Orizaba makes a friend

In accordance with Puppy Culture guidelines, we swap out toys frequently as puppies grow up, starting around 2 weeks when they first start to notice that anything exists other than Mom (well, the milkbar) and themselves.

The first toys that we give them are very small stuffed animals- generally sized for cats, so they’re little enough to be manipulated by smallish puppies, and with squeakers that will make noise by small puppies stepping on them as they don’t mouth very hard just yet.  Most of our babies stumble over the toys, occasionally nibbling on one, or using one as a pillow. We start to see some toy play towards the end of week 3, usually, but typically it ramps up more in weeks 4-6.

However, Orizaba doesn’t appear to have paid attention to the Puppy Culture DVDs or read any of the developmental manuals. He is 3 weeks old, and he loves his dinosaur.

Dinosaur likes to be dragged around the puppy pen and Orizaba likes to know where he is. It’s okay if someone else plays with Dinosaur, but Orizaba will supervise. Just in case. Because they’re buds.

(For those who are concerned, yes, we will be doing lots of trading games that are designed to teach a puppy that giving up a coveted resource is more rewarding than guarding it, but right now, Orizaba is a baby and this is adorable.)