lifeinflux

Puppies Update Day 46 and Preparing to Say Goodbye

// March 6th, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

The G-8 at 10 weeks

Wow has time flown by!! The last 16 days have been crazy, to say the least. We found a new vet, the puppies tested positive for giardia, and we’ve spent the last two weeks perfecting two weeks and two days perfecting our puppy dosage via syringe technique. Luckily, these are smart puppies and they quickly realized I was going to give them their medications, with or without their cooperation. So now they all sit -or cuddle depending on their personality – and open their little mouths and take their medication like good boys and girls. In the last two weeks all the puppies have redoubled their weights. At 3 weeks they were all around the 4, 5 and 6 pound mark. At 6 weeks, everyone had doubled that weight except Carter, Panda and Bella. And at 10 weeks, everyone has doubled their six week weight which is an amazing feeling. So we are sending healthy, happy, beautiful dogs out into the world over the next few weeks. Yes, it’s true! A number of the puppies have been adopted by wonderful families into their forever homes! Panda, Bella and Butch go home tomorrow to wonderful families. If this afternoon goes well, Carter may join them. Smokey, who is now named Decoy, goes home to his new family (and his fantastic big sister, a gorgeous lab girl who will make him mind his Ps and Qs!) on March 22nd. I won’t deny it – we’re kind of stoked to have our other favorite boy around for a little while longer. Duncan has had no takers, a real shame, because he is a fantastic boy. Which is why he gets our first puppy update for day 46.

Duncan at 10 weeks (and loving the cat toys)

Duncan: Still Available!!!
Of all our puppies, when Duncan gets it, he GETS IT. And we’ve been pleased to see his progress and growth over the last few weeks. I think my post about him scared off prospectives but honestly we should have a line out the fence door filled with people hoping to adopt this dog!! Duncan comes to us when called and trust me, this is rare since they know when I call they are either getting their meds (Yuck!) or have to come in from the yard (No fun!). Duncan is one of the few who will zero in on that back door and make sure to hold it until he gets outside. As difficult as he was to training pad train, he’s going to be a BREEZE to potty train. In one-on-one play, he is incredibly gentle. He prefers the cat toys right now (but then, they ALL do!!) and loves to chase her feather pull, chew on his rope and get his keys if you dangle them for him. He’s got “no jump” down as a command and will often wait patiently for you to come to him rather than jump all over you (I’m looking at you, Marzi). He’s stubborn, smart, loyal and sweet, everything you could ask for in a dog. He loves to herd his pack but with bi- or tri-weekly trips to the dog park (which a good dog owner should do anyway, IMHO) he will get that need to herd out of him. He has stopped herding the puppies in the house and has not tried to herd the human part of the family, both of which were concerns. Duncan is gorgeous with his gorgeous triangular head, his shiny, black coat and his amazing temperament and personality. I hope someone snatches him up and loves him forever! Because he deserves that and is going to make someone the best forever dog in the world.

Carter hits a high note!

MJ (the puppy formerly known as Carter): ADOPTED!
Did you know that Carter sings? Well let me tell you, we didn’t either. Holy cow can this dog sing when he’s happy, sing when he’s unhappy… that said, he has learned “hush” and he will stop singing if you ask him to do so. That said, we rarely ask him because, frankly, it is SO DARN CUTE! Carter has always, and continues, to have the biggest personality of the bunch and is a total ham. He rushes up to me for a close-up every time he sees the camera out. And if you want to get him to take a bath, sing “Spa day, spa day! Carter gets a spa day!” over and over in a silly, “singy” voice. Carter will sing right along with you and happily accept his rinse, lather, repeat, massage with a towel routine. Carter loves to take his chew rope and sit at my feet. And if I forget to talk to him after a little while, he’ll “arrroowww” at me quietly to remind me he is right here and wouldn’t mind a pet now and then. With his super star quality and ham-like personality, he’s going to keep someone or a family very entertained. He’s going through toys quickly now so we’re changing them out every few days to keep him happy, challenged and mentally engaged. He figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets but did not have the reach to get to the knob so he taught Marzi how to open them next. Mission accomplished, right? Puppy proofing, while a good idea with ALL puppies, is a great idea but with Carter it is a MUST! That said, he is SUPER smart… and with the right toys and training he’ll understand his boundaries and stay out of trouble. We had a discussion about the kitchen cabinets with Carter (no OPEN, Carter, and we closed the door) and he got it right away. We then brought in new squeaky toys and Carter has not only left the cabinets alone but has not trained any of the others to open them for him. So while he can be the mastermind behind puppy chaos and destruction, he really just wants to be mentally engaged, loved and paid attention to, something all intelligent puppies want and need. The difference is Carter will go seeking mental challenge if you don’t provide it. Which, when you think about it, is incredibly super cool. 3/7/2011: MJ, aka the puppy formerly known as Carter, picked his forever family yesterday (and they picked him, too!)!! We are SO excited for this amazing little boy and know he is going to an amazing couple who will love and adore him and appreciate all his wonderful traits and quirks. We are so happy that it worked out so well for our adorable little Hollywood!

I've got me a scratch, right here! - Decoy

Decoy, or the puppy formerly known as Smokey – ADOPTED
Decoy aka the puppy formerly known as Smokey has blossomed into a wonderful pack leader. He went from being slightly unfair – let’s pick on Panda! – to a fair puppy who stops the puppy insanity when it goes too far. He’s also a tattletale, which cracks me up, because 9 times out of 10, he’s right there in the trouble with all of them until he gets tired, and then walks over to the kitchen gate and “ArooooooRoooRoo”s to let me know that the pack is misbehaving! He’s still a mellow boy and he loves his cuddles and is very much a people dog. Decoy has turned into one of the finest looking boys we have in our litter. With his “smokey” eyelids – which makes him look like he has on silver colored eyeshadow on his lids – his lab face and long, lean body, he’s going to be an amazing looking dog with the personality to match. We are so excited for him – his new forever family include new parents who will love him and a big sister, a gorgeous, well-behaved, obviously very loved lab girl – who will play with him, teach him the boundaries and family rules and be his constant companion. Selfishly, we are so excited about his new family’s vacation! This means Decoy gets to hang out with us two more weeks until March 22nd. We’ll give him a small crate in the kitchen to start loosening those bonds with Marzi and Rascal (in fact, Marzi and Rascal will start sleeping in their own crates on Sunday night as well!) and start potty training him with ours next week. I know this is anthropomorphizing Decoy to an extreme but he’s just a good ole country boy dog. I can see him bounding through the fields (or back yard), curious about everything, not afraid to get muddy and just being happy to be alive, outside and with nature. We’re so excited for Decoy and are so blessed to have him in our lives for the 46 days he was “ours”. We’ll enjoy him for the next two weeks and then send him home knowing he will spend the rest of his life being loved and cared for.

Panda doing what she does best!

Panda – ADOPTED
Panda formerly called Puffy who has now changed her superstar name to P.Snappy (hey if Sean Combs can do it, so can Panda!) has turned into one of the funniest dogs I’ve seen. She’s also spent an inordinate amount of time the last few weeks eating, sleeping and GROWING! Although she still has her puffy baby coat, we are seeing signs she’s ready to blow coat and move into a sleek, young puppy coat any day now and we are so excited that she is reaching this big puppy milestone!! And heaven help the puppy who disturbs this little girl’s beauty rest! Panda loves to sleep right now and who can blame her – she doubled her body weight from week 6 to week 8 and AGAIN doubled it between weeks 8 and 10. While the others are scaling back from four solid meals to three good meals and one snack, Panda still needs that late night boost to get her to morning. And we’re happy to provide it to her. Her favorite place to sleep is on my lap or Jays and we know that she will be the perfect lap and play puppy for a certain lovely family who has adopted her. As mellow and sweet as Panda is with us, she gets pretty irritated with her litter. They are all so much longer than she is in the legs which makes it hard for her to keep up in puppy wrestling or play. But she’s a fighter, our Panda and will chase after them, or find an area to wait and launch a sneak attack at their hind legs when they least expect her. Her one-on-one play is hysterically funny; she will bring you toy after toy as if to say “this one! no, wait, this one! ooh no THIS ONE!” until you finally pick one and start the fun. Panda goes home tomorrow to her wonderful new family who will spoil her and love her and treat her as the little princess she is. And all of this wonderful starts for Panda bright and early tomorrow morning!! We are so happy for her and can’t wait to see how she continues to grow!

