Not only young at heart

I was able to catch Gidget playing with her daughter, Prim this afternoon. She does this a lot but usually when I get out the camera, she runs for the hills. Just wanted you to see how spry she is for an old girl.

She isn't liking the cold weather we're having. She loves to burrow into the blankets on the sofa to get warm and spends as little time outside as needed to get her business done, that is, if Prim will leave her alone long enough.

Not much luck at the adoption event

Gidget and I went to an adoption event this morning. It was at a music store (about an hour away). They had several litters of REAAAALY big puppies. (These guys will probably top 80 pounds when they are grown. Huge things.) Several of the puppies were adopted. Gidget and I stayed until early afternoon and I finally decided that there weren't any people out looking to adopt an older dog so we came on home. Everyone was interested in puppies. She was a good girl but I thank all she wanted to do was come home. She's sacked out now on her bed.

We'll just keep praying that the family that are meant to be hers finds her. She's such a wonderful dog. I may call retirement homes that allow pets after the first of the year and see if I can put some fliers up there or ask if they know anyone who is interested in getting a nice, mellow dog.

Gidget's going to an adoption event

Gidget and I are going to go to an adoption event today. We're hoping that someone is looking for a special girl to join their family for Christmas. We'll sure miss her when she goes but she needs her own people. I'll try to get some pictures today and post them. In the meantime, here's a video of Gidget playing with Prim (I think she's starting to get on her nerves:-).

Prim's outing

I have been taking advantage of my husband's vacation time this week to have him take us out in public. He wanted to go to the auto parts store and I needed to pick up a new pair of eye glasses and get some more packaged doggie treats so we made a morning of it. Prim doesn't mind the car at all. It seems to be open spaces that bother her. When we went to Petco, I didn't take it slow this time. I just got out of the car, walked right in and did our shopping and right back out again. She was shaking and tried to climb out of my arms a couple of times but all in all, I think it was a positive experience.

Earlier this week, we purchased a (used) RV. We've been saying we were going to get one for a few years so that travel with the dog (now dogs) would be easier. We decided that our present situation warrants getting one so we did. We need to find a storage facility and there is one not far from our house. While we were out, we stopped to see what kind of options we had (and how easy it will be to park there:-) Prim handled it pretty well. When we went into the office, she let one woman (the other one didn't seem interested so I didn't offer) pet her and seemed really comfortable with her (she doesn't seem to have anxiety about people, it's just environments that seem to bother her). We had to get in a golf cart to go see the spaces and I almost didn't go. Besides being cold and windy today, I was hesitant in case Prim tried to jump out of my arms. She did remarkable well. She was shaking but it was cold and windy and I was uncomfortable. I wrapped her up with my jacket to try to keep her warmer.

As soon as we got home, she peed outside and then fell sound asleep on the sofa curled up with me and Brinkley and hasn't moved since (see photo above).

Gidget loses her stitches

Gidget got her stitches out this morning. She has a slight infection in her incision so she's on antibiotics.  I'm also putting antibiotic cream on the incision. I had thought he might not take the stitches out as I thought it didn't look very well healed. Must have been the infection.

She was limping on her right leg this morning. She does that occasionally. No real pattern to the limping. Not usually early morning but during the day some times. I asked the Vet to check it when he spayed her and he didn't find anything. I asked him about it this morning and he couldn't find anything again. He said it might be behavioral. Not sure what that's about.

We had a Basset Hound when we were first married (over 40 years ago!) who was diagnosed - I am serious - with "alternating leg limp". We'd take her to the Vet and tell him that she's limping on her right front leg one day and her left front the next and then her right rear, and sometimes her left rear. I don't know if there is such a condition or even if he did anything for her. I just remember the diagnosis. Every once in a while, when someone has vague symptoms, we say they must have alternating leg limp.

I'm planning on taking Gidget to an adoption event this weekend. Now that she is "fixed" and has all her shots she's ready to go to her forever home. I may take her to the "kids" event although I'm not real sure what that means. I think she'd be a great choice for a family. She's so well housebroken and well mannered, there'd be only whatever trick training a family might want to teach. No stresses of raising a puppy. I figure she has at least 5 -8 more years and some large dogs don't live much longer than that. And to watch her run and play with Prim, you'd never begin to guess she wasn't a youngster herself.

My husband is off this week so he helped me work with Prim on her socialization. She did so well in the car the other day that I decided I wanted to try taking her out of the car. We went to PetCo and sat in the car for a while. She was ok until I opened the car door and started to get out. She started struggling and tried to get out of my arms and get farther into the car. I sat there for maybe 5 minutes trying to give her treats. She wouldn't have anything to do with them. Finally, my husband told me I was babying her too much. I said I didn't want to overload her but tried standing up anyway. She struggled a bit but not too badly so I started walking towards the store. She was trembling a bit but not struggling too badly so I went in and started walking slowly around. She wouldn't take any treats and was trembling but looking around as well. We stayed in there about 5 minutes and towards hte end she took a few treats from my husband.  She was actually fairly relaxed towards the end but boy was she glad to get back in the car.

