A Day of Firsts

First meal.  I mixed a meal of puppy food, pork, and goats milk.  Looked pretty nasty, but all the dogs seemed to want it.  I got Olives dinner and put her in the big crate first, then put the food for puppies out and took them out of their pen to come and eat.  They were all pretty sleepy, but we waited to see what would happen.  Pretty much a calm relaxed group of puppies acting like they'd eaten food for weeks.  No fighting for spots.  No flopping in the food.  Just well behaved puppies lapping up yummy liquid that grandma put down.  Here is a boring video for your enjoyment.


After eating, Piglet flopped over and went into a food coma, but everyone else had a grand old time playing.

Eclipse doing his stand.

Eclipse, "Food glorious food..."

"mmm mm hm mmm mmm"  Sweetpea and Piglet

Love you.

Piglet falling into a food coma.  Isn't she pretty.

Piglet and Eclipse.  Buddies forever.

Pimento with sleepy pups in the background.

Pimento.

Sleep pups had a top secret visitor today.  Maybe one of these pups met their new daddy.

Sweetpea (aka - Mystic)

"What, my name is now Sweetpea?  I'm too little to get used to a new name...what was my name before?"

Sweetpea...the name really suits her.

Whiskey, my little man.

Whiskey, your mama is watching.

"Arrrr!"

Kiss.

Piglet is telling Whiskey a secret.

The Flying Pimentos - 3 weeks old

I can't believe they've been here a week.  Time is flying by and they are developing by the hour.  In a 24 hour period there are so many changes.  I took the following photos today despite Olive repeatedly jumping up and grabbing the purple monkey.  She is sound asleep with the monkey right now.  No, no, I do not spoil my dogs.  Not in the least.

 

 

Pimento

Pimento is continuing to grow.  She is getting multiple freckles and her markings are just beautiful.  She is a confident little girl, constantly roaming and has not worries about any surface she is on.  Loves to be in a human lap and today sat next to Olives head chewing on her ear.  Adorable.  She seems very balanced and walks well around her little area.  She is playful and full of joy.





Mystic

A stunner for sure.  She has personality and confidence to boot.  She does these little spins when playing, pushing herself backwards, barking, and twirling. Often she ends up facing a wall and looks so confused.  She is a happy little girl and as one of the largest pups does tend to get what she wants.  she likes people and when Olive gets into the bed with them, is one of the first to notice and head in that direction.

Whiskey

Whiskey is a very good boy.  He is confident in areas he is comfortable and a little wary in new areas/surfaces.  But once he figures out everything is ok, he turns into a motoring machine.  He is the first to pee without Olive's help.  Not such a joyous occasion for me as I get clean up duty, but he is very proud of himself.  He tends to fall asleep in human arms and loves to give kisses on noses.

Eclipse

Eclipse continues to thrive.  One of the smaller puppies, she is outstandingly beautiful with her highlights of tri.  She has been getting stronger and stronger and now will not let the other puppies push her off the nipple without a fight.  She is a beauty and gets around really well.  She loves to play bity face with mom and the other puppies.  She is extremely huggable and seems to really appreciate her humans.

Piglet

 

This little girl is something special.  She is first to the milk bar, last to leave.  Often found on her back sleeping, she seems like she has a good sense of things.  Comfortable no matter what I do with her, she seems like she will make a fabulous fun puppy.  She is very fun to hold as she just relaxes and enjoys whatever you do with her.  And, like her mama is very photogenic.

 

 

 

 





The Flying Pimentos

Olive is doing well.  She is a great mom and tries hard to make her babies fat and happy.  She was a little under the weather and I had to step in for a day, but she is back to her normal self and cleaning and feeding like a pro.  Love my little O.  So happy she is here with me.

Pups came back on Sunday and have been here five days and I am totally in love with them.  At nearly 3 weeks (12 days) they have started to play with each other and interact with me.  Their eyes are open (opened over the weekend at 2 weeks) and they are recognizing each other to initiate play.

 

#1 out of the womb was Pimento.  A tri girl with a split face but black on both ears.  She is now starting to develop more black freckles.  The littlest at birth, she has now passed her sister Eclipse and is no longer the smallest.  She is a sweet pup that really likes to play, eager for the milk bar and holds on to her place but won't fight for a tit already taken...she'll just find one that isn't.  She was the first to get out of the little crate and crawl 4 feet across the room before I realized she was out.  She is a roamer.  She has started growly noises and makes incredibly adorable vocalizations.  She relaxes in your arms and has bright curious eyes.

 

 

#2 out of the womb was Mystic.  A beauty.  She is a big girl and is in constant competition for the largest pup (with her brother).  For Mystic and the milk bar, the grass is always greener and will push off other pups it she thinks their spot in the milk bar is better than hers.  She cries (LOUD) if she needs something and her mom is not taking care of her.  She is confident about everything around her and also likes to initiate play with the other pups.  She is a beauty with her split face and black ears.  Lots of try in this girl.  She likes being held, but not so hot about her neurological stimulation exercises.  She is the first I noticed to bat at a toy.  A mover this girl roams a bunch and loves to sleep with another pup touching, often climbing on top of everyone and falling into a crevice of puppies.

