Pupdate: What’s up, Doc?

Contentment is a warm corner in the kitchen

"How long have the pups been with us now? A week?" Annie wasn't sure, either. With puppies, some hours seem endless--that first night spent in a crate--while entire days fly by like seconds.

Checking the records, this is Day 14 as I write. TWO weeks? No wonder they look bigger.

In two weeks they have put on five pounds, weighing in at 15 pounds each. Louie the Runt is a runt no more, having caught up the pound he was down on his two siblings.

Look at 'em over there. Hardly ever do you see one without the other two. (Clockwise from the left), that's Frankie, Ella and not-so-little-anymore Louie, curled at my feet by the stove as I built an experimental "Offal Chili" with beef heart and kidney beans (anticipating our next Emily's Legacy Rescue Crew cookoff).

Louis Armstrong, a runt no more!

Now begins the vetting regimen essential for moving these guys up the road to Helping Hounds Dog Rescue and permanent homes. Fecal testing gets done today, soon to be followed by the first round of vaccinations. Then they will be scheduled for spaying and neutering, shots series completed and a final physical exam a few days before boarding the transport for New York.

Meanwhile, their socialization training with other creatures struggles to channel their sheer puppiness into politically correct behaviors. Puppies will be puppies! They sometimes romp on grumpy old Beano's last nerve, the cats still hold the high ground atop the fridge and other structure, and little old Lazlo just wishes they would up and freakin' leave!

Of course, their "greetings" remain explosively enthusiastic, particularly first thing in the morning. Opening their crates is to unleash a 45-pound rush of licking, pawing, gnawing, wagging, yelping storm of pulsating puppies totally consuming any creature within reach followed by mad dashes from room to room to room to insure no one has been overlooked!

Ella Fitzgerald goes down for a nap.

And while our floors are awash in chew toys, wooden chair legs seems to be the trending teething aid of the moment, providing ample opportunity for Spray Bottle Training. Same goes for climbing onto the bed. We're at that point where just seeing the bottle-in-hand is sometimes all that is necessary.

As for toilet duties, let's not speak of the indelicacies just yet. They are, after all, still babies. We can report that "progress is being made."

Question of the Day

Do puppies eating from a single dish rotate clockwise in Australia?

Why We Foster

Marcus Hill

Marcus Hill is one of the coolest guys I've never met, except online through Facebook. Some six years ago, Marcus and his wife Criss got into fostering dogs and the odd cat for the Humane Society of Wichita County shelter. Here is his story about......

                                      WHY WE FOSTER

People ask us how can we foster a dog (or cat), give them all that love and attention and then hand them over to a stranger. My answer is that saving a life is more important than breaking my heart over giving up that foster critter. Here is Romeo's story, from a near death experience to a happy loving home.

Romeo the day he came into the Shelter.

Romeo had been found hiding under a piece of tin roofing out in a pasture. Note the discolored areas around his face (photo right), on his nose and jowls. There were more under his jaw. We figure he had been attacked by a hawk and dropped in that pature.

We didn't know it, but there was an almighty abcess under that dark spot in front of his ear. I took him home to foster not long after this photo was taken.

The day after we got Romeo home that abcess burst, so we bandaged it up and applied a lot of love. He was a happy camper, romping and playing with our big dogs. He thrived and grew and wormed his way into our hearts.

A big boo-boo gets a bandage!

We had Romeo in foster for quite a long time. Hard to believe no one wanted such a sweet pup.

A little one-on-one love.

For a while he played with another foster pup we had named Sarah. Sarah got adopted before Romeo did, and we were happy for Sarah, but very sad for Romeo.

One day we got a call from the shelter. "Bring Romeo out, someone wants to met him." That someone was Sam Dillon.

Here he is (bottom photo) two years later racked out on the couch in his forever home. I don't thing Romeo could have found a better home. He is loved, he has two doggie buddies and a pair of fine people that give him all the love we could have and more.

And us? We have fostered another ninteen dogs since Romeo. The latest one, Speckles, is headed to Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in New York on Monday afternoon. Then we'll get us another foster pup and do it all over again.

