The pups have changed so much with just a little love and encouragement and gentle touches.

When Jake and I got home from looking at the pigs this past Sunday, I heard whining and saw this when checking on the pups:

They wanted us!!! They were trying to get TO us instead of AWAY from us!  I let them out, and they romped all over the yard and chased us everywhere. They were so happy, and their little stubby tails were wagging so fast they were blurs.

I’m convinced they were too young to be taken from their mother because they try to nurse on Puppers and DG constantly.

Smidge and Cooper tolerate the puppies because of the puppy antics.

Look what they learned to do!!! They can climb stairs now!!!

Just the runt needed help getting up on the porch. The other five tried a few times until they had stairs mastered.

Look how adorable these two are!

Of course, they went straight for the food dish, and we let them have it. I’m trying to get weight on them. This is the first time I haven’t been able to get puppies filled out into roly poly pudgeballs, and I’m starting to get worried. They eat nonstop but aren’t filling out.

I wore them out by sitting on the ground and rough housing with them. They climbed all over me, and we had the opportunity to work on “no biting”. That will take a lot more work to understand,  but the progress these pups have made behavior – wise is fantastic!  I’m so happy I get to be part of this process!

I still get upset when I look at their little cut off tails, but I can’t change that so instead I’m teaching them that people can be trusted and that the hands that touch them now will always be kind and caring. The trust I see in their eyes now – when less than a week ago all they wanted was to hide as far from people as possible – is an amazing and wonderful thing to see!