Our puppies are born in a whelping pen that is right in our basement family room area. It's off to the side so mom can be alone if she wants, but not so far that she feels isolated. This also allows for the puppies to be exposed to the sights and sounds of the household.
When the puppies are around 3 weeks old, we move them to the puppy room. This room opens off our basement family room area, making it convenient to bring puppies in to spend some family time with us. The room is large enough that when the weather is bad and puppies can't go outside, they can have run of the whole room! This is also were we do our grooming of the big dogs. We've just finished re-doing this room, and are just waiting to have our puppies arrive so they can play in it!
We love to spend time around our yard and garden with the puppies. Once they reach 4 weeks or so, we start the morning with a romp around the yard while puppies help with watering plants (or protecting us from the scarry garden hose!) weeding flower beds (or rolling in them) and generally just having fun exploring the world around them! Ahh, but once they realize getting caught means the fun is over, it's time to start fencing in the rambunctious kids!
