At 18 1/2 years old, Puffkin still does this!!! LOL. He still likes to have his feet (front or rear) in the dish as he eats. This proves that habits are often formed very early in life.

Puffkin was 3 weeks old in the above photo. That was the age when I first gave my homebred puppies a very thin gruel of Gerber's Baby cereal to eat. Gerber's baby oatmeal (and mother's milk) is what is all over him. Because he would always dive into a teeny tiny food dish with his entire body, Puffkin was the only infant that I was unable to constantly keep "clean". The kibble in the photo was for his mom, but early on, he liked to lick it.

Although my puppies were allowed to nurse for as long as they (and their mom's wanted), they learned to eat dry kibble from watching their moms. However, nursing could last up until they were 12 weeks old! Usually, the pups got tired of nursing before their moms. Once they were 3 weeks, I supplemenedt my puppies with human baby cereal and formula. Weaning totally to kibble was the decision made by the puppies who had access to kibble as soon as they were able to toddle. By 16 weeks old, however, most were totally weaned.

No, my puppies were not raised only on newspaper. I had a whelping box in our bedroom that consisted of both a nest area (with soft bedding) and an exercise area to encourage early potty manners. The paper area also provided the mom a break (when I wasn't around)and she needed to get away from the kids. She never used the area for potty like the babies did. I used newspaper (rather than potty pads) because the puppies (and moms) liked to shred store bought potty pads for entertainment. Newspaper won't hurt them. If ingested, some of the layers in the pee pads can.

Amazing how the above image feels like "just yesterday".