3 Weeks Old

What an amazing week it's been! So many firsts!!!

The little ones are growing, but they are still pretty teeny tiny. They probably aren't much bigger than a ground squirrel and are in the 2-3 pound range still. I anticipate that they'll start putting on more weight this week as I introduced them to "gruel" today. I'm sure it's more appetizing than it sounds. Goat's milk, water and puppy kibble in liquid form. Yummy. They had milk yesterday and lapped it up with ease, so they are ready to move forward.

They also cut their teeth on Wednesday and Thursday. Nikki loves nursing them now...NOT. She's spending less time in the pen now and she is finally getting comfortable letting the younger girls interact with the puppies. Lailah and Icy are being excellent "big sisters". Calm, gentle and nurturing.

The puppies have also made their move into the big pen today. I tried yesterday, but they seemed a little frightened. Today they seemed to enjoy having so much space to run and play. And poop!

The puppies make cute little growling sounds, whining, barking, screaming (for mama) and howling. Several of the puppies have howled now, but Sharpie takes the award for vocal puppy of the week, hands down. Followed by Skille. Their little personalities will change a lot, as they are just starting to emerge. The ones that really stand out to me right now are Sharpie, who seems to have a lot of energy and really loves to play rough with the other puppies (when he's not howling). Campbell, Nieme, Kaner and Madden always seem to be the first to greet and cuddle with the humans. Big boy Brophey spends a lot of time sleeping and eating. And the others haven't done anything to make them stand out just yet.

I can't believe 3 weeks are up already. One more week and half of my time with the puppies is already gone. Hard to believe it! On that note, I better go snuggle them close because before I know it, they will be heading off to new homes.

There are still three puppies not spoken for from the litter, so if anybody's looking - get in touch. These are some mighty sweet and adorable little ones.