5 weeks old

5 weeks old and taking on the world. Most of the pups weigh 5 to 5 1/2 lbs and big Red boy weighs 6 1/4 lbs. The smallest pup is currently Green at 4 3/4 lbs. It is increasingly more challenging to keep this gang fed and entertained. The pups are eating 8 cups of high calorie kibble which combined with Cleo's 4 c per day equals 12 cups of kibble per day for this ICAN Golden/Lab family, plus the pups are still nursing and getting some milk with their kibble. Cleo has made it clear that she is ready to start weaning any time. Last night was the first night I gave Cleo the choice of staying out of the puppy pen. All indications are that she completely ditched her brood and the pups were a bit fussy. By 4:30 am, they were getting quite hungry so I got up, sent Cleo in to nurse and fed them a pan of kibble. I went back to bed only to wake up to an unfamiliar sound. I got up, looked around, and was shocked to find Purple in the bedroom, happily nursing on Cleo. Houdini strikes again. The pups are getting lots of new experiences. They are comfortable walking/running on laminate, tile and vinyl flooring. Last night, I was pushing around some noisy kids toys while they were out playing. I put an obnoxious little plastic singing kid's toy guitar in the puppy pen, and when they hit any one of a number of buttons, it plays Sesame Street songs. And I have started playing sound effect tapes (e.g. traffic noise, gun shoots, nature sounds, baby crying, etc.). Notice the recurrent theme in the pictures below.

Purple girl and the toy piano

Gold boy and blankie

Gold boy again