Life is full of surprises and new discoveries, especially if you are a six week old puppy!  You never know what new thing you'll experience next - a bath, a new chew toy, visitors, new sounds, and on and on.  Violet's puppies are becoming very active, curious, and social.  The pictures will speak for themselves... (Click on their names to access their individual pages and click on the photos to bring up a box where you can flip through the gallery with the full image.)

At six weeks old, the puppies' weights were as follows: Cole - 3lbs, 11oz; Anita - 3lbs, 10oz; Ethel - 3lbs, 9oz; Naomi - 3lbs, 8oz; Anne - 3lbs, 5oz; and Starla - 2lbs, 14oz.

Food for the puppies is changing quite a bit.  Violet only feeds them a few times throughout the day.  Violet no longer spends the majority of the day with them; she can come and go freely in the whelping area.  She pays a few visits to them a day, and lets the rest of their care up to us.  We feed them three times a day with softened food in milk.  We are upping the food to milk ratio in favor of the food.  The goal is to have them on dry food by seven weeks.  We also now offer them water.

And, we now have lots of puppy teeth!  Chewing is a very important part of a puppy's life - it aids in reliving teething pain, it helps them explore their big, new world, and it's simply an enjoyable activity.  Chewing is not a problem in dogs, but chewing on the incorrect items is a problem.  We begin their training by not allowing them to chew on our fingers and toes.  For some reason, puppies love toes!  Instead of people, we steer them towards some healthy chewing options.  We love Life's Abundance chew products because many of them are a single ingredient!  No unhealthy additives.

We've given the puppies plenty of new experiences since our last update - hearing the lawn mower and weed eater from a distance, playing with various balls, playing with different textures of chew toys, going outside in the dark, meeting guests that came over (including a toddler who was in love with them), and much more.

On the house training front, these little guys are well on their way!  Thanks to the lovely weather we've been having (warm without a lot of rain), we take this litter outside every few hours.  It is amazing how quickly they prefer the outdoors to their "potty box" inside.  While I tell families taking puppies home that their puppy is not house trained, they are doing a very good job!  They are absolutely ready for crate training as they keep their bedding area spotlessly clean.  However, with puppies, accidents are inevitable - enter Life's Abundance Biodeodizer spray!

If you'd ask us what are some must-have product for puppies, this biodeodizer spray would be at the top of our list.  It is safe to use around pets and children, and it eliminates the odor naturally with viable bacteria cultures.  I haven't found a surface yet that I can't use it on - including ones that come in to direct contact with the puppy, such as crates and bedding.  

As this will be my last post for this litter, I will answer some frequently asked questions for those families taking a precious bundle home with them soon.

What bathing and grooming products do you use?  My crew of mini schnauzers gets a bath using Life's Abundance Revitalizing Shampoo and a mist of Life's Abundance Bath Fresh Mist. The mist is also helpful to freshen them up between baths.  For grooming, if I were told I could have only one grooming tool in my house, it would be a simple comb (as in the human kind).  When brushed weekly, mini schnauzers do not typically get mats and tangles.  I occasionally use a slicker brush.  Rarely, I pull out my dematting tool to get a stubborn tangle.

What flea and tick products do you recommend?  We do not treat our puppies with any flea and tick medicine.  (We do deworm and vaccinate them, but no flea and tick medicine.)  We choose not to use flea and tick products due to their small size.  In addition, they live in a low-risk environment because all our adult dogs and cats are treated with Bravecto.  You should discuss flea and tick prevention at your first vet visit.  Since Bravecto is not recommended for use until after 6 months old, I would recommend using Frontline on your puppy once he/she is 10 weeks old or five pounds.

What do I need to purchase before bringing my puppy home?  See my blog about puppy shopping here.

Will my puppy be house trained when he/she comes home at 8 weeks?  No.  Your puppy will be ready for crate training when he/she comes home.  We do the Misty Method of house training for our puppies.  They have a basic understanding of a place to sleep, play, and potty at 8 weeks old.  They are ready to begin crate training at 8 weeks, but they are not house trained!  This litter has been doing well with the Misty Method.  They consistently keep their bedding area free of potty accidents.  Most of their potty business goes outside or in their potty box on the newspaper.

Is it hard for your children when the puppies go home?  Yes and no, and harder for some than for others.  My children understand the responsibility and the training an 8 week old puppy requires because we’ve had the privilege of raising our adults from puppies.  They love playing with the puppies and are, of course, sad to see them go.  At the same time, they get to see the joy a puppy brings to someone else.  We try to encourage them as the puppies grow that we are helping get them ready for their new family.  Another thing that softens the blow of seeing their puppies leave is that new life is part of a homestead - every year we typically welcome puppies, goats, and kittens.  So, our children may or may not seem sad when you pick up your puppy, but they say their goodbyes before your arrival to limit any teary last-minute goodbyes.

