Week 5 - 6/8/2014

Week 5 is the beginning of every puppy’s socialization period in their life in which they learn to live and adapt with people and their world. This is when puppies have the lowest fear and the highest approach acceptance and is perfect for introducing a lot of sights, sounds, surfaces, objects, people and situations. Thus came to be: the Puppy Socialization Party! This is when we introduce the puppies to several different everyday objects, sounds and people a puppy may come across in their life. We extend the invite to fellow friends, family and co-workers to come to play and socialize our puppies. Building up to the party Jon and I already have introduced them to several sounds and surfaces and toys, but this is when we bring the big guns out!

The puppies started out with their first bath, err...shower, to be ready for their party. They got to play in a tunnel, went down a slide, walked up a ramp, had a scooter (thanks Val!) ride around them, balls rolled or bounced nearby, had balloons floating overhead, listened to Elmo sing to them (he was promptly chewed on), saw a yo-yo moving, saw a giant wig on a person’s head and played with their toys and other random objects. I think their new favorite toy became empty water bottles that “crunch” and are fun to run around with in their mouths! Many different people came to play with the puppies, including a lot of children of all ages, so they got used to a lot of handling and kids running around them. We had two sessions, one in the morning outside and one later inside where it was cooler (man it got hot outside fast!). We’d like to thank all of the people who came over to help play with and socialize our puppies! They sure were tuckered out after all that excitement... and Jon and I were ready for a NAP! :)

Other firsts this week were the pup’s first car ride. We know a few pups will be driving home instead of flying and want them to be exposed to what a car ride feels and sounds like. Plus we want them to enjoy future road trips with their families too! Kovu was the first pup to have his ears go up and currently they still are in the full upright position. Askari’s ears are also on their way up, buuuttt are currently in the awkward Yoda ears position so he asks that you don’t laugh at his portrait pictures this week!

Rafiki used to be the quiet peaceful pup but is currently making her mark on who the top dog is in town (check out one of the pics of her taking Kovu down in this weeks’ pics)! The other two Fluffernutters are still as sweet and cuddly as ever, Zazu remains her contemplative self, and Simba remains the last to come in when called.

This upcoming week we’ll start doing some more one on one time with each puppy to give them some special time away from their siblings to help prepare them for the future and to allow us to see their personalities better away from the pack. This, along with their structural evaluation, will allow us to be able to properly place the puppies with their new families.

The Lion King litter (as always in order of appearance):