The boys had their first shopping trip from the safety of a shopping cart today at Canadian Tire. They killed it! Zero trepidation in spite of the squeaky wheels and bumpy trip in & out from the parking lot. We wheeled around at different speeds and all went well.
We had a lovely encounter with a lady & her 6 month old infant. This was the first child of this age the pups had seen and several showed some keen interest. I’m pretty sure Peter Parker got himself a new mystery girlfriend!
Today’s trip to & from the store was in the larger back seat crate where they had a view going down the street (instead of being in a crate on the front seat beside me). This seemed to be better for everyone… or perhaps they’re getting used to my driving!
We had another series of close encounters with Zipper The Cat today. There’s a few cute moments in the highlight reel between Peter & Zipper… one where Peter attempts to be super respectful and another wher Zipper appears to go in for a smooch!
Our first official night of crating at bedtime went with little complaint. We had an extra potty break 12:30am, 3:30am, and then normal get up at 6:00am. This was fault as I neglected to take the water away early enough last night. I’m on top of it this evening so I’m hoping for a night with less disruption.
Their 4×8 day space is now down to the Lino (no more potty pads & scatter mats). This was motivated by their mobility stability (needing less traction) plus my efforts to get them outside pottying in between my clients.
Besides our little excursions, the pups are spending outside time on & off through the day plus one or two Puppy Playtopia playtimes. These 30-ish minute engagements (at the longest) means a bit more structured napping/off switch “training” in between which sometimes happens in a crate or the communal pen. Any formal trainings we might do (clicker, food barrier, etc) tend to be 5-10 min at most. I find this type of power up and power down training builds good balance in the pups and manages their expectations. It means that I can be sitting next to them while they’re napping in their areas or walk through the room while they’re on their “down time” and they don’t think that it’s time to play or train.
I should say too that not every moment of these pups’ lives is orchestrated. They often have free time in the house while I’m in the kitchen or working on admin from my couch. The puppy-proofed area might be about 500 square feet including their pen and also has a potty green. I prefer to stay on top of outside potty breaks but that doesn’t always happen with four on the go. This free time is unstructured with toys or things to chew readily available. They self regulate through this time play/nap/play/nap.