9/27/03: GREAT NEWS...On Friday about three puppies' Eyes were open, Saturday, it looks like there are 5 with open eyes.  You can see some of the open eyes in the photos above.  Most of the dogs are actually using their hind legs and trying to walk...check out Puppy Cam to see their progress!   The Puppies seem to be now aware of each other and are moving toward each other and licking and touching each other...they continue to be more and more active.  We can't wait until a few weeks when they will be fully aware of us in the room and their eyes will be focused on all the trouble they can get into.

10/5/03:  Lot of exciting things happening over the past few days so we haven't had much time to write until now.  All puppies are walking and running around their whelping box (see Puppy Cam for details).  They all see and hear very clearly now and react to sounds and motion around their box.  They have been stepping up over the pig rails to peer out of the box to see what's going on outside so soon we will have to take the rails off...for now, we have to put up the wooden gate at the entrance to the box to keep them in.  On Friday we started them on solid food (well its called Mash and its a combination of Powdered Baby Rice Cereal and Goat's Milk mixture).  We mix it in a very liquidy mix and put it in a pie plate.  They learn very quickly how to lap it up and have been actively expecting it before their morning and evening meals.  Of course they are an absolute mess after they have eaten and spend another 15 minutes licking it off each other in the process.  Sophie likes it too, so she's been helping us clean it off by licking each one of them.  We are using a wet towel and toweling each one off...of course they don't like getting cleaned.  All the pups now go #1 and #2 on their own now and don't need Sophie's help anymore.  Believe it or not, since we put down the newspaper on Friday for the Mash mess, they have been stepping onto the paper to do their "duty"!  Its as if they know the paper is where they need to go (actually, they think the paper is someplace other then their den and they naturally us it instead of messing in the "den").  Well, at least the first steps to house breaking have begun!.  We took a few of them out of the box for the first time and played with them for a while in the living room rug.  They just loved to explore and freely roamed under sofas, chairs and other dogs...its was fun watching them explore new uncharted territory.   They all are becoming very social and are playing and wrestling with each other very actively.   Biting muzzles, tails and any thing else that looks easy to grab onto has been pretty common over the past few days.  They are also teething a bit and we've seen a few of them try and bit the pip rail wood a few times trying to cut those tiny teeth hiding behind their gums...they should appear in a few more weeks, so we will keep an eye out for them soon.