The first two stages of a puppies life may appear to be non eventful at first the puppy flounders about a kin to a turtle on dry land, trying to suckle and then flopping into what appears to be a deep coma. Soon though, it starts to hold its head up and slowly the eyes open giving them a distorted view on their surroundings. In these four weeks the pups are confined to the den so their eyes need to be protected from light.
But these four weeks are fascinating though, if you look closely at the bitch and the pups interaction. Intensely in-tune the bitch has an innate clock that I soon became part of. I got to know when she would want to rush outside and do the necessary and then get back to her pups. When she would need feeding and when she needed some well deserved fuss.
Tink had this come see expression; even at the birth, she encouraged me to take part and never minded the children’s respectful presence. She would proudly look as we cooed and marvelled at the new arrivals. With every change her pups went through she would use that intense stare to encourage me to look closer at her offspring and take note. I came down one morning to that intent look and found that Amber’s eyes were open. We had to wait a further two days for Rips to slowly get bigger until they finally opened. Their little pug noses lengthened to reveal their muzzle as they grew into their faces. They sniffed us intently getting to know our sent.
The next four weeks had them going from a tummy shuffle movement to walking slightly unsteady, curious but hesitant, to full on rumbles with each other and mum. Slowly they explored the ever widening world around them. Attacking feet with needle like teeth. Anything on the floor was fair game and squeaky toys a must have whether anyone else has it or not. Pouncing was being perfected and the very first tries ended up with the puppy on its back. I started to put liquidised food down for them increasing the lumps as I went, until I found them devouring their mother’s food. Tink sat there watching them ironically bemused by this event she then turned her gaze to me. Moving slowly over to the pups bowl she feeds silently on her own wondering why her pups don’t appreciate good food.
Towards the end of the eighth week you can begin to get a good idea of their personalities, traits and how best to influence their training. It is worth remembering that every sound and object is unusual and quite freighting to them. In Rips case so are shadows, he learnt a good barking technique at shadows.
I started to take the pups to school in the car right from the word go. Now this is not something I would recommend and in truth I didn’t like doing but Tink was insistent. She would run to the car and back again getting more and more agitated that I was not doing as I was told. From then on in we took the pups. I used a carrier crate to keep them safe and put a lot of bedding in to keep them warm.
Training came into play at an early stage. At around five weeks, as they make their way towards me I clap my hands encouraging them and when they reach me I gave a lot of praise as they got older a treat was always waiting for them. When ever I took them out ‘to be clean’ as soon just as they achieved a wee or a number two I would reinforce with ‘clean boy/ clean girl’. Now as we trot out side I always call out ‘come be clean’.
For meeting and greeting purposes I would put the pups in an old handbag to keep them warm and safe but they all too soon got too heavy so now I have adapted an old stroller so that I can tie the pups in and they can see Tink on her walks. I have also been walking them around the garden with their leads on and mum in front so they can see what to do. As with everything you do when teaching timing is always important, putting the lead on in a quiet and calm manner is never easy and very time consuming but it will pay you back in dividends later on when they just go through the ritual. Today I will be putting them in a harness in the car so they can sit with mum and taking them to school that way. I wonder what Tink will think to this and of course how will the pups cope. I will let you know 
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