search
top

So Much to Type About

Puppies!

We still have them. They are up on petfinder now, but they are not available to go to homes until after March 9th, so we still have a couple more weeks of puppies.

I believe that I can declare all three puppies weaned now.

I’ve now fed gruel to orphans. I feel so Dickensian.

No surprise, Webster took to it right away, “”Please, Sir, I want some more.” Darby was also enthusiastic, “More NOW dammit!” Mindy would eat a little, but mostly still needed the bottle, “Hmm, interesting. Okay, bored, where’s the bottle?” We got a couple of days in and it looked like we’d be able to do all meals as gruel, with no formula bottle supplementation, but then Darby wasn’t feeling well, and her appetite dropped off. So, back to the bottle for her. Then she was feeling better, but turned down the gruel. I tried a couple of different recipes, and finally hit upon one she was willing to eat. Now all three are eating enthusiastically, and I get to keep adjusting what I am serving them to move them closer and closer to eating just plain regular dog food.

They are super adorable, but also a lot more active, which means a different kind of work. At first it was all about getting food in them and cleaning up massive amounts of poo. Now there is still making food for them and cleaning up after them, but there is a lot of keeping them occupied and doing the beginning stages of teaching them some puppy manners, mainly, quiet cuteness will get you more attention than OMG NOISY SCREAMING. This is where it really becomes quite clear (just like with Corbin and Laney), why it is not a great idea to get puppy pairs. One puppy at a time is so very much easier to train quickly, of course for these young ones keeping them with siblings is good. It helps to keep them warm and helps them become better dogs, but when it comes to permanent families, one puppy at a time is best.

It has been endlessly fascinating to me to watch them change every 6 hours or so. They are advancing and changing so rapidly at this stage. They arrived here total squirmy wormies. Their eyes were open but they weren’t really seeing anything and connecting it to their brains in a meaningful way. It has been amazing to watch them turning into small dogs, step by little fuzzy step. I find myself overwhelmed by the feeling of “I MADE THIS!” which totally cracks me up. “You did not make a puppy, crazy lady. Go sit in a corner and be quiet.”

Auxiliary Teen and my mother were both scheduled to go home on Sunday. Instead we had a massive snow storm. So, they both went home yesterday. Now it is time to find a groove of managing the puppies without my mother’s help. Last night was a little rough, but today is going better. Of course, as I type that, I realize I forgot to get kibble soaking in prep for the next meal, so I had better go do that now before I forget.

Okay, kibble prep done. Once the puppies are hungry it is best to need to do as little prep as possible. Because they are rapidly changing, it isn’t quite a matter of regularly scheduled mealtimes. As they mature they can eat more in a single meal, and have more time pass between meals. I am glad to not be feeing them every 4 hours, like I needed to at first.

Today we took the puppies outside. First they were “Oh crap, what is this?!” Then they became quite fascinated, and then they became cold and pathetic and we had to go back inside and get warm. The harder I play with them, the harder they sleep. Puppies sleeping is good. Let sleeping puppies lie, for sure. Sleeping puppies mean human naps, or human showers, or human meals…  hmm I think I forgot to eat lunch today.

The house is beyond disastrous. We are doing some cleaning every day, but it never seems like enough. Puppies are messy and energy draining. There has been SO MUCH LAUNDRY. Anyhow, house is just plain embarrassing, and people are arriving in 8 minutes, and I am trying to be arctic fox about it.

People came and went. We talked some webstuffs and then they visited with the puppies, because who could come to my house and not visit with the puppies? The puppies were excited to see new people, which is great. I am glad they are nice and  social still. They are not vaccinated yet, too young, so I can’t go dragging them to places like Petsmart so they get exposed to more people.  After some playing and interaction, they were ready for a nap and all three came right over to pile on me, or next to me. They know the difference between visitors and food provider, that’s for sure. Food provider is a good source of warmth during naps.

Trying to shift their sleep and eat schedule a little bit tonight.  Wish me luck.

Trash Talk
la fleur de Not Sonic

Tags

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

top