Month: February 2026

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Maui’s Adorable Four Week Old Puppies

How quickly the weeks go by. It is hard to believe that Maui’s puppies are four weeks old. This week, we have been focusing on potty training. Although they still sleep a lot during the day, when awake, they enjoy socialising with their littermates through play and by climbing onto my lap for cuddles.

Mama’s Milk is best

Maui continues to be an excellent mother caring for her puppies. She has done a wonderful job feeding them….they are very chubby! Maui is still willing to nurse her puppies, so we haven’t started solids yet. Since birth, she nurses them in a lying-down position, but I have seen her feed them standing a couple of times, which suggests she will begin the weaning process. 

Laying down
Standing Position

Those Adorable Faces

We’re a little late with our weekly blog again because of Piper’s Selection Day prep. These pictures were definitely worth the wait. How adorable are those faces!

The Girls

Pink Collar Girl
Purple Collar Girl

The Boys

Fluorescent Green Boy
Dark Blue Boy
Red Boy
Light Blue Boy
Yellow Boy

Potty training continues

Partway through this past week, we introduced a separate potty area. This provides the puppies with a whelping box for sleeping and playing, and we encourage them to use the potty box when needed. We use pine pellets in the potty box. 

A look back at week four

Looking Ahead to Week Five

  • Moving to the main floor
  • Introduce Solids
  • Puppies will continue learning to use the potty area
  • Awake time will increase
  • The puppies will continue to socialize with each other through play 
  • Toys will be added to our whelping box for puppies to explore
  • Intorduce play area
  • Mama will begin to add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.

Piper’s Six Week Old Sweethearts

Piper’s sweet puppies are now six weeks old and growing more adorable each day. We’ve had another busy week caring for the puppies and introducing them to many new things. They have grown bigger, and you can see each pup’s unique personality developing. We usually introduce our puppies to the outdoors at five weeks of age, but we’ve experienced very cold weather this past week and weren’t able to let the puppies outside to play until Friday. The puppies love being outdoors and enjoy running and playing together. 

New Play Area

This week, the puppies got a new play area. They enjoy the extra space and new toys.

Lots of new toys to explore; a slide, tunnel, wobble disc to name a few. We also have potty boxes and a crate. The puppies explored inside the crate and even took a nap.

Puppy Selection Day

One of the highlights of the eight weeks of raising puppies is Puppy Selection Day. We love meeting the forever families and feeling the excitement as each family meets their new puppy. We had a great day meeting everyone, and I know that each of our puppies has found a loving forever home.

After a busy day visiting many families, the puppies were tired and slept most of the evening.

A look back at week six


LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK SEVEN

  • As always, puppies will continue to get lots of cuddle time.
  • Puppies time spent awake will continue to increase
  • Puppies will begin dry kibble by the end of week seven
  • We will continue to encourage puppies to use potty area inside and out
  • Puppies will continue to socialize and learn from each other through play
  • Puppies will continue exploring and playing together outdoor as weather permits
  • Puppies will continue learning from their mama and our other adult dogsas she disciplines them and teaches them to behave 

Look for the Puppies Six week old pictures this week

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Piper’s Puppies Are Already Five Weeks Old

Five weeks old

Piper’s puppies are now five weeks old and have developed from helpless newborn puppies to the “mini dogs” they are today. The puppies are now awake for longer periods and enjoy playing with each other, and their toys, and cuddle time. We can now see their personalities starting to develop.

It is important when raising puppies to socialize them which means introducing them to as many new experiences as possible when they are young. For instance, this week the puppies have been introduced to different sounds, different floor surfaces, new toys, and our other adult dogs.

Puppies Start Solids

The puppies are always excited when they smell the food being prepared. 

We start the puppies on a water puppy mush with ground puppy kibble, puppy formula and boiled water. Then we gradually been make the puppy mush thicker.

The puppies have started eating water-soaked kibble. We will guaually reduce the water and soaking time and by seven weeks, they will begin eating dry kibble.

notice the difference

Should I sleep alone or with a buddy?

The puppies still spend much of their time sleeping. This is when they grow and process what they’ve learned while awake. Remember the puppy huddles? Now that they are bigger and can regulate their temperature, some puppies sleep in groups or with a buddy, while others sleep alone. This week, new beds were added to the puppy area. They quickly became a favourite spot to sleep… So comfy!

Potty Training

We have been working hard on training puppies to use the potty box. Some of the puppies are more consistent than others, but all of them are making progress. It’s amazing to see puppies wake up or stop playing and go over to use their potty box. 

We have now introduced pine pellets to the Potty Box. 