I don't want to sound like she is a major project puppy. There are so many great things about her. She is great in the crate and she learns really fast. She is such a lover and will sit on the sofa for hours and cuddle with me (I dont want to do that too often though as she then has a ton of pent up energy that has to be expended later:-). All in all, the only real issue we've had is this business of environments. I'll just keep working on it. I'm very hopeful we'll be able to take a class by January.

We went on an outing

We had to go to a big box home store this morning. I didn't think Prim could handle going in the store but wanted to try her out in the car. We brought Brinkley along for moral support (she seems to handle things better when he is with us). What a good girlie!

(Disclaimer... do not do this at home... I held her in my lap in the front seat - I wasn't driving) I was feeding her high value treats the entire trip to the store. She was taking them pretty well although there was one point that she stopped but for the most part, she seemed under threshold pretty much the entire way there. Once we got parked, I let her explore the car, which she did - well, she got in the driver's seat and chewed on the seatbelt holder and some wires to the iphone thingy that lets me listen through the radio. I gave her some toys I had brought and she played with them a bit them settled down and just relaxed. All in all, I was beyond pleased. Here are a few photos I took.

 

Ok, she does look a bit stressed here. 

Not much going on

Prim loves her big brother.

Things just seem to be going along without much excitement. Gidget is doing really well after her spay. She's playing with Prim (I try to keep them separated but haven't had 100% compliance). What I have discovered is that Gidget will go in the house when I tell her to. I found this out the other day when Prim was mauling her outside when I took them out to potty. I just told Gidget to go back in the house and she did. I was amazed. I hadn't taught her this cue and don't know how she figured it out unless it was something she learned in her previous home. I continue to be awed at how smart she is.

Prim is still showing signs of fearfulness. My trainer thinks it might be either a fear stage or that it is inherited. I continue to take her out in the front yard, sometimes with Brinkley and sometimes alone. She just doesn't like it.  When we were out this afternoon, my next door neighbor was working on his car and came over to talk. At first, Prim ran the opposite direction but fairly quickly came over and actually jumped up on him in greeting. I was over the moon with excitement and gave her all kinds of treats.

The other thing I am finding challenging is cutting Prim's nails. Up until a week ago, no problem. Now all of a sudden she is fighting having them clipped. She doesn't mind me handling her feet, I've done it almost every day since she was born, it's just once I get the clippers out that she goes all squirmy on me. Actually, it's the same behavior that she has when I take her out the front door (hence the need to clip her nails as they are lethal when she's struggling to get down). Wish I knew what was up with all this. At any rate, I bought a different kind of clippers today thinking I might "trick" her but no such luck. Also bought a file but she wouldn't let me use that either so I'm back to clicking and treating for just looking at the clippers, then touching the clipperss and will work up to touching her feet with it while clicking and treating. Baby steps.

I know that Gidget was fairly scared when she first came here. She was very "trembly". but got over it fairly quickly and it didn't prevent her from facing her fears. I always said she was actually pretty brave because she wasn't afraid to face her fears. Hopefully with a bit of work, Prim will be the same.

I had wanted to take Prim places so that she could be socialized. She's missing out on all the prime socialization period. If I can't get her out in the front yard, what on earth would happen if I took her to Lowe's or Petco? Don't want to rush it though and end up making matters worse.

Dealing with our fears

Just wanted to start with a little cuteness:-)

Gidget is doing really well after her surgery. She's being fantastic about not licking her stitches and if she does, she stops when I ask her to. Her teeth are so pearly white. I am amazed at how clean they got them. I'm still feeding her soft food but she seems to be ok. I'm guessing her teeth may have been bothering her as they were loose and chewing on loose teeth has got to be uncomfortable. I'm so glad we got them cleaned and all set. Poor baby doesn't have many left but she doesn't seem to mind at all. 

The vet said he couldn't find anything wrong with her leg so I guess it's just old age. I have that myself and find myself limping or hunched over when I get up many times.  

She's not so tolerant of Prim since her surgery. That's about the only concession I see her making to her discomfort. I am just keeping them separate. Not too difficult. Gidget has learned "wait" since che came. I didn't teach it. She's just picked it up from me telling my dog. She is such a smart girlie. 

