Raising Litter Mates

	FEEDING AND WALKING BLACK LABRADOR LITTERMATES The puppies are very active and very social. Right now they go on at least two walks a day, usually about an hour each. Most mornings they are pleasantly surprised to run into their friends at the Hillside Elementary School field.
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Taro and Kratos are doing very well on their leashes. They rarely pull, and if they do they are corrected immediately. I am able to walk them together now without constantly trying to break them apart for play fighting.

We come across at least ten people daily on our neighbourhood walks. Meeting people has always been difficult for Taro. He has a tendency to jump up and be obnoxious. Kratos has learned that he is not to jump when approaching people, his brother is a little more hyper than he is. Taro is getting better, the command I`m using is "off", but I`m sure it will always be challenging to keep him from jumping up.

The puppies are eating three meals a day now. I was hand feeding them most of their kibble but have since started using regular dog bowls for most of their meals. I implement short training sessions quite frequently throughout the day, using kibble from their daily food ration as rewards.

We found that they were getting a little chunky, so I have cut back their daily food intake slightly. It is better to have the puppies underweight rather than overweight so that their joints are not stressed as they develop into adult dogs. These labradors LOVE food! Since cutting back on their food, I have noticed that Kratos has become more active. Taro has always been much more active than Kratos, but now even Taro has increased energy. I don't always think of it as a good thing!!

In the evening the puppies go out again. When Stephen comes home from work we take them together. Often times we will take all three dogs swimming at Ruskin, providing the weather is nice. Kratos LOVES to swim. Taro can swim, but chooses not to unless its absolutely necessary, we will continue to take them for the rest of the summer, and until the weather starts changing.