Archive for the ‘Annie’ Category
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.
Signs of things to come
As I was cleaning up the puppy room before bed half of the group was wrestling and the other half was exploring. Walking around my feet, chasing the mop, and peeing and pooping on the nicely cleaned floor. I must have mopped that floor three times before I gave up, turned off the light and let the pups do what they will. They are paper trained, but they also pee and poo on the floor too…so maybe not so paper trained after all. Sigh. This is the beginning of the busy time. If I can keep myself in the moment, it isn’t too bad. But if I try to project outward a few weeks I get overwhelmed. This is going to be a challenge, trying to keep everything sanitary.
I cut the pups toenails again, boy they had gotten long! Everyone was very good about it and stayed relatively still. (more…)
Annie and Pups Update
Annie may have a new family! It’s still early in the process, but the thought makes me both happy for her (and happy and sad for me). If it’s a good match, it would be wonderful for her, but I will miss her.
Puppies continue to eat well, better every day. Now when I walk in the room most of them wake up, lick their chops, and look at me expectantly. THis morning, a couple actual climbed out of their sleeping area to get first dibs on the meal. Everyone has pretty big, tight bellies, which tells me they are probably still battling roundworm. Since I read recently that it’s best to worm them 10 days apart rather than 14, I decided to worm them today with Strongid. At two weeks they weighed about 2.5 lbs on average. Today at less than 4 weeks, they weighed bewtween 5.5-7.5 lbs – more than doubled! Isn’t that crazy? Clearly, mama is feeding them well. Sweeties’ puppies weighed this much at 6 weeks so these guys are shaping up to be larger dogs. Their personalities are starting to show and even though I don’t like to admit it, I’ve already got my favorite. Any guess on who it is?
Puppy Play Time
Here are two videos of fun, romping, 3-week old pups – very cute!
