June 18, Tuesday -- Room to grow and to piddle

The puppies have been trying to stand and walk around a lot the last couple of days; not seeing doesn't seem to be hindering them. They are also starting to break away from the others and wander for a minute or two on their on. The book on dog breeding I read says this is a very good sign; we should be able to try a little solid food with them in a day or two because they are beginning to express some individuality and independence. I noticed yesterday, when I was transferring them to the smaller box to replace their bedding, that one of the smaller pups had two little open eye slits which is very encouraging because they are certainly taking longer than average to open their eyes.

In light of all the moving around they are starting Gordon decided to move the puppies back downstairs into a 4' x 4' puppy play pen we had bought; originally thinking we'd use it outside when the puppies were big enough. Turns out it fits into the space between the corner and the kitchen table perfectly. It has a gate that we haven't even bothered to put on yet because there is a 4" rail underneath that space which is big enough to keep the puppies inside the pen. The back half Gordon set up with a washable rug, covered with a towel; the front half he put down newspaper. The puppies are instinctively starting to go to the bathroom on their own now; they move away from the area they are sleeping in to do this. I think the play pen is going to work out perfectly for them in the kitchen for the next little while.

You can see in this picture that one of the puppies has moved away to take a potty break; you can also see we're going to be going through a lot of news paper.

This will give you an idea how much they are growing; the nearer puppies are all either standing or sitting in this picture instead of lying down. The darker one at the back is the little female runt; she's very sweet and despite being surrounded by bigger dogs she continues to grow.

I'll be interested to see how Cocoa takes to having the puppies no longer in our bedroom; you'll remember from an earlier posting that the first few nights she was absolutely frantic until we realized it was because she wanted the puppies closer to us so she could jump up on the bed for the odd powernap. I hope she's okay with this change now that she doesn't feel the instinctive drive to be with them almost constantly. Tonight might be another sleepless night; we'll see how it goes.