The first two weeks of puppy development is quite amazing. Initially they spend 90% of the day nursing. This means that the health and happiness of the mother dog is one of the most critical aspects in keeping the puppies healthy. Annalie has been eating well and is a natural at caring for the new puppies.
As they move into their second week, they are beginning to open their eyes! Puppies are born both deaf and blind. Their sense of smell and touch have, up until now, helped them find their mom in order to nurse. From this point forward, the puppies will continue to develop their eyesight. Their ability to hear will also begin to develop in the next few days.
The puppies are already beginning to stand and crawl with a little more ease, and their development is awe inspiring. I am working on getting some videos up on the website.
Week One & Two
The pups are now three weeks old! As you can see, they have developed quite a bit. A few days ago they all spontaneously started playing. They now growl, bark, and wrestle. They are also moving around with more ease. Their interaction with each other and with their mother will continue to be a fundamental part of their social development. For this reason, it is wonderful that your pup has the chance to interact with lots of siblings! Each interaction teaches the pup how to behave and interact in the dog world.
The puppies are moving into a significant developmental phase as they cross the three-week barrier. Scientists claim that at three weeks, the puppy enters a socialization period that shapes how the puppy interacts and responds to the outside world. Puppies are like sponges during this period, and the lessons learned during this time influence a puppy’s behavior for the rest of its life. This period ranges from three to twelve weeks. For this reason, the breeder you choose can make a significant difference in your pup’s life. Our job for the next few weeks is to help your puppy become comfortable with the human world. We do this with the aim of making each puppy a better companion to you and your family.
The more positive interactions the puppies have with the outside world, the less fearful (and less aggressive) they will be when they grow into adults. Because of this, we will commit to exposing your puppy to as many different sights, sounds, touches, and experiences as we possibly can.
Week Three
These last two weeks have been exciting. The puppies are finding their way to a potty area (in their whelping box), and they are beginning to eat puppy food. We feed them raw food in the morning and kibble and goats milk in the evening. There are a lot of different philosophies about weaning puppies, so we take a middle of the road approach. We believe that nature is well designed, and because of that, the less we intervene in the process of things like weaning, the better off the puppies will be. Therefore, our goal is not to rush the pups to stop nursing (some people separate the mom from the puppies for significant parts of the day). We believe the puppies and the mom will suffer with that type of approach. With that being said, we also believe that the puppies need to be ready to go to their new homes around eight weeks; they also need to become human companions rather than wild dogs. An entirely natural approach to weaning would allow the pups to nurse for close to a year. Because we want the pups to bond to their new owners rather than just to their siblings and mother, we think it is important to begin developing a human/food relationship during this socialization period. Because of this, our goal is to encourage the puppies to eat solid food, and rely less and less on their mom's milk. This has already been a fun process, and the pups had no hesitation about eating puppy food. They dove right in!