We've been working on Prim's fears of the front yard. I talked to my trainer about it this afternoon and she thinks perhaps she's going through a fear stage. I am hopeful. I have been taking her out in the front yard with toys and treats and just letting her wander. She doesn't go far. For several days, she just hid unter the bench on the front porch. She had gotten to the point that she would investigate the cars in the drive and the patch of grass by the neighbor's fence. I had taken Gidget out with her once thinking that her mom's comfort with the area might help her. No such luck. My trainer suggested that I try Brinkley. Well, what a difference. She was only slightly hesitant to follow him at first but really quickly tagged right along. We all sat on the lawn for 10 minutes and she was fabulous. She finally got tired of it and wandered back to the area near the house where she was more familiar but I am much more encouraged by the day's response. 

I am having a challenge with potty training Prim. She has absolutely no physiological schedule. I know to feed her at discrete times so that I can anticipate when she will need to poop. Well, yesterday she went 5 times and today, so far, only once (talk about anal, I am keeping a chart of times and locations of all potty breaks). How can I anticipate? We are doing great with pee but I am struggling with the other. She'll almost always pee when I tell her to go potty. I take her out so many times, I am wearing out the door knob. I know that the treats I'm using for training count towards her intake but I really don't remember having this much trouble figuring out when a puppy was going to need to go. 

Gidget's surgery

The vet just called and Gidget came through her surgery wonderfully. She had to have 2 teeth pulled. She didn't have many to begin with but they said they were so loose they almost fell out so they are only charging me for removing 1:-) She'll also have to go back to have her stitches taken out because she was still swollen from having the pups. I guess they couldn't use dissolvable sutures because of the swelling.

She was so excited this morning when we put on the leash and went out the front door. She thought we were going for a walk. I took her out yesterday with Prim and she was rarin' to go.  I'll need to start walking her once she recovers a bit from her surgery. She's still quite plump.

Prim has decided that she doesn't like the front yard. I'm not sure where that came from. I had worked so hard socializing her with people and places in the house and back yard and with sounds and surfaces but it seems like children, they never act out in ways that you expect.  I have been taking her out and just sitting on the bench on our porch and feeding her treats (when she's under threshold enough to take them. I've been doing this several times a day. It'll take a while but we'll get through this. I don't want to push her too hard but do want to make sure that she learns that the outdoors is ok. I'm just still very surprised by her fears this early. I had taken her out the front before several times and she didn't seem to mind it. And she seems ok when my husband takes her out the front. I can't think if anything I've done that might have scared her. Oh, well. We'll just work through it.

I've started replaying the sound desensitization recording which I had stopped a week or so ago. Just making sure that I am doing as much as I can to keep any fears from cropping up. I had wanted to start taking her for little walks around the neighborhood. (I'd even thought about taking her in her crate to Brinkley's classes for exposure there but that's a long way off. Now I'm just hoping she'll be ready for her own class starting in January.

I gave Prim a bath this afternoon. She started out ok. (Lots of peanut butter smeared on the sink). Got tired of it quickly. Luckily she's a quick bath. I had wanted to get all of Gidget's slobber off her. Now that she'll have clean teeth and breath, it won't be so noticeable when she grooms and chews on Prim. Yea!!! She smells so nice now.

Gidget is gonna get "fixed"

It's finally time for Gidget to get spayed. She'll go in tomorrow and have her teeth cleaned at the same time. I've been waiting for that:-) Her teeth are actually a bit better than they were when she came here. I found a product that has really helped with her breath as well as getting her teeth cleaner. It's PetzLife Oral Hygiene Gel (no, I am not being compensated. Just thought you might like to know what it was:-). I've been really impressed with the results but she still needs a good cleaning. It's so important to her health, not to mention the smell factor.

I'm going to also ask the vet to check her right front leg. She's been limping every now and then. Not sure why. It doesn't seem to be related to temperature (when it got cooler, it didn't seem to make a difference) or dampness triggered (it's not worse when it rains) or even exercise related although I had thought she might have hurt it playing with the puppies the first time I noticed it). Sometimes it seems to be when she's been sleeping and first gets up but it's not always then either. She still runs and jumps so I don't think it's an injury. I imagine it's arthritis but doesn't seem too bad.

Hopefully I'll get the microchip before tomorrow so that the Vet can inject that at the same time. Nice to get everything done while she's asleep. Also hoping he'll trim her nails. I haven't been able to get more than 1 or 2 at a time. She really hates to have her feet handled and I haven't been able to desensitize her.

I was thinking the other evening that if her previous owners had not had to give her up, they might well be preparing to breed her again. That absolutely scares me to death.

My rescue coordinator came by yesterday to give her her vaccinations. She commented on how fat Gidget is. I was thinking how much weight she has lost so just imagine how fat she was:-) She still needs to lose weight and I am expecting the Vet to comment on it. I'm feeding her the same amount I did when she came here and the Vet told me she was too thin. I had allowed her to get way too fat when she was nursing, though. I was so afraid of her not getting enough to eat while the puppies were taking so much from her. Obviously a bit of overkill.

