Archive for December, 2008
Heavy Workload
Bless this mess.
It feels like I am constantly going now. Once I feed the pups then I have to take care of Annie’s food. Then I have to clean up the food bowls and let Annie out. Then I play with the pups to give them some stimulation and get them used to being handled and of course Annie’s right there needing some attention too. Then I have to clean up the wet papers, mop the floors and put down new papers. Hopefully at this point the pups are starting to fall asleep. Before they do I have to change their bedding, put the soiled bedding into the washer after taking out the wet bedding and putting it into the dryer after taking out the cleaned and dried bedding and folding it. Once the bedding is laid one pup invariably walks on it and pees. I try to pretend that it doesn’t happen. You can’t ever get the room cleaned – you just try to keep (more…)
Puppies Doing Puppy Things
Annie’s pups are blossoming before our very eyes. They are learning to romp, play, and eat and making progress each day. Here is a video of, well, puppy mealtime. Fun to see how they just walk over each other, get distracted, then re-direct back to another bowl of chow. Their disregard for decorum and hygiene is refreshing and very cute indeed…
Soccer Puppy
Puppy play time is short lived (they tire easily) but fun to watch. Here is a short clip of a pup practicing his soccer moves in the play area…
Fat and Happy
Weaning is going well, Annie’s milk production seems to be going down and the pups are eating well on their own more and more frequently. They are fat and happy. When I walk into the room they gather around me and bite (hard) on my legs, ankles and feet. I have to really control myself so I don’t kick out reflexively and send one of the sailing! Today I imagined their first time outside in the snow and got really excited. Of course that will have to wait until they are a bit older and hopefully the weather will cooperate. In the summer I’d have had them outside by now, but they are just too small and it is just too cold and so my instinct is to wait.
Read on for more photos! (more…)
All is well
Everyone was walked and relaxing. The puppies were happily playing on their bed after a big meal, wrestling quietly, chewing each other’s ears and slowly falling asleep. I was working on the computer and Annie was chewing on her Kong. I was feeling good about myself, thinking “I am so good, everyone has been taken care of and all is well.” I hear Annie drinking heartily and smile to myself about how happy she sounds when I realize, “hey, her water bowls are in the puppy room and the door is closed…” I look and see her drinking from the toilet that really needs a cleaning (yuck)!! Oh well.
Puppies everywhere
Puppies puppies everywhere! They all walk around the room now, exploring, playing and peeing. Every time I enter the room I have to laugh as they all stop and look, just like little kids you burst in on and startle. They look like they’ve been caught doing something wrong.
They are well into the solid food now and are taking more and more from me, and less from Annie. This is good as she wants less and less to do with them. Tonight, for an hour during feeding time, they had a babysitter! My friend, Maria, came by and played, fussed, and held them all. When I came down to clean up the meal mess they were all zonked out. They continue to enjoy human contact, wagging and crawling over one another to get to the people who visit them. There are going to be a lot of visitors soon. We plan to post their pictures on Petfinder next week. Look for them either by going directly to Petfinder or through the HELP website . They will be named after Santa’s eight reindeer – Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comit, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. The brown one is Blitzen.
