The puppies are growing and doing so well! They are getting more interested in playing and doing a great job crossing the little doorway area from their sleeping/potty area to their play area. Potty training is getting an early start, and the puppies are starting to catch on. In the morning as they wake up, we place them on their puppy pad and praise them when they go potty. They often wander onto it when they need to go during the day, but if not, we will gently move them to the pad if we think they are needing to go potty.
We are working on socializing by adding new toys with different textures and sounds to help them learn that discovering new things is fun and safe. We want them to be well-adjusted and easy-going dogs! We also want them prepared for grooming, so we handle their paws and toenails, eye area, tails, and teeth each day. It is a good idea to continue this after bringing them home to help them feel comfortable during grooming sessions.
Another important aspect of socialization is exposing the puppies to lots of different sounds to help normalize them and to prevent dogs that are skittish. That is why it is so important for breeders to raise puppies in homes and not in outside kennels or in rooms that are far off from where they spend most of their time. Our puppies are exposed to the many normal every day sounds of our house and family (including 4 kids). We also play YouTube videos so that they can be exposed to other sounds that are not found every day at our house, but that we want them to be used to at a young age. Sounds like fireworks, loud vehicles, and city sounds.