Butch hides a toy in his paws... "Mine!"

Butch – ADOPTED!
Butch has had a time of it for sure. Last week, we thought we had the perfect parents for him only to have Butch returned to us seven hours later with a litany of bad excuses for why they wouldn’t be his forever family that can be summed up in a few words: Some people should stick with cats. Butch has always been the sweetest of our litter and he continues to display that gentle kindness in spite of a bad Saturday last week. Butch is one of our most striking dogs – with his cinnamon brown coloring and gorgeous white markings, he’s a standout both in looks and in personality. As he matures, he’s stopped sharing his toys as readily and gets into tussles with his mates a little more than he did a few weeks ago but this is a normal process of maturity and one that would have concerned us had he skipped it. He scored incredibly good results in his 8 and 10 week appointments, has doubled his weight like the others and is going to be one of our tall puppies for sure. He loves being around other dogs and people and loves to be held and cuddled. He gives great kisses and neck nuzzles and his bite inhibition is right on point. This means that, while he will bite at the other puppies in play, he no longer nibbles on us, something the others have also stopped doing for the most point. But Butch, that smart, sweet boy, has stopped entirely, which is nice. Just as everything happens for a reason, we know now that Butch came back to us last week to get placed with his REAL forever family, a lovely couple who have two kids at home who are going to play with Butch and love him as he should be loved… for himself. We’re not sure what those other people are looking for, what void they hoped Butch would fill and didn’t but we are so glad they brought him back. Because Butch is now placed with the people he was meant to be with and we’re so happy about that. Butch goes to his forever home tomorrow and this time, we have no concerns, trepidation or worries around it. And that peace of mind is priceless.

Coy Bella plays peek-a-boo

Bella – ADOPTED!!
Bella continues to blossom and bloom as our little princess of the group. She has doubled her weight and now looks like Decoy (Smokey)’s little sister. She has the same silky ears, round lab features and silvery, smokey eyelids that Decoy has in a more petite, lady-like body. We can tell she’s in a growth cycle; she’s eating, sleeping and playing and then passing out for hours at a time. Bella loves to be outside as much as her siblings but can often be found curled up in a sunny spot, enjoying the day after a half hour’s romp with her more wild and crazy siblings. Bella is never ready to go inside when time’s up and often uses her quiet nature to her advantage. She figured out early on that the puppies who run catch my attention first and often I do a quick head count and have to head back out to get Bella, snoozing away in the warmth of the day. And Bella being Bella, she is always happy to see me but sad to have to come back inside. However, being the princess that she is, the only sound of protest is a heavy sigh. While Bella looks more and more like Decoy (Smokey), she has really bonded with her sister, Marzi, and loves to play with her and roll and tussle with her. Bella used to avoid Marzi, the more adventurous and wild of the two. But now they happily share a rope, steal the keys from each other and have a good time grabbing the cat toys and playing together. I know Marzi and Bella will miss each other for a bit but both will be so happy in their forever homes. It will be great if we can see Bella when she’s a little older and see if she and Marzi still have that bond!!! Bella is going to a home with three lovely kids and she will be loved on and adored by the entire wonderful family! While the kids are all in school, Bella will do what she does best – sleep and snuggle and get energized for hours of fun when school is out in the afternoons. What a lucky girl that Bella is! It will be interesting to see if she keeps that girly girl personality as she grows up and matures into a striking, beautiful dog. And with three kids reminding her of “no nips!” we bet Bella will lose the last of her puppy nipping in no time. Bella has already figured out that outside is a place to potty and so potty training her should be no trouble at all. We’re going to miss that little princess but we know she’s going to a great home tomorrow and are looking forward to her beginning her new life with her new family.

Hello world! I'm Marzi!

Marzi – ADOPTED INTO THE GLOEGE FAMILY!
Speaking of Marzi, she has been adopted into the Gloege family and boy, does she know she’s our girl. We’re trying REALLY hard to not spend more time and attention on the two we’ve adopted into our lives and our forever home. And I think we’ve done a good job of loving and taking care of all eight puppies fairly. That said, part of our excitement at our other six going to their forever homes is that it frees up time and attention to spend on our own two. Marzi is the tallest of the puppies and boy can she run! I mean she LOVES to run and does it with grace and easy (most of the time). We won’t discuss the number of face plants she suffers throwing her long, lean body off of the planters outside. Marzi and Bear love to play with each other and he will chase her for awhile and then let her chase him. It’s wonderful to see and Bear is very protective of HIS little girl. If she jumps off something too high and lands too hard, he is right there snuffling at her to make sure she is okay. We’re not sure how he’s going to handle it when she can outrun him. Luckily we have some time before that happens. Marzi is a joy and loves to curl up next to me and put her head in my lap. She’s not a big cuddle bug. She’ll let me pick her up and cuddle her and put her on my lap but she really wants to be next to me. So long as she is touching me and getting the occasional pet, she’s happy. And this is a good thing because Bear and Rascal are both Mama’s boys and demand to be physically on my lap a few times every day. Marzi has started separating herself from the group and will often call to me with a plaintive whine if I don’t sneak her an extra scratch behind the ears before bedtime. Marzi doesn’t have to be first for the petting and love but she wants to darn well make sure she gets the last moment of my attention and will stay awake long after her brother, Rascal, has passed out in a puppy heap on my lap or on my other side to get that stolen moment. Marzi enjoys stuffies and ropes but her big thing right now are chasing the cat toys and running, running, running! It will be interesting to see how her interests evolve once it is just the five bears, Drue, Jays and me in the house.

I am the cutest thing EVER! Mommy says so!

Rascal – ADOPTED INTO THE GLOEGE FAMILY!
I was a little worried about how Kodi Bear would feel about Rascal. Kodi Bear stole my heart in 2009 and has had to share it with Pooh (Meemsy) and Drue for 2 years. That said, he was the only DOG who had my heart and he was okay with that division of love. It took a few weeks for us to decide Marzi was the other puppy we were keeping but I knew Rascal was my baby from day ONE. And since I already have a 4 year old, 87 lb baby Bear, I was not sure how he would take his new little boy sibling. Luckily there is nothing but love thanks to a great book about introducing, raising and cultivating proper relationships between two male dogs. And while it is hard not to rush to Rascal first, Kodi adores and snuffles and enjoys Rascal immensely because we work hard every moment of every single day to ensure Kodi knows he’s FIRST in our hearts. I won’t lie… Rascal’s impending adolescence has my heart thumping every time I think about it. I mean right now he’s 18 lbs of cute, cuddly Rascal. But we didn’t name him Grizzly Bear for nothing and if paw size and leg size is any indication, our Grizzly may be the same size as Kodiak or bigger!! This is where the hours of training, obedience classes, classes with Kodi and working with the puppies to ensure they accept Kodi as their alpha RIGHT NOW when they are little will pay off in the long run. We’re pretty lucky with Rascal. He’s pretty zen when it comes to this whole “I’m alpha and in charge business”. To be perfectly honest, Rascal is kind of a… well… a whiny mommy’s boy to put it plainly. And I confess… I like it. Kodi LOVES me. I know this. But 2 years on his own, plus the near death experience of heartworm treatment means he loves me in a needy, “don’t LEAVE ME” way. Rascal’s is a little healthy whiny mommy’s boy, something I better enjoy now because in no time he will outgrow it. And that’s okay… because it is hard enough having one needy Bear. I really don’t need or want two. That said, I will definitely enjoy the cuddling, wiggling, fussy, whiny mess that is Rascal. Because just like kids, these angels are only going to be puppies once. And then I’ll blink and they’ll be all grown up.

Butch and Duncan

Panda and Carter

Rascal and Marzi

Decoy (Smokey) and Panda

Marzi and Bella

Tomorrow will be a difficult and wonderful day as we say goodbye to Panda and Bella and watch them go home. Butch may be going home tomorrow too! But we will always have this wonderful time with them, our G-8 and look forward to more adventures with Carter, Duncan, Decoy (Smokey) and our two babies as we wait for Carter and Duncan to be placed in their forever homes and enjoy Decoy (Smokey) for the next few weeks until his pick-up date is here. We are blessed.

