8 weeks - Puppy Party!

The weekend following Kenna's arrival home, we hosted a Puppy Party (also referred to as a "Puppy Shower" by some of our attendees) to introduce her to some of our friends. Unfortunately, with it being Mother's Day a lot of people weren't able to make it, but we still had a pretty good crowd, including 4 children to socialize her with. It actually made it a very manageable number of people, especially since people showed up and left at varying times.

For those that have never had the responsibility joy (well, it's both really) of raising a puppy, socialization is incredibly important at this age to produce a sociable dog who is not afraid of novel people/places/things. The puppy party was great because it allowed us to socialize her without leaving our house. Although she does go on walks, accompanies me to the clinic, and has met a few other dogs, she is not fully vaccinated and so to some extent a bit of caution is needed regarding where she goes and who she meets. It is a balancing act between prevention of transmissible diseases (some of which are potentially life threatening in a puppy) and getting the appropriate socialization for her to grow up into a confident adult. Puppy parties are great ways to expose your young puppy to some new people without any of the risks of leaving the house.

 

 

 

She finally even got tired enough to pass out. First and only time so far that we've had enough activity to make her zonk out like this. She seems to have far more stamina than Kili ever did at this age!

The day after her arrival she weighed in at 5.5 kg, and by the end of 8 weeks she was 6.25 kg.