Up On All Fours

Our roly-poly puppies are becoming Weebles. Remember the commercial? "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down." Except the puppies fall down...a lot! They are getting up on all four feet now and wobbling along for a step or two before they "stop, drop, and roll." (That's a phrase to teach children what to do in case their clothing catches fire.) The little fellas are so chubby that when they drop, they automatically roll. All six of them have their eyes open now, and they have gloriously mastered growling and barking. Even so, they still sleep a lot.

They are also trying to play a little, which is when they really weeble, wobble, fall down, and roll.

We moved them to the basement a couple of days ago. When they get going with the growling, yapping, and barking, which seems to be mostly in the wee hours of the morning, the noise is not conducive to sleep. Besides, the hearth was getting a little stinky, so it was time for The Big Move. Robin put together a pretty neat puppy palace using the unused whelping box and some sheet metal. I moved the carpet piece and towels from the hearth so their new home would smell familiar. Then we added a heat lamp and space heater to help them get used to a slightly cooler environment, hopefully with no shivering.

I moved the puppies while Leah was outside, two at a time. They're so fat I was afraid to try carrying more than two! When I set them down on the carpet, they were initially frightened a little, but once all six of them got there, they weren't so scared. Leah didn't have any trouble finding her babies when she came back inside and immediately set to work getting them settled in.

Next I moved the family inside the box, where things would be more cozy. Once Leah joined them and started dinner, it was quite cozy indeed.

Along with sleeping, eating is the other important activity in the puppies' lives. They nurse heartily, sometimes too much so, it seems to me. Leah is very patient with them, but then, they don't have teeth yet.

Although it was time to move the puppy family, I miss having them on the hearth. While they were there, they were a part of my day, most of the day. Now that I have to go downstairs to see them, I feel like I'm missing some cute moments. However, there are several jobs that need doing in the basement.  The Big Move might mean that I'll have a neater and cleaner basement in the end. Not a bad deal, don't you think?