 

#3 out of the womb is our only boy, Whiskey.  He is a fine fellow who is our biggest pup.  He is confident and happy.  Loves to play.  First barker that I noticed.  He like Mystic, is loud when he is not happy.  He wants what he wants NOW.  But he also has a laid back nature that makes him quite loveable.  He loves to be held and settles down immediately during our neurological stimulation exercises.  He almost looks happy with soft content eyes.  He vocalizes a ton as well and he loves to bite all his sisters.  At the milk bar he demands his spot and will push off any pup (most trouble pushing off Mystic). 

 

#4 is Eclipse.  She is a beautiful pup with tons of tri.  She is the smallest (now) and is also the most laid back.  She doesn't fight for a nipple often, but when she does, she holds on has hard as she can, general getting pushed off, then finding another.  She vocalizes but mostly to play, not a big whiner.  She loves to be held and loves to play.  She is able to walk around pretty well, but stays around the other pups.  She is soft eyed but bright.  Observes her world.  She often is the last to wake up and first to fall asleep. She is a sweety pie.





#5 is Piglet.  The littlest "O".  Mini Me.  Fatty Patty.  She is a roley poley girl that loves to eat.  She sleeps on her back all the time.  She is last to walk around, but I think that has more to do with the size of her belly then anything.  She has soft eyes and loves people.  EVERYONE loves her.  She relaxes immediately into your arms and will give you kisses and soft puppy breath.  There is an athlete in there, she just needs to lay off the milk bar a little and it will come out.  No one pushes her off her spot in the milk bar.  She is confident and persistent in what she wants.  She will lay on her back and swat at the other puppies when they walk by (hysterical).  She was caught chewing on Olives tail this morning....upside down.

Olive is doing well.  She eats about six times what she used to eat and exercises multiple times a day.  We started back on agility obstacles and her weaves are amazing.  She remembered her stopped contacts and jumping is going well too.  Motherhood seems to have agreed with her overall.  She truly adores the puppies and lays with them watching them much of the time.  Sometimes when they are crying she will look at me like, "WTF...do something!"  I have to laugh. 

Sadness

Rest in Peace my Sweet Girl 

Maddie unexpectedly crossed the rainbow bridge today at 2:45pm.  I am heartbroken.  She and I had a plan that she was going to live until 18.  She was 14.5 years old - would have been 15 in September.

 

What everyone would say about Maddie was, "She is so sweet."  That little black girl was amazing.  She stole my heart from the moment I saw her.  She and Rocky grew up together.  Excellent at ignoring what she didn't want and effortless at rewarding what she wanted, Maddie generally got what she wanted whether it was food from Dad at the table, or in my office to lay at my feet when I had the gate up keeping the dogs out of my office so I could work.

 

Every pet sitter said the same thing.  Love all your dogs...love Maddie the most.

 

There was this time.  Kel and I were sitting in the living room watching TV.  Rocky was chewing on a bully stick and Maddie walked in.  She saw Rocky chewing on the stick and walked away.  On her return I saw that she had a toy in her mouth.  She tossed the toy in the air, bounced on it, tossed it, pushed and chased it.  She made that toy look so much fun.  She continued to play with that toy and Rocky couldn't stand it, left the bully and ran over to play with the toy also.  Happily he snatched it from her and started playing with it.  Maddie calmly walked over, picked up the bully, and chewed to her hearts delight.  The look on Rocky's face as he saw what she was doing was priceless.  He dropped the toy, lay down and watched her chew.  Awesome.

 

No matter how many dogs came into this house, Maddie was always my baby.  She loved this house and garden.  She'd loved eating my tomatoes off the vine...often before they were ripe.  Apples and Apricots were also favorites of hers.  She would figure out how to get through the back fence into my garden and I'd go back there and find half eaten tomatoes all over.   I would laugh.  She was just being Mads.

 

She put up with all my crazy ideas, and still did everything in her own way.

 

Maddie did a little agility.  Like everything, Maddie decided when she would do agility and when she wouldn't.  Finally retiring her when it was clear she had physical issues and couldn't play anymore, she was still my clicker tricks dog and learned many many things.

 

Love my Maddie so much.  We recently started doing a puppy cut because her hair was so thick and dry.  She loved her puppy cut and even got playful after we cut off her hair.  Deaf and nearly blind, she still couldn't resist the squirrel chase when the opportunity arose. 

 

  The hole she has left is deep and wide.

 

 



 

I will get over this sadness.  Already Fin has been bothering me to go outside and play.  Tazz, recovering from minor surgery has been cuddling me and asking me to scratch his back.  Olive will be back on Sunday and my days will be full of puppies. I'll get busy picking up poo and making sure the puppies are not getting in trouble (of course they will) and life will get busy.  But nights sitting watching the TV, having to get up to help Maddie into the chair...those little moments that were all Mads will be the remembrances that will ache.  Every single tree in my back yard has bite marks from Maddie chasing squirrels.  The walls have marks from her rubbing her body on them.  Her bed has an impression from last she lay in it.  She certainly was a one in a million dog and I am so lucky to have shared nearly 15 years with my little Madeline.