Good rescues, success stories and lives saved: A primer

// February 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

Let me just put it right out there. We LOVE Big Dawgs Rescue and the owner and facilitator, Joanne. We have worked successfully with Second Chance who allowed us to bring Mimir and Kodi Bear into our lives and we are forever grateful to them. We honestly thought we’d never love another rescue as much until we answered the call to bring Sunny and her puppies into our home and lives. And we are so grateful for our new friend, Joanne and all the support and time she’s invested in the care of these beautiful animals and in us. It is rare to find a rescue who cares about the dogs AND the fosters AND the new forever families. Investing in the animals AND the people is time-consuming and hard and Joanne does both with grace and ease because she really cares. Sunny and her babies came from another rescue who was going to put her down. She was fostered for a little via another rescue. She lived in a bathtub with her puppies, was pulled around on a leash without choice or encouragement and scared of people beyond belief. This is the Sunny who came to us on January 19th. Sunny was not evaluated by this interim rescue, a rescue who is located in Southern California and who I have not decided if I will name or not. This soCal rescue did not invest much time, attention or love in Sunny other than putting her in a bathtub and feeding her. They did not place her and her puppies with a foster family. That task was completed by Big Dawgs Rescue located here in the Bay Area and we are forever grateful to Joanne for trusting us and allowing us the privilege of this experience.

Today I was copied on an email that shocked me to my VERY core where the rescue in Southern California accused Big Dawgs Rescue and me and my family of killing Sunny over “a few bad habits” and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with Sunny that a little training could fix. Their exact words in the email are:

I have to tell you, I was in shock when you told me you “killed” the Momma…there was ABSOLUTLEY nothing wrong with her….nothing a lil training would/could fix. You should have called us & told us, Diamonds in the Ruff, of your intentions so we could have taken her back, got her the training she needed, so she’d still be alive today. It’s unacceptable that you had her pts over a few bad habits, which is probably the results of neglect & never being loved! I hope you regret your decision & will NEVER do that to an animal, again!

I think my reply says it all:

Regarding Sunny, you are *absolutely incorrect* in saying there was nothing wrong with Sunny that love and time could fix. We did love Sunny, very much, and this was not a casual decision on anyone’s part. When Sunny came to us she was dragged from her crate, dragged into our home by the person who transported her and the puppies and was scared and completely in shock. It took a few weeks for Sunny to realize she was not going to be harmed and that’s when the behavior began and we immediately started reaching out to experts to begin training her. We had Sunny evaluated by the Humane Society, our vet (editor’s note: this is our friend who is a vet and a big dog rehabilitation expert), and two private rehabilitation facilities at our own expense after she:
1. began habitually climbing up and pooping on our kitchen counters
2. chewing through gates installed into the kitchen door (not one of those little wood baby gates but a physical gated door screwed into both sides of the kitchen doorway)
3. explosive diarrhea throughout the living room, exposing her puppies and our pets to giardia (everyone is being successfully treated) and
4. displaying aggressive behavior towards our other pets and her own puppies.

We were advised by *everyone* we talked that Sunny’s “bar” if you will was so low that for her, bad behavior was handled with severe and harsh consequences. Training her to a “no” or other normal dog corrective behaviors was not something they could see happening without years and years of rehabilitation if ever. And without the ability to set boundaries, Sunny would more than likely hurt our other pets or even us as she got more comfortable and secure and realized that we were not going to beat or neglect her. We provided all this information to Joanne and even when we took her to animal services, had them test her ONE LAST TIME to ensure we had covered every option.

From the moment Sunny arrived it was our intention to adopt her, love her and invest the time and thousands of dollars into her rehab. However, when we were told by FOUR INDEPENDENT EXPERTS that she was not a candidate for rehabilitation and that the pattern of destructiveness and aggression would escalate we had NO OPTION but to put her down on FOUR INDEPENDENT EXPERTS’ OPINIONS, a decision that was hard and heart-wrenching and absolutely the right thing to do. The fact that you would even imply that we casually tossed this dog aside and had her put down over a few bad habits without even asking for all the facts is insulting and wrong.

So I guess the only thing left to say is why didn’t YOU step up and spend the time, love, energy and attention that my family and Joanne invested in this dog and her puppies? Right. I guess it is SO much easier to judge when you have invested NOTHING in the process.

I expect an immediate apology to me and to Joanne. Big Dawgs Rescue has been phenomenal to work with, amazingly supportive with us and have helped us every step of the way with all nine dogs. We have worked with other rescues in the past and absolutely trust Joanne and know she has both the dogs and the people in mind with every decision she makes. Joanne did not make the call to put down this dog; we did based on the facts we had and asked her to support us in this decision as in every way but PAPER, Sunny was ours in our hearts, minds and spirits. We are devastated by our loss and plan to honor her and her memory by loving our two babies she provided and keeping in touch with our foster babies who are being placed in amazing, forever homes. This is a SUCCESS story – eight lives were saved by Big Dawgs Rescue and by me and my family and for you to trash that and our hardship and heartache with your self-righteous, uninformed IGNORANCE is disgusting. Shame on you.

I’m hesitant to “out” this other rescue online as they are trying to help animals find forever homes and that should be commended. However, I am torn because these people are either being given bad information from the lady who transported Sunny (the one who put her in a bathtub, did not evaluate her and dragged her around by leash) or are making carte blanche assumptions out of ignorance and a misguided sense of self-righteousness. All that aside, and this one email aside, we feel this entire experience was, overall, a positive one. We saved EIGHT wonderful, amazing lives and these puppies are AMAZING! And on a happier note, Bella and Bongo, the puppy formerly known as Butch) have found their FOREVER HOMES with wonderful families whom we like and whom the puppies love. The G-8 are slowly making their way out into the world and we will forever remember and love Sunny for providing us with these incredible lives. We feel so honored and privileged that we were their foster people and hope we can hang out on the periphery, keep in touch with the families and see our baby angels grow. And maybe we can even host the occasional G-8 reunion, from time to time.

Thank you SO MUCH Joanne for making this adventure possible for us! And here’s to Smokey, Carter, Duncan and Panda finding their forever homes in the coming weeks!!

For more information on Joanne’s amazing work and Big Dawgs Rescue, click here or click on the Big Dawgs Rescue image above!

Smokey

// February 23rd, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Featured Post

Sup, I'm Smokey

Puppies are a little like kids. You’re not supposed to have a favorite; but secretly, in your heart of hearts you do. If I did have a favorite – and in a court of law I’d swear I didn’t – it would be Smokey. Smokey is our alpha, our pack leader and a lovely boy in every way. I know, I know. I can hear you now and the question you’re dying to ask is “why, if you adore this puppy so much, are YOU not keeping him??”. Well that is a great question and if we did not have a big ole’ Kodiak Bear and if we did not respect that big ole’ Bear’s place in the pecking order, we would absolutely and without a doubt keep Smokey. But we do have our Bear and we do respect his place in the pecking order and his feelings. We understand that going from only Bear to Big Papa Bear is going to be a hard enough transition. Adding defending his turf and his position, and the potential for escalation when Smokey becomes an adolescent is too much for any sweet, sensitive Bear (or frankly ANY dog who is already established in a house) to manage. Smokey is an amazing leader and keeps the pack in line, a necessary task when dealing with eight puppies. Smokey definitely recognizes me as HIS alpha, another necessary trait or else things would get out of hand very quickly. It will be important for his forever family or person to know how to gently place their head over Smokey’s neck to establish dominance without breaking his amazing spirit. It will also be important for Smokey to be the only male, preferably the only dog. He tolerates cats well and keens after ours. However, for his sake we have kept him from her for the most part because Meemsy has her claws and has no issues putting little wannabe alpha Bears in their place, right Kodi?

I see you!

Smokey will check things out while the rest of the pack hangs back. Smokey was enthralled with my camera, with every new, big toy we introduced and was one of the first to wean, preferring our company and the food bowl over hanging out with his mom. He’s a big ole, rough and tough boy and can often be found jumping into puppy conflicts and tussles and deciding who gets what and when. He has no compunction about claiming a toy as his but, like a good leader, will hang back from the food bowl, give his mates a chance to nosh and then finish the last of the meal. He has a few adorable -isms about himself including his little “Whassup” or “‘Sup” head nod at you when you enter the room, a nod he has taught a few others to do although no one does it quite like Smokey. He has a distinctive yowl-type bark that lets me know when the others are doing things they are not supposed to do and/or when the litter just needs general attention. He’s an all-around good dog and is going to grow into a gorgeous fellow. He is loyal and brave and one of the most fun puppies I’ve been around. Initially he was not fond of being picked up, but now he asks for it. He loves to cuddle and loves to crawl in your lap and be petted. He is full of fun and play and will happily steal toys from the others and bring it to you for some one-on-one. We anthropomorphized Smokey a bit. If you were around in the early 70s or, like me, saw the Samuel L. Jackson version in 2001 which inspired you to go to Classic TV channel on cable, you’ll know who I mean when I say Smokey is a lot like Shaft. He’s smooth, he’s cool, and he moves to a Barry White soundtrack. Damn right. While we want ALL of our puppies to be adopted into their perfect forever homes (or at least, the perfect forever home for them), we are going to be really, really, REALLY picky (as opposed to just really picky) about who gets our Smokey Bear. We’d keep him if we could, but knowing we can’t, we’re determined to find that one perfect family out there who will love him as much as we do and support his alpha dog status and appreciate him for the cool cat he is.

