3rd Times the Charm

When it came down to decision time, my parents decided that Iris didn't fit their lifestyle and that she would find a loving home through the Humane Society.  And because the deal was that there would be no complaining when she left from my brother or I, we had to say our goodbyes.  

Iris spent 1 week up for adoption before she was adopted by her first family.  Unfortunately the man lived in a small town house and worked too often, leaving Iris home alone for too long in a confined space.  In the end He had to return her as she barked all throughout the day.  

Iris spent a second week at the humane society and then was adopted by her second family.  The couple were two runners who were home often and were able to give her tones of attention and exercise.  But when Iris was brought home she found the owners cat, and chased her out into the backyard only to get swatted on the nose.  Iris then refused to come back into the house.  The couple returned Iris to the humane society the next day. 

 We went to visit Iris after she had been returned for the first time.  She was so excited to see us, and as much as I wanted to spend all the time with her, I tried to allow my mom as much time with her as possible, all in attempts to have them re-bond in hopes that she would get attached.

After a month of watching and waiting to see if Iris would find a home, my mother could no longer take the sight of Iris constantly getting shuffled between families and the shelter.  So the night after Iris' picture went back up on the adoption page for the third time, my mother called my father who was on a business trip at the time, and told him what she thought.  They came to decide that despite what they thought, they both truly loved Iris.  

The next day as I was sun tanning in my backyard before attending my night school class, from behind I heard something run across the pool cover.  When I looked to the end of the backyard, in a shadow I saw Iris' to large ears, and I knew! My parents had completely surprised us with her adopting, and it was the best surprise.  

In the end, sometimes the dog chooses you.

Iris Gets Spayed

After all the puppies were adopted we kept Iris for another month.  Most female dogs are spayed at the age of 6 months before their first heat, but in Iris' case we waited 2 weeks after the puppies left for her milk to completely dry up in their absence before she was spayed. At Iris' age she is considered a mature spay and the surgery although relatively the same as a regular spay, can sometimes be a little more invasive or complex do to the age and size of the dog.  

Iris before and after spay.

The pink rap around her leg is the bandage covering her IV line and the purple and yellow bandage around her belly is extra support pressure for the time right after the surgery is complete.

Iris was a huge Drama Queen before and after her surgery.  As a Kennel Care worker at the vet part of my job is to restrain animals while the vet technicians place the catheters into the patient before they are put under Anastasia.  Most animals after given their pre-meds are more sedated and can be easily restrained for this process.  Iris fell in to the smaller category of difficult animals whom make it a challenge to prep for surgery.  I had to get up on top of the surgery table to use my full body to restrain Iris as she refused to stay still or lay down.

Her surgery preformed by Dr. Carolyn Martin went beautifully, and I was able to watch the whole thing as I do most surgeries.

When we got home Iris was completely spoiled by the whole family.  She was given excessive treats and belly rubs and was even allowed to sneak onto the couch with my brother.

Through the days she wore a loose t-shirt to prevent her from licking at her incision, and at night she slept on my bed so I could keep a closer watch on her.  She loved hanging out in my room.

The 7th week stretch...Up for Adoption

Puppies are usually and properly put up for adoption at 8 weeks.  They have had enough time to learn social skills and learn from their mother, at 8 weeks they are ready to move their dependance and affection from their siblings and mother to their new owner.  Although I had originally tried convincing my mother to keep the puppies for one more week until they were fully 8 weeks, by the time the 7th week rolled around we were all ready to give them up.  

 Photo shoot the night before they leave...

Tegan, Zeus, Lacey, Bentley

Tegan and Zeus

Lacey ad Zeus

Seymour and Murdoch

Bentley and Tegan

If you have ever adopted an new puppy, you should know that with all the excitement that comes with them also come the hectic new lifestyle that surrounds the little devil who will soon be tearing around his or her new home.  Well for us we had 7 wonderful weeks with these puppies, and it was one of the most incredible experiences that I have ever had.  That being said i will not lie and tell you that we didn't also experience the hectic lifestyle, in fact we had it 7 times over! Each of the puppies were special in their own way, but by the end of the 7th week, they were too much for one family to handle, 2 yes, 3 maybe, but not 6 with a 1 year old mother.

So as we said goodbye, it was sad but we knew that they were all going to amazing homes, and that we had given them the best chance to a good life.

We know that Zeus got adopted by an elder lady, which I think is perfect for the big love that he is.  Tegan got adopted by my brother's best friends family, so we get to see her grow up! She looks just like her mother just a little darker and no markings on her face.  They say shes a little devil.  And Lacey got adopted by a very nice family who comes to the vet that I work at.  I saw her at 4 months old and her ears had completely perked up and her spotted feet are very defined.  The lady told me that she is one of the smartest dogs she's ever had.

