Week 5 Wrap Up

The days are flying by…

The puppies are leaving us in a few short weeks and entering their new worlds.

Next week, their new families will be stopping by to pick out who their loyal companion will be. They’ll go from an environment where they share the attention of 10 other brothers and sisters, to new homes where they will be the center of it.

I’m excited to meet all of the new families, and confident that they’ll take great care of our little pups.

Addie is still being the best mom there is.

Everyday she stands at the puppy pen, and cries to go in. We open it and she does her laps around, to ensure her den is clean and up to her standards. She can’t lay down to feed them anymore (they don’t give her any time to) so she stands up, stretching her body as far as it can go to give everyone milk who wants it.

By this time last litter, she didn’t want to feed them anymore. Can you blame her? Their teeth are really sharp and they scratch her while kneading for milk.

But she doesn’t care, they’re her babies.

At this age, they are getting feisty, and teaching each other who the leader of the puppy pen is. They bite each other’s collars and ears, to show dominance within their little environment. It’s interesting to watch them and try to understand the dynamic they’ve created.

One will bite the other’s collar and they’ll either retaliate or try and run away. They’ve created a pecking order and are teaching each other how strong they are, how to get attention and how to join the social life of dogs.

If Addie hears a little bark or yelp from someone getting beat up, she runs in as fast as she can to break it up. It’s funny, they know what her presence means. They all stop what they’re doing and run to her. Although she doesn’t go in the pen, she does help keep the puppy peace.

I tend to wonder if Addie is trying harder this time because her puppies left her last time (minus Ivy of course). Does she think that she wasn’t a good enough mom so we relocated them? This time, she has given them more attention than she ever has. She’s so loving and cares more about them than you can imagine. It will be good for her when they go to their new homes, and she can go back to being a pond dog…diving for tennis balls and swimming all day long.

Today’s Lesson: nature vs. nurture. There are some qualities that we get genetically and there are other we get from the product of our environment. I know all of these puppies will be good dogs, why? From their mom. I also know that they’re learning little skills that teach them how to act in the real world due to the environment they’re raised in. While biting each other in their pen, they’re teaching their litter mates so much more than just who they need to respect. Raising them in an environment with other dogs are constant human interaction, will help raise them to be loving, compassionate and social dogs.

#blog-53