Tachi's 2022 Puppies ~ 3.5 Weeks Old

Come take a look at our litter of mini schnauzer puppies!  Click on their pictures for more photos and details and scroll down for an update on the puppies!

Tachi's puppies are growing and changing every day!  We feel blessed to have another healthy litter of adorable puppies.  At 3.5 weeks, these pups are beginning to wake up to world outside the nest of their whelping box.  We are starting to hear little yips and to see little play sessions where the puppies tumble over each other.  Sleep is still paramount, however, and they snooze most of the day away while growing!

The puppies weights are as follows: Gabe - 1lb, 10oz; Eleanor - 1lb, 14oz; Angel - 2lbs, 1oz; Anna - 2lbs, 5oz; Toby, Mary, & Liza - 2lbs, 6oz; and Gloria - 2lbs, 9oz.  Their diet is largely through Tachi's milk alone.  We have begun the weaning process (see photos below) by offering them goat milk from our homestead.  Goat milk is gentle on their tummies and delicious - the perfect way to begin their transition to food.

The puppies are able to belly crawl and take wobbly steps at 3.5 weeks old.  As they take more tottering, purposeful steps in the next week, we'll continue to work on house training by keeping their bed area and play areas clean. We follow the Misty Method, which we have found prepares our little ones for crate training when they go home at 8 weeks old.  The Misty Method also helps the puppies learn there is a place to sleep, play, and potty.  (Read more about our house training here and here.)

Tachi is yet again making mothering a litter look easy!  We continue to monitor her, making sure all her needs are met.  She’s a real supermom – caring for all of their needs from eating to staying clean.  Our care for the puppies at this stage involves caring well for Tachi; she then takes care of all their needs.  (See what we feed her below and read all about it on our nutrition page.)  We also keep their whelping area clean by changing the bedding several times a day and spraying it with Life's Abundance Biodeodizer, a safe, gentle cleaning product that eliminates odors.

What we feed our adult dogs; Tachi may eat all she wants as she nurses her puppies. Our other adult dogs get 2/3 cups per day.

Vitamins we add to Tachi's diet for extra support during pregnancy and lactation. We recommend these for any stressful times in a dog's life - going home, vaccinations, growth periods, etc.

Kid and pet friendly spray we use for the puppies' whelping area, dog crates, and lots of other household spills! This is fabulous for house training accidents as it smells pleasant and ELIMINATES the odor.

As the puppies are becoming aware of the world around them, we want to give them many varied experiences to build their confidence and socialize them well.  We keep the new experiences brief and positive in order to show them that new things are safe and interesting.  Much of their socialization to a home setting happens without any effort on our part because we raise them in our home in a room right off our kitchen.  They hear all the sounds of a kitchen and laundry room - washing machine, timers beeping, family dinner chatter (and just family chatter in general), vacuum noises, radios, and more.  All the while, the puppies are learning how to interact with people and their environment.  

You may wonder why we have a focus on brief, positive, new experience for our puppies.  Puppies are naturally open to the world around them.  This "window of socialization" closes around a few months old.  If puppies learn young to accept new things, they will be much more flexible as an adult to accept new people and places.  When you bring an eight week puppy home from us (or any breeder), do not consider them "socialized."  We lay a solid foundation of socialization, but then the responsibility rests upon their new families to expose them in positive ways to new things.  One of the best things we have done for socialization is basic obedience training at a local dog training club; it's an investment you won't regret!

I'll close with snapshots from the week.  Lots of winter snuggles on the couch!