Backyard field trips & the Importance of Socialization 6th week

nearing the end of the 5th week we took a field trip to the back yard...

... it was safe to say that everyone was a little spooked by the outside world.  

Just like anything, the backyard when first exposed to it scared the puppies.  The feeling of grass, the temperature of the air and all the new scents were a lot to take in for a small pup.  

Backyard Pen

At 6 weeks the puppies were much braver, my dad built them a small corral in the backyard where they could run and play during the day as their small pen in the house was no longer enough to keep them occupied all day.  

Puppy Manners

 We set up a third play area for them in the kitchen where they were able to tear around the table like a race track.  It may look just like play time, but just as a kid learns not to hit other children on the playground, the puppies are learning valuable life skills as well.  There is huge importance of socialization.  Unlike their mother, these pups have spent plenty of time in a safe environment where they can play together and learn their manners, without the fear of predators or constant hunger.  Iris having grown up in a very different environment, lacked regular social outlets, where she should have learned proper social behaviour of a dog.  So instead she barks at dog right in their face, constantly wants to jump on them and has no understanding of acceptable play.

Kitchen Fun

Potty training

Most people believe that potty training is something that only starts with dogs at weeks around the time of adoption.  To avoid the nightmare of potty training at that age, a lot actually depends of the breeder or in this case foster parents.

It is not natural for a dog to excrete their waste in their sleeping or eating quarters.  In the wild the mother wolf takes very good care at keeping the den as clean as possible.  Iris cleaning the pool, as well as licking the pups bottoms falls directly under this category.  As soon as the pups are able to walk, which can happen as soon as 3 weeks or earlier depending on the breed, potty training should begin, just as a mother wolf would be teaching her young to excrete their waste outside of the den.

Although the pups won't be completely potty trained, you will be surprised at how quickly they pick up the concept of the designated areas.  It is all about the set up of their area.  As my mom and I were new to raising pups at such young ages, we looked for help on the web and found The Misty Method which was created by the breeder Bev Dorma from Misty Trails Havanese / Mastiffs.  The Misty Method is a system which is specific to 3 week old pups.

The basics to the method are the following

1. Have a designated potty area, eating and playing area, and a place to sleep.  
2. Keep the potty area to the back so when you enter the room they aren't stepping in poop as they jump at you.  
3. Keep the play/sleep area always clean, if an accident happens, change the area, so they don't get confused.
4. The poopy area should have a faint sent of poop even when you change the paper and pads.  As the puppies rely on the sent to understand the concept.
5. Once the puppies excrete waste on the proper side, immediately cover with fresh paper so that they don't walk through it again.  

The maintenance of the areas are very time consuming in the beginning, always having to change dirty blankets.  As they get older they begin to get the concept much better.  Then it is all about changing the papers and pads more often as they excrete waste more often.  

The poopy side should be lined with 'puppy pads' to absorbed some of the moisture and then covered by paper.  You will need LOTS OF NEWS PAPER! We flew through newpapre so quickly that my mom and I were out every recycling night scavenging our neighbours bins as well as going to local shoppers drugmarts to collect the old news papers.  

5th week weening to feeding

At the beginning of the 5th week the puppies appetite had become so huge that we began to introduce dog food pablum into their diet.  Every morning 2 cups of dry dog food would get put into the magic bullet, until completely broken down and then warm water was added until the mixture came to almost a yogurt like consistency. With just one taste the puppies were enthralled by it, and although their diet at this point was split between the pablum and their mothers milk, this was the beginning of Iris weening them off the milk.  

It was given first on plates, then in troughs.

The puppies quadrupled in size from their large appetites, they ate pablum roughly 3 times a day and Iris would feed twice in the day and sometimes at night.  All their faces began to stretch out creating snouts, and their muscles developed just as fast as their feature.  They were constantly tearing around their play area, unfortunately the more they ate the more they pooped...

Bentley, Seymour, Murdoch

Nearing the end of the 5th week, Iris had significantly weened the pups off her milk, as a part of the natural growing process.  The Puppies teeth had come in and we were able to feed them whole kibble that had been slightly softened with warms water.

"On the 7th day of christmas my true love gave to me, 7 four week old puppies"

At 4 weeks old, right around christmas the puppies eyes had finally begun to really open up, and you were able to feel the outline of where there teeth were soon to pop up.  They were too big to stay inside the pool so it was time for a new design by the boys.  They took out the pool and divided the room by 1 1/2 ft wall that Iris was able to jump over to nurse.   

There were days when Iris didn't want to nurse, not because she was neglecting her pups, but simly because they didn't always make it the most pleasant for their mother.   It sometimes could seem like an attack as the puppies forced themselves to the largest boob.  Iris came to us malnourished, from living in the wild and having just given birth to 6 pups, but regardless of the 2 cans of wet food, 6 cups of dry, and countless treats a day, it seemed everyday the puppies got larger and larger and Iris became smaller and smaller.  

