Puppies - 1 Month Old!

Our puppies are one month old! They are at an absolutely adorable stage (as always, right?).  They are fun to photograph because they respond to noises and look alert, but don't scamper away to play the second I put them into position.  That will change.  Soon.  But for now, I'm enjoying capturing their inquisitive little black faces.  Be sure to click on the pictures above to go to their individual pages and SCROLL down for their latest pictures.  I put the newest pictures at the bottom.  I also added their 4 week weight under "details."  Bess is the biggest at 3lbs, 7oz, and Dolly is the smallest at 2lbs, 15oz.

It is at this stage that I feel like Jolly looks at me and says, "Well, I took care of them for a month; now it's your turn." We've moved them into a larger area, which you can see below.

Here you can see their sleeping area (where they are sleeping), their potty area (the newspaper), and their play area (everywhere else).  We use this set up to begin teaching them the basics of house training through the Misty Method.  Read my post from our last litter which explains the reason why we set up their living area in this way.

Of course, they don't spend all day in their whelping area.  Here are a few snapshots from their past week.

As I mentioned, I feel like we begin taking over their care this week.  One of the biggest ways we do this is by beginning the weaning process.  We started over the weekend trying to teach them to lap milk.  We use goat milk from our farm.  They are raised on Jolly's milk as long as possible, but around this age, puppies need to learn to eat on their own.  In the next few days, we will be begin soaking Purina puppy chow in milk until it is soft and then feeding it to the puppies.  A messy, but fun new step for the puppies.  Below is a picture of them learning to lap milk.  Right now, we dip their noses & they just lick their lips or their litter mate's lips.