Damn right.

Duncan

// February 22nd, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

I claim this lap for um... me...

Duncan is, by far, the most “cattle dog” of all our puppies. This is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s nice to see how Sunny’s traits would have played out had she been treated well and raised the way a dog should as opposed to the horrible life she did lead. I’ve had a lot of questions about what I mean when I say “cattle dog”. The immediate image most people have is of the Australian cattle dog. Actually, this is the only “cattle dog” recognized by the American Kennel Club. But that’s not the cattle dog I’m referring to when I reference the cattle dog breed and our puppies would, in no way, shape or form, meet the Australian cattle dog breed standards. Instead, I am using a term for a dog that is popular amongst reservations in southern California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico that have been embraced by breeders throughout the southwest and Texas for their hardiness, intelligence and their quickness which makes them prime candidates to herd cattle – or just about anything else – safely. Unfortunately, they are also the number one dog in the Southwest to become victims of neglect and abuse and are often bred with pit bulls to create ultimate dog fighting machines. I’m not saying that was Sunny’s fate; frankly we don’t know enough about her background to draw that conclusion. But we do know something about Sunny’s origins thanks to the shape of her head, the length of her torso and some of her prominent behaviors. And Duncan definitely displays the stubborn, willful intelligence and herding instinct of his cattle dog predecessors. With his triangular. blunt head, high ears and long lean torso, he’s a beautiful puppy who will become a gorgeous long, lean dog with the distinctive cattle dog features.

Hi there, I'm Duncan!

So why go into so much detail about cattle dogs instead of a nice long post about Duncan? Well to understand the type of puppy Duncan is and the type of dog he will more than likely become, I think it is very important to understand where he comes from, where his traits come from and why he behaves the way he does. Duncan is frustrating at times. But let’s be honest, all puppies are frustrating at times. His need to herd means he will move six puppies into your path, tripping you up as you try to move from Point A to Point B. He will mark his turf outside the designated potty zone because cattle dogs are fairly solitary and mark their area (and their herd) away from other dogs, a real frustration when you’re trying to train eight puppies to use a 3 foot by 2 foot potty area. He is always the first up and the last to bed, displaying an energy the other puppies lack. And when it’s 12:00 at night and you’ve spent hours changing papers, playing with puppies, cleaning up poop, washing down the kitchen and the puppies and changing water because today was the day everyone decided to try to body slam their litter maters into the bowl and drown each other, the LAST thing you want to hear is a puppy herding everyone’s toys into the potty area because to him, this is NOT a potty area but merely another place to play. But all that aside, Duncan is not a bad puppy. He’s not even a frustrating puppy. He’s a puppy doing EXACTLY what he was born and bred to do. And to get mad at him for it is not only a waste of time and energy but will only serve to confuse him and lead to behavior issues that, while correctable, are a lot bigger deals than Duncan doing what, innately, he is supposed to do.

Snuggling up after a long day herding his litter mates

Duncan needs a family with a big backyard where he can run and herd to his heart’s content. And he’ll herd anything… children, balls, whatever. He will also need proper training to ensure he herds anything, particularly children, safely. Duncan will be your favorite dog ever because he will use ONE place as his potty area, an area he picks that will allow him to mark his turf. The nice thing is that you can and should dictate where that place is by taking him to the spot of your choosing and waiting until he marks that area. Then you need to take him back to that spot, on leash, each and every time during his house training process. Otherwise, Duncan will pick his spot and dollars for doughnuts it will be by the gate, the back door or any other highly trafficked area because that is what he is conditioned to do!!! I can hear you now, “OHMILORD Jeri, this dog is a total P.I.T.A.!!” Well, yes, I can see why you’d think that. But again, with proper training you’re going to be able to work around some of his behavioral quirks (and show me a dog or a kid who doesn’t have behavioral quirks and I’ll bet you have an unthinking robot) and see what a total GEM of a dog you have. Cattle dogs tend to bond to one person or family for life, they are incredibly intelligent, will defend their “herd” incredibly well and be one of the most loving dogs you’ve ever met. They require a lot of socialization and should be taken on walks and to the dog park often. In fact, you’ll often find these dogs herding other dogs at the dog park. After an hour or so of that, the herding instinct is satisfied and you can take them home relatively certain that your kids are safe from herding for that day (or at least a good chunk of it!). He should be crate trained so he will sleep at night in one spot. Otherwise, he will start drifting – another cattle dog trait – and check to make sure each family member is in his or her “place”. Drifting can lead to boredom but instead of sleeping he might find something to get into so make sure his sleep area is confined. Toys are a necessity for this dog and, like his brother Carter, Duncan will get bored with a toy (although not as quickly or as easily) and need to have them rotated out on a consistent basis. For all the hard work Duncan, and honestly ANY puppy you get, will be, the end result is a loving, loyal, smart dog who is easy to socialize and incredibly easy to love and appreciate so long as YOU are willing to put in the time and effort to teach him boundaries and get him all the exercise he needs. And bear in mind, he needs no further exercise than say, a labrador retriever or other popular mid to large sized dog would. Duncan will do well in households with kids and other dogs. I would avoid bringing him into a home where a cat or cats are present. Last I checked, puddies do NOT like to be herded and there may be conflict there if Dunc doesn’t have someone or something else to herd. I know his forever family is going to adore him as much as we do and cannot wait for him to find them and love them and for them to love him, too!

Butch

// February 21st, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

Butch snuggled up in his food bowl

Of our eight puppies, Butch is the kindest. In fact, he is so kind and even-tempered that we’ve started calling him Sweet Butch even though that name makes him sound more like the tag line to a lesbian personal ad than a gentle-nature puppy. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a dog more willing to share his toys, or give up his place on the blanket to his siblings. Sure, he’ll spar and wrestle along with the best of them but for the most part, he is incredibly mellow and prefers the quiet company of people to his litter mates. He does love to play and will often fetch toys and bring them to us or to the other puppies. If they get stolen, a quiet look of resolve crosses his face and he either goes off to find another toy or will snuggle down for pets and hugs from whichever person happens to be readily available and nearby. Because of his inclination to hang back and let the others go first, I try to make sure he gets special cuddle time every time I go into the kitchen. He’s so easy to overlook and never complains or makes a lot of noisy like his mouthy brothers and sisters (Bella, Carter, Smokey, Rascal, Marzi… I’m looking at you!) so I try to make sure he gets special attention and is not forgotten in all the crazy mayhem and noise. Often he’ll come over to me after everyone else is drifting off to sleep and snuggle in my lap to get some attention. And we always make sure he gets it. If his siblings snag all the warm spots on the blanket or big stuffies, you’ll find Butch tucked away in a warm corner or his food bowl. He never complains and is pliable and just happy to be here. He’s such a special puppy and we hope he finds the perfect forever home from someone as laid back as he is who will play with him, love him up and treat him very well. He of all of our puppies would be the perfect only baby for someone or a couple who are going to integrate him into their lives. I don’t think he’d do very well in a chaotic environment. He tends to remove himself from the chaos and fade into the background and we don’t want that for him.

With his rich brown coat and distinctive white markings, Butch is a standout amongst our black and black and white puppies. He also stands out by being the only puppy interested in the cat as opposed to interested in chasing the cat. His easy temperament belies a deep intellect and he was one of the first puppies to learn to use the potty in the penned potty area. A deep soul he takes well to positive reinforcement. Even gentle scolding upsets him and he’ll sit quietly somewhere nearby hoping you’ll come to him and forgive him and love on him. He won’t seek you out when he knows he’s done something wrong. Rather he’ll just wait patiently and see what unfolds from it. While he won’t go looking for trouble, if trouble finds him he’ll happily participate. For example, he’s one of the few puppies who won’t pull the training pads out of the pen. However, he has no problem joining the group and shredding the training pad to bits! However, he can be counted on to not go out and seek things to get into (at least so far) which is not a common puppy trait. Butch loves his kibble and is a great eater and will often be found hanging out near the food area right before feeding times. I think he has an clock built into his tummy! He’s also a consistent sleeper and can be counted on to sleep most of the night, unlike some of his counterparts who are little rambunctious night owls. He will be a dream to house train, crate train and in puppy obedience! We love our Sweet Butch and hope he finds an amazing forever home filled with people or a person who will be as enamored with him as we are and who will appreciate his sweet nature and innate kindness as much as we do.

