3/27/05 - 3/28/05


	3/28/05 We've been adding new things to the puppies pens in both the living room and the back bedroom. A half dozen plastic Easter eggs are fun for them to break open and carry around on their noses. Cut up pieces from the insert inside a paper towel roll and little wads of bunched up paper are also popular for carrying. A little rubber ball with a jingle bell inside piques the pup's curiosity. The biggest hit this week has been the introduction to their big stuffed Holstein toy. In addition to sleeping with Flossy, they also like to tumble over her back and pull on her horns, ears and tail. We've had lots of new people visitors in the last few days: Mandy, Peter, Alex, Sandy, Kurt, Deb and Lyman all came for visits on Sunday and Monday brought Kit and Cari, Derek and Mike. We feed our dogs a raw (BARF - bones and raw food) diet. According to Dr. Ian Billinghurst (author of Grow Your Pups with Bones), you can begin introducing pups to raw meaty bones at about 3 weeks of age. The meaty bones are beyond the pups ability to eat at this point, but they will play with them, getting used to the smell, texture and taste of raw meaty bones. The pups have been tackling their chicken wings with gusto, licking, sucking and generally gumming them to pieces. Chili is happy to eat them when the puppies tire. Billinghurst also states that momma dog will often let you


	3/28/05 Second Awareness/Identification Period (28-35 days) Information from "Behavioral Development of Puppies" an article by Kathryn Lanam: During this week, play behavior becomes much more sophisticated including growling, chasing and "kill" games. Distance perception is much improved. Puppies need physical and mental challenges--things to move, chew on, climb on and carry and tug toys to share with littermates. Play helps develop strength, agility, coordination and skills to function as an adult. Puppies raised in environments lacking challenges are more likely to develop into fearful, less successful adults. More time should be spent individually with each puppy, observing the puppy's behavior when taken to a strange place. Behavioral characteristics will begin to be very different when the puppy is with its littermates than when it is by itself. Separating each puppy from the litter for increasingly longer periods of time will teach the puppy independence, prevent separation anxeity problems later in life and will encourage bonding and acceptance of humans.


	know when it is time to wean the pups by regurgitating food for the pups. I was just debating trying the pups on some solid food today when lo and behold, Chili urped up some food for them. Kind of yucky, but also a fascinating testimony to the principle of "mother knows best".