Catching Up With The Puppies

I swear I started a new entry for this blog last week. I guess that shows how tired I feel and how busy I have been. I have really enjoyed the puppies. They are now old enough to go to new homes and I am ready for that. Raina may suffer “empty nest” syndrome. She is in the other room playing with them just like she is a puppy again. I know she will not miss the commando nursing. They will still nurse if she lets them and I guess she just has a soft heart. She has to stand because they are so big. Their sucking is so loud that I just imagine Raina feels like she is being turned inside out. The Cocker puppy is almost the same size as Raina and it’s almost hysterical to see her nursing. It looks more like she is a mechanic checking Raina’s undercarriage.

They are actually weaned and eating regular puppy food. Sometimes they even get into Raina’s bowl. That’s a little funny with the Yorkie pups. The kibble is big enough that they have to gnaw away at it until it fits inside their mouths. The Cocker has a preference for softened kibble but does eat it dry. I’ve been worming them over the past three days and have had a tough time getting them to eat all of the food with the medicine in it, except for the Cocker. I’ve tried milk, canned dog food mashed up and softened kibble. I even added some broth from soup my daughter-in-law made for me. At least that is over. They have all had their first puppy shot. None of them cried and fussed.

They are showing different personalities now. I have given them nicknames. My son will not allow me to name them because he is afraid I will become too attached. The Cocker seemed to stay the same size for so long. I just knew that I had done something wrong with her bottle feedings. Then one day she shot up. I had to start calling her “The Weed” because she is continuing to grow like a weed. The Weed does not like going outside. She cried and howled pitifully. I took her out of the pen to see if exploring a little would make it better. She found the puppy pouch I carried them out in and tried to climb back in. She is the one who complains the most when she is hungry. She is a beautiful puppy and so sweet. She does not use her larger size to dominate the other pups. The Yorkies however take advantage of her floppy ears and pull on them.

A couple of weeks ago I gave up moving the pups from the playpen to the bigger play area pen. I put the playpen away, they had outgrown it. Now I use the bigger pen for sleeping and to contain the pups when I need to. The Weed yowls when she does not want to be in there. Now my room is their play area. They discovered the cats very quickly. Eliot just hides in her bed. Harley tries to ignore them, but has given a whack to the head when they get too playful with her. I am so proud of the pups, they are paper trained and I didn’t really do anything. When they were in the playpen they would instinctively get out of their bed to “go”. That end of the pen had newspaper in it. Now that they are running around my room, I have placed newspaper here and there. They always go to the paper. Sometimes they miss, but I figure that is due to a lack of coordination. Sometimes they do go on the floor, but that is usually because I did not put paper down where they are accustomed to having it or they have moved it. Dogs are creatures of habit. I plan to recommend crate training. When I get up in the morning their pen is usually clear of mess. They scatter to the newspapers to potty first thing. That’s pretty amazing for 4 puppies in a 3’ square pen.

Two of the Yorkie puppies have gone to their new homes. It was a little more hectic when there were six puppies rather than four. I have nicknamed the remaining three. Bruiser got his early. He has been the biggest since birth. Then Little Big Man got his name. He started the same size as his brother, but since then he has not grown as fast. I think he will be the smallest. He is just as feisty as the others. No one gets the best of him. “Green Girl” has the least interesting name, poor girl. It just refers to the green neckband she wears. She is the most interested in getting my attention. She will get on the doggie steps and woof at me until I look at her. She loves to sit in my lap. I take those opportunities to get the pups used to being groomed by brushing them. I also trim their toenails then. I am determined to socialize these pups. When I got Raina, she and her littermates were very shy. It was almost as if they had not had much contact with people. The males hid so far under furniture that I would have had to have gotten down on the floor to reach them. All four pups run to the door when someone knocks. One has to shuffle their feet to avoid stepping on them. That’s what I want when someone comes to see them.

I’m going to put together their puppy kits today. I don’t want to be rushing to put them together when it’s time for a pup to leave. We are providing everything needed to start out except for a crate. Hopefully we will be putting an ad on LiveDeal.com today. We have always had good response to ads placed there.

I will miss the pups when they are all gone, but will be happy that someone is getting a healthy, well-adjusted and beautiful puppy.