This week the puppies will begin to spend  time outside during the day when we have nice weather.  They will eventually spend time outside every day sun, rain or snow.  All dogs need to be comfortable with going outside in all kinds of weather.

The puppies are all very steady on their feet now and are getting really playful (especially with each other).  They are doing great with their potty training by using the potty area about 95% of the time and they are keeping their beds clean all of the time. We will introduce crates to the puppies this coming week. We put all their soft bedding in the crates to encourage them to choose the crate for sleeping.  They usually all pile in one crate together as they still need each other for warmth and comfort.  

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Puppies will have their first solid food this week.  First we will soak it for a few days and then we will introduce them to solid dry crunch kibble later this week. We will keep offering soft food until they all have their molars.

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The puppies will have their first barrier challenge this week.  For a mental challenge that encourages problem solving and stress tolerance, we introduce a barrier that they have to navigate to get to their food.  It can be as simple as putting their food around a corner at first. We allow each puppy to negotiate the challenge at their own pace and we watch each puppy to make sure they successfully navigate to their food before we make things harder.

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This is week three of the socialization period. This week the puppies have begun to learn and be shaped by other adult dogs in the household but especially mom.  Learning dog manners is a skill that can only be taught by other dogs! We always watch interactions with other dogs closely. Mom is really the best teacher as she will stop or pin puppies that are overly energetic or that aren't picking up on cues to settle down.  This interaction is important to learning good dog social skills. They are also learning how to use their teeth without causing damage.  They teach each other that lesson as they constantly mouth and play with each other.

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We will give the puppies their Neopar vaccines this week.  Neopar helps develop immunity to Parvo--it is the only vaccine that is effective at this young age as these puppies still have passive immunity from nursing with mom.  Some vets prefer to give full immunizations at 6 weeks of age but shots at this early stage are less than 30% effective.  They have a much better immune response at 8 weeks. Our neonatal specialist recommends waiting until 8 weeks for full immmunization.  Parvo is the most prevalent puppy illness so getting a head start with Neopar is important.  We will talk more about vaccines in the take home information.

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This is the week we begin "Manding" with the puppies.  Manding is teaching the puppy to sit to 'say please.'  This type of sit is not a cued behavior (we aren't asking them to sit), we are just instilling a natural instinct to settle down and sit calmly to get what they want.  It's a way for them to communicate with us in a polite way.  We simply approach them with a handful of soft treats and we give a treat to any puppy sitting quietly.  We ignore the puppies that are jumping and pawing us.  Eventually they all catch on that sitting nicely is what gets the reward.  Peer pressure is a great thing with puppies! By the end of this week they will all have caught on and will begin expressing this very desirable behavior whenever we approach the pen.

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Here at the Thompson home we will move the puppies over to the "toddler" area and introduce the dog door this week.  We initially introduce the puppies to the door by physically helping them push the flap with their heads.  Sometimes this takes a couple of days for them to get the hang of it and some puppies will take on the challenge more quickly than others.  When we have a reluctant puppy we will pin the flap up out of the way so he can gradually explore going outside to get the reward of food. We teach them to go back in this same way--we just push them through the door and they figure it out in no time.  We've never had a puppy that didn't figure the dog door out on their own within a couple of days.  The puppies naturally follow mom out the dog door--usually hoping she will let them nurse for a minute which is a great reward for trying a new experience.   As they spend more time outside (they go outside in all kinds of weather and at all times of the day...) they naturally go potty outside more and more.  They also see mom go potty outside which helps develop that instinct.