The Perfect Age

For the first four weeks of their life, the pups are relatively quiet except for the occasional squeak. Layla is very protective of them, not leaving their side for the first few days except to go outside, and running back into the house as quickly as she can to check on her puppies. In the first week, it is very important to separate Layla from any other dogs because she sees them as a threat and will attack, sometimes prompting an aggressive response from the other dog.

 I discovered this with her first litter when she would randomly attack Simon if she thought he was too near her whelping area. He was scared to enter the room for a while! But I have developed a system of baby gates to keep them separated or only near each other in neutral territory, such as the back yard. Luckily Layla has gotten accustomed to Simon being around, and she only snapped at him once or twice in recent memory.

Although I live in my own apartment, it is an addition to a house, so I’ve always had housemates, some of which have their own dogs. It is usually not a problem after the first day or two, but of course Layla thinks she is the Queen of Pineview and so she always lets the others know who is boss. Currently, two of the housemates each have a Chihuahua mix, so in total there are four dogs less than ten pounds. Our dogs would make a cute Christmas card.

Having a large house with many partitions and doors makes it easy to keep all the dogs separate from one another; Layla feels safe and secure in the back corner of the studio apartment when there are four or five doors between her and any other dogs. Her puppies are so small and quiet that none of the other dogs would even notice their existence if they were to come in somehow.

While the pups are still small, I start to shave their little ears with a Peanut trimmer to remove some weight from them and encourage them to stand up. Their ears are tiny and floppy now, but soon they will grow and start to become erect. If I don’t keep up with the ear trimming, they might end up with a permanently floppy ear. When they are about three weeks I get a large cardboard box and line it with pee pads, with a warm, cozy blanket in one corner. That way they start making a conscious decision to eliminate away from their sleeping area, and onto the pee pads.

Around 3-4 weeks I put a little bowl of water in their box, although they won’t want to drink it at first. Puppies are usually scared of water the first time they touch it; they will fall into the bowl, or step in it, and the feeling is unpleasant because the water is cold, and they hate anything cold because they can’t regulate their body temperature yet. But then one day I’ll see a puppy lapping up the water, and I’m so proud that they finally figured out what the water dish is for! Until I have to clean up the subsequent pee, of course.

At this point in their development, they still sleep most of the day but have opened their eyes. They seem fearful of most of the things they see, like the camera when I try to take a picture or video. They still mostly squeak, although I hear the occasional gurgling sound which is their tiny newborn growl. It is very cute, it sounds like a purr and a gurgle coming out of an ewok. The other day I took a video of a sleeping puppy and captured the tiniest sneeze ever! It is a great vid and if I put it on YouTube, I’m sure it will go viral like the laughing Panda did.

Around four weeks is when I introduce the puppies to the concept of stairs; I have some little Yorkie-sized stairs that Layla has been refusing to use for almost her entire life. She is forced to use them during her last days of pregnancy, as she slightly loses the ability to jump onto the furniture. Puppies love to climb up the stairs because their little claws are becoming long and sharp; they snag every fabric possible and will for the next few months. But pups are not as good as getting back down the stairs once they have reached the top. They do know that if they are scared, they can whine, and somebody will pick them up and place them back into safety.

They are at the perfect age right now; their only interests are eating, sleeping, and learning to socialize with each other. Soon they’ll be teething on the furniture, pooping everywhere, and whining all day long until I let them out of their box or until they find a way out. They’re very clever, and when they work together, it is hard to thwart the will of a yorkie puppy.