Around 3 weeks of age and before I start feeding gruel I add a litter box to the whelping box. I use compressed newspaper litter and I put a grate on it so they don’t kick it all over the place and so they don’t eat it. I start them in the potty box before they learn how to eat gruel as once they start to eat gruel they are hungry and looking for food so then they have a tendency to eat the litter because they can get their mouth on it. This year I ordered fake grass and I added that to the whelping box as well.

Once they wake up I put them on the potty, they learn very quickly that these are their potty spots. They will still pee on their blankets and every now and then poop on a blanket but for the most part they use the potty box.

In the beginning I would wake up in the middle of the night and look in the box and see a turd on the fake grass, this made me so happy. I would then pick it out so they didn’t lay on it.

I put a pee pad under the fake grass to collect the urine, you can see by this picture that they are really using the grass.

Starting at 3 weeks I introduce gruel into their feeding regimen. Guilty is self weaning so I’m giving them gruel to make up the difference in calories that their not getting from momma. I grind up dry kibble that they will be weaned on and mix with goats milk. I use goats milk because it is easily digestible and doesn’t cause stomach upset that other milks may cause.

The first few days they may wear more of the gruel than eating it. They make a big mess. When they are finished I let Guilty clean the dish and then clean up the puppies. Each day they get less and less messy.

At 3 weeks I introduce different toys each day. At this age they are starting their startle and recovery stage of life so I introduce toys they startle but then they recover from the experience and they learn a good startle and response which down the line turns into the “so what” emotion. When they come across a new item they look at it and say “so what” and move on, they are not fearful of the item. When this happens we have worked with them properly. When doing this we are raising confident puppies that turn into confident dogs. This is part of the Puppy Culture protocol that I follow in my breeding program.

Besides new toys I add in novel objects, ones that make noise when touched so that they learn if something makes a noise when they bump into it they won’t get scared they keep on trucking like nothing ever happened.

I also add different surfaces to the floor that they need to walk on so they learn they can walk on anything.

Speed bumps have been added so they learn they can go over objects without being afraid of them.

Since I have the potty boxes in the whelping box I now added a bed to the whelping box so they can learn to sleep in a bed.

Once their eating gruel well and near 4 weeks old I then introduce water to their diet. I just set the bowl down and they instantly drank. Now is the time that I get the weaning pen ready for them as they will be moving down to the basement for the next 4 weeks. They are busting out of the whelping box so it’s time to go to a bigger area.

Now the fun play begins. The fugitives will most likely be moved to the weaning area this weekend.