The Transitional Stage

The next growing period of the puppy’s life is 2 to 4 weeks.  This stage is called Transitional Stage.  At this stage the puppies open their eyes and will now respond to light, sound and movement around their whelping box.  During these first two stages its important to keep the puppies in a small secluded box.  This is important because it will make the puppies feel safe and secluded from the outside world while they begin to experience things for the first time.  You could use a dog crate with a blanket wrapped around or something to that effect.  At this stage the puppies will start to get their puppy teeth, but it will not become painful for the mother to nurse yet.  The puppies will also start to move and try to walk. The puppies won’t be able to do much but stumble, but they are now strong enough to stand and try to learn how to walk.  When my puppies were at this stage, they would all try to walk around in the cage but wouldn’t be able to see too far in front of them so they would end up hitting each other and falling down.  The puppies will not try to venture outside of their crate yet.  Again, when my puppies were at this stage, we provided the crate for the puppies but we also provided a way for the mother to get in and out of the crate without us having to supervise and only let her in to see her puppies when we are home.  We did this by placing a two by four at the bottom of the crate’s door.  This allowed the mother to be able to step over the two by four to get in and out of the crate and prevent the newborn puppies from stumbling out of the crate.  The mother will still be doing most of the work and will be feeding the puppies, cleaning up after them and help regulate their temperature.