The biggest development is the emergence of their retrieving/carrying instincts. All of the puppies are now carrying around small toys in their mouths and looking mighty proud of themselves. We have made small fleece ropes and these are one of their favourite things to carry. They also carry soft toy balls and one puppy even picked up a kong! 

Everyday we make our kitchen into a puppy play area, by closing off one end with an ex-pen. We put mats down so that they don't slip on the lino floor, a newspaper potty area, and several interesting things for them to explore. They have a short table in there that they can go under and Tally can get up on to get away from them if she needs to. We do two shifts, five puppies at a time. We sit in there with them as well. We have put several cardboard boxes in there for them to climb in and on. They have an assortment of items that they can roll around and carry. They are very bold and inquisitive and really enjoy exploring the play area. They also like to climb up into our laps for petting.

Today we put some metal objects in their play area (some canning jar rings and a few keys on a key ring). Many dogs don't like picking up metal, but if they get used to it when they are younger, it's not an issue. We were curious to see what young puppies would do. Well, they thought metal objects are just grand things to carry around. Several of them picked up and carried the canning rings and some played with the keys. Perhaps there will be some utility dogs in this group?! (dogs have to find and retrieve metal dumbells in the highest level of obedience). Of course we were too busy playing with the puppies to actually take any photos..... maybe next time.

Perhaps the most exciting day yet, for the puppies. They got to discover OUTSIDE! We took them out in two teams of five (so that we could hope to keep track of them!). Tally helped out as well. We thought that they might be a bit apprehensive about such a new experience, but they marched right out into the grass and proceeded to chew on it, gallop across it and generally have a brilliant time. They wandered here and there, but when we called "pup pup pup", they would come trotting back to us. Tally was a great help in supervising the whole experience and allowing the puppies to refuel as needed!

Tonight we have very tired puppies!

Not surprisingly, Andy took a lot of photos......it was so nice not to have to use a flash for once!

Today the puppies got to have another outside play session. This time in a pen filled with fun things. The puppies thought that the pan filled with water was the best part.... they are water dogs after all.

The puppies are starting in to the "little hooligan" phase. They like to drag around and rip up the newspaper in their pen, grab and bite eachother, pull on our clothing.....and so on.

They have developed a new and not very desirable behaviour - sleeping in the litter box. The litter box is filled with newspapers and they are generally pretty good about going in to it to pee and poop. The plan was to replace the newspaper with Carefresh (a very absorbant wood pulp product). We tried it once and they had a great time eating it and tracking it all over the place, so we removed it right away and will try again when they are older. Anyway, you can imagine the mess now that they pee, poop AND sleep in the litter box. Sigh. After introducing chicken to their diet earlier this week, they had some diarrhea overnight and the mess and smell we woke up to on Wednesday morning was unbelievable. Several of the puppies had to have mini baths in the bathroom sink. Their digestive systems are back to normal now and things are much cleaner again. All part of the fun of raising puppies.

This afternoon our friend Sarah came out and helped play with and feed the puppies, as well cut nails. Here are some photos from that adventure...