River in Action! :)

River is 6 weeks old now! Wow...what a difference a week makes. All of a sudden she's a running, playing, funny little girl. When we toss her toys, she'll run after them and slide across the kitchen floor. It's so cute! She loves to follow Maggie and Marlee all over the house and she acts like she's just one of the dogs now. Where did my baby go? She weighs 11 lbs and eats 3 meals each day of hard and soft kibble combined. She's still trying (kind of) to nurse when Maggie will let her. Usually once in the morning and once before bed. That will probably be all done by the time she's 7 weeks old.

****************************************************************************

In the background of this pic, you can see the whelping/puppy room entrance. I put a crate in there the other day with some blankets and a stuffed animal that River has lived with. I just left the door open to see what would happen. Well, a few hours later I realized that River was no longer in the kitchen so I peeked in the puppy room to see what she was up to and I couldn't see her. When I found her, she was all curled up in the crate taking a long nap. That's the beginning of crate training! The next step will be to catch her napping in there, and while she's sleeping I'll close the door. Then as soon as she's awake, I'll open the door and greet her with a treat and a lot of praise. By the time she's 8 weeks old, she'll have plenty of positive crate experiences that her new family can build on and gradually increase her time in the crate during the day. She'll be old enough to spend the night in the crate as she sleeps through the night now, but daytime crate time has to be increased gradually. The general rule is 1 hour for every month of age, up to 8 hours. Any longer and you run the risk of UTI's in young puppies.

******************************************************************************

In the picture above, you can see the empty plastic water bottles she has chewed on. These are the best, cheapest chew toy for puppies and dogs! My adult dogs LOVE a new water bottle to crush! The squeaking sound and the feel of flattening the bottle makes for great chew time. Just make sure you remove the cap and plastic ring (choking hazards!) and the paper or plastic label before you give it to your pooch. In the summer, I like to fill them half full with water and freeze them and the dogs will chew them outside for hours trying to get that ice! Cheap entertainment for Labradoodles!

*********************************************************************************
River loves to play with her "littermates". They are pretty stinky now, but they smell like LOVE to her and I know they bring her comfort. This is exactly how she would be playing with a sibling if she had one. We are working very hard to teach River what her teeth are made for, and that doesn't include chewing on people! We divert her to a chewy if she bites us and she's getting the picture that we don't like it. We also don't let her demand attention from us by standing on her hind legs for any reason. If she does stand up on us, we gently place her back down on all fours and set her bum on the floor BEFORE we give her any affection or praise. We want her to learn that good things happen to dogs that SIT! She'll get it, she's super smart.

River is still using the litter box 100% of the time. I have not had to clean up a mess off the floor ONE SINGLE time..amazing! She's such a good dog and we love her so much.

She's going to make her owners so happy in a few short weeks!

Thanks for reading!