Archive for the ‘Chloe’ Category
A day in the life
I took Chloe to my son’s baseball game yesterday evening. I wondered what I was thinking, given how new she is to us and everything, but my instincts were right. She showed some stress at first but as soon as we sat down she approached each of my friends and their children sweetly and asked for cuddles. She is such a friendly dog! She spent the entire game rolling around happily in the grass, glad, I think, to not have mommy duties for a spell. A friend who has a golden retriever said that she was the spitting image of her dog, so there you go. We’ll be calling her a golden retriever mix.
The puppies are HUNGRY all the time. Tonight they discovered Chloe’s food bowl and tried to eat her large kibble. They were very interested in it and spent about 15 minutes of their (more…)
Chloe and pups settling in
Getting the family at week 3 is so different! I realize that usually by now I have all the puppies identified by personality – who is more outgoing, who is more vocal, that sort of thing. But the best I can do now is count them, and there always seems to be the same one missing… she’s always off in some corner snoozing all by herself. It could be the same puppy each time, or another one who looks like her, there are three tricolor pups…who knows? I made sure that I held each one tonight and said “hello.” The one mostly white male with back dew claws does stand out for me but that’s about it. The rest I can identify in my mind but have no idea who is who. There are two pairs of pups who look similar, one male and one female each. And I think one of the golden ones that looks like the white one is a male too – he’s got the cutest face! It is crazy how cute he is. I know I say this each and every time but THESE are the cutest puppies ever…
Chloe is a dream. I walked her today with the “pack” – my four and my neighbor’s. She did well, better than Sweetie and way better than Annie. She is a calm dog, submissive and willing to listen but likes to run away from me when I want to “nab” her to bring her inside or to brush her. She has asked for snuggles a lot more than I thought she would so soon. She is a very loving dog. Someone is going to be WAY lucky to have her.
Meet Chloe and her 7 puppies
Our new dog foster family is mama Chloe and her seven puppies – meet them here in this video shot on May 18, 2009. We cannot say for sure, but the pups are believed to have been born four weeks ago.
View & share this video on YouTube!
New mama dog and pups
Chloe the mama dog is beautiful and so even tempered. For some reason she was barking like crazy the first night so we nipped that in the bud and she’s been an angel ever since. I was torn about using the “bark collar” as we call it. An electronic collar that gives a “correction” when the dog’s bark sets it off. As it was her first night I expected a bit of a struggle for her to acclimate but I am someone who NEEDS sleep so I gave into my need and strapped the collar on. It took her about 10 minutes to figure out that her barking caused the shock and then she stopped. She has been quiet since. I think barking is self reinforcing – meaning I don’t need to do anything but let her bark to get her to bark more often. For that reason I am a user of electronic shock collars to stop barking. In my own dogs I have trained them to quiet on command. Franklin the bird has even learned to yell “QUIET” when the dogs start to bark. It’s crazy how fast he learned that! Anyway, back to the puppies.
They have just started to cut their baby teeth, putting them at about 3 and 1/2 weeks old. So I will now officially set their birthday at April 22, 2009. Luckily for us the home that had Chloe (our name for the sweet Irish setter looking mama) kept her until Friday because if we had gotten her while she was still pregnant it would have interrupted some important family birthday celebrations! See, everything works out as it should.
So, after settling Chloe in the first order of business is always a bath. She did not seem to like the whole idea of bathing but allowed it. She is a very willing and submissive dog. Her coat is beautiful and full, reminding me of a Chow Chow’s coat. She also looks like an Irish Setter to my untrained eye and does “point” with her front leg when interested in something. And of course, she also looks like a golden retriever. A very pretty girl.
a puppy pile!
Her puppies are so cute! They look like they’re going to have their mama’s thick beautiful coat. Their are some interesting color markings on them all and the one boy who is mostly white seems to have sky blue eyes! Wow, that will make for a stunning dog. They seem to have been handled and aren’t afraid of me, wagging their tails as they explore my hand. They are just starting to walk and talk and like I said, their little baby teeth are just coming in. I introduced them to “formula” in a saucer today and about half of them took to it. We’ll keep presenting it once a day for a bit, there is no rush. But when the mama’s are as thin as Chloe is, it is good to start supplementing them sooner rather than later. For now, everyone seems to be doing good. Chloe is eating well but not overly ravenously, the pups seem active and happy and I am relieved. Another fostering experience seems to be off to a good start.
She really is quite thin, as they all are, and her puppies seem weaker than I remember 4 week old puppies being. More Chole & pups coming to CanineFostering.com ~ stay tuned!!!
