March 22, 2015 Pupdate

Big day here in the holler. Puppies continue to be absolutely adorable and are growing like weeds. Dog Cindi and LeAnne came to play with the babies. We did a little grooming n between puppy cuddling. The puppies had an introduction to formula, they ate some and wore some and then ate it off of each other. Their mama cleaned up the rest in the pan and then their Aunt SammieDoodlebug cleaned them up again. I know you'll be surprised to hear they were extremely cute doing that.
They are starting to get good at playing with each other and are playing with toys and people, too. They watch what's going on outside the pen some, too. They don't have any teeth yet but they are starting to gum on people and each other. They make little growly and barky sounds and lurch at the intended target. They also attempt to use their paws. Sometimes, they lose their balance and flop over but that doesn't seem to bother them much. They either waller back up or roll over and find a new target.
LeAnne and I took the dogs who aren't nursing puppies for a little jaunt to the pond. Bela was NOT happy with that turn of events at all. It was time for her to eat her chicken but she wasn't having any of that until we came back. She was fine as soon as we came in the gate. I don'think she'd have been interested in going with us, she doesn't even want to go out of the gated yard to potty (the puppies might need her) but she wasn't happy that they went without her. They all went in the pond - even JillyBean swam a little (she's usually more of a wader unless she's swimming to me out in the boat) and fortunately the geese appear to have moved along. I don't mind them stopping here as they migrate but I don't like it if they try to nest. I think the pond was still pretty chilly but they didn't mind. Hope it warms up enough for the baby dogs to swim in a few weeks. There is always the pool but it's a little easier to make sure the pupsters can get out of the pond.
We held a weight watcher's meeting, those little suckers are definitely sucking. They've gained an average of 20% of their body weight from last Tuesday. Some of them have gained a little more - Vespu gained a pound! We have 24.86 percent more puppy goodness than at the meeting last Tuesday. LeAnne is going to make us some charts/graphs to make the weight watcher's reports more interesting ;-)
I changed the pen a little again while they were here to guard the puppies in the whelping pool. Dog Cindi had a little trouble containing them but they weren't attempting to get out of the pool everywhere, they were just trying to come out to her ;-) It's a pretty sweet problem to experience, I highly recommend it.
We each took a turn in the freshly changed pen. That's another experience I highly recommend. Even if the puppies are sleeping, they are sweet but there is usually at least one or two awake and interacting with you. They nuzzle and lick and chew and cuddle. Plenty of puppy breath to be had.
Speakng of puppy breath, we're sending virtual puppy breath to all and saying Nighty, Nighty, Nighty (after a little more cuddling)