This is not my usual anything, but it’s pretty much what my life has been about since early December…
Please consider helping out Cause for Paws, the rescue we’re working with on this fostering insanity!
Day 1 – 2 week old puppies!
I know it was a crazy impulse, but I asked John, and he said yes, and so now we’re fostering a mother dog and her three 2 week old puppies! They are sooo sweet! Mama is very skittish, but beautiful, and I think we can help her come out of her shell. She looks like a fox, gorgeous red coloring and these great pointy ears. Poor thing just hasn’t been around people, or at least nice people, at all. The pups are so tiny, like little guinea pigs. We set them up in my office and it’s perfect. Our three dogs, Snoopy, Misha, and Bo, will have the rest of the house, so this will be great. They’re curious but leery. We’re doing this instead of exchanging Christmas gifts this year – I love it!
Day 3 – settling in
We named the mama dog Penny because of her lovely copper color. I had to do something because John started calling her “Foxy” yesterday – yes she does look like a fox but I told him that’s a stripper name, and also stupid. I mean, I rolled my eyes, but I think he got the idea. So it became urgent that I get him to agree on a name, and Penny worked better than the others I tried. So, we went with The Big Bang Theory theme and now are the proud fosters of three adorable little fluffy boys named Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj. We didn’t have enough for a Howard sadly. Leonard is the sweetest little mama’s boy ever, following Penny around everywhere already, and sleeping on top of her. Kayla said he looks like a little panda bear, and she’s totally right. He’s just a giant fluff! Sheldon likes to wander off on his own a bit more but is so sweet. He looks the most like his mama. Raj is the wild card, he’s got this great stripe down the middle of his head, and I swear he’s already smiling. I’ve had Penny out on a leash a few times but she needs a lot of coaxing. John tried to just pull her the first time, and that, well, it didn’t go so well. But she’s just so gentle. She does growl at the other dogs if she sees them, so we just keep the door shut tight. It’s like their own little perfect room. I started them on dewormer, but the amazing thing about mother dogs is that they clean up everything on their own. I mean everything. It’s gross. Nature is amazing and wondrous. And gross. Good mama!
Leonard, Raj, Sheldon – guinea pig stage
Day 5.
The videos I put up on Facebook are getting all kinds of buzz. These puppies are just perfect and sweet. They will have no problem getting great homes when the time comes. John took them to the vet because I noticed Leonard had a bit of a cough. Then Raj started coughing, and went to sleep with Penny more than usual. She has her own bed across the room so she can be alone or with the boys, but I’m sure that won’t last once they get more mobile. They can squirmy-walk their way around pretty well already! I give them antibiotics twice a day, but it’s so easy. They barely even notice it before they go back to sleep. Puppies are so wonderful! I hate going off to work! Someone is already interested in Penny and wants to meet her, but she is still pretty nervous so I asked for another week to work on her trust with humans. She’s taking treats now, so we’re on our way! She’s started smiling!
Day 7 – 3 week old puppies!
I can’t even believe a week has gone so fast! The puppies have doubled in size I bet. They’re about 3-4 pounds each! This is all so easy, mama nurses them, cleans up after them, and we just sit there watching them in amazement. They are still little guinea pigs, but they are starting to get their sea legs and stumble around a bit. So cute! Rachel came over tonight and pretty much screamed when she saw them. She said she’s never seen dogs so little, and she was just stunned, so when I handed her Leonard to hold, she couldn’t help her squealing. The puppies woke up but only for a minute. Jay was worried, but they’re resilient already. Penny didn’t have any trouble with people near the pups, so that’s a great sign too.
Day 9.
John set up a puppy cam! It’s so adorable, but mostly it’s just a lot of sleeping puppies. Still, a few friends have been watching them as a way of relaxing and feeling good about the world. I think that’s the best thing about puppies, how they just calm you down and make you happy. We are just so blissed out! Ben loves playing with them when he gets home from work!
Ben, rolling the puppies
Day 14 – 4 week old puppies!
