Dinner for Schmuks

Yesterday was First Meal Day at Invictus. Like any decent Ridgeback the puppies took to the mash like ducks to water.

The problem a lot of puppies have with their introduction to food is that for their first 3 weeks of life they have had to suck to eat. Now they have to learn to lap and chew.

They often simply attempt to suck the food up so I give them a little assistance and eventually each puppy manages to get a little food into their bellies, then Leeloo tops them up with milky goodness.

The point of the exercise is not really to fill them but to simply introduce the food, over the next couple days they will learn to eat properly and then ... it's no holds barred and total mayhem when the food dish arrives. This will continue until the day they die.

Prepare yourselves. Ridgebacks are *NOT* free feeders and must be regulated. They are not supposed to look like marshmallow Labradors (and in fact most Labradors you see are not supposed to look like marshmallows either but I digress). 

Leeloo, once she realized the puppies were being fed actual food that she could be eating, was distraught. She was barred from access to the puppies and stood looking forlorn. At the dish.

Her expression is one of real concern, not for the puppies, but for the food they are getting instead of her. That's my girl ... consistent to the core. When a puppy ventured toward her she was all over it licking the food from its feet and face. She was rewarded for her patience with the left over mash and the puppies enjoyed the beginning of the end of nursing from their mother. The flip side of this is that now they're getting 'real' food, they will be pooping real poop and as I already surmised .... Leeloo ain't touching it.