From Fun to Frustrating!
Ok ok, frustrating is a bit of stretch. It’s been a long day. I didn’t get to lounge around a total sloth like I planned and I’m just a little salty about it. We have a few challenges to work through, both unexpected and both still full of some uncertainty.
Let’s start with the good – Earlier this week, the pups had their check up and first vaccines. They are in great health. Nice weights, healthy coats, and completely clear of any congestion. So yay. Happy, healthy puppies are always the big goal! Mama also got checked out and she’s doing well too. Still painfully underweight, but we have managed the flea damage, brightened her up a bit and found a path forward to weaning (or so I thought…..)
We also got a fair amount of outside time. There were a few days in there that the sun made it reasonable to play outside even in the cold. We’ve dropped back into super frigid so our trips out have been super short. The pups are getting big and active so limited outside time is starting to equal unlimited chaos!
Things go a little sideways
This is the first litter since the big remodel and the first time I’ve been able to take photos in my new space with the big fancy lights. Turns out, I should have done more homework. LED lights that humans can see vs. what machines can see are not the same. While the brightness will nearly run me out of the space and make my eyes water, the camera sees dark. Really dark. Since the iphone likes to help me, it tries to do the settings to accomodate the lighting which means anything that moves is blurry. Puppies move. Non-stop.
I tried to use a fancier camera app that allows full manual control and that’s when I saw how BAD the low light situation is. I dont have a solution right now. New lights are pretty out of the question, freestanding lights are going to create directional problems, and there’s no way I’m taping puppies down to keep them still. I’m pretty sad. Pictures is a huge fun part of playing with them and I’m surely frustrated with the results right now. Kind of sucks the fun out of it!
Anyway. Just a thing that’s going to have to go on my list for another day. Until then, I’ll do the best I can.
And then they go really sideways..
So I was lounging around with my dogs last night and heard a little bark that seemed awfully close to where we were sitting. In place there should be no little barks. It was followed by the sounds of feet padding along and general action. Didn’t take long to realize there had been a jailbreak. After a few minutes of absolute chaos trying wrangle a busy mama dog, her six puppies, and my idiots, I finally got us all settled back into our spaces. Within a few minutes, here comes mama Spring. The door has been neutralized. She has mastered opening it.
After 24 hours of attempted wrangles, it became clear that she wasn’t containable in any of my larger spaces and we were going to have to crate it. The timing isn’t terrible, its time to wean so that part isnt too big of an issue. The problem comes in where my weaning bathroom isn’t really crate sized. She can stay crated with my guys, but that feels a little cruel to have two schedules that cross over and see each other coming and going.
For the short term, she’s crated in the puppy room. It’s the most pathetic thing you’ve ever heard. They are ALL crying. Mom because the crate is the ultimate cruelty for a busy girl like her and the pups because, well, I dont know why they cry so much. Hounds I suppose. They have lots to say and the BIG voices to say it!
We’re in a far from perfect scenario. She’s going to end up contained way more than I’d like and her pups are likely to cause trouble trying to get to her. If we can just get through tonight while I think about it, I’m sure I can up with something better. It’s what I do afterall.
Just a few more weeks!
Whatever we do, it looks like this week is going to open up a lot of options for outside. We’re also going to lean into weaning hard and try to get mom dried up in a week to ten days. I’d love to get her on her way home and can’t wait for her to find a family ready to love on her forever. Through all of her chaos, she’s an amazing dog that’s super gentle and big time loving ready to be a friend and companion through anything and everything. The pups are right around 6 weeks old and will be ready to head back soon for their forevers too.
Here’s a round up of this week’s pictures… blurry and all!