It’s Christmas, and we’ve moved the puppies downstairs! Raj was pushing at the door and howling so much, and we were a little stressed trying to keep the puppies happy while still being able to move around in the house and get things done. So we set up the big puppy gate that Mollie brought over and it’s going fairly well. I mean, Raj is still howling, but at least we’re all together to enjoy their sweetness. The boys really didn’t understand when we asked them to clean up their gift wrappings – I think they weren’t expecting the puppies to move quite so fast. You’d think 19 year olds wouldn’t be so naive! They’re really moving now, and when we let them out of the gate they seem to smell all the candy just fine. What really got to Penny was the jerky the boys got in their stockings. She is more than a little food-oriented! And the really great news, Penny has a new family who wants to adopt her! They came and fell in love. I was so right to wait a week – she was very shy but loving and took treats right from their hands. They didn’t even mind that she’s heartworm positive, and we said we’d work with them on treatment. I’m so glad Cause for Paws is footing the bill for these wonderful animals. It amazes me to think they could have just all been put to sleep. Such great dogs, all of them!
Leonard (the panda)
Raj on the loose
Day 17.
I’m a bit tired from sleeping on the couch. Penny keeps leaving the puppies to hang out upstairs, you can tell she really needs a break! The other dogs have been mostly staying up there since we moved the puppies down. Penny growls at them if they get too close, which apparently means touching the floor, so they’ve taken to couch-surfing in the craziest way. Snoopy will leap over the end table to land on the couch. It’s the lava game we played as kids, only now the lava is a mama dog and three roly-polies. The puppies are very curious about the big dogs, and the big dogs are not pleased. I’m feeling guilty for putting them through this, but it’s just a few more weeks. We can do this! We left them for a few hours while we went to a football game at Kate’s house. It was a bit too long apparently. Penny knocked the gate I’d set up in the kitchen down and when we got home Ben was cleaning wildly. There was poop and pee and a few things knocked over. Penny had pooped in Johns jam room. Ben had only just arrived home and looked at me like he’d seen a ghost. I felt guilty bringing the boys into this, but they have really loved on the pups a ton. Jay wants to keep Sheldon, and I wish we could, but there’s just no way I can handle another puppy and three dogs is a lot already. We have seven dogs in the house, and it’s crazy when you say that out loud.
Smiley Sheldon!
Day 19.
Penny got out twice, she’s really pretty sneaky! She hates being on the leash when she sees the other dogs loose, and it’s hard to explain to her all the reasons. I worry because too much exertion is bad for heartworm positive dogs. Also we don’t want anything to happen to her of course! She came back fast both times, probably because we have her babies. The puppies are at full adorable now. They are wrestling and make the cutest little growly noises. They started on mostly-solid food at 4 weeks along with nursing, and I’m a bit sick of the blender at this point. I may never make another smoothie. Still, the mush goes like hot-cakes and Penny loves to clean the plate when they’re done. We’ve never weaned pups before but we know it needs to be gradual. I’m a bit sleep-deprived and really glad I’m on vacation this week so I can do this without having to drive or try to write anything. Mostly I watch Netflix when the puppies sleep. Penny wakes me up during the night when she needs help – she wags her whole body and practically begs me to get up and feed them so she can have a break. They are starting to really climb all over her now. Also they climb everything else, and they chew on anything that fits in their mouths. It’s cute, but I’m tired.
Day 20 – December 30.
John took a night on the couch and I slept along with the big dogs on the bed and slept like the dead. He says he’ll take the couch tonight too, or was it me that told him that? I don’t even know. Mollie came over for a drink. I can’t seem to bring myself to leave for fear of what I’ll find when I come home, so socializing isn’t a thing right now, but that’s okay, I’m not really that social. Still, the drink was good, and Mollie works for the rescue so she knows what it’s like. In fact I felt silly saying I was tired when she spent 5 weeks on her couch for the last batch of orphan pups she took in. I’ve got Penny and I’m still exhausted! Today I tried giving the puppies solid food that was just soaked in formula and they loved it. So bye-bye blender! Still, when they’re hungry, waiting a few minutes for the food to soften up can feel like hours! They are getting louder now, and they know I’m the chef. The puppies found the really nice dog bed we won in a raffle, and they really know how to chill! At least for a while…
To be continued.