She plays so hard with Prim. It's just amazing to watch. And she'll even lie outside the exercise pen and play with her through the bars. Not a great video. I took out my phone after they had been playing a while but you can get an idea.

Here's a photo of Prim sleeping on the sofa with Brinkley, her big brother. 

Peeta/Paco went to his new home tonight

It's always a sad/joyous day when a puppy goes to his/her forever home. And since we are keeping Prim (at lease I hope we are, still no word from the rescue as to what we have to do to adopt her) all the puppies are in their own homes tonight. We still have Gidget and someone is missing out on a fabulous dog. She is so smart. I realized tonight that she has learned "wait" just by watching me tell my dog.

We stil need to get her spayed so that we can work on find her a home of her own. I think the ideal home would be where she could be an only dog. She really would like to be the center of attention.

I think it'll be a lot easier to potty train Prim now that she's the only puppy if I can keep Gidget and Brinkley in the house when I take her out. Peeta was actually a lot better than she has been. Hopefully without all the energy being expended playing, she can learn to focus on what we are out there for. We'll see how she does with no other puppies to play with. Her mom had proven to be a rambunctious playmate though.

I have been so impressed at how easily they crate trained. I never had a puppy that was so good.

Just as I was writing this entry, I heard from Gus's (was Haymitch) dad. He says he weighs 3.3# which is about what Peeta (now Paco) weighs. He's catching up.

He also says that he is doing great with his potty training and learning "sit" before getting a treat and "up". He's getting lots of tummy rubs and loving. All the puppies went to such fabulous homes! I am beyond happy.

Here're a few clips of them playing this afternoon

Puppies and the resident dog

Finally! My dog, Brinkley, has decided to play nicely with the puppies (we still have Peeta - now Paco) until next Friday when his new family comes to get him. It makes life so much easier. I can let everyone out at the same time. Prim adores him and chases him all over the yard. He, on the other hand, really isn't into playing with her. I'm not sure if it's because I've worked so hard to keep him from being rough with them or not.

This morning when I let them out, as Brinkley was peeing, Prim tried to crawl under his belly. I just knew she was going to get a shower:-(

If you've been following this blog, you may have noticed that 4 of the puppies have been adopted but we had 5 puppies. I haven't mentioned Prim's adoption. She does have a potential home. It's with us. I'm just waiting to be approved by the rescue (still haven't heard what that entails:-) hopefully I'll be up to snuf). We're proceeding under the assumption that we will be allowed to adopt her. We took her to the vet yesterday. He said she is overweight! How can a 4# puppy be overweight? I know she's a little round. I like curves. And yes, I'll stop worrying about her getting enough to eat and let her regulate herself. I'm not cooking so much for her and trying to go with plain kibble for now. I will transition her to raw as that will help as well.

She was also anemic. None of the others have been. The vet put her on vitamins with iron. I'll get some from the rescue to start Peeta/Paco on as well.

We hadn't intended to adopt a puppy. In fact, we had said after Brinkley, we weren't going to raise another one. So, why, you may ask, did we choose to add Prim to our family? There are probably many more reasons but essentially, we fell in love with her and just couldn't bear the thought of not having her in our lives. We loved all the puppies but there was something special for us in her. If we had set out to look for a puppy to adopt, I doubt that she would have been the one. She's a bit more "active" than we would have chosen and the digging and barking aren't our style. But she is the sweetest, most loving girl and there is just something about her personality that touches our hearts. And her mom is so mellow and has such a great temperament, we figure with a good upbringing she should be a fabulous dog for us.

I put her in a crate last night and had her on my side of the bed. I put the crate on top of another crate so that she was level with me. We went to bed early and I was expecting her to get me up around 2am. Well, she was totally quite until 4:30 when she barked once. I took her outside (it turned cold and windy during the night) and she peed right away. I brought her back to bed with me and she snuggled with me and my dog for a while, slept a bit and then got up with my husband. It was such a sweet morning.

Here are some more photos of Prim and her new big brother.

And now we are two

Katniss (now Ruby) went home this afternoon. Her new sister wasn't feeling well. Hope she gets better soon.

And Peeta is now Pacco (I may be spelling that wrong:-)

Peeta found a new home today. He'll be going to live with his new family next week. It'll be so quiet around here.

Undercover Ops

Prim like to get under the blankets but this is the 1st time I've seen any of the other puppies do it. What a great way to wish Katniss (now Ruby) goodbye.

