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Puppies at 3 weeks:
Puppies at this age are learning how to control their bodies. Their
eyes and ears have been open for a little while, so they no longer
have to rely upon just their noses to experience the world.
Their waking time is spent (when not feeding) in walking around,
exploring the house. Their milk teeth (first teeth) have come in
so they also spend a lot of time chewing anything that can be chewed!
The first game they play is 'mouth-fencing', or biting without
being bitten. Two puppies face each other with each one trying to
get a grip on the other one's muzzle. Another game they like to play
(besides chewing things) is picking small objects up in their mouths,
taking them some place, and dropping them.
Really small puppies always like to sleep in contact with each other.
But now they can snooze on their own without a fuss. Although they
will still sleep in snug puppy heaps, too.
Very young puppies also have trouble relieving themselves without
their mother licking their stomachs first. But now they can go without
problem -- except they aren't house trained yet and will leave puddles
wherever they want to!
At about three weeks a puppy learns how to lap liquid. They have to
learn it for themselves -- lapping cannot be taught. In the process
of learning, the puppy can make a big mess. About this time a puppy
can begin eating solid food, finely chopped. A dog cannot move its
lower jaw sideways the way humans can. So a dog can bite its food,
and chew it to some degree, but it can't grind it. A dog bites off
pieces of the right side and swallows them. A three week old puppy
hasn't been weaned yet, so it is still suckling. The solid food
doesn't make up its whole diet.
Source: A Dog's Life: A year in the life of a dog
family, by Jane Burton and Michael Allaby, Howell Book House, Inc.,
New York, 1986, pp. 34-37.
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