From puppy to dog...

July 28: A chorus of yips and cries begins sometime between 5 and 5:30am.  The puppies are up and anxious for breakfast.  The morning routine is a predictable schedule: Sophie goes out for a walk and then joins the pups so they can nurse. While Sophie is not visibly impatient with the pups, she is not especially interested in spending any extra time with them, beyond what is needed to let them nurse.  I shower and feed Sophie and begin heating goat milk to be added to the kibble which has been soaked and ground into manageable chunks.  The pups take a turn with the kibble and Sophie happily eats up the leftovers. The pups turned five weeks two days ago and they are little dogs now!  They play and cry and sleep and show affection-to each other and to me.  They are alternately cuddly and squirmy and are incessantly curious about everything that comes in and out of their pen.  Several bottom teeth have now appeared and when the pups were out of the pen playing during a recent evening we were “owwww-ing” our way through their play session as they bit at our ankles.  The pups are increasingly focused on each other and their interactions have begun to establish a hierarchy. The Monks note that “puppy play is anything but frivolous.  Not only does it develop muscle coordination but it also exposes the pups to spontaneous social situations they must learn to handle…Play-fighting is usually kept friendly, and, particularly early in this period, pups easily exchange roles as play-fights become highly ritualized periods of learning.” Sometimes the play-fighting leads to loud (and presumably fierce) growling.  More typically they chase each other around the pen, biting tails and climbing on top of each other.  After this period of intense play, each pup flops down for a nap. I try to introduce new toys to the pen every few days.  Today the favorite toy was a tiny stuffed animal which Little Pink claimed as her own.  Once puppies are well socialized to each other, they will enter more fully into the development of relationships with the people in their world.  This period of “socialization with people” as well as increased exposure to the bigger world is a critical part of the pups’ development between five and twelve weeks of age.