Katniss is now Ruby and going to her new home today

Katinss found her new family last night. She is now Ruby and she is going to have the most wonderful life with them. Hopefully I'll get a better picture when they come get her today. The puppies were all wiggly:-)

Gael, now Guy, goes to his forever home

Here's Guy (formerly Gael) with his new family.

Here are the 4 before Gael left. Now we are 3.

Friends?

Absolutely never thought I'd live to see this. Gidget will not usually let my dog up on the sofa if she is up there. They stayed like this for quite a while. Until my husband got up. I'm hopeful that Gidget is getting more comfortable with my dog or that her grumpiness with him was pregnancy and maternal related. I haven't seen any stiffness in her today and it was pretty cool this morning.

Gael will be leaving us tomorrow. I don't think that Gidget or the other puppies have even noticed that Haymitch is gone. I can detect no change in their behavior. We'll see how it goes after Gael leaves.

Gidget woke me up at 2 am. I figured one of the puppies had pooped. That seems to be the only thing that causes her to want to go in the pen anymore (well, that and if they leave any food after their meals:-). I must not have latched the puppy pen gate securely last night because I was met by a thundering hoard of puppies along with Gidget. They went back into the pen with no problem but it looks as though we had been invaded. Sure seemed like more than 4 puppies. I could find no signs of anyone having had an accident. My guess is that they didn't make their escape until Gidget sounded the alarm.

After our morning potty break in the yard, I decided to fill the tug-a-jug with kibble and see what they would do with it. I had it hanging over the whelping box for stimulation and didn't take it down after I took the box out of there. Here's a video of their 1st experience with a food puzzle toy. They're still at it 10 minutes later. Amazing.

And we have a doggie door user

I had the puppies out to go potty and play a bit and of course, they all scattered to the 4 winds. I was keeping up with all of them until all of a sudden I couldn't find Peeta. I went from one end of the yard to the other and looked in all the usual hiding places in the bushes. So I decided to put the puppies I could find back in the house so that I could concentrate on finding the lost lamb. Imagine my surprise when I came in to put the puppies back in the pen to find Peeta in the kitchen. The only way he could have gotten in was through the doggie door which has 2 flaps several inches apart.

They have been trying to go through it for a while but could only open the 1st flap and could go no farther (besides the fact that once they got through the flap their legs no longer touched the ground). I can't believe how clever these babies are!

I had washed the puppies bed this morning (we had an accident last night in all the excitement of our visitors). The puppies were sleeping when it came out of the dryer so I piled the laundry in the chair. Gidget decided that it was the nicest bed in the world, and I even provided her with a cover:-) She loves to get under the covers. The weather has gotten kind of cool here lately and even though we have the heat turned up and the fireplace going most of hte time to keep it nice and toasty for the puppies, it must be cool for Gidget. When she jumped down from the chair, I noticed she was limping a bit. Once she moved around a bit, she was ok (gee, do I ever know that feeling). At any rate, I've started her on some of my dog's joint supplements. Hope it'll help. Up until now, I was amazed at how great she gets around. I do need to get a bit of her baby weight off, though. Can't let her keep finishing off the puppies' meals. We mom's know how that is:-)

I had the most delightful afternoon. I had Prim in my lap on the sofa. I try to take one of the puppies out every day to spend time alone with me and also I am still trying to get my dog not to get so exited by the puppies. I don't want them to get hurt so he is not allowed around them. I have to put him in a crate every time I take them outside. My husband was off today so he was sitting on the sofa with us after lunch and could hold our dog if necessary. All went pretty well. Prim had a major tongue bath. My dog licked her all over her face and was pretty gentle. Maybe someday... Prim and my dog (and my husband) eventually fell asleep and I could just sit there and bask in all the oxytocin rush.

Gael found his forever home

Last night we had a visit from the loveliest family and Gael has found his forever home. He'll go to live with them on Sunday. Here's a photo of him with his new big brother.

And then there were 4

Haymitch/Gus has gome to his forever home. Many thanks to the Penick family for giving him such a wonderful, loving family. Here they are.

Last day for all five

This evening, Haymitch (now "Gus") will go home with his new family. It is a very bittersweet day for me. I am thrilled that he is getting such a wonderful family and I will miss him very much. I wanted to get a last photo of them sleeping together. Should have done it earlier this morning as they were all in a pile. I've had the heater and fireplace on all day so the house has gotten warm. Thus, they are all spread out although Gael went over and snuggled with "Gus"after I took the 1st photo.

Cool weather

The weather has turned cool and the puppies are feeling their Wheaties. They had their 1st shots yesterday and I had thought they might be a little sore today but no signs of it. Gidget was a bit frisky as  well and kept taking toys from the puppy pen and bringing them outside. Yesterday, my rescue coordinator brought a raw bone for the puppies to gnaw on but they weren't really interested so we gave it to Gidget who promptly took it off somewhere and hid it (in the yard, thank goodness). I have searched high and low but so far no sign of it.

