Why was Jill wandering loose?

I had two calls over the weekend that disturbed me. I was contacted by the Paulding County Animal Control and Home Again informing me that a dog registered to me was at the shelter. I know the dog and I did have her for several months. It is a bit of a story.

In late 2004 through to June 2005 I was caring for my late sister. During that time I had to have my 16 year old Bichon put to sleep. Muffet was suffering grand mal seizures and the cause was unknown. For his sake I made the decision to have him put to sleep because my time needed to be spent with my dying sister. I felt horrible about it, but still believe it was best for Muffet.

After my sister passed away, I felt the need for a canine companion. I went to the local shelter and fell in love with Jill. She was 10 months old and very friendly. I wanted a dog her size because my son's girlfriend had a dog she had adopted that was about 45 pounds. Jill was about the same size and age. The fit was perfect.

For months Jill and Shannon's dog Jack got along wonderfully. Jack was a female inspite of the name. In late 2005 something changed in the dogs' relationship and Jill attacked Jack inflicting several bites in Jack's legs. We thought at first that it was a display of dominance and the matter had been settled. Jack was now submissive to Jill, but Jilly continued to be aggressive toward Jack. I also have severe arthritis in my hands and arms and had to use a Gentle Leader to control Jill. She really was too much for me to handle on my own. In late 2005 I made the very hard decision to find Jill a new home.

I advertised her on Craigslist and LiveDeal, but did not have any takers. After about 8 weeks of trying to find her a home, I felt I had no choice but to take Jill back to the shelter where I had adopted her. I took along her flea and heartworm medicine. I also wrote a letter to potential adopters about Jill and what a wonderful dog she was. I did stress that she needed to be in a home where she was the only dog. I cried as I signed over the dog that I loved.

I received a call from the shelter in less than 24 hours. A family was adopting Jill! They came to my home to pick up Jill's crate. I was thrilled to meet them and felt this was the family for Jill. They even called a few months later to tell me that Jill was doing well and how the whole family loved her.

Now I have had these calls about Jill being picked up by animal control. It distresses me terribly. I don't have a phone number and can't even remember the name of the family who adopted Jill. I can only hope that they are looking for her. I wonder if I should go and claim her myself, but I still have other dogs and the arthritis is worse. I can only hope that this family loved Jill as much as I did and are looking for her.

Raina's puppies

Raina gave birth to 4 puppies on March 26. Unfortunately we lost one the next day. It was pretty hard for me. This is the first puppy we have lost. I felt personally responsible for it. That somehow if I had noticed that the puppy was in distress sooner, I could have done something. Oh well, we have 3 puppies to raise and they are thriving. I take them to the vet on Monday to have their tails docked.

Kitty's puppies are growing so fast. They are very mobile considering that all they can do is crawl. They crawl out over the side of the bed chasing after their mother. Sometimes I find all of them out of their bed and sometimes under it. This ought to be fun. I have not had 2 litters born this close together before. There may come a time when I can put all of the puppies together after they are weaned.

Update on the pups

Kitty's puppies are growing like weeds! I weighed the one that I nicknamed "Starbuck" and she is 13 ounces today. She weighed 6.9 oz. at birth! That is almost doubling her weight in 1 week. The pups are creeping around enough to get out of the bed to reach their mother. I don't think they can go the other way yet since I have to put them back about 6 times a day. You would think that with the puppies to worry about, Kitty would ignore Raina. No way! She still has to snarl when she sees Raina go by. I hung a blanket over the baby gate to give Kitty some privacy. I already have a blanket over the gate on Raina's room.

Raina has been in early labor since yesterday. Now it's getting really serious. She drank some puppy formula a little while ago, then barfed it all up. She refused to eat some boiled liver which is a good sign. I want to bring her into the living room to deliver so that I can be comfortable. When it gets close, I am going to put the other dogs in their crates. Of course it has to be raining hard today and all of the dogs are inside. Hopefully I will have new puppy pictures before bedtime.

We have new puppies!

Whoa am I tired! I’ve been trying to get used to a machine that helps me with my sleep apnea and it doesn’t seem to be helping. I was fatigued already, so spending the night as the dog midwife has been the cherry on top. I fell yesterday and then fell again this morning. And I still have a Yorkie who is due to have her pups in the next few days. The good thing is that I love these little critters so much that I don’t really mind the fatigue and bruises.

Kitty Cat is a real champ. She was in labor most of the day. There was a lot of panting and pacing. She was also very irritable with the other dogs. I tried to stay awake with her, but faded out after seeing President Obama on Leno. I woke to the sound of Squirrel barking repeatedly. Then I realized that I was also hearing the cries of puppies. Kitty had 2 of her babies while I was sleeping! I called Sean and Shannon to let them know that the puppies were being born. I stayed with her for the rest of the delivery. She drank a couple of bowls of puppy formula to fortify her. When I was sure that Kitty and the pups were OK, I climbed into bed to sleep. Just as I was dozing off, Shannon called to see how things had gone. It didn’t take much time to get back into my slumber.

The puppies are beautiful. I didn’t manage to make my usual notes during the births, so I had to sort of fill in the blanks later. There are 4 black and white pups and 2 brown and white. Four of them are males and 2 are females. I weighed them finally at about 6 to 8 hours after they were born. Of course by then their little bellies were full of milk. Kitty had a fit every time I took one away to the scale. I had forgotten how attached she was to her last litter. She did leave them long enough to empty her bladder. I had to hold the bowl to get her to drink and she did gobble up some boiled beef liver. She will be fine. Then I can look forward to the birth of the Yorkies.