Sweet Butch is a pretty boy

Bella

// February 19th, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

Whatcha doin' up there?

Bella got her name from my daughter who is a HUGE Twilight fan. I think, given the chance, we would have had a litter filled with Edwards, Jacobs, and other Twilight characters but we decided to limit her options to naming one puppy for a Twilight character and Bella was it! Bella is a combination of extremes. She’s either UP, UP, UP, playing hard and wrestling with the pack one moment and then flopping down on her stuffed puppy or on a lap and passing out asleep immediately. There is no in-between. She loves to be petted and held and cuddled and, of all of our puppies, is the one who will curl up with you in the evenings and snuggle by your side for hours on end. She’s a really easy puppy, who loves to please you but will also follow the crowd. If her litter mates pee on the paper, she follows suit. If they pee on the floor… well, you get the gist.   She won’t demand individual attention from you so it is very easy to lose her in the crowd.  And if you don’t find her and cuddle her, she’ll snuggle up somewhere on her own and sleep even if what she really wants is to be snuggled up with you.  This is a Bella trait we discovered on day one.   Our first priority when the puppies got here was bathing them; they were very dirty and had mud and poop on every inch of their tiny bodies.  We put all eight puppies into the tub and started to bathe them, moving as quickly as possible.  All of a sudden I realized we had seven puppies and ONLY seven puppies.  Sweet little Bella was snuggled up under the lip of the tub, eyes closed and shivering, patiently waiting her turn and away from the struggling, yipping mass of puppies.   It scared us because we realized we had almost overlooked her, and given how little they were and how easily chilled they could get, had we walked away our Bella would have been in bad shape.   This trait of hers is important for her forever family to understand.   In a big family or a family with a lot of pets, Bella could easily place herself in the background and get herself into trouble.  That’s not where this little angel needs to be.   She is very smart and will wander off and find things to get into when ignored or when bored.   With proper training and with her sweet disposition, Bella has the potential for being a wonderfully mannered, well tempered, loving addition to any family.

Can't you cuddle me?

Bella is definitely a nipper and we are working with her diligently on inhibiting her bite. The difficulty with training Bella is she will walk away if she’s not getting positive attention, she’ll walk away, lay down and with other distractions. it’s easy to forget to follow up with her. While her placid personality is going to be a plus, particularly with children who will enjoy her as a lap puppy, her new “parents” will have to remember to keep up with her, consistently train her and make sure she gets a lot of love and attention. Without that diligence, she will be easy to overlook. And don’t mistake that easygoing, laid back personality – Bella needs lots of love and attention or she starts sleeping more, removing herself from the crowd and acting a little depressed. Bella will need to know she is special and loved and then you’ll see the energetic ball of love that we do. Respect her need for attention, play with her, train her and give her your time and love and then respect her need to sleep and recharge (and accept that right now she’s the two extremes) and you’ll have an amazing dog who will adore you, cuddle with you and return your love a thousandfold.

Carter

// February 18th, 2011 // 3 Comments » // Featured Post

Carter aka Hollywood

Carter is one of the smallest of our litter (second only to Panda); however his personality is 2000 feet tall. We dubbed Carter, Hollywood, the first week when we realized he was not only beautiful but a total prima donna. He consistently gets his bootie handed to him by the bigger puppies but you cannot convince him he is one of the small puppies in the group. He may be tiny but he’s got a big dog personality coupled with a Napoleon complex and the end result is hysterical every time you see him in action. Because he’s always on the good (and in the fray) it is almost impossible to get a good picture of just Carter. I have lots of butt shots of him digging his way into the middle of a puppy pile, lots of blurry shots of Carter jumping on Smokey, Rascal or Marzi and lots of pictures containing a fuzzy brown streak as he propels himself from one side of the kitchen to the other demanding food, clean pads, fresh water, pets or simply respect for his “authoritah” (channel your best Cartman voice). He is also our little tattle-tale and I always know when someone is not doing what he or she is supposed to because Carter is at the gate hollering for me to come see and oooh look what HE did or SHE did and here is Carter being so helpful and telling me. And while I am then cleaning up a mess or redirecting the other puppy in question, guess who takes advantage of my busyness and poops on the floor? You guessed it. Carter! And when scolded he looks at you like you’ve lost your damn mind and you can just hear him in your head saying “who are you talking to, woman? I’m Carter, here me roar!” And you cannot get upset with him because he’s so darn cute and when he “aroooooos” you just have to laugh. I’m telling you – personality plus!

Imma attack this big ole gator, K?

Carter is incredibly smart, too. He loves to untie shoelaces and can get into and out of small areas like a pro. He gets bored very easily, a testament to his intelligence and loves solving puzzles. He figured out how to get the shirt of the stuffie gator and the scarf off the stuffie snake and then promptly taught his litter mates how to do it as well. He loves puzzles and needs a constant rotation of toys because he figures out how to work them and gets bored. He requires a little more diligence in training; it’s not because he lacks intelligence but the exact opposite. He’s SO smart and like most smart babies (kids and puppies!) he’s always looking for an angle. However, once he gets it, HE GETS IT and doesn’t backtrack, a huge difference between our lab-like puppies who are extremely smart and eager to please but follow the typical lab training pattern of one step forward, two steps back. After expelling his energy on anything within puppy reach will happily snuggle in your lap with a puzzle, a set of chewy puppy keys or a stuffie and work out the puzzle or chew away until he’s sleepy. And then he’ll give your fingers a lazy lick or two and snuggle down and sleep. You’ve never heard anything so precious as our little Hollywood snoring! Positive reinforcement is the ONLY way to go with Carter. He does NOT like being told “No” and will sometimes do the very thing you’ve told him not to do just to show you that he can. We’ve found with trial and error that ignoring the bad behavior and giving him treats and lots of excited “good boy!” and rubs when he does the right thing works far better than “No” and gentle verbal scoldings. Carter is extremely independent and is not a snuggly boy who wants to be held. He is a lap baby however, and if you wait for him to come to you, he’ll spend hours in your lap “talking” to you and playing with his toys while sitting on or next to you.

Carter is the only puppy we have with his coloring, a motley of browns, beige, and blonde. He doesn’t have a distinctive cattle dog look like some of our puppies nor does he have the lab/shepherd thing going on which means he’s an object of utter fascination to us as to where in the world this gorgeous little dog came from. He’s definitely a handful and has extremely definite opinions on how things should be. With the attitude and the look, he’s totally Hollywood and we hope he finds a forever family willing to put in the time and energy to train him properly and love and appreciate every single inch of this beautiful boy.    He will need a family willing to spend time with him for he does not tolerate boredom well.   He is definitely not a crate puppy, meaning he will be miserable if left all day in a crate without interaction and fun as part of his daily routine.  He is so social that he’d do great at a day care or paired with another dog who is tolerant enough to let Carter have his way.   Carter is utterly fascinated with our cat and loves to lead the charge after her so he’ll have to learn that kitties are not toys he can chase down.     Luckily we have a tolerant cat who has been around puppies before so she keeps her claws in and lets them chase her and then messes with them from outside the gate.    We love our Hollywood, that sweet Carter boy and we’re so hoping we find a family who understands he’s going to be stubborn and probably tear a few things up out of boredom but who love him for his intelligence, sparkling personality, prima donna prettiness and want him to be their forever pet to love.

Whazzup, bitches?