Some of the puppies have tried to go in the doggie door. It's a double flap deal so they have only gotten 1 so far. I think if it were a single, they'd have it. Here's a short video. You can see Gidget bringing a toy out the door a the end:-)

Haymitch is set to go to his forever home tomorrow. I am going to miss him so much. He's a good little boy and I know he will have a wonderful life with his new family. Here he is playing in the yard this afternoon.

Go Figure

I have been struggling with getting the puppies to eat well. I had them out this morning. (Good puppies, all went potty). When they came in, they started eating from the dry (Royal Canin) food that I leave in their  bowls. They had eaten a good breakfast around 6:30am of scrambled egg, ground turkey, canned Innova and dry Royal Canin mini starter. Gidget had gotten into the pen while the puppies were out and ate most of their dry food (she having turned her nose up at the plain dry food I offered her for breakfast:-). So I was going to put some more dry food in for them and decided to toss in a bit of the dry Innova puppy food I am feeding Gidget and that I had tried when they were first eating solid food. I wasn't expecting them to touch it as they didn't like it before but I am thinking I need to get them transitioned to something not quite so expensive before they go to their forever homes and I am about out of the Royal Canin (how's that for a long sentence?). Well, lo and behold, they scarfed it up. I ended up having to add another scoop as they licked the bowl clean. It's great news and will make my life a lot easier.

I buried some toys in the sand box this morning before taking them outside. They immediately got in and dug the toys out and chased each other around the yard to get whatever toy a sibling had. I had quit taking toys out there because they were far more interested in investigating the yard than in playing with toys out there but they kept them busy for a while this way. Reinforces their digging inthe sandbox, too.

I have been trying to work on "come" with them but have little luck with any other than Gael. He almost always comes when I call the puppies. However, I found that squeaking a squeaky toy gets them all coming en masse. So, what I will do is start pairing "come" with the squeaky toy and see how that works.

They seem to like taking food out of my hand. I am using mostly home made treats that I use for my own dog's training but also using Zuke's Mini natural salmon treats. They are pretty big and chewy but they like them. I can cut them into quarters so that I can give more and it doesn't take so long to eat but as I haven't been thinking ahead and as I keep a pocket full of the Zuke's to treat my dog and Gidget when they do things I like, I always have a supply on hand. The puppies know this too. They are about to chew holes in every pair of pants I own. Whenever I am sitting with them, they try to chew their way into my pocket:-)

Peel me a grape

I find that the puppies eat better out of my hand than out of a bowl. And, I guess I am spoiling them a bit but Haymitch carries it to the extreme. He was laying on his back next to me yesterday and I gave him a piece of kibble to see if he wanted it. Well, he lay there and ate as long as I popped a piece in his mouth. I was about to die laughing. All I could think of of was the line I used in the title of this post. He was perfectly happy:-)

I'm going to miss the "puppy pile on"

The battle of the toy

Gidget sometimes will take a toy out of the puppy pen when she leaves. I found this rubber doggie toy she had evidently tried to bury in the yard a while back. I had scrubbed and scrubbed it and it wasn't coming clean so I put it in the dishwasher. When I emptied it this morning, I put the toy back in the pen. Well, this has got to be the most wonderful toy in the world:-) I have no idea if it was because it was new, if it smelled yummy or if there was some other reason that they all wanted it. I don't remember them ever paying that much attention to it before. The battle had been going on for about 5 minutes when I decided to get the camera out and try to get some video. Usually when I do that, it is a signal to them to stop whatever cute behavior they were doing right away. But, they kept at it, even ending up in the litter pan:-(. Have a look. I thought it was hysterical.

I hit on a winning combination of food that they will eat with relish. Not a very complete ration but I was encouraged. I browned some ground turkey and scrambled an egg. They absolutely gorged themselves. Actually, Peeta threw it all up right after he finished and I hadn't thought he had eaten as much as Prim and Gael (who tend to eat the best, hence their much larger size). He was playing with me just before and went right back to playing afterwards so I guess he didn't suffer any lasting harm. I'll mix some of the ground turkey and an egg with some kibble for their lunch and see how that goes. I fed them kibble by hand earlier. They will eat food out of my hand when they will ignore it in the bowl. Their mamma is that way too, or was, she's back to eating everything that, as the saying goes, "doesnt eat her first". 

Haymitch is the first to get adopted

I've been going through applications and emailing and talking to people on the phone for several days. Tonight the 1st family to see the puppies came to our house. Lovely people who came thinking they wanted to adopt Katness and decided on Haymitch instead. He is so cute and his doe eyes really won them over, I guess. He decided he liked the mom and crawled up in her lap and that was all she wrote. He gazed into her eyes and I was a little jealous:-) I think he will be adored by this family and well cared for. That makes it all worthwhile. I knew it was going to be difficult to see them go. I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to go through this process.

