What an absolutely marvellous week it has been. The puppies are now running and jumping and will sit and look right at your face and make the sweetest eye contact. They will clamour into your lap when you sit down in the pen and spending time with them fills my heart with such joy. Gracie could not be a better mother to her pups and it's heartwarming to watch her lovingly engage in play with them.
The weaning process has begun with the puppies starting to eat solids in addition to nursing. Over the course of the next several weeks they will nurse less and eat more. Gracie is a sweet and tolerant dam. As their teeth continue to come in her patience may begin to wear a little thin....We shall see!
The puppies have now been introduced to our other resident dogs and Summer especially has taken a keen interest in the little ones. She is being a wonderful "nanny dog" to them and Gracie enjoys sharing her puppies with her.
Every day we add new piece of equipment to the puppy pen and rotate the ones they've already been exposed to. One of the big introductions for the puppies this week was the addition of the Adventure Box. It provides so much sensory enrichment for the pups as they walk through and interact with the objects hanging from the bars. By doing so they learn that getting bumped by objects and having dangling things that make noise clang and jingle next to them is no big deal at all and nothing to be concerned about. They enjoy tugging on and running through it and I could sit and watch them play with it for hours it seems.
We continued having lots of visitors and we are thankful to them for sharing their time with us to help socialize the puppies. It's important for the pups to meet many different people of different appearances and ages before they leave for their new homes. Once they are with their families this type of socialization should be continued. 
If you would like to follow the progress of this litter please like our Facebook Page where more frequent updates, photos and videos will be posted.
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