The pupsters had a big day today. So did the rest of us. I prepped their breakfast when I was up to go to the bathroom at 6am and then went back to bed. They noticed I was up as I went by the pen but it was dark so it was not breakfast time yet. It’s my firm belief that it is easier to convert a puppy/dog to getting up earlier than to convince them to sleep later - especially if they are used to starting their day before daylight. So I’ll do a lot of adjusting of night time schedules to avoid starting our days before daylight. I am NOT a morning person. We all went back to sleep until after daylight.
As we were waking up, the old puppies were doing their morning cuddles and MarmieCarmie came up to cuddle after she finished feeding the puppies (she’s still doing that twice in the night and a few times during the day) and they saw something out the door. Apparently, it wasn’t too big a deal because they just gave some little woofs but the puppies were paying attention and one of them gave a little bark back each time. Until the big dogs barked for real and then the puppy hied itself back to the purple fleece in the back of the pen with the siblings. Smart puppy.
I rearranged some again in the rubber room to try to give us a little more room since we’ve been unable to go outside to play and the upcoming week doesn’t appear to be improving. SInce the pieces of ferret ex pen on the gates of the short ex pen aren’t holding up great (MarmieCarmie isn’t particularly careful about them and they aren’t built for dogs her size), we changed those out. The MSU turned one of the crate dividers into 2 gate extensions that I can use until they are ready to start going in and out through the gate.
Then they met a new person and a new dog - their aunt Ruba and her human Laurie. The puppies were cuddled by al of the humans (their aunts Cindi, LeAnne and Lana came, too). It wasn’t too long before it was time for the pupsters to have lunch. Then we had a little more playing until the pupsters were ready to settle into nap time again.
We had the van warmed up and I warmed a couple of towels in addition to the blankets and fleece I’d already put in the crate in the van. We bundled up part of the puppies and took them and MarmieCarmie to the van. (It was more likely that she would be ok with them goingif she went, too and I didn’t want her trying to come down to the house looking for them). It took 2 loads to get all of the puppies because I wanted them bundled up from the cold cold rain and we put their warm towels in with them, too)
Then the puppies got to go on an adventure! They were driven all of the way up the driveway ;-). We released the other dogs and let MarmieCarmie out to play too. Cold as it was (the humans were all bundled up in cold weather rain gear - thank goodness for neoprene hoodies), the dogs all ran into the pond for a little dip and a short jaunt partway up pond spur. We didn’t do it very long because A: the humans were cold and it was raining and B: they haven’t been getting a lot of exercise and I didn’t want anyone to get swimmer’s tail. So we let them have a little pre rinse and then leashed them to go back to the house. As they were waiting for us to get ourselves arranged with leashes, they were quite busy sniffing where the Dal was when we came back from North Ridgeville (and the dish I’d fed her from, too.).
After the dogs were safely ensconced in the house with Laurie and Lana supervising them (we’re not pushing our luck that hard assuming the sisters will all be fine together unsupervised with puppies in the house), the MSU drove the van back down the hill and we carried the puppies back into their ‘castle’.
While I bathed the big dogs, Aunts Cindi and LeAnne held a weight watchers meeting. We have over 30 lbs of absolute adorableness. Fievel is over 3 lbs (not bad for a puppy who was 5.5oz on his birth day); LittleFoot is within a hair’s breadth of 4 lbs; the others all range from 4 1/4 to 4.8 lbs. No wonder I have to keep loosening collars all of the time.
We had some more cuddles with the (old and new) puppies before they left. Unfortunately for me, the heavy (torrential ?) rains are causing flooding and flood watches/warnings so Ruba didn’t have her customary sleep over while she’s in town. We hadn’t had any flooding that we are aware of but if there are places between here and there that could flood (it usually goes down quickly but if she couldn’t snag Ruba, Laurie couldn’t go back home)
The rest of our evening has been more of the usual napping, eating and mild playtime. They are getting more and more teeth so play time will become a lot rougher before too long. I’ve managed to stay up until time for their last meal of the day to get them through the night (with MarmieCarmie’s assistance) so we’re going to get our little dog selves ready for Nighty nighty nighty time. Puppy breath to all!
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