All the puppies were good although Katness and Peeta tended to stay in the puppy pen and didn't seem all that interested in meeting new people. Got to work on that one:-)

After the family left, Katness woke up and I went in to play with her a bit. She was being so sweet. I took her out of the pen and sat with her on the sofa for a while. Haven't done too much of that and it was so nice. My dog wanted to get in on the action but finally went over and lay next to my husband.

They're all tuckered out. Not sure whether its from playing outside or from the visitors.

sits... click and treat

I had a few small treats left in my pocket that I had been using when I was working with my dog on some Rally behaviors so I decided to see how it would go getting sits with the puppies. There were 4 puppies (Gael was sleeping) that mobbed me when I went into the pen. (probably should have tried this with 1 puppy at a time but I really wanted to see how it would work this way) I sat on the floor and Prim was the 1st to sit so I clicked and treated her. I was able to capture a few sits (mostly Haymitch who tends to be much quieter than the others) but occasionally Prim and Katness as well. I was able to lure them into a sit some. They were mostly jumping all over me and trying to get to the treats but I was seeing a few opportunities to click and treat so I kept it up. When I ran out of treats, I decided to see what would happen if I used some of their kibble. There was a bowl next to me so I just reached in and went to town clicking and treating any sit (Haymitch and Katness ended up being the calmest and getting the most. I was amazed that they were working for the kibble since the bowl is always out for them. Guess it was just the idea of getting it from me.

All in all, I was really pleased with how it went. Since they are not big eaters, I have been hesitant to do much training as I want them to view the treat as a reward and if they don't, then it wouldn't be much incentive for them to learn what I am trying to teach them. I will take them 1 at a time tomorrow and see how that goes. One benefit of doing it in the pen is that they are very familiar with that area. When they go out anywhere else, they want to explore and I will have a harder time keeping their attention. They are smart puppies and I think they will get the hang of it pretty quickly. Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

EEK, a mouse

When I had the puppies outside yesterday afternoon, they kept digging in  the flower bed along the fence at the back of our yard (we back up to a canal leading to Lake Houston). I brought them back to the sand box several times but they kept heading straight back to this one spot to dig. After several rounds of this dance, I started bringing them back into the house (I am trying not to let them self reward with behaviors that may not be acceptable to their new families). When I picked Prim up, I noticed something hanging out of her mouth. On closer inspection, there were actually 2 small grey legs and a long skinny tail hanging out of her mouth! Luckily my husband was out in the yard with me. I won't tell you how loudly I screamed for him to come get that thing out of her mouth:-). Scared me to death. I contacted my rescue coordinator to make sure there wasn't anything I needed to be concerned about them catching from the mouse. It was a tiny baby. I hate the thought of them having killed it (I guess it may have already been dead but I don't think so).

Then last night, they all started to have loose stools. I am in a panic thinking they have eaten something that has made them sick. Called my rescue coordinator (yes, I am a very high maintenance volunteer) and contacted a supervisor as well. We finally decided that perhaps it was a reaction to the wormer I gave yesterday morning especially since all of them seemed to be affected at the same time. The good news is that they all used the litter pan to go poop. I was changing it out quite a bit but it does show that they are really getting good at understanding where to go.

This morning, they had all gone poop (in the litter pan again) and everyone had firm stools! Yea!!!! Hopefully whatever it was is through their systems now. They never acted like they felt bad. Kept playing and tussling with each other.

Collars

Yesterday I put collars on the puppies to start getting them used to wearing them. I just put them on for an hour or so. At first Gael acted like nothing was going on but after running around a bit (and perhaps noticing that all the other puppies were scratching at their necks) he started scratching too. I don't know if I'll have them long enough to begin leash training as well but I am going to try to get them used to the collars at least. I only have 4 so need to get a 5th. The rescue gave me 3 and I had one from when my dog was a puppy that is the right size. Well, they can be shortened to the right size but they are so small that the collars have a great deal of overlap where they are adjusted. Here are a few photos.

Gidget slept the entire night (well, she didn't get me up at all. I'm not sure she was asleep all that time) outside the puppy pen. Yesterday morning she got me up scratching at the bedroom door. She still doesn't want to come into our room to sleep at night but maybe soon. I'm keeping a onesie on her when she is with the puppies so they don't nurse. They will get their 1st shots on Monday.

Gidget and all the puppies got wormed with Droncit today. They come in a capsule and I was afraid that they would choke the puppies but they took them like champs. Gael did cry but swalloed it real well. The others didn't blink an eye.