Heart broken? Yes, but happy as a clam that another dog is saved from possibly being put down. We can't do this alone, it takes a team. From the person that found him to the person that adopted him in the end. We all had a hand in Romeo's success story. And you can do the same, all you have to do is step up and risk a broken heart.

And look who was waitng for us at the shelter. Sam and his buddy MacKenzie, come to take Romeo to his new home. The meet and greet went well and the clouds parted and the sun shown through. It was a great day all around. — with Sam Dillon.

Going to meet his new family....

Be it ever so humble....

From the Notebook, observations on old dogs by an old man

Beano ~ What a codger! His tolerance for puppy shenanigans is pretty low, especially first thing in the morning.

Mr. Beano Miller

We have this ritual, Beano and I. He signs from his crate in the corner; an ear flap, a low whimper. I usually need to pee anyway. I let him out of his lair, and he jumps up in bed. He eventually settles in, hard against my left side, and we go back to chasing dreams.

He stands at my side, a long-suffering Jeeves, awaiting a word with his Wooster. I look down from the keyboard. “Excuse me, sir,” he says, “but if you will notice, the pup on the

right--I believe you call him Frank, sir--is gnawing an onion.”

Since the pups moved in--and I do mean moved in, like congressmen on unkissed babies--Beano and I hardly have our personal time, our stolen moments.

PUpdate:

Frank (left), Ella (top) and Louie getting after it!

Frank (Sinatra), Louie (Armstrong) and Ella (Fitzgerald) are sailing through early puppyhood, and a rowdier crew of cuddlebugs you’re not likely to find this side of Rainbow Bridge.

Appetites appear bottomless as they dance Ring Around the Pie Plate while hoovering up Victor (Blue), Select Beef Meal & Brown Rice.

Ella came to us with a slight case of puppy runs, what we affectionately refer to as poopy shoes. We treated--in more ways than one--with Mamma Jan Herzog's Powerful Pumpkin Cure, otherwise known as cooked, canned pumpkin puree. We all know NOT to use canned pumpkin pie filling, don't we.

By the way and since we're on foods, Frank did not eat any of the onion.

Ella, Frank, Louie

Seems you can see them growing daily. Awake, they are going, wrestling, sniffing, digging, harrassing, sassing, running with the Big Dogs or teasing a cat until they stop. Just like that. To nap.

They can't wait to leave the house for a romp in the backyard, even in these bitterly cold mornings. Our resident dogs, Beano and Lazlo, ride herd on them and otherwise show them the ways of The Yard. They're learning boundaries, and who to listen to and take cues from; pack things, I suppose you might call it, things best passed on from dog to dog.

There's more. With puppies there is always more. But this will have to do for now. Dogs need another bag of Victor Blue, and I'm due down at the dealership.

Annie's senior cat Al*B is looking for a penthouse view since the pups moved in.

Sunday Morning Update

Editor-in-lap Ella Fitzgerald

It's 4:30a and the Howlers From Hell Trio have been blasting out strident protests in three-part harmony nearly all night long. The muffled crash followed by a dull thud got me on my feet, pulling on clothes.

Sleeping arrangements here at Puppy Pre-K Prep never were meant for a sleep-over camp, y'all. Somebody didn't think this thing through before Somebody said, "Sure! We'll take 'em!"

We gave them there own room with a queen bed to play on and a containment pen on loan from Emily's Legacy Rescue. Somebody forgot that puppies poop everywhere and on everything. Somebody at 4:30 on a Sunday morning got up to check on his dogs and walked into a shit storm!

It could have been worse. The carpet isn't a total loss.

We'll be returning the containment pen to ELR. Ella learned to climb out the first night, and by the morning of the third day she had taught Frank how. Ella apparently gave bigger brother Frankie a dose of her loose stool. These two team-tagged the room, queen bed and all, while Louie the Runt supposedly watched from inside the pen.

Thank God and Jan Herzog we have canned pumpkin puree--NOT canned pie filling--on hand for the di-ree. Park in the middle of the dining room floor to spoon feed 'em. The pre-dawn house is quiet...save for the soft slurps...for the first time in hours.