One point I don't want overlooked, is how much joy these puppies and Iris brought to my family.  Over the Holidays although they are special, they sometimes begin to be a blur over the many years. Holding a puppy gives you a special feeling that can not be replicated easily, a feeling of love spiked all the way through your body, a glimpse of pure happiness.  You can't help but smile. 

Some people think babies do the same thing.  Maybe my parents are right, maybe somewhere along the way I missed the boat of loving hairless alien looking miniature people, maybe I have a heart only reserved for the furry animals on the planet.  I like to believe that its not the repulsion of babies that makes me believe that animals, in this case puppies, have special powers, but more so that there is a bond unlike any other between a person and an animal.  Despite how small they are, they develop much faster than any baby does, I don't see any 4 week old baby playing tug of war, let alone understanding the concept.

3 weeks

At 3 weeks all the puppies were walking, but as you'll see in the videos they were in no way near ready to be going for walks.  Although still blind, slits had begun to form between their eyelids.  They were also responding to noises, playing with their siblings and hungrier more and more each day! When Iris went to nurse It was a constant scramble for the puppies to get to the largest boob first. 

At the end of 3 weeks almost 4...

1-2 weeks

During the first week the puppies slept and nursed constantly.  When you picked them up they tended to squeal like tinny pigs until they found your finger mistaking it for a nipple.  It was surprisingly ticklish.  The pups are completely blind at birth and remain this way for weeks, they rely completely on smell and heat to find their mother and siblings.

At 2 weeks old the puppies finally started to resemble a dog, their features became more prominent and their markings more noticeable, making it much easier for the 'puppy-challenged' people to tell them apart.  They also had begun to build muscle in their legs, they could crawl better, the larger once baring some weight on their front paws.  Some mornings we would come down to find that 1-2 of the puppies, between their height and their new found strength managing to pull themselves out of the pool over to their mother.

Puppy Growth

We  had the puppies for a total of 7 weeks, and although that seems like lots of time, it flew by! Throughout it we managed 3 sessions of measuring, like all proud parents do as their kids grow...

Top: Bentley, Zeus, Seymour
Bottom: Tegan, Lacey, Murdoch

December 8th 2 days old (8-9 inches)

December 14th 7 days old (9-11inches)

January 3rd 28 days old(11-15 inches)

Although I wanted to have a picture of them at each week of growth, there were many more things to do with the puppies and Iris that out ranked taking photos.  If that excuse doesn't work for you, I guess i'd tell you wait for further post to see just how big of a handful these 'sleeping beauties' really were,  and you'll see that there were very few times when the puppies slept in any other position other than a DOG PILE!

Strung up in the Kitchen

The boys  ended up raising the height of the wall even more.  

Iris was sentenced to 3 weeks of being leashed.  Wherever she was Iris was attached to something, when we cooked she was connected to the kitchen table, when my mom gardened in the front yard she was attached to the bench, and when she realized she could pull that over, we changed it to the car.  The funny thing was, Iris didn't mind being tied up, in fact she became use to it, as long as she could see you, be near you she was a happy camper.  It didn't even come as a surprise when I saw Iris tied to the stairs as my mom wallpapered the bathroom. 

It wasn't until christmas when all my relatives came down with their dogs as well, that Iris was for the first time let off her leash to socialize.

At christmas we had a house full of 9people and 9 dogs...
but it made the rules incase of a fire very simple;
STOP-GRAB-A-DOG-DROP-AND ROLL

Puppies in a Pool

My mother and I played the role of the main care givers when it came to, food, medicine, hygiene, and upkeep, of both the puppies and Iris, but without the beautiful handiwork of my father and both my brothers, we would have been in bad shape, when it came to where the dogs sleeping quarters were.

~

'My brothers are really photogenic' 

In our mudroom the boys had built a 6ft wall from plywood with a sliding door where we could enter.  Inside, taking up half of the space, was a blue kiddy pool where Iris could lay down and feed her pups and the puppies could sleep.  The pool served as a small corral that was to tall for the puppies to escape and Iris was able to come and go as she pleased, as it is not healthy for the mother to spend all her time with her pups.

The other great thing about the pool was that it made cleaning easy!  What many people don't know about raising puppies, is that for the first 4 week the mother does the majority of the work, feeding and cleaning.  Puppies in the first few weeks of their life, are unable to excrete waste on their own due to lack of muscle, therefore the mother must caress the pups bottoms with her tongue in order to excrete the waste for them.  Therefore the pool made cleaning easy not only for myself to spray it down with cleaning products but also for Iris to clean up her pups and her acting 'den' as well.  

Bringing the troops Home..

