Ellie’s Puppies
LOOKING BACK – April 4, 2022 – THREE WEEKS OLD
Ellie is a wonderful mama. She knows just what to do to take care of her babies. She loves her puppies and still stays to cuddle with them after they have nursed. Their eyes are completely opened, and their ears are now open. Ellie’s puppies are in the “Critical Socialization Period”.
Exercise is important for puppies to build strong bodies but, puppies must also be challenged to build strong minds. Yesterday we gave Ellie’s puppies a little challenge to build their brains! I put them in a basket, and they had to find their way out to their mama. They worked so hard some of their bows were coming undone LOL! Watch to see how each puppy did in the basket challenge – so cute!
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK FOUR
- Puppies will still sleep most of their day as they continue to grow rapidly
- Puppies will play with each other and begin developing important social skills
- Puppies hind legs will continue to become stronger as they walk more
- Hearing will improve
- Puppy milk teeth will begin to erupt
- Puppies will be moving to the main floor sometime during the week
Willow’s Puppies
Puppies start on solids
We usually start weaning puppies at four weeks of age when we introduce solids. Willow is a mama that has her own mind and didn’t follow my regular schedule that my previous mamas did. She let me know that it was time to wean her puppies by regurgitating her food for her puppies to eat – This is instinct! It helps the mama wean and her milk gradually dry up by reducing her food intake”
We decided that since Willow has already started weaning her puppies, we would introduce solids on Friday. I grind puppy kibble in my blender with water and puppy formula to make a soupy mixture. We will gradually make this mixture thicker as we progress towards dry kibble.
It took some of the puppies awhile to eat but, they did a good job eating their “puppy soup” Willow kept a watchful eye behind the gate to watch as her puppies ate. When they were finished eating, I let Willow in, and she ate the remaining food. The puppies finished off their meal with a little of mama’s milk and then went back to their whelping box for a long nap.
