In Haste

If everything falls into place Vittoria will head off to her new home today and Gevalia leaves tomorrow.  Then I can play Catch Up/Clean Up in the basement.  Time to make the pen smaller, sweep and scrub the floor, scrub and put away the whelping box (still sitting in pieces waiting for that scrubbing), and tend to my poor fish.  Drained the water barrels last night and will refill them tonight so I can do water changes on Monday.  Poor fish have been pretty neglected for the last two months, although they seem to be doing OK. Edd Puffer is looking pretty ancient and I need to play Puffer Games with him while he can still chase my finger and play Keep Away.

And Then There Were Four.

Delta Dash and Mother Nature cooperated yesterday and three pups are safe in their new homes.  If the forecast is correct, another will leave Friday and the fifth will be picked up on Saturday.  Because Fern stayed overnight with Jessica who will be taking her to handling classes today, my house was EMPTY with only three adult dogs and four puppies.  Hectic by many people's standards, very quiet and peaceful by mine.  Especially recently!

It will be interesting to see how Melitta does now that her zippy sisters Britt and Sanka are gone.  Melitta always seems to get lost in the crowd because she's not as loud, active or pushy as some of the others.  She's the most cautious of the pups, not timid but careful about stressful situations - such as being tackled by Fernly.  Her brother Max charges in to all situations, while Melitta stops to think about it first.  My Rob was like that, and had a perfect temperament, so am assuming that Melitta is like Rob was.  Rather ironic that she acts like Rob, since she also looks a great deal like a Rob kid, right down the the "crabby face" so many of them had.

Once we're down to two pups, I'll be able to start crate training, house training and show training these two, plus there's puppy class to attend.  They'll also go to visit Jess, together at first, then separately.  When raising two pups together, it's really important that they are separated as much as possible, sleeping in their own crates, going places on their own, and attending different puppy classes if possible.  

Saying Good Bye

Took this quick shot last night while sitting in the pen with the pups explaining what would be happening over the next few days.  As you can see, most of them were paying attention.  Folgers however thought perhaps he should chew on my laces.  From left to right - first row Folgers & Vittoria.  Then Gevalia with the patch.  Next row Melitta, Britt and Maxwell.  Back row Sanka.  I'll miss our nightly chats. . .

If all falls into place, and of course it might not, Britt, Sanka and Folgers will fly out today, Vittoria may fly out on Friday, and Gevalia will go to her new home on Saturday.  If these things all take place, and if Max and Melitta go to visit Aunt Jess over the weekend, it could be pretty quiet around here, the quietest it has been in a very long time.  If Vittoria does not fly out on Friday, she will go visit Heather and the girls for a few days.

Am I ready for this?  I'm not sure.   Although a winter litter of seven very lively determined pups has been a lot of work, it's been such fun!  Can't say I have ever enjoyed a litter more.  It really helps when they are all so attractive, totally healthy, and have such good dispositions.   And it helps that so many friends came to visit and socialize pups (it takes a village), and that there are good homes waiting for all of them.  It's also fun because I got a puppy to keep that I really enjoy.  He's not the right color, but he's the little Argus son that I wanted.   Melitta looks good too, so much like her mother Holly, and could be a useful addition to the family.  Time will tell.

Good Bye my little friends.  I wish you all loving homes and long healthy lives.  You will make your families happy, even though they may get frustrated at times and wonder if they really needed a new pup in their lives.  Hopefully you will do wonderful PR for the Dalmatian breed and make us all proud.

Hectic!

Off to the vets for health certificates for four pups.  Weather still looks good for tomorrow, so hopefully Sanka, Britt and Folgers will be heading to their new news homes.  Vittoria won't be leaving quite yet, but might as well get hers taken care of too.  Pups up and cleaned, all dogs need breakfast, I still have to shower and do my hair, warm up the car and drive half an hour for a 8:00 appointment.  Trying to minimize the vacation time I have to take this week.

Also have to recheck with Delta as the person who took the shipping reservations sounded new and I need to be sure the reservations are correct.  If we miss tomorrow, it will be some time before it will be warm enough to ship again.  Not sure I can deal with 7 pups for another two weeks!  Gevalia goes this weekend too, so I'll be down to three - I hope!

Puppy baths tonight - the little paper shredders are a bit dingy. 

Count Down

Pups had more company on Saturday, as we did an interview with a family who used to own a Dal.  The pups got to meet another child, and put on a lively show for the family.  It was easier when the pups would tire after 10 or 15 minutes and fall asleep on laps.  Now after an hour of playtime in the family room they are still going strong.   At least they don't pee every 5 or 10 minutes anymore!

It was too cold for the pups to go outdoors, or at least to play outdoors. They could have done it, and would have done it had I been ready to start housetraining, but there was no real need for that yet.  They ran around the basement for a couple of hours each day to burn off some energy.  I thought the basement was pretty much puppy proofed by now, but had forgotten about he pieces of styrofoam wedged behind the laundry tub.  The pups found it, and scratched it into tiny pieces.  It probably felt just like the dirt they would be perfecting their digging skills in if this were summer.  What a mess!  Bits of styro everywhere!  They also found a bag of aquarium sand, and that was mixed in with the styro bits as well.  Am sure they had a wonderful time.  I cleaned the basement after they were back in their pen - wonder what they will find to get into today?

The pups perfected running on the treadmill and I got some cute video of it.  Amazing how quickly they caught on, and how much they enjoyed it.  Now when I let them into the back room of of the basement they climb on the machine and wait for me to turn it on.  Gevalia likes it the most, with Max and Sanka not far behind.  Even Melitta who is the softest of the seven enjoys the treadmill.

Wednesday is (as of NOW) supposed to be warm enough for shipping, so this will be a very busy week for me as I have to get the pups in for health certificates, get their paperwork together, pick up one more small crate, and probably take Wednesday off work so we can get shipping taken care of.  Please Mother Nature, don't change your mind and mess around with the weather!