Update on Birch
An update on Birch (one of Willow‘s litter)!! Her family wrote me tonight to say that she had her spay surgery and it went well. She is a whopping 49 pounds!! She looks so much like her litter mates it is crazy. All the pups are really similar and also really favor their mama, Willow. Seeing this picture made me really happy. I hadn’t heard from her family in a long while and I always worry when I haven’t heard much from an adoptive family.
Birch update at 9 weeks
Here’s an update on Birch at nine weeks…
Everything is going really well here. Birch is very comfortable in her new home. She loves playing with all the kids and is sleeping well through the night. She just was at the vet and got her nine week puppy shots. She had a puppy parasite but the doctor said it was common. Here are some pictures of Birch and we’ll talk to you soon!
Little Birch feels his pain
Yesterday, as my son was playing with the puppies he slipped and feel hard on his butt…and cried and cried. That sort of real, I’m hurt, cry. And little Birch walked up to him and put her head back and starting howling along with him! That made him stop crying for a moment while he laughed at her, then of course he went right back to crying. It was sweet.
Meet puppy Birch
Birch is a sweet and cuddly girl, born to a mama who looks to be part Golden Retriever/Labrador mixed with a setter or hound. Her mama, Willow is also up for adoption and is a mellow, playful, cuddly and patient dog. Her pups really take after her. Birch has a light coat, a little longer than those of her sisters, and light eyes. She is nearly house trained, having had the luxury of spending lots of time outside. She has had her first set of puppy shots, has been microchipped, and is on flea and heartworm preventative.
Puppies plump and getting named
The puppies are HUGE. Really, I can’t remember a group being so heavy and big at such a young age. They aren’t yet 5 weeks old and already they are topping 6 pounds. I tried to weigh them on the little food scale I have and failed – they kept error-ing it out because they were too heavy. So, I stood on my scale and then stood on it while holding them and subtracted my weight and basically ended up with just a general weight for all of them of about 6 pounds. It was stressful for someone like me who likes precision, especially when it comes to measurement and administering of medication (I had to weigh them in order to dose them correctly with their roundworm medication). Add to that the fact that the majority of them look so similar I can’t tell them apart!! I wasn’t exactly sure if I gave everyone the medication…did someone get two doses? Yikes. It was a stressful event.
I think I have 4 of them identified as individuals…there’s a red one with a red nose (got pics of her under the chair, a series of them) who I LOVE and I’m calling her Red Bud. There’s a male who is white with BLUE beautiful eyes, what a pretty boy he is! I’m calling him Oak. The only other male is also white but smaller and I’m calling him Ash. Then there is a small, white, (whiney) female with a red nose I’m calling Birch (notice the name theme?). The remainder are all female, all roughly a whitish/reddish color and all with a black nose…I think. It is so confusing! I am going to have to get a hold of some fingernail polish and paint their toe nails so I can tell them apart! Crazy.
Does anyone have any fingernail polish I can borrow?? Sadly I am not a girly girl.
The pups are eating about 3 times a day – moistened food with formula, and free eating dry food all day/night. Willow, the mama is learning how to jump up onto the platform to get outside and how to jump back in. That’s a relief. And she is finally got a cleanish bill of health…has roundworms (yuck) but that’s it. So, she can finally spend time outside with the pups in the play area. Life is getting a little easier…a calm before the storm of puppy applications/interviews. I have to get these girls and boys posted on Petfinder!
