This week it was time to move some moms and puppies. Jules and Precious needed more space, as did Allie and her plump children. 😉

So I dragged the puppy play pens into the living room and set up shop! Which wasn’t an easy task since my living room isn’t very big. Normally I would set up one in the living room and one in the dining area. But since we have the big German Shepherd puppy now, I have kept a gate up between the dining/kitchen area and the living room to keep the monster puppy away from the moms and babies.

That’s it! That is the size of my living room. And it full of dog crates and puppy pens!

This is the basic set up when mom and babies are moved from their whelping crate to the puppy play pen. This is where the pups are introduced to the litter box. (at approximately 3-3.5 weeks of age). I use the UGOdog as the first litter box because it is flat. The babies can basically toddle off their bed onto the box. Once they are using their legs better and can step over something, I trade this out for a plastic box with the sides cut down and add the wood pellets.

Food and water are always available for mom, and soon puppies will start taste testing it. When that happens, I add hot water to the kibble, which keeps it in the bowl. When a four-ish week old puppy tries food, the puppy usually ends up in the dish and dry kibble spills out over the sides. Moistening the food helps puppies to chew it easier and keeps it in the bowl!

And at this age, I start introducing some new small toys, switching them out often so puppy sees, feels and hears new things.

Precious is checking out her new litter box.

Jules and her “mini-me”.

They even have their own personal watch dog. 😉

After Jules, I got Allie and her kids set up in their own puppy pen too.

They look pretty comfortable!