect their new owners to keep it up.  I don't expect to be hearing that any of them don't like to be groomed in 6 months' time.  Well, let's see how that goes ... there's a first time for everything, right?

They have moved from the steamy, hot little room upstairs into the big downstairs pen and they have had a few minutes in the outdoor pen.  The weather is a bit too warm for them to spend any amount of time in the garden yet, although we do have a gazebo to keep the sun off.

They are generally taking everything in their stride and are happy, waggy, brave and resilient little tykes.

Patty

Modelling is hard work!

LaVerne

Grumpy face pup

Maxene

Like this?

4 weeks old

It's quite surprising how quickly the time with the puppies goes.  Perhaps in part because while they are here we are so busy.  There is the walking of the adult dogs.  Then there are all the meals for puppies and for mum, including soaking the kibble and mashing it to the correct, gradually chewier consistency, the (endless) washing up, the (even more endless) washing of vet bed.  Never mind trying to find time to wash the humans' clothes.  The twice-daily cleaning out of the puppy pen.  Oh yes, and then there is trying to do a day's work too. 

All in all, it comes as a great surprise when they hit the 4-week mark, move downstairs and start to experience some of the world.  The second 4 weeks go even more quickly.

Woody

Robin

Raven

Rook

Buzz

Puffin

Merlin

goings on

In the run up to 3 weeks of age, the puppies open their eyes and ears, start to walk, start to play, bark and growl, and they start to eat real food.  Introduced first to puppy porridge made with warm goat's milk, they soon graduated to raw puppy paste and puppy kibble soaked and mashed up with milk.  Next will come scrambled eggs - that's always a big day for the puppies because they absolutely love scrambled eggs.  And while I am happy to make the puppies happy,  I do have a very slightly ulterior motive. 

The puppies were wormed for the first time at 2 weeks, and that is the first time in their young lives that they experience something truly awful.  And I have to do it to them 3 days in a row.  It's just awful.  This litter's prize for most screwed up face goes to

-->Tähti, who was quite appalled at the experience.  There is no photographic evidence, but for an idea, you can check out a photo diary of some of the Juhla puppies being wormed.  The next worming experience is at 5 weeks and when that comes around I hide the wormer in scrambled eggs and by then the puppies know they love eggs and they tuck right in.  Cunning, eh?

4 weeks is the next big milestone, and at the end of this week the puppies will move downstairs, meet the big dogs and start to meet strangers.  Their tails will also go over their backs, but as they are already sticking up like rudders when they walk, and wagging like crazy when they see us, I'm thinking their tails might curl before 4 weeks.

Another event that normally happens sometime before the 4-week mark is one or another of the puppies find their way out of the box, and that happened on the day the 3-week photos were being taken.  You might think it was Little Arvo, since he first stuck his head over the edge, but

-->Tähti was the first to stick her front paws up there and Kuu was the first to actually find his way over the edge.

Kuu photo bombing his sister's shots

Here's a selection of some of the other cute things that have been happening.