Here's a shot of Prim getting her beauty rest. They will sometimes all cuddle in this bed together. Not sure how they do it but a lot of layers are involved. Will have to get a shot of all of them soon.

Sandbox fun

Gidget spent most of last night out of the puppy pen. She wouldn't come into our room but stayed loose in the family room. In fact, I came out around 3:30am afraid of what I might find as it was so quiet out there (I still have the puppy monitor on so I can hear them). They all woke up and Gidget had to go in and clean up where one puppy had pooped in the litter box (good puppy!!!). She went outside herself and then settled back down until I got up at 6.

They were all posted to PetFinder last night. I hope we find really fabulous homes for these spectacular babies!

The puppies are really enjoying the sandbox. Here are a few pictures.

A lovely Sunday

This morning I took the puppies one at a time into the living room and worked on charging the clicker. I tried using ground beef as a treat. The only one who really liked it was Gael. The others took the beef but it wasn't something they seemed to regard as a treat. Gael actually pawed at my hand and chewed on it to get at the hamburger. They may be a bit immature for this but I'll give it a shot again tomorrow and see what happens.

They were all comfortable being separated from the rest of the litter and explored a bit. I'm really pleased at how confident and independent they are.

This afternoon when I took them outside, I was amazed when they jumped right in the sandbox and started digging. Now, a couple of times tehy did dig a bit in the flower bed but when I moved them to the sand box, they went right to it. I think they wil be pretty good at learning where to dig. I was really impressed with them.

China, here we come

I got some video of some of the puppies using the sandbox this morning. These are Fox Terrier puppies and they seem to be displaying what I understand is a breed characteristic, a strong instinct to dig. I will continue to redirect them to the sandbox. Boy are they intent on digging:-)

The adventure continues

The puppies are getting more and more adventurous. And another added bonus. We have diggers! My husband is out as I write getting sand and hopefully some kind of container so that we can set up a sandbox for them to dig in. If you are reading this and are interested in adopting one of these puppies, please note that you will want to set up such a place for them. I will begin working on teaching them that there are places they can dig to their hearts' content and places that they should not dig. Boy were they filthy when they came in this afternoon. But they all had smiles on their faces. They had tons of fun:-) 

I also put a doggie bed in the pen this morning. The seem to like snuggling up in it. I'm not sure if they will transfer to sleeping in it from the whelping box. It would be great to get that thing out of the pen. Not only does it take up a lot of room but it is a real pain to change the bedding now that the puppies are so mobile. I've thought of putting them in a crate when I clean up and may try that tomorrow. 

Today everyone is over 2# each!!! What a milestone. They seem to be very different sizes, even though there is only about 7 oz difference between the smallest (Haymitch) and the biggest (Prim).

I sent a rough draft of biographies of Gidget and the puppies to my foster coordinator today. Weekends are super busy for rescues so I don't expect to have anything set to go before next week but they will all go on PetFinder soon. They aren't ready to go to homes yet but it won't be long. I will miss them terribly.

My husband also built me an enclosure for their potty area. They were using it to play in and Gidget was trying to lie down to nurse them there (although she is not nursing them very much at all anymore and mostly just stands still for a few seconds and they try to grab a snack as she passes through.). I have also switched to using the comercial pee-pee pads. I had read not to use them as it kept things smelling to nice but I have found that they seem to go in the proper place better with them. At any rate. The enclosure helps contain the paper (which they like to chew and shred all over the place). With this frame, I can weight down the edges and they seem to be using it ok. I think they are getting better although I still find a few pees and poos in the play area. I also found a small pee in the whelping box this afternoon. Not sure who did it. It's been days since I found any spots in their bed. If they continue, I may take it out of there. They seem not to sleep in there very much anymore so may not view it as bed now.

I got some photos of Gidget playing with the puppies this afternoon. She's such a great Mommy. I am always amazed at how well she plays with them at her age.

They are starting to eat fairly well. I think I have stumbled on a combination they like. It's Royal Canin starter for small dogs and Innove canned puppy food mixed together. Gidget doesn't seem to be nursing them very much. They may be on track.

They seem to be doing better on their potty training. many times I go in there and find that someone has peed or pooped on the paper. I do need to come up with a better set up though. I took the litter pan out as they really didn't seem to want to go there. The do want to play on the paper though. I've seen somewhere that I may need to put up some kind of barrier so that they have to enter to go potty. Hopefully I can get my husband to help me this weekend.

They turned 6 weeks old today. I just can't believe it. They got wormed again.

I'm working on getting photos of everyone so that the rescue can post them on PetFinder. I am able to get good shots of a few but not all. Here are some that I like (I won't repost the ones of Prim).

This is Gael

This is Haymitch

Here's Katness

Here come Peeta