Panda

// February 17th, 2011 // 5 Comments » // Featured Post

Panda, today

Panda is our first featured puppy which makes perfect sense when you think about it. Panda is our little survivor puppy and an amazing fighter and she overcame all odds to be a healthy, chunky little puppy who is actually here with us today. A few weeks ago, if you had asked me if we would even be featuring Panda on the site other than in her obituary, I would have said “there’s little to no chance of that”. I have never been SO happy to be proven wrong. Our journey with Panda has been a roller coaster with significant highs and a lot of low points. If you’ve ever watched an animal (human or otherwise) starve, you’ll understand when I say that was the hardest, most painful thing I’ve ever witnessed. I guess you can relate it to a person dying of anorexia. The food is THERE, right in front of them, and they won’t eat it and there is little to nothing you can do short of shoving it in their mouth to make them consume it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start Panda’s story properly… back at the beginning. Panda and her litter mates arrived on January 19th, four weeks ago. While Sunny got her bath, the door to the puppy crate was open and Mimir (aka Pooh Bear, our cat) was poking her head in to see what all these smelly creatures were and what they were doing in her house. Panda was front and center at the door to the crate and when Mimir entered, she opened those little eyes, and saw this large orange fluffy thing bearing down upon her. She immediately set up, met Meemsy nose to nose and gave her a little “snuff”. Meemsy poofed up and backed out of the crate and moved quickly just outside the door where she sat observing Panda while Panda ran in a little circle (Panda’s trademark way of saying hello). By this time Sunny was bathed and drying and so Panda was the first puppy I officially met and who got the first bath. She did not like the bath and kept trying to wiggle away emitting these adorable little growls and snuffs and attacking my hands trying to get me to play with her. She was so tiny and fluffy and personality plus. We just knew we’d love her. At that time, we dubbed her “puppy 1″ or “little black and white puppy”. It would be a few hours before she got her name.

Our starving puppy (taken one week ago)

A few hours later after every puppy had a bath, slept and had nursed, we all went into the kitchen and started getting to know them. The pen we had them in had a four inch lip making it easy for Sunny to get out and difficult for the puppies to follow. Or so we thought. All the puppies raced to the lip when we came into the kitchen and, realizing they could not get to us, started a chorus of whines, nips, and baby growls. We didn’t want to crowd Sunny so we decided to just sit there and let her get used to us and eventually we would start loving on her and the puppies. Well Panda did not want to wait. She projected her tiny little body over the lip, fell smack on the floor, and was up in a matter of seconds. She raced over to me, turned around in a full circle and fussed until I picked her up. Drue decided with her black and white markings that she looked like a little Panda Bear (and if you know me or have been reading, you know we love our Bear names). So Panda was the first – first bathed, first out of the gate and first named. And we adored our little Panda. Everything we read told us not to favor one puppy over another so we didn’t, spending extra and equal time with each puppy and making sure all eight were named by end of day 3. Panda, though, thought she was ours and made sure to always be at the gate when I came by, dancing that circle to say hello. In fact, Panda was first at everything until that day we realized that all our other puppies were transitioning to solid food and gaining weight rapidly and Panda was not. It started with a simple question, “Jays, does Panda feel lighter than everyone else?” and degraded quickly into Panda becoming incredibly gaunt. Two of her other litter mates were not eating well either so we packed up all three of them to the vet on January 29th (Saturday) for some help. After getting fussed at for our food choice (we feed them all Orijin puppy) and told Science Diet is THE food we should be using – although that godawful woman wouldn’t tell us why Science Diet was better when everything we read said that byproducts in pet food is bad – we were sent home with Science Diet puppy, A/D cans and a nutritional, high fat gel. The other two puppies did well on it. Panda, not so much.

Panda fighting her way back (or fighting the pen anyway!)

We worked with Panda for days and called the vet daily, especially once Panda started throwing up the food we forced into her. The godawful woman demanded we bring her in for IV and overnight stays and other treatments to the tune of multiple hundreds of dollars per day, something the rescue could not afford. When we refused she told us we were basically murdering Panda. In tears over that horrible remark, I decided to consult with someone else. The reality was that Panda got just enough calories from nursing to stay alive whereas forcing food into her was taking away food calories AND her calories from nursing. My gut told me IV and vet stays weren’t the answer but I needed to talk to someone compassionate enough to listen and offer realistic help. After calling and talking to an old acquaintance who is a vet, we decided to follow his advice and let Panda nurse as often as Sunny would let her, watch her for signs of weakness (inability to move or stand up, labored breathing, etc) and stopped force feeding her. We also decided to follow his recommendation which was once Panda went into decline (labored breathing, unable to move, etc) we would have to put her down. It was a hard decision and one we did come to lightly but in the end, we decided to follow his advice. We’re not big on prayer but boy were we asking whatever is out there to please PLEASE get Panda to eat. And two weeks went by and Panda went from fat and fluffy to skin and bones. Also on the advice of the vet, after watching the pack, led by Smokey, attack and drive Panda out of the group, we did not spend extra time with Panda or cuddle her more, a practice we indulged in when we were trying to get her to eat that may have led to the pack’s hostility towards her. Or the pack could have sensed that she was weak and Smokey, as alpha, made the executive decision for her to go. We just don’t know. What we do know is that we assumed putting Sunny down was a death sentence for Panda, which made the decision so much harder. But we did what we had to do and just prepared ourselves for the inevitable. The worst part was seeing Panda isolated from the group. She stopped playing, started sleeping and only got up to come to us for cuddles or to Sunny for food. We talked each morning and each night with Drue, cautioning her that Panda might not be alive when she came home from school or woke up in the morning. Every morning, I sent Jays into the pen first, knowing I could not bear to walk in first and see her dead or dying.

I don't just eat food now. I also EAT TOES!!!

Sunny died last week on a Thursday and for 18 hours we held our breath. Friday, midday, Panda stuck her head in a food bowl and has not emerged since. It was not until today (this Thursday) that Panda finally started eating normal puppy sized meals each time but that’s okay. She was EATING and Jays, Drue and I were so excited we did not know what to do. We cuddled Panda and made a HUGE deal over her every single time she ate. First she noshed a little. And then we started feeding her separately between normal meals and she’d nosh a little there too. Friday through Sunday we gave her extra nutrition via the nutrigel and she could not get enough. By Sunday night, she had a tiny round belly and we were so happy. Monday, at the vet, we were dismayed to see she weighs only 4 and 1/2 pounds compared to the 8 to 11 and 1/2 pounds of her siblings but she’s here, she’s still with us AND she’s finally growing!!! After her bath on Tuesday I realized she no longer looks like this gaunt baby. She looks like a real, healthy, fluffy puppy!!! Wednesday was a fantastic day, Panda wise. We walked into the pen that morning and guess who greeted us with that happy circle dance? That’s right! Our Panda! We had not seen that happy dance in three weeks and I almost cried in relief. Panda has blossomed over the last 24 hours. She’s scrabbling with her litter mates, claiming her place in the pack, attacking our toes and playing with the toys. She eats full puppy meals and is putting on weight every single day. While Panda is a little behind the others on stage 2 of potty training (she still has a few accidents in the play area of the kitchen) she’s well on her way to doing what she needs to go on the pads. We are so thankful she’s here with us and she’s blossoming into the happy, beautiful little Panda bear we met four weeks ago.

When it came time to decide who to adopt, we did not think Panda would be here with us. Four weeks ago, we felt as if Panda had chosen US to be her forever family. And after watching her struggle and come back from the brink, my gut instinct was that we SHOULD adopt her. But then I realized that I treat Panda like fine china and Panda wants to be a DOG. She is a total lap baby and a cuddler but she is getting a little miffed and mouthy when I push the others off her or try to “protect” her. I cannot get the mental picture of our Panda lying there, slowly starving, and there is a need for me to protect and nurture her even though she is beyond all of that. I realized that, because we have weathered this storm with her, we may not be the right family for her. She needs a family that will let her be HER, a fearless, strong puppy who is going to turn into a gorgeous, well-mannered, happy dog. She does not need a helicopter human, and I’m not sure I can or will let that go, best intentions aside. So we are looking for the right forever family for our little Panda Bear, who will love her and train her and spend the time and attention this little girl needs. I figure we’ll know the right one for her when she greets someone with her happy circle dance. Because she doesn’t do that for everyone and we want to make sure that Panda has a life that always keeps her dancing.

We love you, Panda Bear!

Moving forward without Mom – Days 24 – 29 (Friday through Wednesday)

// February 16th, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

Coming home without Sunny was pretty difficult, for us and for the puppies. For the first two days after she was put to sleep, the puppies looked for her and we often found them crying at the door to the garage. The last few days I’ve been living in the kitchen with them for the most part. Realizing that we are now THE primary care givers – something we’ve been all along but Sunny’s nursing and constant vigilance was something we’ve come to rely on – we realized we had a monumental effort in front of us. It’s up to this family to teach these eight babies how to be proper, well mannered little dogs. The first lesson was teaching them all eight of them a new command, “leave it”. They all recognize “No!” and sometimes it works with them and sometimes they need redirection. But “leave it” was a crucial command as Sunny had taught all eight puppies to eat their own and each others poop and the increase of diarrhea and worms in the puppies’ stools had us concerned. Friday, Saturday and Sunday we worked with them to understand that puppies do not eat their poop or roll in it or, in the case of Marzi, slam each other’s heads into it. By Saturday midday, our big three had their “ah ha” moments and the rest followed suit with the exception of Duncan and not only pooped consistently on the papers but stopped playing around with it and eating it for the most part.

