Now, one rule I DO insist on following is recording our puppy’s weight. She is up to 1 pound 1 1/2 ounce! Can you believe that she is bigger than Kahula was at that age?

While I ventured out with the girls to visit with grandma Rita, I brought Hope along for the adventure, allowing Rita to see her for the first time but also to give her some secure socialization while she is being so accepting. This week she has shown so much progress and confidence by being in with her older half sisters. Keeping them together and allowing be to keep up the feeding schedule while I was away was also the plan of course.

Hope really seemed to blossom socially, by merely being where all of the action is and any from the constant attention from her mother. She perks up when anyone walks into the room, tail wagging and eyes filled with cheer. She is like an entirely grown up, big girl overnight!

We have rearranged the whelping box to accommodate a small, washable pee-pad. Now that she is up and mobile, the natural instincts to not soil where she sleeps has kicked in. We give her access to the dry Bil-Jac kibble 24-7 and moist food three times a day, allowing us to continue to reduce the number and amount of formula feedings. The transition is doing its job because she is up to 13 1/4 ozs!

Between her kibble/mush meals, I am still doing formula feedings. Hope walks to the edge and crawls up to the syringe tip and sucks away! She even knows the process of the removal of the caps between each syringe and wait patiently, knowing how many more are to come. She is SUCH a smart girl!

We will continue to feed her three times a day with this mixture, eventually weaning her off of the syringed formula, like a mom would do. She will totally beef up over the next couple of weeks!