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.

blah blah blah

I don't think it's my imagination that these puppies have their tongues stuck out much more than any others I've had.  Jay commented on it early on, and I've noticed it too.  We cannot help but to capture it on camera.

Fiia 12 days - photo @Mark Treasure

Mini 12 days  -  photo @Mark Treasure

Sox 12 days  -  photo @Mark Treasure

Funny Mini 2.5 weeks

Tito 3 weeks

insta-puppies

There have been a few little videos on Instagram in the past week.  There have also been a few cute photos.  The Pippuri gang are developing quite a following.  It's only what they deserve.

Fiia snoozing  -  Tuulen finding a comfy pillow
Fiia snoozing again  -  Sox having a morning howl
Mini chowing down  -  Sox having a rare pensive moment

Don't forget to vote for the heaviest puppy in the poll.  I'm beginning to think they're all the heaviest!  The poll will close sometime tomorrow and the result will be posted at the end of the week with the weight update.

The next big adventure will be the move from the relative cosiness of the whelping box upstairs to the big wide world as represented by the pen in the living room.  Exciting times!

learning ... to eat

Once the puppies' eyes have all opened and they can hear by around 14 days or so, the next thing is to start thinking about trying them on actual food.

By 2.5 weeks, one or two puppies have already discovered the water bowl... usually by accident, obviously.  As they lurch around the box, one by one they tumble face-first into the water bowl and come up sputtering.  There is always a brief period around this time when I'm too nervous to leave the water bowl unsupervised in the box.  For a day or two the puppies are big and strong enough to fall into the water bowl but I'm not certain they would be able to get themselves out of trouble.  By the time they are 3 weeks all that worry is past.  Yes, they still fall face-first into the water (and tail- or paw-first sometimes too), but they are strong enough to hoick themselves out if necessary. 

Then it's time to get them started on solid food.  The weaning puppy definition of "solid" is rather loose, mind you (so to speak...).  Their first "solid" food comes in the form of watery puppy porridge.  I use this one from Fit and Fertile.  As they get more adept at eating, I serve up gradually thicker porridge each day.  Then somewhere along the line I start introducing other things too: puppy kibble soaked in warm puppy milk until soft, raw meat paste, eggs scrambled into a warm custard with goat's milk, and so on.

So far, almost a week into the porridge adventure, I'm having mixed results.  Predictably, Mini and Tito usually dive right in as soon as the plate appears.   In every litter there is always one puppy who sticks both front paws into the plate, claiming it for him (her) alone, and this time it is Mini.  Of course.  Fiia and Tuulen are at similar stages of success with eating.  Sometimes they are more interested than other times; sometimes they just can't be bothered and, frankly, it all seems a bit too much like hard work.  They would far rather wait for mum to turn up and switch on the milk faucets.  Sox is more or less uninterested in the plate of porridge.  He likes to lick it from my fingers, but doesn't really want to have to lap it from the plate.  Actually, he would far rather spend his time distracting those of his siblings who actually do want to eat.

Apart from encouraging each puppy to eat by scooping porridge onto my finger for them to lick, my job also includes trying to keep any puppies from jumping (Mini) or falling (Tito) into the plate.  And also to stop Sox from pouncing on and body-checking those puppies who are trying to eat.  Tail flicking with mischief, he charges straight at the diner, ramming into them and sending them flying - usually into the plate.  It's quite amusing to watch, but does create a terrible mess and doesn't help anyone either (a) get a meal or (b) learn to eat.

I may capture it on video one day.  In the meantime, here are some eating puppies.

Early attempt - Mini & Tito are right in there

There goes the paw...

Tuulen tries that technique for himself.

Mini eating Taito fashion - lying down

Fiia tucking in when there's no competition

Hard work!

"Is it any wonder I don't like the plate?  Look at the mess I'm in!"

Tito has no such qualms

It's no surprise that the puppies are almost constantly covered in dried porridge at this stage.  You can see it on Tuulen's head in his 3-week portrait and on most puppies in most photos taken around this time.  In fact, you can see above that tails, heads and even the backs of necks are positively crunchy.  No wonder they spend so much time chewing on each other.

Post-breakfast game of bitey-face

3 weeks weights

I've been trying to get a video of the puppies in group play but this is proving more complicated than I would wish.

People with their first Lapphund puppies are always amazed when they witness the daily mad 5 minutes known as zoomies (yes, that's a technical term).  Zoomies occur when the puppy explodes into a brief period of manic activity, careering around as fast as he can go, often with tail tucked down for maximum speed, and often barking or yipping in excitement.   With Neka this involved a circuit consisting of a figure-8 of the garden followed by a tour of the living room via the sofa (or the back of the sofa, to be precise).  Repeated x 4 or 5.  All at top speed.

Puppies often have an attack of the zoomies in the evenings.  If not zoomies, then a period of restlessness that translates into naughtiness.  Hyperactivity, barking, nipping, that sort of thing.  I always warn people about it because, like everything, it is best managed with patience and the knowledge that puppyhood will not last forever.  And this evening activity is already apparent in these puppies at 3 weeks old.

You see, there was a point to all this, and I'm getting to it now.  The point is that the evenings are the time when the puppies are most active.  It is in the evenings that we get the fabulously entertaining group games.  Unfortunately the lighting in the puppy room is insufficient for good video results in the evening, so I've been grabbing my videos in the daytime where I can.

