Well, it's begun - although, to be perfectly honest, it really started yesterday...the never ending trips in and out of the house, up and down the stairs to haul seven puppies outside for potty breaks. When the weather is nice, they just stay outside in their happy x-pen and enjoy the sun and fresh air for most of the day. But day's like to today? It's pretty much "in and out" to get the job done.
On the upside, most of the puppies either held their bladder through the night and/or used the litter box with shavings. I woke up to only two pees to clean up and no poops! Pretty sweet!
On an interesting note, the puppies enjoyed their first rain shower today. It wasn't planned! I don't take puppies outside in the wet until they're seven or eight weeks in case of chills or catching some ugly bug (most ugly bugs - parvo, for example - tend to rear their ugly heads when it's wet outside). I got up this morning and it was overcast but bright - none of that dark dingy feel to the sky that we get here when it's about to rain. So, out went the puppies...and down came the rain!
I quickly popped a tarp over their x-pen and let them stay out - it was a very short "sun shower" so barely enough to get anything wet.
As an aside, these puppies have very good startle recovery time. If you've ever dealt with a tarp (especially a new one) you know how loud and what a sharp sound they have. Well, I pulled out the tarp and shook it out - puppies scattered. I stopped, looked at them an in that fraction of a second, they were all right back under my feet (and by extension, the tarp) and happily stayed there while I continued to shake it out and use clips to put it in place. Not too bad for five week old puppies. :)