The next day, December 8th, we went to go pick up our furry new family.  Looking back on this months later I can say we were completely unprepared for what we were about to undertake, but that being said, the best way to learn is to just jump in, which is exactly what we did.

As we arrived, my mother reminded us that the one condition that could break the deal was if the mother was not friendly towards us, my mom was not going to have a mean or hostile dog in our home.  So as we walked down the hallway towards the kennel holding the 7 dogs, I had my fingers crossed so tightly, hoping that the mother was inviting.  I could not have asked for a better first impression...

As I peered through the window, I saw a medium sized sandy female lying down in a kiddy pool with 6 guinea pigs like animals attached to each of her nipples.  Iris (who was at the time referred to as Momma) lifted her tired head and walked over to the door, happily greeting us strangers.  When we went inside, Iris was more than excited to see us, it was the complete opposite reaction I had expected from this wild dog.  She let us pet her pups while giving us no more than a maternal stare, this may be because she was such a young mother, or simply could be that she is a very trusting dog.  Most mothers can be extremely protective of their young even if the mother has been domesticated for her whole life.

The Guinea Pigs

The Humane society had given us plenty of food, toys and supplies for the dogs, I had loaded them all into the car a quickly as possible, and ran straight back in to see the puppies.  When it came time to put the dogs in the car, I went to grab the keys to the car, and found nothing.  With all the excitement, somewhere along the way I managed to lock the keys in the car. You can imagine, how ridiculous I felt having to tell, the humane society.. then my mother.. then finally my dad when I called him to bring the second set of keys.

When we finally got the Dogs in the car, we had to manage transferring Iris and her puppies without separating them.  Having the puppies at such a young age, the mother rarely leaves her pups, and if separated the mother will try anything to get to them.  Even if we had put the puppies in a cat carrier next to Iris, the gated door, although see-through,  would be enough to send Iris into an Anxiety attack clawing at the cage.

So for an approximate 20 minute drive, I had one arm holding onto a litter box full of winning puppies, and one arm restraining a  strange and wild dog on my lap. As we drove I was astonished by how calm Iris was, until we stopped at a street light, and Iris began viciously barking at a cyclist on the street.  I reflect on this now, even knowing Iris to be a dog who would never attack me, and still believe I was very lucky.  Working at the vet, one of the first things I learned, was never put yourself too close to any animal, especially a strange dog in a possibly high stress situation.

We attempted taking a photo of each of the puppies each week as they grew.. it was a challenge..

The following pictures are of the puppies at 2 days old.

Zeus

Bentley

Lacey

Seymour

Murdoch

Tegan

How I got The Group of 7...

I have forever had a love for animals, there isn't ever a time I can remember not finding someway of surrounding myself with them.  To put it into perspective, my first word was 'Dudley' the name of my golden retriever at the time, as you can imagine, it was a difficult reality for my parents to grasp, but it made for a great story.

In my 19 years of life I have owned 1 cat named Benson, 3 dogs named, Dudley, Jackson, then Iris, 2 guinea pigs, named Betty and Pebbles, 1 snake named Isabelle whom gave birth to god knows how many mini-hers, and 1 chameleon named sticks.

I have gone to zoo's for my birthdays as a kid, I took several horseback riding lessons, and spent 6 summers attending a horseback riding camp in Delaware.  It wasn't until last September when I harassed my local veterinarian office in order to attain my current placement as 'kennel care' (which is not far off from my childhood dream of being a professional 'kitten cuddler') that I fully indulged my love affair with pet ownership.

One night last December as I was finishing up at work when Dr. Hall one of our vets whom works closely with the Burlington Humane Society, jokingly asked if I wanted to have 7 dogs for Christmas.  Now at the time, my family was without any pets at all, as our Goldendoodle Jackson had passed away in July at the age of 10 and my Tabby cat Benson in October at the age of 14.

So when Dr. Hall told me that she had received news that the Human Society had come into possession of a 9month old mother and her 6 1 day old puppies, I, like any other reasonable teenage girl would, saw this as the most perfect Christmas miracle.

But unlike most teenagers, who would allow their uncontainable excitement over take any fair chance at asking their parents, I had a plan to make this Christmas miracle into a reality!

I went home and picked off one family member at a time starting with the most easily corrupted, my mother.  I told her wonderful it would be and how things like this happen for a reason and ... well you can guess the top five cliches that also got thrown into the mix.  Once I realized I wasn't getting a direct NO, I knew I had her.. next step brother.. then FATHER>>>DUN..DUN.. DUNNNNNN!

The statement: "so let me get this straight... we are discussing 'HOW' we will do this, not 'IF' we will....?" Papa Brown

That sentence was gold, I knew I had succeeded, and the evil scientist smile stayed planted on my face all night long!"