And so here are a couple of videos for your entertainment.  They are not quite up to the full group play experience of the evening time, but there is some cuteness to be had nonetheless.  The first is a brief game of bitey-face between Tito and Tuulen as they practice using their tiny new teeth.  The second is a little after-lunch game amongst tired puppies.  There is barking, howling, growling, random squawking, wagging and wrestling. 






And so to the weight update.  They are, in a word, all enormous.  Ok, that's two words.  And perhaps not enormous, per se, just super chunky.   They are pulling way ahead in the average litter weight race. 

All of which leads me to the next weight poll as they head for the 2 kg milestone.  Who will be the heaviest at the 4-week weigh-in?  You have until sometime on Tuesday, depending on what Blogger does with the time difference.  Go vote! 

3 weeks old

The puppies are entering a very entertaining phase now.  They can sit up and stand up, they look right into your face when you speak to them, and they wag their tails.  Their tails are already sticking straight up when they walk and they will soon go over their backs.  They are starting to grow tiny teeth.  They are barking, growling and howling, playing and pouncing.  They are occasionally very noisy as they learn all their new sounds.  They have also started the weaning process with 4 meals of watery puppy porridge a day.

The various roles within the litter change from week-to-week and sometimes from day-to-day.   But at the 3-week mark, Mini is in charge, and she and Tito are the best at eating porridge.  Sox is the most playful and he and Fiia are the noisy ones.  Tuulen is the quiet one.  

They are all getting quite good at posing for photos, and they are at a particularly amusing grumpy-looking stage.

Tito

Sox

Fiia

Tuulen

Mini

nails

The puppies' nails are cut weekly and it becomes the job of their new owners to make sure they are kept trim in the future.  With older dogs who do a lot of walking on pavements, there is less need to cut the nails so regularly as they get worn down during walks.  But with puppies the nails must be cut.  And it's a tricky job.  Verrry tricky.

It's particularly difficult when the puppies are tiny, as recorded here when the they were only 1 week old.   But it can still be a pretty delicate job when the puppy is older.

I always tell people to approach it with a great deal of patience.  And time.  You really don't want to be in a hurry when trying to do the nails.   The aim is to nip off just the tiny tip of the nail but to do it often.  If you have ever cut your own nails too short, then you know how incredibly painful it is when you cut into the quick.  It's the same with puppies.  And if you cut too short just once, they will never forget it and getting their nails trimmed will be a monumental task forevermore. 

This excellent diagram from an American groomer illustrates not only how to cut a dog's nails, but why it is important to do it often.  I always put a copy of this in my puppy packs so there is no excuse whatsoever for the puppies' new owners to avoid this chore.  Apart from terror, that is.   But it's much easier and less terrifying when you know how.  As always, click on the image for a bigger size.

It's best to get the puppy when he's sleepy.  And it's best to not necessarily try to do all 4 paws in one sitting.  Instead, aim to do one entire paw and then come back later to do another paw, etc.

Above all, as with so many things puppy-related, you must always win.  It's vital that the puppy learns that all his squirming and complaining accomplishes nothing until the job is finished.  By the time they leave here they are accustomed to being handled a lot and to having their nails cut, so it's easier for the new owners to just keep up the routine. 

And just in case you think it's easy for someone like me who is accustomed to doing it, here's a little video of me cutting Sox's nails.  The first front paw is easy and I'm able to go pretty quickly because I'm used to it.  But by the time I get started on the back paw, he is waking up and it gets a bit more complicated.  Notice I only try to do 2 paws in one sitting.

puppies in peril

Up until the puppies are 2 weeks old they have little or no idea that bad things can happen to them.  Apart from the ones who had to have their hind dew claws removed, that is.  And apart from the ones who have found themselves on the wrong side of mum's body when the milk bar opens.  And also apart from the ones who have gotten themselves stuck in the corner of the box between the two shelves.  (Thanks to this regular event, the shelves at the back of the box have now been removed to decrease the likelihood of a puppy getting wedged into the corner with a sibling on top of him, unable to move.)

As far as puppies are concerned, the absolute worst thing in the world happens when they are 2 weeks old; they are wormed for the first time.  At the next worming the puppies will be 5 weeks old and will happily lap up the liquid wormer added to some yummy scrambled eggs.  But at 2 weeks old, the only way to get it into them is to squirt it directly into their mouths.  And it tastes bad.  Really, really bad.  As you can see.

First I lull them into a false sense of security with some yummy puppy milk.

 

Then - bam! - in goes the wormer.

"Yuck!"

"I said YUCK!"

Then in quickly with more puppy milk - but Sox isn't falling for it.

The good stuff  -  the bad stuff
It's really bad  -  WAH!

head rests

 Everyone likes to have somewhere comfy - or not so comfy - to rest their head.  That is one of the great things about this particular box from The Whelping Box.  The shelves, which are designed to give puppies a place to escape under to avoid being squashed by mum, also make a great head rest for the bitch.  Neka would have loved a box like this.

Apparently the shelves make good, if unlikely, head rests for puppies too.  Even when they are tiny.

It doesn't look very comfy, does it?

But they keep doing it anyway.

Back for more.

It helps if you can get propped up on mum's legs.

You can see how a growing puppy might get stuck in there.

A sibling also makes an excellent pillow.

Even for mum