A huge win for us occurred on Friday. Panda, whom we’ve been concerned with for the past 2 weeks, finally started to EAT! Thursday she half-heartedly poked around the food while keening at the back door for her mom. Panda’s been living off Sunny’s milk for the last few weeks and refusing to eat puppy food. I honestly expected we would lose her and stopped plying her with food all the time, figuring I had to let nature run its course. Well boy, did nature run and Panda ran with it straight to the food bowl. And once she started eating, she did not stop!!! Panda ate four meals a day and begged two solitary meals and we gave it to her. She ate smaller portions than her bigger siblings at each meal but made up for it with more meals per day. We added the calorie-rich nutrigel to her solitary meals as well to get some pure fat into her diet and by Monday she had a little round belly and was starting to become fluffy like a healthy puppy should! Once she started eating, she was slowly welcomed back into the pack. I’m not sure what motivated Smokey, our alpha male, to attack her and drive her away from the others last week but this week, Panda was welcomed back. We continued to – and still continue to – watch her when the entire group is playing as she is half the size of the others; however, by Tuesday she was back in the fray, nipping and biting and playing with the others and being counted as one of the pack. To say that we are relieved is putting it mildly. I’m not sure we could handle the loss of Panda, especially so soon after losing Sunny.

On Monday, we took all eight puppies to our new vet practice. We had such drama with our last practice over the last few weeks, that we were a little scared and nervous going in. The constant message from our old vet was that we were ignorant idiots who took in these dogs when we had NO business doing so. So we were holding our breathe as our new vet looked over each pup, weighing them, checking them and making sure they were socialized properly. He was incredibly kind to each puppy, talking to him or her, getting to know them, asking us questions and after a few moments, we started to feel incredibly at ease. At the end of the exam, he told us “good job!!” and I almost cried in relief. Sure, we may not know exactly what we’re doing but we read, we research, we ask questions and we’re loving these babies and giving them the best start we can and our new vet seemed to recognize that and spent some time with us giving us great advice and some information on how to manage the next steps with our eight angels. It was such a different and warm experience and we left feeling more confident than we had in weeks that we were on the right path and that we were doing the right thing for the puppies more often than not. We really liked the vet techs we met and the receptionist was incredibly nice and helpful and worked with me to come up with a plan for bringing in Bear and Meemsy for their well-Bear checkups. So we were incredibly happy with our experience and are so glad we made the switch! The puppies all got their first vaccinations and were total champs about it and promptly passed out when we got them home. They ate well for both night feedings (one at 5, the other at 11) and no one was lethargic, vomiting or running a temperature, normal concerns for puppies after their first shots.

Tuesday dawned clean and clear and I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to the other vet at our new practice. She gently let me know that the puppies had tested positive for giardia and they would need to be medicated for three days this week and again for three days in two weeks. This is a bummer for a number of reasons. First, giardia is highly contagious so having kids around the puppies is not a good idea. Second, we had hoped to start taking the puppies outside into the yard. They need a bigger, better place to play than the kitchen. However, because giardia is so highly contagious we cannot risk exposing our big Bear. Finally, we had hoped to start the adoption process for the six puppies we are going to adopt into their forever families. Also, I won’t lie – I was really, really looking forward to reclaiming my kitchen. That said, we don’t want to send them off with giardia and we do want to ensure they get proper follow-up care. So all eight are with us another two weeks. And we’ll enjoy them and continue working with them on their puppy manners and loving on them and getting them through this. I went online after talking with the vet and read up on how to keep the puppies from reinfecting themselves. The vet gave us some good ideas on how to manage the space they are living in and I immediately dove in to the cleaning job ahead of me. The puppies went into clean rubbermaids and I scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom. I immediately set up a potty area once the floor was dry and marked it off using their old puppy pen. I then trained the puppies to go into the pen, do their business and leave. I was on perma-loop saying “leave it” constantly. Once all the puppies had used the penned off area once and gotten their rubs and praise, I designated a clean zone in the kitchen, rescrubbed the floor and started the process of bathing each puppy. Clean, dried puppies were put in the clean zone and dirty puppies went into the bathroom for their baths. Everyone did really well with their baths and in less than an hour, everyone was under clean blankets, drying fully and sleeping.

At the 5 PM feeding each puppy was dosed with their meds. Our fantastic vet (both are fantastic in our new practice) had designated syringes by dose and by puppy in separate bags making it ridiculously easy for me to dose each one properly. Everyone kept their meds down and after 2 hours of figuring out how to safely enlarge the poop area for the night, the family crashed after midnight, exhausted and elated that everyone is doing so well and that we’re well on our way to getting them healthy and ready to go to their forever homes. As awful as last week was, what with losing Sunny and the issue with our old vet, this week is a LOT better. We found a new, better vet whom we really like, the puppies are unlearning their destructive behaviors taught to them by Sunny and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In a few short days the puppies have evolved from eating their poop and pooping where they like to hitting their second milestone towards proper house training! Hopefully this means they will be easy to potty train once they go to their forever homes. Everyone is at a proper weight and eating well and we’re loving them all very much. It will be sad to see them go but we’re looking forward to the next big step in their lives and in ours. We’re going to be VERY picky about who gets a puppy as we’re completely in love with these dogs and want to make sure they will get the care, love and training needed from their new families to help them grow into healthy, loved big dogs.

The next few days, I’ll be featuring each puppy starting with our miracle puppy, Panda! Stay tuned!

Insanity, escalation, a painful choice and sorrow – Days 13-23 (Monday, Jan 31st through Thurs, Feb 10th)

// February 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // Featured Post

In the 23 days we had Sunny in our home, I only took a few pictures of her. There are a lot of reasons for this. The puppies were growing so fast and I wanted to capture their growth and personalities as they evolved. We needed pictures of the puppies for their adoption pages. The puppies were fun subjects, always moving and so cute. But the real reason I only took a few pictures of Sunny was because I assumed that there would be time to take pictures of Sunny. Our intent was always to adopt Sunny, rehabilitate her and make her part of our family. Therefore, taking pictures of the one dog we knew we would keep seemed a secondary priority and something I could get around to some day. I was wrong.   And now I sit here, a day after Sunny was put to sleep and I’m kicking myself for not capturing the time Sunny was here with us.  Because now she’s gone and, as with so many things you put off for “some day”, her some day will never come.   13 days ago, on some excellent advice from trainers, rehabilitation experts and cattle dog breeders, we decided to start integrating Sunny into our family.    What happened over the last ten days led us to one of the hardest, most painful decisions we, as a family, has had to make.   The worst part of that decision was that we did not receive support from a few key individuals from whom we expected help and support and it threw us for a loop.   On the other hand, the outpouring of support from our rescue, our friends and family and the local humane society helped make this process one we can walk away from, knowing we did everything in our power to try to save this lovely dog, our Sun Bear.  I don’t really feel a need to describe everything that happened over the last ten days.   I think it portrays Sunny in an inaccurate and bad light.  And the thing to remember is that she was not bad. She was impacted by a horrible life and, as a dog, unable to communicate her wants, needs and issues with us the way a human who had survived this kind of nightmare situation could. While our other pets were rescues and had horrors in their background (Mimir came to us pretty feral and Kodi Bear was a hot, non-socialized mess), both pets picked US as a family and wanted to be here. The commonality between Meemsy and Bear were that they wanted to be a part of a family and somehow, in my relentless pursuit to “save” Sunny, I forgot that was the key point in our success with the two of them.

