Adventures in Dining

It's always exciting and messy introducing babies to their first solid food, and puppies are no exception. First step, soak some dry puppy food in water until it's soft and mushy. Second, pour the food in a large shallow pan. Third, add puppies. And I do mean "add the puppies" - the first time I literally put their front paws into the dish. What happens next varies. Sometimes one smart puppy figures out right away that this ushy mushy stuff is food and starts licking at it. Most of the time though the puppies just walk through the bowl getting themselves nice and messy (sometimes they crawl on top of one another in the bowl, it's a little like mud wrestling). Clean up isn't a problem though, as soon as they've had enough fun and food, I let their mom join them. She finishes off the puppy mush and then licks the puppies clean.

The little white girl puppy took to the food on the very first try and by this afternoon - the third day and the sixth meal - all of the puppies showed some interest in the food. Maybe not coincidentally, the three smallest puppies eat the most - perhaps the two fat boys are so full of mom's milk they can't be bothered with puppy mush.