Goldendoodles are very social dogs and love to spend their time with their family. Socialization is an important part of raising puppies. It is important that puppies are socialized with a variety of people of all ages. Our puppies have already had lots of socialization. My daughter Kendra and myself have handled and cuddled the puppies since birth and my grandchildren have enjoyed spending time with them as well. Today, my husband Tom went into the whelping box and it didn’t take long before he had a lap full of puppies. What a wonderful way to spend your time, cuddling puppies and getting those sweet puppy breath kisses!
Ruska’s puppies are now three and a half weeks old. Since birth, they have spent their days and nights in our bedroom. It is now time to make the big move to the main floor where the puppies can get accustom to the sounds and happenings of our busy house.
After weigh in today, I decided we would move the puppies. I packed them in the basket, brought their whelping box down to a small enclosure in my front hall, and then brought the puppies to their new area. Just outside the whelping box are potty pads.
The puppies are now going potty without the help of their mother. I feel it is important to begin “potty training” at this age because puppies have a natural instinct to move away from their sleeping area when they need to go. For the next few days I will spend my time moving the puppies to the potty area when they wake. If they start learning that “there is an acceptable place to go potty” at a young age, they won’t develop bad habits that later need to be broken. I feel that this will make housebreaking easier when they go to their forever families. Some of the puppies have already used the potty pads – Yeah!
I always feel Ruska is ready when the time comes to move the puppies. She can now spend all her time with the family on the main floor and still keep an eye on her little ones. After the puppies had moved, Ruska went in to nurse them “in the standing position“(time to start weaning). When the puppies had settled for a sleep, she laid on the floor in front of the the puppy enclosure for a nap.
