Well, today was a special day as it was the FIRST day that the puppies got to try real puppy food!(I posted a video on the Life of Sugar Facebook page.) As you can imagine, introduction to the puppies of real food means “messy” is typical, and that there is also  other things that change as part of being at this stage-namely their bathroom habits. When one goes to the bathroom, Sugar hunts me down with her eyes in what seems like a pleading expression like “please tell me you are going to start cleaning up after these puppies?  I can’t do this anymore——–”

Some other firsts-I got my first night of more than 3 hours of sleep with puppies!  When I was leaving for my mini vacation this week, Dora had said it might be a good time to try seeing if they would go a chunk of the night without needing anything.  They slept until 445 am which is a great accomplishment since it was the longest they had been away from their mom and they seemed to do fine. The best news is that I am not sleeping on an air mattress anymore!  Hallelujah because I’m not sure how many nights more my bones would have let me continue to do that!

They are developing so fast that it is hard to even keep track of all of the changes. They are getting great at playing together, they are more content between feedings like they might be willing to allow me to actually create some type of schedule for them, they are sleeping for longer periods through the night,  they get excited and perk up when I come to the doorway to check on them and they continue to develop their personalities.

None of them have changed much from the initial names/personalities that I attached to them when they were much younger;

Yellow-Still the happiest guy of the bunch willing to give you a tail wag for just about anything! (AKA Happy/Chunky)

Orange-Yep, I still have a soft spot for him and I have no idea why! He’s figured out how to bark to make sure we don’t forget about him, but he is quiet, content and laid back. (AKA-Doc,

White-still a quiet female of the group, she continues to be unassuming, yet she is starting to get a playful attitude with her littermates. She loves licking your face and I have no idea why!(AKA Bashful)

Blue-Blue likes to stir up trouble with his litter mates by trying to nurse on them and you can bet that doesn’t go over well:) Because of his efforts he is also known as Dopey! However, he has a petite face, he has a quiet attitude otherwise and there’s something very gentle that you can almost feel about him.

Purple-She’s a little bit of the “under” dog and she is too polite if you ask me.  She will sit back and wait for a feeding like she’s saying “Don’t worry, I will get whatever is left over when you are done”.  That’s when I pick her up, designate her feeding space and I take control and make room for the little peanut! (Of course, that’s not my typical personality to just jump in and take control…..) AKA Dollie/Sneezy because she was the first puppy to have little sneezing spells.

Green-still quiet, still reserved and nothing seems to ruffle his feathers!  He’s not the first to try anything, but his gentle spirit speaks volumes! AKA Junior

Red-What can you say about Red?  He previously seemed like he was going to be the sole troublemaker of the group; but as time passes they are all clamoring to get out of the box and explore their territory and Red seems to be the leader of the litter.

They had their first field trip out to the entry way in an x-pen.  They seemed to enjoy it and I put up towels and blankets to cover the x-pen walls so that the draft didn’t get the best of them. Ken loved it even more because he was able to sit in the pen WHILE watching the nightly news; that was a win for him and it gave me a little time to pick up some of the loose ends around the house.

 

You know you have it bad for puppies when every new development and change regardless of how messy brings a smile to your face and a skip in your step!

Mark was out today to do some filming of the first feeding and it was funny because part of me was just really enjoying watching them try to navigate the muffin tin of gruel, and the other part of me wanted to jump in the pen and keep them neat and orderly!  I told Mark that it was hard for me to just stand back and watch but I’m so glad I had the opportunity because I think you lose some of the joy of the moment if you don’t just learn to step back and watch without having to fix, change, or control it.  Another great life lesson learned because of a litter of adorable puppies that have no idea what they are teaching me along the way!