Checking in on 4 month old Finnegan
Today I had some time and so I swung by my friend’s house to see the puppy she adopted from me. It was the former Fritz, Greta‘s puppy, now named Finnegan. He’s almost 4 months old and looks so much like a pointer it is crazy. But his owners say he has a lot of hound in him too – sniffing everything!
When he first saw me he clearly recognized me – I got the whole greeting, the wiggle, the whine, the frantic licking and jumping up at my face. I felt honored to be remembered. It always warms my heart when my little babies tell me how important I was to them with this sort of dance of puppy love. After our greetings we were chatting about his development, his training and such, and I stood up to leave. Finnegan immediately got up and positioned himself nearby one of his owners, sitting down facing me. I mentioned it seemed that he was telling me that as happy as he was that I was visiting, there was no way he wanted to go with me. Then we got to talking again and walked into the room closer to the door. Finn followed us and I was petting him. I stood up again and opened the door and he walked again closer to his owner and sat down. Again it was crystal clear – he was happy where he was. It touched me so much that he was so bonded to his new pack – my friends have clearly done just what they needed to do to help him become one with their family. He is a well balanced, happy guy. So, thank you J- and J-, and thank you to everyone who adopts a puppy and makes him or her a balanced member of your family. It is such a gift.
J responds:
Thanks for stopping by to see Finn! We’re really enjoying him. He is such a love and a cuddler, and I end pretty much every evening on the sofa with him snuggled into my side. I give you lots of credit for giving him a good start in the world. He’s been a confident, well adjusted puppy from the start. I especially appreciate that you exposed them to small crates early so that his transition to crate training was smooth.
Thanks for all the hard work you do.
Crisis at 6:30 in the morning.
I was awakened by a puppy crying. Now, this isn’t an unusual thing – this particular group of puppies includes a few big time whiners. But the sound of this crying was different. There was a sense of urgency and of pain. I ran downstairs with my pjs still on, and thank god I did. Fritz, the male, was in trouble. He had gotten the upper part of his front leg caught between the barrier we have (had!) up to keep the young but still sort of mobile pups in the sleeping section of the room. It has never been a problem before – 5 litters for a combined total of 40 puppies and never a problem – But somehow he’d figured out how to get himself caught.
Fritz
The trouble was that after his leg got caught he clearly had tried to free it and had somehow done a summersault so his leg was twisted in a very unnatural way. I was absolutely certain that the leg was broken. There was swelling but not blood. I knew it had just happened but it was wedged in there tight. I couldn’t free it. I tried removing the barrier but we’d tacked it in good so that wasn’t an option. I kept staring at the terrible angle of his leg and he kept on screaming and it was difficult to think straight. Finally, I decided I had to untwist him. I began to lift his body up and over but that only increased his screams. I held him there, slightly elevated and began panicking for real when out slide his leg! “Ok,” I thought, “now let’s see if it is broken.” I started at the paw and worked my way up gently squeezing and moving his leg at the various joints. I listened close for an increase in his painful vocalizations, (which had thankfully decreased at this point) and never heard anything. I worked my way all the way up to his shoulder and all seemed fine. I put him down and he began whimpering again. So I held him for about 15 minutes. Then he began licking my arm and wagging his tail and clearly feeling back to his old self. So, I tried putting him on the floor again and this time he allowed the leg to carry weight. At this point, he seems fine! Needless to say, that wooden barrier was removed immediately.
