Day 22 — Three Weeks Old and A Two-Pound Whopper!

Geoffrey was up early today to do a full day at the office on the tax deadline day (this never happens, but this year is “different”), so the morning weighing was early, at 7:10. But, MUNI made her goal!  She’s an even 32 ounces!

MUNI, All 32 ounces of her, still fits in one hand.
(Don’t forget you can click on the pictures a couple times to see a full-size photo!)

We think that MUNI reacts a bit more to the humans every day. She is comfortable in our arms.

MUNI has the Yawn Action Down Cold!

And, like her mother and her aunt, she likes us blowing on her neck and head. This is a yawn, not a howl of complaint!

Mother Zenith, however, is not a fan of her daughter being picked up and petted. For the photographs, we have been sending the adult pack outside to do their doggie things. While they’ve been outside, Geoffrey and I have scooped up MUNI, posed, and returned her to the whelping box ASAP.

Zenith still knows that her puppy has been MANhandled. She whimpers and licks MUNI clean.

Our vet comes Wednesday, and we’ll discuss with her if we need to do any behavior modification. The trade-off between mom’s need for security and puppy socialization probably has an infinite number of answers. Like every other question in dog world, it seems for every 10 people, there are at least 15 definitive answers.

Today is warm and sunny in the backyard. Mom and the other adults will go out and lay on the bricks for a few minutes. Zenith lets herself relax, get petted, and snuggle on the bricks for a minute or two. Then she jumps up and asks to go back into the puppy’s room to check and nurse.

Zenith also is on to my mixing dried kibble with the wet puppy food. She turned her nose up at the last of the food this morning, even after I added some ground-up boiled chicken.  She may be returning to more picky eating, but it’s also likely that she just wasn’t hungry for THAT much food.  We will have to see in the coming days.

Tomorrow our 24 cans of puppy food will be delivered from PetCo. This would not be the right time for Zenith to decide she’s over the Science Diet menu!

But, for now, we are warm, quiet, and happy.