We don’t know much about Sunny’s background.  What we do know is that she was found in a horrible situation, pregnant and alone.  She was malnourished, filled with parasites and terrified of everything.   While this might make some dogs aggressive and mean, Sunny was gentle and non-aggressive.    She gave birth to her puppies in a kill shelter somewhere in Southern California.   She and the puppies were labeled as part pit bull, a death sentence in most states including California.  And that’s where we and our rescue came into the picture.     We brought Sunny up here and started dealing with some of the issues a dog like this brings with them, one challenge at a time.   For the first two weeks, her entire life was about caring for her puppies and she did a great job.   The puppies made it to 5 and 1/2 weeks and Sunny happily let us take over some of the responsibilities while she tried to heal.  The problems began when the puppies stopped being an ongoing distraction.    We went from starting to trust Sunny to realizing that we could not trust her to act like a dog, much less some semblance of a normal dog.   Sunny hated being confined…  in the crate, in the kitchen, in the house.  She wanted O-U-T and would do anything including bending crate bars, tearing through anchored kitchen gates and throwing herself at closed and locked doors to meet that goal. She started to refuse to use the bathroom in the yard unless she absolutely had to go. And to illustrate her displeasure at being confined in the house with us, she started a pattern of escalation that started with her climbing onto our kitchen counters and pushing everything off of them to pooping on said counters to pooping in every room of the house the day she broke through two kitchen gates.

A few people, including our former vet, have accused me of putting our home and furnishing ahead of Sunny’s care and well being. And yes, the final straw was coming home and finding Sunny poop in every room of the house. But it had nothing to do with our stuff being damaged or ruined. To be perfectly frank, I can and am going out this weekend and replacing every single item because I can afford to do that. This is not, and has never been about STUFF. And to any of you who said that, suggested or inferred it or are thinking it, you obviously do not know me at all. The final straw was finding Mimir, stressed out and vomiting because Sunny and the puppies rushed at her and scared her. The final straw was finding parasite-filled poop in every room of the house which compromises my, Jays’, Drue’s, Bear’s and Mimir’s health, not to mention reinfecting our puppies who have finally responded to the deworming medicine and are almost ready for their final worming and first vaccinations. The final straw was realizing that our house, which is NOT puppy proofed since they are living in our kitchen, could have hurt those puppies had I not brought Drue straight home from cello to check on things before running our errands. The final straw was realizing we were missing a puppy and had no idea if he was hurt, or dead and looking for him for hours until we finally found him tucked into my closet. After starting the poop cleaning process, I sat down and called a number of people including two rehabilitation facilities, our friend who breeds cattle dogs like Sunny and our rescue contact. And all of them said the same thing – we could live with ongoing escalations from Sunny until she hurt herself, one of us, one of our other pets or one of her puppies or we could accept the inevitable and put her our of her misery. I argued, I Googled, and, finally, called our cattle dog breeder pal and asked if she would take Sunny. After explaining why she couldn’t – specifically because her puppies might pick up Sunny’s behaviors, I realized that OUR puppies were picking up her behaviors and called our rescue contact back. We agreed that if we continued down this path, the puppies might not be candidates for adoption. So all this hard work and effort would be for nothing and instead of putting down one dog, I’d be forced to consider losing the entire litter. After a few tears, I decided if we were going to do this, it needed to be in a safe, familiar place. So I called our vet and unfortunately, got the one vet we absolutely do NOT like. First the vet refused to come to the phone even though we were obviously in an emergency situation. After begging the vet tech to talk to the vet and explain what was going on, the vet tech put me on speaker and called out to the vet as she was walking by that we needed some advice on this situation. The vet stated she was not going to speak to me, and that she was NOT going to put down a healthy dog because an irresponsible pet owner put her things ahead of her own dog’s well being. I lost my temper then… and anyone who has spent any time around me knows that when I lose my temper, it’s on. The vet tech was incredibly apologetic with me and after realizing that we needed help, referred us to the humane society. After the phone call, I went back into the kitchen and saw the puppies playing with a spray bottle that used to contain a mixture of water and Nature’s Orange cleaning chemicals. I immediately retrieved the bottles and tried to find the spill but it was gone. Realizing that Sunny and/or the puppies drank the mixture, I rushed back to the phone, called the vet, explained the new situation to the vet tech and asked to speak to the vet. She rushed to get the vet who came to the phone and proceeded to rip me and “all the selfish, rich people in this area who treat animals as disposable items” a new one. I finally interrupted her tirade, told her to HELP ME with this situation and when she, who was yelling herself, told me not to address her in that tone, I lost it. And I was right to do so. She did not want to help us; she does not care about the fact that the puppies might have injested chemicals. She was pissed at being interrupted at the end of her day and wanted me to go away. It was easier for her to write me off as a bad pet owner than to find out what our situation was and handle it. I am SO glad we had this conversation over the phone because, while I am not a violent person, I would have slapped her bloody and senseless had she been within reach.

I hung up on her after telling her to have our records ready for us to transfer to another vet, called animal poison control, fed the puppies milk, and we watched them closely for 24 hours. And all is well. While I was on the phone, Jason was scrubbing down every inch of the kitchen to ensure they did not get into anything else. Thanks to the vet tech we found out we could take Sunny to the humane society for evaluation. We did not have the paperwork to have her put to sleep at the time which was good; it was a HUGE decision and one I was struggling with. So a night’s sleep (or lack thereof as I tried to find a solution that would not cost us this dog) later, we had the papers we needed and took Sunny over to the humane society to have her put down. Once we got there, I confess… I balked. The lovely person who did our intake asked me a series of questions including:
1. Does this dog come to you willingly? No
2. Does this dog ever show excitement for anything? No. Toys? No. Treats? No. Her own puppies? No.
3. Does this dog ever wag her tail? No.
4. Is this dog comfortable anywhere? No.
5. Are you afraid or uncomfortable with this dog?

I immediately answered “No” for question 5 but when Jays answered “Yes” it made me think. Every plan we had with Sunny would require some form of confinement for months on end to ensure Mimir’s and Kodi’s safety. We never allowed Drue to go near Sunny or the pups without us between Sunny and Drue. Every time Sunny growled at the pups we ran into the room to ensure all was well. I wouldn’t say we were afraid of Sunny but we certainly weren’t comfortable with her nor did we trust her. This means that it might be weeks… months… maybe even YEARS before Sunny could or would be an active, viable, trusted member of this family. The humane society asked what impact this would have on our lives. Would we ever be comfortable NOT having someone in the house with Sunny? How would we do giving up weekends camping, roaming around the Bay Area? What was the impact already on Bear and Mimir? Where the puppies picking up on her behaviors? What did I think we would do if no one adopted puppies with these habits and behaviors? We talked for over an hour, I went through half a box of Kleenex and at the end of it, we signed the papers. Through it all, Sunny laid down next to me and I pet her but there was the same reaction from her – nothing. I could have NOT pet her and she was okay with it. I walked her back to the room where they were going to put her down, handed her over and the vet techs hugged me and told me that we had done everything and more and that we were doing the right thing and to go home and concentrate on the 8 lives we were saving. I will never forget their incredible kindness which was so different from the vet’s self-righteous anger that we would dare disrupt and interrupt her at the end of her day with our “selfishness”.

Our immediate concern over the last 24 hours has been for the puppies. Last night, they all called for her and were sniffing at the doors to see if she was outside or in the garage. It was heartbreaking. So we crawled into the kitchen and snuggled for a bit and finally they drifted off to sleep. Today, no one has looked for her at all and everyone is eating, sleeping, and playing as normal. We’ve already started working with them on their biting, a job Sunny technically was supposed to do but had no idea how to do. We’re also working with them on some of their less appealing habits and behaviors as we work towards raising healthy, well behaved puppies. Sunny lives on in them, in Butch’s coloring and markings, Duncan’s growl, Bella’s and Shadow’s keening whine, in the way Duncan, Rascal and Smokey do their little head nod/tilt action and in Rascal’s and Panda’s markings. Without her mother to nurse on, Panda has started eating FULL MEALS which we are so grateful for. She is still skin and bones and about 2 weeks behind the others developmentally but she’ll get there. We found a new vet in 24 hours, found out we are not the first people to flee our old vet because of the bad behavior of this ONE vet and, while we’re sad that we are leaving behind a practice with two vets we love, are so grateful to never see that godawful bitch again (or have her touch our pets ever again) that we will happily make the switch.

I miss Sunny; but for the first time in 23 days, last night I slept. Jays slept. Drue slept. Bear and Meemsy… well they always sleep. And the puppies are fine. No one ever said doing the right thing would be easy. And we’ll always remember our Sun Bear and work to place her babies with good families and even keep one for ourselves. And that will be her gift, her legacy, to us and to others… these amazing bundles of fur and personality who will go out in the world and be good pets and family members and be loved and cared for the rest of their lives. Rest in peace, Sun Bear.