Day 42 & 43 - New people! 5/24 & 25

Wednesday we had a friend family over, and the puppies got to meet 5 new people. We spent most of the day outside in our fenced yard.

Taking and his new 2 year old friend playing in the dirt.

I brought one puppy at a time inside to work on the Communication Trinity with them. The way I've been trying it, with all three puppies around has not been working. They are very distracting to one another. I feel silly I didn't think that one through.

Snickerdoodle is the only one who is responding to the click, and that's just barely.

But their personalities are really starting to shine through!

When our friends arrived, 2 puppies hid behind me at first, while Snickerdoodle eagerly approached them for some pets and playing. But after their next nap everyone was eagerly playing with the new kids!

We also weighed the puppies and gave them their 2nd dose of pyrantel paomate for deworming.

Days 38-40 - Outside playtime, 5/21-5/23

It is fascinating watching Butter mother her puppies. She regularly will put them down for a nap. After they've been playing for a while, she'll start herding them into the weaning pen, and to their bed until they lie down and go to sleep.

Snickerdoodle is so funny! He's started burrowing under my arm any time I lie down on the floor in the living room.

Speaking of the living room, the puppies have been spending more and more time outside their pen during the day. We brought a crate in for the puppies to get familiar with. They were eager to explore.

On Monday we spent a long time outside. At first the pupsters were a little spooked, but very quickly they warmed up to the environment and had a blast.

Pups are starting to respond to the puppy call.

I clipped their nails on Tuesday night. If you were wondering why I keep telling you when I clipped their nails, it's just to help me keep track. But interestingly, Snickerdoodle's nails had not started to curl and did not need clipped tonight.

Day 36 & 37 - Take-a-treat, 5/19 & 5/20

The puppies have started running to their food dish, so I have introduced the "puppy call." I will now use this call anytime I feed them.

Snickerdoodle at his 4 week photoshoot

Also, I played "Take-a-treat" with Snickerdoodle and Tagalong. This is just a game where puppies learn how to take a treat from your hand. I tried it with Gingersnap but he was not interested. He seems to be a much more timid dog than the others so far. We'll keep trying to build his confidence.

Snickerdoodle was so good at it that we also started "powering up the clicker." This is the first of the Communication Trinity in Puppy Culture. I click my tongue instead of using an actual clicker, because I always have my tongue on me.

I took care of a lot of housekeeping this week.

I finished clipping puppy nails (did I already report that?) and got their 5 week weights, and I ordered microchips from Fi Nano. And I scheduled the puppies' vet visit for June 1st. Before then, I want to get the puppies accommodated to the van and driving places.

I tried to bring the puppies into my bedroom for individual interviews with the kids about them, but we kept grabbing them while they were sleepy. Then, my 4 year old started talking about Tagalong's hobbies, which apparently include playing with friends, smiling at him, and laughing. So we'll just try that again another day.