“Go Play With Puppies”

“Go play with puppies”, Mark says. That sounds like a GREAT idea! But sitting on the tile floor in the puppy pen about kills my knees so I have this great idea… I’ll take puppies outside! I check the temp; only 88 degrees and it IS cloudy out so I decide pups will have a good time!

I start pulling pups out of the pen past the soon-to-be-surmountable barrier. I can do two at a time except for a few out of reach. I step into the puppy pen to get the pups farther back. In the meantime, pups already out of the box decide to pee… THREE of them! I throw down paper towels as I call them to the back door.

Holding the door open, I lift pups two by two outside the threshold. As I’m holding the door open, three flies fly into the house. Drats! I finally get all the pups outside on the back patio and two of them are pooping on the concrete. Oh no… I call them onto the grass (because it will be easier to pick up the poop); some follow, others do not. When you have to go, you have to go!

And then the sun comes out! I go back inside to grab their water bowl and after refilling, I take it outside. Now I’m doing that “count to nine” thing again. I only count eight! Deja is supposed to be “helping” me but she takes off towards the side yard; yep, there is the ninth puppy meandering off! Deja comes when I call and that puppy follows mom. Good girl, Deja!

 

I leave pups for a moment to grab the pooper-scooper (remember the flies earlier?!) Now I can’t find where they went (except for the ones on the back patio of course). Some puppies are hanging out in the shade but the others, some go right; some go left!

I go out to the grass where I can see them all. Snap a few photos until they see me and then, they come running. I have one biting my ears (I’m lying on the ground) and another chewing on my camera strap. I disentagle the puppy chewing on the camera strap and do my count again… all accounted for!

And then, two decide our little water fountain looks interesting and climb up on the lowest edge peering at the trickling water. I call them back to their water bowl but it is the trickling water that is fascinating pups.

Several are panting by now. I start picking them up two at at time and take them back to the puppy pen. I make three trips with two and two trips with single puppies. I’m missing one! Back outside calling for puppy… P-U-P-P-Y! P-U-P, P-U-P, P-U-P-P-Y! And I hear before I see that last puppy deep in my planting bed! As she comes towards me, she will have to go through a rose bush. I quickly swipe her up thus avoiding the thorny branches of the bush. Whew… all nine pups accounted for and back in the house!

I pull out frozen water bottles and ice cubes. A few lick the ice cubes while some lie on the water bottles to cool off. I sit with puppies until none are panting any longer. As I leave the puppy pen with everyone fast asleep, my parrot starts calling… “PUPPY, PUP, PUP, PUPPY!”

 

Lesson here: DO NOT TAKE THAT MANY PUPPIES OUTSIDE BY MYSELF!

5-Week Weights:

• Blue (M): 6 lbs 3.6 oz
• Black (M): 6 lbs 10.0 oz
• Purple (M): 6 lbs 1.0 oz
• Green (M): 6 lbs 4.6 oz
• Hot Pink (F): 6 lbs 9.4 oz
• Lime Green (F): 6 lbs 5.2 oz
• Red (F): 6 lbs 7.8 oz
• Yellow (F): 5 lbs 13.6 oz
• Orange (F): 5 lbs 14.8 oz

In other news: Puppies are now eating only slightly softened food. I sat with them to make sure none had a problem chewing the harder kibble the first time. All did great! Watching them wrestle with each other (and chew on each other), time to add more “chew” toys! And time to make sure Deja doesn’t try to steal them from the pups because… everyone likes a good chew toy!