Well their mama is done. Like done, done, done.

She was an amazing mama. She had never had a litter and I had no idea how she was going to respond. Would she freak out? Would she reject? Would she have a clue what to do? All the worries just disappeared after the SECOND puppy. Early afternoon she went to the door, I thought she was heading out to go to the bathroom. Thank heavens I had the urge to keep my eye on her, she squatted to do her b'niss and she had her first puppy in the grass. (That'd be Monica's MOJO) OH MY GOSH!!! Not at all how I wanted her to handle her first delivery. She started licking and I started scrambling. Grabbed that precious baby and headed to the whelping box and did she follow? Oh heck no. Ran back to the door and didn't try to coerce her gently, it was more like a cattle call with the emotion you feel when you are panicked because your small child just darted out in the parking lot at the local Walmart. Frantic, and she sensed it. Not sure I've ever yelled at any of them like that. In she came, popped out another one immediately and it was on like Donkey Kong. She spit those babies out in about 2 hours. Like rapid fire. Fastest 2 hours of my life. But after the second one, she never missed a beat. She cleaned and coddled and nursed them like they were the greatest things ever. Had to make her get up to eat and go out the first two days. But lately, I've had to force her to go in 3 times a day. These babies have teeth. Serious teeth. And nails that could slice open a can. And she is done. The sad part is when they see her they are miserable and cry and whine for her. She will come to the fence, lick them thru the fence (barely) and haul a** out of there. You can't get her to even get close to the door. I was so bummed today about it mainly for them, but then I realized these not so little guys just have a little over a week left in my care. They should be off momma by now, but they sure aren't liking it. Truthfully, she hung in there longer than I thought she would. So from their surrogate momma today, they got goat milk in their kibble and me in their pen loving on them a lot. They also got a friend our 8 month old Australian Shepard that loves them so much allowed in to see them. They took to her like a long lost relative. It was super cute.

(Come to think about it though...she hasn't been a fan of going in to see them since the pooscapade) Hmmmm. This photo below is them seeing their momma. Ugh hurts my heart.

But it is time.

Now the work begins. From now until go home we have crate training, and doggie door training, and airline carrier training underway. We also start on nothing but dry kibble. (Probably will do that in a couple of days) They all go to the vet on Friday to get their first vaccinations, micro chipping and wellness check. This should be interesting as they like to scramble like ants. We are finalizing with Trupanion their first month of pet insurance and putting together the puppy packets.

As of now they are pee pad and artificial turf trained. (Going to blog soon on how we move from pee pads and fake turf to outdoors) There are many ways to potty train your puppy, I will just share what works for us. Not sure if you all know this but there are several great videos and articles under 'resources' on our website.

PUPPY PANTRY IDEAS

Since they had their baths the other day, they have all exploded with cow licks everywhere and fluffiness like crazy! Some of them look like they stuck their paws in electric sockets. They are all going to be gorgeous dogs. One thing that has made my life easier is eye wipes. Some of these puppies already have fur poking them in their eyes. I want to trim it so bad, but going to leave it for you all so you can customize your baby the way you want them. But round tip scissors are going to be a must. Soon. The hair pokes them in the eyes and they get crusty sleepies you will need to wipe off. I usually pull out the morning milk bone treats and the eye wipes. Our guys know those go hand in hand in the morning. They get where eye wipes are no big deal, just get it over with and give me that treat!

When your puppy gets home, there is just very little doubt they will be stressed and most likely have a loose stool. It normally clears up by the next morning, but some of these little guys will have quite the adventure in front of them to get to their new homes. I would ask my vet what his suggestion would be, but our vet has us use this brand and it works well. Just takes a few days. I would immediately put a tablespoon of pumpkin mixed up in their kibble (comes in a can, but not pumpkin filling, just pure pumpkin) That should settle their tummy in a few hours. Great thing to have on hand.

Will give you some more tidbits tomorrow about these babies. About to head to bed. Babies that don't have mommas milk anymore, get super hungry, early.