Thanks for following along as these precious little bundles "grew up."  We will spend the next two weeks continuing their socialization and giving them the very best care.  They will have their first vet visit, and we will get them all ready to go home.  Thanks for joining us on this journey!

For a new twist on my puppy litter updates, I decided to do an hour by hour update for one day for the puppies to give you an idea what they are actually doing at this adorable age of almost five weeks.  Most hours I took a picture as well, but not all.  The puppies also did things in between the hours that I did not record.  

The puppies' day begins early as we up early to milk our goats and get ready for work.  At 6:00AM, the puppies had just been fed by Violet.  She was busy finishing feeding them and licking anyone clean who needed it.

At 7:00, Violet was snuggled down resting with the puppies, which is becoming a rarity as they get older and more active.  Please note the ear cocked for trouble and puppy on her back; she's such a good mom!

At 8:00, I was giving the puppies their first nail trim.  Their little nails become sharp and tend to get hooked on their bedding.  CJ was helping me keep track of who was done and who wasn't while he played with the puppies.

At 9:00, the puppies were sleeping, but we woke them up to take them outside and feed them.  They had their first foray outside over the weekend.  Now, they are warming up to the outdoors and enjoying the extra freedom to romp and play, as well as being socialized to all kinds of outdoor sounds.  Food is also a new development in their lives.  We introduced goat milk to them early this week to teach them how to lap.  (For those of you who are new around here, we have our own dairy goats, and therefore, fresh milk to aid in weaning the puppies.  Goat milk enjoys a reputation of being gentle on stomach and highly nutritious.)  After they learned to lap, we are now adding softened Life's Abundance Small & Medium Breed puppy food to the milk.  It makes an Oliver-Twist like gruel that they find so appetizing!

At 10:00, the puppies were sleeping.  Ditto at 11:00.

At 12:00, the puppies were just waking up.  Usually upon waking, they will wander away from the bedding area to go to the bathroom.  Many times, they go in the potty box, where we just keep layering clean newspaper to keep it clean while preserving the scent.  If they do in the "play area," then we quickly wipe it up with Life's Abundance Biodeodorizer, which not only cleans, but helps destroy the scent.

At 1:00, they were playing in their play area.  We are giving them various toys to explore.  2:00 and 3:00 found them snoozing away again.

At 4:00, we took them outside again for another meal.  We are feeding them twice a day right now, as Violet still feeds them as well.  We will be increasing to three times a day soon.

At 5:00, they were settling in for nap, but not all asleep yet.  Notice how they still sleep all in a pile.  At 6:00, some were still sleeping and some were playing.

And I'll close this week again with snapshots from the week; thanks for stopping by!

Sitting here to type up this post, I kept coming back to one picture that sums up where the puppies are right now...

Notice Cole is alert and tuned into what's going around him, and he's resting comfortably observing it all while learning to enjoy human interaction.  The puppies are very aware of their surroundings now.  However, they lack the ability to sit and walk with much dexterity, which is quite age appropriate for one month old puppies.  They are starting to take wobbly steps - mostly to try to get to Violet or to tussle with a sibling.  They can sit for a short period of time if we prop them up, but they prefer this reclining position you see Cole in above.  So, let's take a look at the crew!  (Note: Each puppy has his/her own page - click on their names to access their individual pages.)

At one month old, the puppies still receive one hundred percent of their nutrition from Violet.  Their weights as of one month old are as follows: Ethel & Cole - 2lbs, 5oz; Anita - 2lbs, 3oz; Anne - 2lbs, 2oz; Naomi - 2lbs, 1oz; and Starla 1lb, 13oz.  They don’t have teeth yet; though one of my children thought they felt one erupting this week.  Water is not necessary for the puppies yet as Violet faithfully provides all they need (and we faithfully make sure she has her food, water, and vitamins).  We chose Life’s Abundance for Violet's fare because it is packed with nutrition rather than corn and wheat fillers.  It’s made here in the USA, and there’s never been a recall on their food.  We like and use Life's Abundance products so much that we are representatives for the company, and you can buy their products through us (ID 20249934).

We introduced a “potty area” to them this week as they are now somewhat mobile.  As I said, they can take tottery steps, which means it is house training time!  At this age, we put the potty area right outside their whelping box.  Puppies will naturally seek to be away from the pack to relieve themselves; we give them no option of anywhere else to go except the potty area.  As they learn to use it, we then open up their living space to add a play area.  (You can read more about our house training process here and here.  Also, read about the Misty Method.)

Let's wrap up this week again with candid shots from around the house - these puppies are getting plenty of early socialization!