A look back at week five


Looking Ahead to Week Six

  • Awake time will continue to increase
  • Introduce New Indoor Play Area
  • Outdoor exercise will begin and puppies will have daily outdoor play time as weather permits
  • Continue learning to use potty box
  • Socialize with each other through play
  • Puppies will continue learning from their mama and our other adult dogs as they teach them dog manners
  • As always, puppies will get lots of cuddle time.
  • Puppies will meet their forever families 
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Maui’s Puppies Turn Three Weeks Old

Maui’s puppies are now three weeks old and have progressed rapidly this week. With only seven puppies to feed, they are quite chubby. Their eyes have fully opened, and their vision is getting better. Their ears have also opened, and they now respond to sound.

Puppy Culture

This week the puppies were in the Transitional Period. We continued our ENS exercises which cause tiny stresses to benefit our puppies with greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. Sunday was Day 16 of the puppies life and the final day for our ENS exercises.

Critical Socialization Period (weeks 3 – 12)

The next period for Piper’s puppies is the Critical Socialization Period. We know that puppies have entered into this period when the react to sounds. We raise our puppies following many of the Puppy Culture protocols. These protocols helps us reach our goal “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies“.

Over the remaining weeks we will be working on new experiences for the puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possible in order to raise the best possible companion for their forever families.

Emotional Intelligence 

Because Goldendoodles are companion dogs, it is important to teach emotional intelligence from young puppies and start them on a great beginning. With this intention we follow 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.

  1. Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Communication Trinity: power up clicker, box game, manding and attention/distraction protocols
  2. Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
  3. Habituation – familiarize the puppies with the maximum number of things during their Critical Development Period. In particular, Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises as well as meeting different people and dogs.
  4. Enrichment – teach the puppies that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided. For example, ongoing introduction of new novelty items, activity centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.
  5. Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way . For instance, daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
  6. Skills – learned behaviors which teach the puppy to function in human society i.e. recall, manding, simple commands, potty box training, crate introduction, resource guarding, bite inhibition etc.
  7. Love – teach puppies to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences: i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and puppy’s mom.
  8. Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses). For instance, treats and encouragement during puppy training.

Potty Training Begins

Now that the puppies can void on their own, they naturally move away from their sleep area to go potty. To encourage the puppies to “go in one spot,” we have divided the whelping box into a sleep/play area and a potty area, adding bolster beds and potty pads.

Daily Cleaning

Raising puppies involves daily chores, including cleaning. We clean and disinfect the whelping box and replace it with fresh vet bedding each day.

While cleaning the puppies’ whelping box, I placed them in a laundry basket. They have started to climb out, so on Thursday I put a quilt on the ground and let the puppies explore while I cleaned their whelping box. I thought Maui would lie down on the quilt and feed them, but to my surprise, she went into her crate and her puppies followed.

Maui feeds her puppies in her crate.

Maui’s Three Week Old Puppies

Looking Back at Week Three

Looking Ahead to Week Four

  • Puppies will still sleep much of the day/night as they continue to grow rapidly
  • Interact with littermates through play which will help develop important social skills
  • Whelping box will expand with the introduction of litter box
  • Becoming steadier on their feet 
  • Practicing walking on all fours strengthens their hind legs
  • Hearing will improve 
  • Puppy milk teeth will erupt
  • Puppies will be moving to the main floor towards the end of the week
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Four Weeks Old Today, How Time Flies

It’s hard to believe that Piper’s puppies are already four weeks old. They’ve come so far in such a short time.

A lot has happened this past week! Learning to lap puppy formula, moving to the main floor, the puppies’ milk teeth have erupted, their hind legs have become stronger, and their awake time has gradually increased. When awake, they love socializing with their littermates through play. The puppies still sleep a lot during the day.

Starting to Wean

Piper is weaning her puppies and feed them in the standing position.
The puppies teeth have started to come in

The puppies have started on puppy formula this week. They learned to lap up the liquid.  

Time to Begin Potty Training

This week, the puppies have been using potty pads in their whelping box. On Thursday, we moved them to the main floor and expanded their whelping area with the potty box extension. Puppies need to learn that they cannot “go” anywhere. We teach them that “there is an acceptable place to go potty.” Teaching them this early helps prevent the development of bad habits that might be difficult to break later. This effort will benefit their forever families by making housebreaking easier when they go to their new homes.

We moved the puppies downstairs and started them in their potty box. They sniffed around, exploring the new area. I sat in their whelping box and encouraged them to come through the little door. 

The puppies went to sleep after the big move

A look back at week four

Saturday the puppies explored outside the whelping box and the additiong of some toys

Looking Ahead to Week Five

  • Puppies will continue learning to use the potty area
  • Start on puppy food
  • Awake time will increase as the puppies socialize with each other through play 
  • Introduce new toys
  • Mama will add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.

Look for Four week old pictures this week