J-S Pups Day 18: Say Uncle!

 The pups are getting more active each day and it is quite fun watching them play and interact.  This is a very important developmental time for them called the Transitional Period, which is from 14-21 days old.

 A terrific explanation of this period is from Pat Hasting's book, Another piece of the puzzle: Puppy Development.  The following is directly from this book.

Transitional Period (14-21 days)

This period starts when the eyes are open and ends when the puppy first "startles" on hearing a noise.  This week is characterized by the rapid development of motor skills, the ability to eliminate on its own, the onset of usable vision (by 18-21 days), the initial emergence of teeth, and the development of hearing - first evidenced by the startle response - although still unable to locate the source of the sound.  The puppies move around a lot more, can now move backwards as well as forward and begin to walk instead of crawl, may start to lap liquids, and will begin to leave the nest to eliminate.  Tail wagging begins even before the developing functional sight and hearing ability, the first teeth erupt around 20 days and vocalizations become more specialized.   They begin to show interest in their littermates - pawing at each other's face and chewing on each other.

...In this short week of life, the puppy rapidly changes from the inability to hear, see and walk or eliminate without stimulation into a puppy that can now do all of these things - enormous steps in the puppy's life.

 More toys have been added to the whelping box and the pups are seen investigating them with both their noses and mouths.

 They are still nursing for all their meals but Jam has been spending less time in the whelping box.

 The pups are also more aware when one of us humans comes to the box and will interact with us, climb on us and even give us kisses!