The Schnug Life

This little, not even 3 lbs, guy is new to the world. I took him to Petco and got a few toys and then took him to a grassy area at a church. He was in puppy heaven. Fascinated, excited and scared of everything around him. He stays so close to me that I don’t have to worry about chasing after him too much. If he can’t see me he freaks out and comes looking for me. He does not know that I will come back. He has not learned object permanence with me yet.

What is object permanence you might ask?

“The main development during the sensorimotor stage is the understanding that objects exist and events occur in the world independently of one’s own actions (“the object concept”, or “object permanence”).

Object permanence means knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It refers to the capacity to mentally represent objects that are not currently perceivable based on sensory input. Object permanence requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object.

For example, if you place a toy under a blanket, the child who has achieved object permanence knows it is there and can actively seek it. At the beginning of this stage, the child behaves as if the toy had disappeared.

The attainment of object permanence generally signals the transition from the sensorimotor stage to the preoperational stage of development.”

quoting https://www.simplypsychology.org/object-permanence.html

I love the work of Piaget.

I wonder if there is much overlap between human development and puppy development?

It is so interesting to watch an animal have to get used to nature. It was in his DNA and instinct to love the grass and yet he was a stranger to its blades and also to the dead dry leaves. Something unnatural and natural to it at the same time. Nature being a novelty.

He doesn’t even look like he has a snout, he looks at this point like he lost to a run in with a wall. It makes him almost cat like in appearance. Wonder what he will look like in a few months?