More Puppy Memories

Having puppies around was certainly a great experience- though not without LOTS of work. The first 4 weeks were fairly easy since Sadie did all the clean up work and the pups were too little to climb out of the box. BUT, when week 5 hit- look out! Suddenly they were shimmying themselves out of the box and finding themselves quite pleased with their newly found freedom! I bought a wire bookcase that I reconfigured into a taller pen with room for them to go potty and play. The only problem was that Sadie had a hard time getting in and out. So, we had to get creative and make a lower door for her to jump over, but that the puppies couldn't also get over!

Around this week they also started to eat some mushy food. What a funny mess! They were barely starting to walk so they kept falling over and often fell INTO the food! It didn't matter because one of the other puppies would just start licking the tasty food off the messy pup. We had a blast watching them interact.

The biggest problem was that the kids had to hold them CONSTANTLY! I found myself sounding like a broken record. "Put the puppy down while you eat. Put the puppy down and finish your schoolwork. Put the puppy down when you are in the living room. No, you cannot take the puppy with you to the bathroom." AAAHHHH!


Just when they started being able to climb out of the wire pen, I ended up in the hospital (more on that in the next post!) so my wonderful mom and mother in law got to experience the mayhem of that! They were climbing through the gate in the kitchen doorway and escaping through the house! And, since Sadie had said "Enough is enough!" we got to start cleaning up all their little "presents" throughout the kitchen! Thankfully we had an old baby corral that we kept them in while they were sleeping and eating so we could contain the messes. But, when it was wake-up and play time, the kids and I would arm ourselves with cleaning wipes and get prepared for poop-patrol!

They were so adorable that I was unsure of how I would be able to part with them! Yet, when they reached the 6-8 week stage, I was ready to send them to their families and have my kitchen back again. On January 11 they were ready to go home to their forever families and one by one our house got quieter and cleaner. But the kids got sadder and sadder. There were a few sad tears, but in a few days everyone was back to normal. I've heard back from a few families and everyone is doing well, except for Georgia-who jumped off the owner's table and broke her leg and now needs surgery.

We are glad to have a break but are happily looking forward to the next litter- whenever that is!