This week we started sound exposure. Each day the puppies are exposed to new sounds and experiences. These early exposure activities help puppies grow in confidence so that in the future, they can approach new experiences without fear and stress.
PART 2: What’s in our Go-Home bag!? Paperwork and resources (and why I included what I do)
What’s in our Go-Home bag?? PART 1!!
When your human mom lets you play outside after three days of rain.
Just getting a lil’ drink. We sure are going to miss these puppies. 😭 I can’t believe most of them will be gone in just two weeks. That went waaaay to fast!
The puppies have a new playground in the garage! This is not where they sleep but rather a place they can visit throughout the day to get exercise and enrichment when it’s too cold or wet to go outside. My last litter was born in the summer so we set up their playground outside on our covered patio, but it’s been too cold and wet this spring for our pups to have a daily exercise spot outdoors. We will still take them out to play on the grass everyday, as much as possible, when it’s not raining. This play area will rotate a variety of enrichment opportunities for the pups: a slide, two sizes of tunnels, kiddie pool (upside down to climb on), ball pit, jungle gym, wobble board, ramp, large bouncy balls, raised platform for climbing practice, pool noodles, toy wheel barrel and whatever else I can think of. Fun times!
I am so proud of this little guy. Twice today I was filming Grey while he played with new toys and as soon as he saw me, he stopped, sat and gave me his full attention. This behavior is called manding and it’s something we are working on with all the puppies. When puppies learn to mand, they have the power to communicate with humans in a way that humans appreciate (as opposed to jumping on the human, which is completely appropriate and normal puppy behavior but isn’t liked by most humans). I love how he got visibly excited when I started to praise him but still maintained his sitting position. What an awesome thing it is to watch these incredibly complex and intensely social creatures learn and grow in skills that will empower them to bond with their humans.
I am so proud of this little guy. Twice today I was filming Grey while he played with new toys and as soon as he saw me, he stopped, sat and gave me his full attention. This behavior is called manding and it’s something we are working on with all the puppies. When puppies learn to mand, they have the power to communicate with humans in a way that humans appreciate (as opposed to jumping on the human, which is completely appropriate and normal puppy behavior but isn’t liked by most humans). I love how he got visibly excited when I started to praise him but still maintained his sitting position. What an awesome thing it is to watch these incredibly complex and intensely social creatures learn and grow in skills that will empower them to bond with their humans.
Red is ready to play. Pink is seriously uninterested.
Pepper loves to sleep in weird positions, a trait she’s obviously passed down to her offspring.
How does one go about falling asleep like this??
Giselle worked on teaching the puppies to mand this morning while I cleaned their cage. Manding is the act of asking for something with a certain behavior. In other words, puppy manners! We want to teach the pups to sit and focus on a human instead of jumping to get what they want and need. Notice in the video how Brown and Orange stay calm when Giselle jumps up and briefly steps inside the box, turning to stay focused on her but not moving out of the “sit” position. We’ve been working on this for less than two days. 😭☺️🙌 These puppies are so smart and ready to learn.
Mr. Green and Mr. Lime. @lauramolin61
Mr. Blue is so playful. He was the first to approach the slide and fist to figure out how to climb up it the wrong way. 🤣 He is our only solid black puppy. It will be interesting to see what his coat looks like as he matures. Pepper was solid black as a puppy but faded to a beautiful mix of white, silver and gray.
Pupdate time! Puppies will be 4 weeks tomorrow. Halfway to their go-home day!