Tachi's 2019 Puppies ~ 4 Weeks Old

​4 weeks old!  It is hard to believe that half our time with these babies is already passed.  The puppies are becoming a lot more “fun” in the past week as they are now up and romping with each other and interacting with us.  These play periods are very short lived, as they still snooze away most of the day and night.  The children were sure they needed a toy this week so we added a blue ball to the whelping area.

Zeke inspects the new ball

​Feeding them is becoming more our responsibility and less Tachi’s.  Tachi has shown us some signs that she is ready to wean them – mainly spending less time with them.  As opposed to spending a lot of time with them in the beginning, she now goes in mainly to feed them.  Ten puppies at 4 weeks old is almost impossible for Tachi to feed – there simply is not enough room!  Therefore, we have increased our feeds up to 3 a day – morning, noon, and evening.  Just this morning, we started added softened food with the milk.  We start our puppies on Life’s Abundance Small & Medium Breed puppy food.  We highly recommend this food for puppies!  When our puppies go home, they will be on this food with no added milk or water.

​The puppies continue to grow nicely.  Their 4 week weights are posted on their pages.  Their weights are as follows: Amelia – 2lbs, 10oz; Zeke & JD – 2lbs, 8oz; Chester – 2lbs, 6oz; Auggie & Everest – 2lbs, 5oz; Zuma – 2lbs, 4oz; Ivan – 2lbs, 3oz; Faith – 2lbs; and Tracker – 1lb, 14oz.

We dewormed the puppies this past week.  We will continue to deworm them every two weeks until they go home.  Deworming puppies is simply a standard procedure for us.  We also will be taking a fecal to the vet when they go for their health check-up to be sure they are worm and parasite free.
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In addition to physical growth, the puppies are growing in their repertoire of sounds and experiences.  Since the weather is beautiful, our windows are open and they are hearing lots of new sounds at a safe, far-off distance that does not frighten them.  This past week they heard a lawn mower, power tools, vehicles, a rototiller, gun shots (we live near State Game lands where some hunting was taking place), and, of course, the sounds of children playing – bikes, rollerblades, balls bouncing, etc.  The puppies got to experience grass and rocks during their photo shoot.  One lucky puppy – Faith – also got to meet our curious kitten.  The rest of the puppies will get to meet the kittens later, as well as the goats.

Faith meets our kitten, Margaret - don't you love Faith's confidence as the smaller party?

Another new experience for them was getting their "real" collars.  Prior to this, they were wearing ribbon whelping bands from Lupine.  Now, they are wearing 6-9 inch collars from Lupine.  (Lupine is a New Hampshire based company that makes quality collars and leashes; most of their products come with a lifetime guaranteed even if chewed!)  Our children love their new collars because they come in fun designs.  They got to pick a collar for their puppy, and this is the collar the puppies will be wearing when they go home.

​I will close again with snapshots from the week.  The adult schnauzer you see is Aunt Jolly meeting Ivan.  We allow our adult schnauzers brief interactions with the puppies at this age and more as they grow.  The last 3 pictures are EJ and MJ trying to help me take their weekly update photos.  Notice how the puppies are watching the children.  MJ was sure peek-a-boo would get Auggie to look at the camera.
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Thanks, as always, for stopping by!