I have a new found respect for people who have twins. Miss S and Mr. M are only four legged babies, so I can only imagine how much work it is having two legged twin babies in the house. When we brought Miss B and Mr. C home, they were already around 8 weeks old. So they could follow us to the door to go outside- even though we carried them at first to avoid accidents on the way to the door. These two are much too small to follow us to the door even if we wanted them to. Until we have the all-clear from the vet on the worms, we don't want them taking care of business in the yard anyway to avoid passing worms back and forth among the four of them. It is easier to contain if we just let them go on newspaper and then throw the newspaper away and clean the rubbermaid container that we are using as a potty box with Windex or Clorox wipes.
So far, they are really good about going on the newspaper if you put them in the box or on newspaper on the floor. If you don't put them on the paper often enough, they just go wherever they are standing. Usually they give a little clue that they are about to go by smelling around or standing still for a few seconds.
They are learning to run and are playing more and more with Miss B and Mr. C. Yesterday, Mr. C was eating his wet food, and I put Miss S on the ground after she finished her own food. As soon as she heard the sound of him eating, she made a mad dash toward his bowl, pushed her way right in and started eating. He let out a little half wimper- half growl as if to say, "Hey wait a minute, that's mine." Then he just backed up a little, sat down and watched her with a very worried and sad look on his face. Normally he is the one who takes Miss B's food, but now his food was being taken instead. He didn't really know what to do. As soon as I realized she was actually eating his food, I pulled her away so that he could finish eating. He was very thankful for that.
This morning, Miss B had already finished her dry food by the time I brought the littes in to eat, but Mr. C was still working on his. I didn't think there was any need to worry about them messing with his food since it was the dry stuff and not the yummy wet food, so I put them both on the ground while I put their food into their bowls. They heard Mr. C eating and sprinted toward him, grunting all the way. I just watched in amusement at first but was shocked when they started gobbling down his dry food! Again he just watched them with his forehead all wrinkled up. He went around to the other side of the dish to see if he could fit his nose in there too, but these two were serious. He wimpered and sat down. I quickly pulled them away again and he went back to eating. We gave him lots of praise and told him what a good boy he was. I was very proud of how he handled that.
Since the first day we brought them home, I have messed with Miss B and Mr. C while they were eating. I would play with their ears, pet them, put my hand in their dish, take the dish away and then give it back. I would even get right up next to their faces and start giving them kisses while they were trying to eat. My theory is that at some point we hope to have kids, and kids are bad about messing with dogs when they are trying to eat. We had a black lab when I was a kid who nipped a toddler in the face when he walked up on her while she was eating. So I wanted our dogs to be completely used to being messed with while they eat. That way if our kids walk up to them while they are eating, they will be less likely to get upset. It seems to be working because he didn't even act like he was agitated at all- other than being a little worried- when the littles started taking his food. He didn't try to snap at them or push them away with a heavy paw. He just watched them.
I have to say that after watching Miss B and Mr. C with different people, kids and the puppies, I don't think I would ever go back to wanting a lab to be around my kids. I can totally see why pitbulls used to be called nanny dogs.
Here are a couple of pictures of the littles. They have gotten noticeably bigger since we brought them home almost a week ago.
Mr. M discovered Wilbur from the Knotty Cat (www.knottycattales.blogspot.com ) and has decided that he wants to be a sailor puppy one day too. Here he is practicing Wilbur's pitbullfrog pose.
So far, they are really good about going on the newspaper if you put them in the box or on newspaper on the floor. If you don't put them on the paper often enough, they just go wherever they are standing. Usually they give a little clue that they are about to go by smelling around or standing still for a few seconds.
They are learning to run and are playing more and more with Miss B and Mr. C. Yesterday, Mr. C was eating his wet food, and I put Miss S on the ground after she finished her own food. As soon as she heard the sound of him eating, she made a mad dash toward his bowl, pushed her way right in and started eating. He let out a little half wimper- half growl as if to say, "Hey wait a minute, that's mine." Then he just backed up a little, sat down and watched her with a very worried and sad look on his face. Normally he is the one who takes Miss B's food, but now his food was being taken instead. He didn't really know what to do. As soon as I realized she was actually eating his food, I pulled her away so that he could finish eating. He was very thankful for that.
This morning, Miss B had already finished her dry food by the time I brought the littes in to eat, but Mr. C was still working on his. I didn't think there was any need to worry about them messing with his food since it was the dry stuff and not the yummy wet food, so I put them both on the ground while I put their food into their bowls. They heard Mr. C eating and sprinted toward him, grunting all the way. I just watched in amusement at first but was shocked when they started gobbling down his dry food! Again he just watched them with his forehead all wrinkled up. He went around to the other side of the dish to see if he could fit his nose in there too, but these two were serious. He wimpered and sat down. I quickly pulled them away again and he went back to eating. We gave him lots of praise and told him what a good boy he was. I was very proud of how he handled that.
Since the first day we brought them home, I have messed with Miss B and Mr. C while they were eating. I would play with their ears, pet them, put my hand in their dish, take the dish away and then give it back. I would even get right up next to their faces and start giving them kisses while they were trying to eat. My theory is that at some point we hope to have kids, and kids are bad about messing with dogs when they are trying to eat. We had a black lab when I was a kid who nipped a toddler in the face when he walked up on her while she was eating. So I wanted our dogs to be completely used to being messed with while they eat. That way if our kids walk up to them while they are eating, they will be less likely to get upset. It seems to be working because he didn't even act like he was agitated at all- other than being a little worried- when the littles started taking his food. He didn't try to snap at them or push them away with a heavy paw. He just watched them.
I have to say that after watching Miss B and Mr. C with different people, kids and the puppies, I don't think I would ever go back to wanting a lab to be around my kids. I can totally see why pitbulls used to be called nanny dogs.
Here are a couple of pictures of the littles. They have gotten noticeably bigger since we brought them home almost a week ago.
Mr. M discovered Wilbur from the Knotty Cat (www.knottycattales.blogspot.com ) and has decided that he wants to be a sailor puppy one day too. Here he is practicing Wilbur's pitbullfrog pose.
Mr. C often practices his pitbullfrog pose when he thinks nobody is looking. He's getting to be a teenager now, and teenager's aren't supposed to care about those sorts of things because they are way too cool to care.
One of Mr. C's first attempts at the pitbullfrog pose. "Mom, Mom. Do I look like Wilbur?"
Miss B prefers a more dignified and lady-like pose.
Miss B in her younger, wilder days
Miss S just waking up for a potty break after a nap
Miss S awake and checking out the camera. "Can I eat it? It looks pretty tasty."
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