July 6 Pupdate

The little pupsters were quiet until 6ish this morning. I realized part of why when I came down and 3 little black dogs were sitting in the ex pen instead of the crate. The 2 little brown girls, Bela and Carrera, were safely locked into the other but were being quiet, too. Neither of them had any potty troubles though. One of the other puppies had peed on the paper during the night. At least the crate door I didn’t get latched was the one into the ex pen and they weren’t out in the rubber room.

They routinely escape from the back yard now, I spent a large part of the evening reinforcing and staking down orange fencing – they leap on it like a hammock and then wriggle under the bottom when it gives and then climb out the other fence. Indy broke one of the temporary posts over the weekend so it was even easier for them to get out. I think I have it fixed now but we won’t know until in the morning when I let them out.


They are pretty lively for almost 2 hours in the morning now before they need to settle in for naps. I’ve been crating some of them during nap time, together and alone and there is minimal fussing if any. Sometimes the fussing is more from the puppies outside the crate than the one in it.

They have discovered the full joys of shredding paper. They’ve enjoyed playing with it for quite some time but they have elevated itto a new level. Not satisfied to tear up the loose piece I give them so I can deal with the potty station, they have been shredding the one that I fold all around the plastic potty pan. Instead of using a crate pan, I got a Ugopet and I put alfalfa pellets (the rabbit food that still smells like grass) underneath the grid. I then cover that with the paper so they don’t fling alfalfa pellets all over the house. They have been lying there shredding the paper around the edges where it is folded under. Maybe I should wrap their chew toys in paper to make them more interesting ;-)

I managed to get a nap in this afternoon while they were having afternoon siestas. Since the decent weather is early in the am, I have been staying up and letting them play when we get up in the mornings and then doing last call late enough that they don’t have to potty in their crates during the night. It’s counterproductive to crate training if I don’t get them out in time. The big dogs don’t even show interest in getting up with them when I take the puppies through their room on the way outside, they understand sleeping until a decent hour.

Jill is still nursing them a couple of times a day but she has stopped trying to clean up after them. I think she is just nursing them as a formality to keep her influence with them. They are quite intrigued by Jack who doesn’t like them jumping and chewing on him. He generally just avoids them but for some reason, they make a beeline for him. Since he isn’t allowed to jump or run, I have to make sure I keep them away from him.

I think it’s time for nighty, nighty, nighty for the little dogs and me, too. Bruce is going to be sad to see them puppies go, too – he’ll have to go back to doing last call ;-)