BLOG: (ZERO, ZERO, ZERO): The Puppies Are Seventeen Weeks Old Today!!

I've been enjoying the puppies so much more these last two weeks. I think it's due to the fact that their rate of change has leveled off enough for me to catch up to them and take a deep breath and really see how lucky I am to have these tiny rascals in my life. Also, I quit reading that awful puppy book that was making me feel like I was doing everything wrong, and decided to just have fun with the puppies. It's not like they need to be trained perfectly from the very start, no matter how appealing that sounds when you're not actually trying to do it.

They went to the vet a week and a half ago and got their last round of vaccines, including their rabies shots. They're good to go for walks in the neighborhood, but I haven't decided which harness to use yet, and I'm still a little uncomfortable with the idea of taking them out on a leash. Baby steps, I guess.

On to pictures! Here they are sharing a drink of water after playing outside (even though the water was available outside too--I guess they forget it's there?):

(As you can see, Max, who was born long and lean, is still long and lean (and quite muscular), while Joey (aka Spot, who was born fat) is somewhat tubbier. At the vet we found out they weigh almost the same: 5.6 and 5.5 pound respectively, even though Joey is closer in dimension to Lizzie (who weighed 4.9 pounds.)

Maxwell still gets really excited about being in pictures:

For a few days, I was having to keep the boys in the playpen...:

While I let Lizzie run around in a barricaded portion of the kitchen...:

...because the boys were being too aggressive with her. Lately, even though they still haven't been neutered (two more months!), they have been inexplicably nicer to her. But I still have to keep an eye out. They aren't sexually mature yet, but they can go from playful to rapey in a matter of seconds:

He's not actually hurting her here, but I still don't like to let this kind of thing go unchecked. I just say something like, "Please don't hump on your sister, Max, it's gross," and firmly but gently lift the puppy off her by the scruff of the neck and set him aside. The boy puppy then looks up at me with a perfectly innocent expression that appears to ask, "Was I doing something wrong? Ah, I see. Noted.":

See? Happy little camper:

(The mounting behavior is common among dogs who are sorting out their ranking--even female dogs will mount other dogs. It's the thrusting that's a bit much for me. Although occasionally the boy dogs will try to hump each others faces and I laugh so hard I can hardly do any scolding!)

Here's Lizzie (at the bottom edge) holding her own again a few minutes later:

Max considers himself the alpha dog and believes all the food belongs to him. Here he pushes Lizzie aside:

And then pushes Joey aside a few seconds later:

(He's since learned to share a little more, so I've stopped having to spread the food on the floor and/or take Max in another room so the others can eat.)

Bully:

Once the boys started being nicer to Lizzie, I started letting everybody play in the barricaded kitchen. They can mill about at my feet while I wash dishes or prepare meals. They seem relatively easy-going here:

But if I kneel down to interact, they go berserk fighting over me (and fighting, over me):

Teeth:

Crazy eyes:

Milling about:

The boys, sparring in the playpen:

Here, Max is guarding Yellow Ball, Swizzle, and all the tug-a-ropes (yes, the toys have names):

He still has his handsome, observant gaze:

I find this irresistibly cute:

Tug-a-ropes are still their favorite toys:

Spot was having big behavioral problems for a couple of weeks, but now he's a chubby little sweetie, and everybody loves him:

(I've been calling him Butter Butt lately because he's so soft and smooth and squishy! And he thinks he can leap up into your arms and hang on like lean, muscular Max does, but he's not strong enough, so it's like catching a furry, lopsided medicine ball that wiggles!!)

My precious Little Mouse:

Joey is a lazy fighter who often prefers a defensive position:

Even when given a chance to get up!:

I finally put the box the puppies were born in in the recycling bin. I had to take one last picture though. (It has obviously seen better days.):

Sparring:

One day when I woke the puppies up from naps, I found Lizzie using Red Bone as a pillow:

I'm intent on picking up the puppies' poops as soon as they hit the turf so that they don't get stepped in, but despite my best efforts, accidents happen. Joey stepped in his poo one evening, and while I was cleaning him up, he knocked over the water. Unfortunately, the water went right into a hole the puppies had recently dug in the lawn. I went inside to wash my hands and get more water, and came back to a mud puppy:

The puppies love lounging in the sun more than just about anything, so when the light shifted during this outing, I gave them a few minutes to enjoy it before moving the pen into the shade once more: