Maggie's First Litter-Week 3

Background

     Tommy and the pups
Week three was the time when Tommy first really got to play with the puppies.  It also included the eye-opening period when we didn't take flash photos because we didn't want to shock their sensitive eyes.  They had no coordination, but are starting to walk consistently.

The puppy eyes finally opened!  

Their teeth were really coming in now too, and Maggie was starting to "enjoy" nursing a little less.  Actually they were making progress on all fronts, from noise making to making a mess!

Week 3

What did they do?

Week three began with a bang!  Puppy "coos" are becoming "yips" "squeals" and "whines".  The occasional wrestling matches between puppies are becoming more frequent.  The walrus-like movement typical of the first two weeks started to give way to more frequent walking, just in time for their short-range vision and the newly opened eyes.

Although eyes were open, they couldn't see much at first  

They were even starting to keep their feet under them when they walked, but the back feet generally went all over the place when they first stood up.  But don't get the impression that they were steady on their feet...they were just as good at going backwards as forwards (and just as shaky)!

They nap together still, but some of them have begun to sleep alone. Sometimes they even seemed to get in a big fight with one of their siblings and dominance hierarchies were clearly being established.

Open eyes, but still lots of napping                     

Finally, towards the end of the week we had our first escapes from the whelping box, and we retired the box to storage.  The puppy-pool and the x-pen came out for our newly mobile pups.

Escape attempt 1; Escape attempt 2....such ingenuity!