Today was a benchmark day - first, the pups were 4 weeks old, they ate their first real food and they went outside -twice!

They really enjoyed their first meal of cooked duck...

Then they were "stuffed" out the puppy door....jammed up on the ledge...and finally found out they could stand on a cushion from there. Took them a minute or two to figure out they could get off the cushion....with some encouragement from me and the Momma Dog....


There's always one that refuses to join in for awhile..


Eventually, after going from the cushion to the crate...going in it and back out again...they found out that those cedar shavings were interesting..

...and a lot easier to walk around on...

The little fellow ventured out from the pack and found a volunteer periwinkle - now minus it's one lone bloom...


Of course, they had to taste the cedar chips... didn't like it much...

....and then they got to go back through the puppy flap into their pen, where they took a long nap. The second trip out went much better and several figured out they could go in and out the door....Clever Puppies!