Tehillah German Shepherds H Litter Puppy Journal 7

From 3- 12 wks of age is the Socialization Period. This period can be divided into 4 divisions. Each important to the next stage. It is during this period that the puppy’s primary social relationships develop. It is important that the primary association is with people so that they can develop lasting relationships, especially in the later stages. A puppy that receives little human contact during this time will find it difficult to adjust to humans their whole lifetime.?During this time the puppy also needs to be with littermates and the dam, especially during the first weeks of the socialization period. They need to learn how to act around other dogs and puppies or they could be become a dog that picks fights easily or have problems mating.

The second stage of the Socialization Period is referred to as:

The Period of Curiosity Continued (7 to 8 weeks)

Well this will likely be my last ‘journal’ for this litter (I will follow up with where all the pups went!!). Hard to believe that they will be 8 weeks old on Friday. On the other hand…..it will be nice to have them in their individual homes where each will get individual attention and hopefully, endlessly showered with LOVE!

The pups are doing great. They are a good size!! And today, for the first time one of them met us at the door when we arrived home (he was supposed to be in the puppy room with his siblings!!). Alas, I had to make the partition a little bit higher so that did not happen again. I wondered how long it would take before that happened! LOL.

My days consist of getting up, letting pups out to run (outside), an hour or so later, bring them in for breakfast, more running around and cuddling and then usually into their room for 4 hours while I go to work….and then back home to do it all over again! (course there is a LOT of cleaning going on inbetween it all). My washing machine has been doing 5-6 loads of laundry a day!!!! In fact, I had to go out and buy some new jeans as I didn’t have time in the day to wash my clothes! So…..I will miss these guys dearly…..but I am also looking forward to having a life again!

We did the puppy testing last Saturday. A friend of mine came from Sacramento (she owns Faith’s brother Axel) to spend time with the pups and do the testing for me. The pups tested really, really nicely! In fact, this is a very uniform litter. The differences between pups is in the ‘degrees’ of independence, drive etc. I have some pups that I see as my ‘working’ puppies, although I think everyone of these pups can and will do whatever the new owners want to do!! They are all very social, love people, investigate their environment, run around non stop…lol and eventually cuddle and snuggle up with each other and with us.

Faith continues to interact with her pups and if you can believe it….still allows them to get milk from her! She doesn’t have much but she will stand there and let them all latch on for minutes at a time. Today she had a great time playing tug with many of the pups with a cloth they found on a shelf (washcloth). They had a lot of fun doing this. They are also getting bones to gnaw on as well as celery and carrots. I gave them some sardines the other day. They were not quite sure what to make of it but gobbled it up before long.

They are getting a variety of different meats in their meals along with some goats milk, salmon oil and a bit of kelp. I am finding that they are not liking their food ‘mushed’ up….lol. So, now I give them some beef, then usually chicken and at the end…..raw tripe..which they go crazy over!!!! When they are done eating, I usually give them some raw goats milk to wash it all done. No matter when I feed them…..they get a huge energy spurt afterwards!! On a side note…their stools are awesome!! LOL.

Took all the pups to the Vet today for their ‘check up’ and Health Certificates. That was a JOB!!! LOL. They did fantastic though! Very curious, lots of kisses for the vet….many of them trying to steal her stethoscope from her neck! Vet checked their eyes, ears (she commented that they had very clean ears!!), hearts (also commented that they all sounded fantastic), checked for fleas (NONE…course I was not worried); checked their joints (no problems); checked testicles on the boys; took their temperatures (Vet couldn’t believe that they ALL had the exact same (normal) temperature! The very last thing was to insert the microchip. They have to put this deep so it does not travel…….but the pups did awesome! Some cried but they all were very forgiving and immediately licked my face! While a sibling was being checked out the pups found numerous things to play with on the floor (mostly the door stopper, their leashes and some treats I accidently dropped on the floor). Everyone passed with flying colors!

As I sit and think of most of them leaving this weekend……I am very sad. I am going to miss them immensely!! I am looking forward to sleeping in……and not having so much laundry to do…..but in the end…..them all leaving is always a hard event. Thankfully, I am also very excited about the homes they will all be going to!!! They will get individual love and attention and give their new owners a life filled with a ton of joy and special moments!!