Gallery of First Impressions Week One

Week one got off to a bit of a rough start but by the end of the week everything had settled down. Atiya looks tired but she was a good mother to her puppies and stayed with them 24 hours a day for the first week... that's commitment! The puppies like to feel close to mama and Atiya was clearly cradling them in her forearms. So many to care for!

Week two can be summarized as a big sleep and eat fest! As you can see from the photos the puppies have been very busy putting on weight! There have been intense burst of activity with all 11 puppies searching for food, followed by long periods of sleep and rest. By supplementing Atiya's milk with a bottle the pups have already learned to associate my voice with something yummy and make a very good attempt at moving in my direction when called. On the last day of the week their eyes started popping open. It seemed like every hour another one could see! Once their eyes are open all bets are off. They switch from eating, sleeping machines to little actions packets. We should get down to some serious fun in week three as they begin to learn the meaning of playtime!

Week three was an easy week with the puppies. Their sleep was interrupted by intense bouts of complaining for food and then it was back to sleep. The end of week three saw the introduction their first puppy pap. Of course eating any new food is messy business for the pups and they received their first bath-in-the-bucket. Floating in warm water is something they find immensely comforting and they seemed content with the whole process. In some of the pictures you can see that they appear to have sand on their fur or they look rather wet. This is the remnants of an earlier meal where the sticky puppy pap was wiped off with a towel. They also spent their first afternoon solo outside in their pen. It was a bit scary at first but mama came in to check every so often and I made sure to rush in and rescue whoever had wandered a bit too far away. A hole half meter can seem far to a puppy! Fresh air and some warm sun tanning has relaxed everyone. There is space for the more adventurous to wonder around and explore. Week four will be defined by the idea of play time.