More visitors, and the best of all, a sprinkler to play in!  All of the puppies were quite interested in the water, some more than others. As Andy was taking photos, his camera strap and tripod were very interesting to the puppies.

In the afternoon they got to meet Maggie, our cat. She has been around all along, but Tally tended to herd her away from the puppies, so she mostly kept her distance from them. But is she getting braver, and while we had all the puppies out in the kitchen, she waited until they were mostly asleep and then walked right past them. #4 female was still awake and she got to sniff Maggie face-to-face, was rather fascinated with her bushy tail and then tried to nurse from her!  Maggie left at that point. Later Maggie came back and walked past the puppies again. Some of them got up to sniff her. They were nicely cautious, but friendly and wagging their tails. Quite a few of these puppies are going to homes with cats, so we will continue to encourage positive interactions with Maggie, but not let them chase or harrass her (although she is perfectly capable of standing up to a puppy!).

More adventures and things to learn...... Here's a brief summary:

Each puppy is getting to wear a collar when they spend individual time with us. There were a few bucking broncos at first, but they quickly ignored the collars as they were too busy playing.

Play sessions with Auntie Lupine are a big hit. She gets to play with 2-3 puppies at a time and just loves them. The puppys' favourite game is when Lupine lies down and they all pile on top of her. Then she takes off at great speed and lies down again. The puppies run as fast as they can to her, pile on top of her and the game begins again.... They also try to nurse from her and Lupine just stands there with a big grin on her face! Must try to get some photos of this.

The pups are starting to play riotous games of Tug-of-War with eachother (well not literally with eachother, there is always a toy involved!). They also have imaginary battles under our kitchen chairs, barking and play-bowing at eachother from opposite sides of the chair legs.

Their diet is getting a bit more varied. We have added ground vegetables, barley, oatmeal, yoghurt and fish oils to some of their meals. Oh yes, and Tally still regurgitates for them from time to time..... On Monday I threw a few home made dog cookies into their pen, thinking that it might keep them entertained for a while. In no time at all there were just crumbs left!

Carrying things is becoming a full-time occupation for all the puppies. Like their mother, they are very ambitious and try hard to carry the biggest thing they can find, including our large metal feeding bowls.

All the puppies were introduced to duck wings on Sunday. We were pleased that they all showed a lot of interest and most of them immediately picked it up and carried it around.

They experienced their first thunderstorm on Sunday, and they got to go outside in the pouring rain. The thunder didn't bother them at all - they didn't even seem to notice it.

The puppies are starting to get more comfortable wearing their collars. They still sit and scratch at them from time to time, but for the most part they don't notice them. We never leave them on unless we are there to watch them. We have them all colour-coded, which helps us tell the puppies apart at a quick glance.

We have also started feeding the puppies in closed crates for at least one meal a day. This gets them accustomed to having the door shut and they are also learning that crates are very good. We have to do it in shifts though, as we don't have 10 crates! 

The puppies are finally able to grasp the concept of "treats" - i.e. something yummy that comes from us and that they take gently from our hands. The cool part about this development is that we can now easily reward them for good behaviour. At lunchtime today we were able to call individual puppies to us, "click" (we use a clicker and "yes" to mark good behaviour) when they come running, and then reward with a small piece of a soft cookie. The early beginnings of a recall!

Another aspect of training that is coming along well is housetraining. The puppies are very good at peeing and pooping outside. They get lots of praise for doing this and we rarely have to clean up poop in their pen or the kennel run. Pee is another matter...... They can't make it through the night without peeing yet. Not too surprising considering their tiny little bladders. Most puppies can make it through the night once they are 11-12 weeks or so.