Today I have a special edition of the blog - a video update featuring each of the puppies.  We gave them their first bath and brushing today.  Though they do not always appreciate their first bath, we keep it positive with much petting and encouraging voice tones.  The brushing is much more enjoyable for them.  After the bath and brushing, they somehow have a burst of energy.  We took these videos right after their after-bath romp. 

Tatiana & Sadie
Flicka & Tyke
Jack & Leroy
Autumn & Gracie

Let's begin today with the puppies' updated photos because they are simply adorable!  Look at the intelligence and personality shining out of those little faces.  Click on their pictures to go to their individual pages for more photos and details on each puppy.

This four to five week age is my all time favorite time to take puppy photos because they can sit, they are interested in the world around them, but they are not always on the move (yet).  What you can't see is that they do not always sit perfectly still.  Let's take Sadie for example....

The puppies' world and experiences is expanding daily.  Since we raise them in home (in RV this time around), they are naturally exposed to all the daily family things.  In the past weeks, they've experienced sitting around a campfire, watching us eat meals, watching/hearing the children play backyard games like Can Jam, kickball, and baseball, hearing sounds of cleaning (including the vacuum cleaner), hearing a myriad of far-off tool sounds, experiencing various terrains from rocks to grass to beds to pillows to concrete to linoleum, and so much more!  Even at this age, the puppies spend most of their day sleeping, but each day they are getting more awake and ready to romp.

If your are a long-time blog reader, you know that begin house training our puppies at three weeks old.  Please visit my past blog here to learn about how we do that.  For this litter with the beautiful Pennsylvania June weather, we take them out many, many times a day to go potty.  It always amazes me how quickly they prefer going outside.

This age is also the age we begin the weaning process.  We begin using fresh goat milk from our homestead.  Goat milk is great place to start because it is gentle on their tummies, and it teaches them to lap.  Starting today, we will begin offering them Life's Abundance Small & Medium Breed Puppy Food soaked in milk.  Through all this, they are still getting fed by and cared for by their attentive mother Violet.

Above are the sire and dam of our current litter.  Violet is the darker one in the back.  She is the daughter of Tachi & Cooper, and the only puppy of our own we've ever kept and raised.  She is sweet and docile, and loves to follow MJ or me around the house at all times.  Pickett is the great-grandson of our first schnauzer ever - Little Miss Jolly.  He is a very light salt & pepper.  (His son Tyke will likely look a lot like him.)  He is our son CJ's dog.  He's an energetic, fun-loving dog who enjoys a good run - see videos here and  here.

We will close the week again with some candid shots!  Several of these adorable little puppies are still available as of the posting of this blog.  Please contact us if interested!

Hello from our puppy snuggle corner of the world!  I started off today with my two favorite photos from this past week - I am always trying to catch their adorable puppy yawns, and I snagged one of Sadie's.  And Flicka showcased perfectly for me how the puppies are starting to be alert to the world around them.  Below are the puppies individual pictures.  Click on the pictures to go to their individual pages for even more photos!

The puppies are growing and changing almost daily.  Their weights are as follows: Gracie & Autumn 1lb, 4oz; Flicka & Tatiana 1lb, 5oz; Leroy 1lb, 6oz; Tyke & Jack 1lb, 7oz; and Sadie 1lb, 9oz.  They are begin to toddle around, getting their little bellies up off the ground.  (If you remember from my previous posts, puppies first move with a "swimming" motion across the ground.  Around this age, they start getting their bellies up and their little legs under them.)  They are getting close to being able to sit as well.

Their daily routine consists of eating and sleeping.  At this point, Violet takes care of their nutritional and hygiene needs.  Our care for them is our care for Violet.  We keep her fed with as much Life's Abundance All Stages food as she can eat, plus supplement her with extra calories through cottage cheese, eggs, and goat milk.  We also make sure she always has fresh, clean water.  I love watching the way she keeps them all spotlessly clean and fed.  She also loves to snuggle in with them all, which changes as they get older, but for now, they all sleep together in one cozy pile.

Here are three short video clips of when we took the group outside together for the first time in the lovely June sunshine - Video 1, Video 2, and Video 3.

Lastly, here are some snapshots from the week.  You can see they get lots of snuggle time in our RV.  Reading with a sleepy puppy is a lot of fun!  (Note: If you click on the pictures and scroll through, you will see more of the whole photo.)

Have a blessed day!  We will be back with more photos and updates as they grow!