Day 20 - Puppies playing and another move, 5/2

Fist off, the puppies have started playing with their mama. They'll open their little mouths and growl their little growl and today Gingersnap lifted his tiny paw like he was going to start something.

As you know if you've been following along at all, the puppies have started peeing on their own. This has set of the following chain of events:

1. I've started putting out puppy pads to keep things clean.

2. Butter does not like puppy pads and digs them up.

3. The blankets also get moved around and the floor of the pool is exposed.

4. The pool is slippery, so I moved the puppies out of the whelping pool today, about a week earlier than I intended, so they will not slip on the slippery floor. That is not worth the risk to their hips.

Days 18&19 - Potty training... Sort of, 4/30&5/1

If you haven't spent any time with newborn puppies, you might not know this: puppies can't poop and pee without mom's help at first. Mom stimulates them to go and keeps them clean.

How does she do that, you ask?

Obviously, she gets out her rubber gloves and wet wipes and trash bags and holds her nose while carrying it to the trash.

Actually, she eats it. All of it. All of the poop and pee from every single puppy in her litter.

There was this one time when I thought she might like a little help cleaning up a smear so she wouldn't have to eat it.

She was so annoyed with me, tried to shoulder me out of the way, and eat the wet wipes I was using. I do not know how mother dogs are not sick 100 percent of the time.

At any rate, this period is coming to an end. The puppies have begun eliminating on their own. And, magically, they know where to go. Okay, more like they know where NOT to go. They drag themselves off their little sleep nest, and use the puppy pads we've put all around them.

There isn't much they do at this age, but they are learning they like to sleep clean and dry.

We've given them a little bed and they're keeping it clean. I know it isn't really magic. But it sure seems like it.

It isn't really potty training, either. But it sure seems like it.

Day 17 - Video of puppy growling adorably! 4/30

Clipped puppy nails today. But the lead story is Gingersnap making the cutest little growling sounds and interacting with the world around him!

It isn't the best video quality, but he's so adorable! Sometimes it seems like Butter is being too rough with him, but my mentor said as long as the puppy is not crying, it's normal. And here I am worried I'm going to hurt the babies by gently laying them on their backs for a 5-count!

The other two pups haven't quite gotten there yet, but it seems like every day there's some new and exciting puppy development!