Waiting is awful!

What you are looking at is Kitty's belly. There are 6 little puppies in there waiting to be born. Our vet was wonderful in helping me get the best pictures I could of the x-rays. Raina had her picture taken too and she is having 4 puppies.

I am now a basketcase. I do not wait well and having 2 pregnant dogs is making me especially ansty. Kitty has managed to wake me during the past two night and ended up sleeping with me. I am such an easy touch.

Both dogs are resting a lot. I guess I would be too if I was carrying around that much of a load. I check their temperatures daily waiting for the drop to occur. It's not easy taking a dog's temp without assistance. Kitty is easier with more tail for me to grab. I am giving them extra formula and yogurt right now. The calcium is crucial for them since the puppies are taking a lot of it. I am just trying to keep busy sewing and taking care of the house. My delivery supplies are all ready and I feel better that both dogs were seen by the vet this week. Now it is just a waiting game.

Happy St. Pawtricks Day!

It's Raina, I get to blog today. Mom loves St. Patrick's Day. She is a genealogy nut and has traced her family back as far as she can without leaving the U.S. She has Irish ancestors on both her mother and father's sides. She hasn't been able to find records of them entering the country, so she may be descended from illegal immigrants!

Mom has also discovered Twitter. The details of my daily life are being spread all over the world! It's fun to follow the other Anipals on Twitter. They even get together for parties. I have a picture with my St. Pawtrick's Day bling, but it won't show up on Twitter, so I decided to show it here.

Kitty and I are going to the vet this afternoon to find out how many puppies we are having. Too bad we don't get ultrasounds like humans so we would know the sexes of the puppies. Mom could be thinking up nicknames ahead of time. Kitty's first due date is tomorrow and Mom has been getting her stuff ready. I will just be glad when these little wiggly critters are wiggling in a bed instead of wiggling in me!

Squirrel was supposed to go to the vet today, but she is still skinny. She may not be as far along as Kitty and I are or maybe she didn't get pregnant. Mom says we just have to wait.

A later update..One of my friends on Twitter has been putting together everyone's pictures with their St. Pawtrick's Day bling. It's is really neat!

Terriers can be a "pain"

My cousin calls her Jack Russell a "terrorist". I had been calling Raina simply a Yorkshire Terror. Today she proved that she is all terrier. For some reason several months ago Raina decided that she no longer wanted the friendship of Kitty one of our Shih Tzus. At first I thought I would let them fight it out and settle who was going to be top dog. When they started to draw blood, I had to break it up. Fortunately I have baby gates all over the house, so it is possible to keep them apart. Today I was shifting them around to let Raina have some time with me. I put Kitty in her room, but forgot to close the gate in the hall to keep Raina as far away as possible. Even though there was a gate between them, they were snarling and snapping at each other. I leaned over the gate to give Kitty some water. I had commanded Raina to back off, but she decided to override that, ducked under my legs, snapped at Kitty and BIT ME! I only have a bruise. I even needed a moment to realized that she really had bit me. My feelings are hurt more than anything.

I know it is not necessary to be bitten to be a pet parent, but I think it does help to at least be nipped so that you can know what it feels like and that it is nothing to fear. A couple of years ago I learned the correct way to break up a dog fight (grab by the rear legs, not the collar). Because I did it the wrong way, I spent New Year's Eve in the ER. The bite was not serious because I remained as calm as I could. I saw my hand in the mouth of a Boston Terrier and thought "don't pull, don't struggle". I went to the ER to get a tetanus shot. The scar barely shows.

My daughter-in-law and I were discussing the housing of our dogs once she and Sean buy a house. She suggested that since Raina and Kitty were getting along better I should keep the Shih Tzus with me. Maybe we need to reconsider.

Gus is in trouble

I get just as worried when the dogs are too quiet as I did when my son was a child. I was on the computer when I turned to see this mess. I woke up a little congested this morning and grabbed a roll of toilet tissue since I didn't have kleenex. I made the mistake of leaving it on the table next to my chair. Ever since Squirrel got on that table to nab a piece of pizza crust the other day, all of the dogs seem to think it is OK to explore in MY territory.

Gus was having a grand time when I saw him. He was tossing the roll into the air and tearing pieces off. I would have tried to get a video, but he stopped as soon as I stood up. He knew he was in trouble and kept nuzzling my hand as I was trying to clean up his mess. He even jumped up in my lap while I was uploading these pictures. He started licking the keyboard. I wondered if he was planning to rebut anything I reported on his behavior.

Maybe I need to move the chair and couch farther away from the table. Reggie gets into my coffee cup if I leave it for a few minutes. I know caffeine is bad for dogs, but she seems to love coffee. She even went after a glass of OJ. No wonder I am so tired all of the time. I am constantly cleaning up after the dogs and watching out for them.

News on one of my babies

I love hearing from my puppy parents. This one made my day yesterday. Bailey is such a pretty little dog. She has mask markings over only one eye just like her mother Kitty. Bailey is obviously well loved and very well cared for. I can't ask any more for one of my babies.

Winter is still here!

Snow is rare in Georgia which is why I moved here from Ohio 30 years ago. At least here people stay home and I don't have to dig my car out every morning. The dogs enjoy the snow so of course they had to go out for a short play. Squirrel disappears in the snow with her white coat. The play session didn't last long. After all they are southern dogs. Fortunately this all took place before the pregnant girls had their bellies shaved.

We are getting ready for 3 deliveries. Unless we have a false pregnancy, it looks like Kitty, Raina and Squirrel are pregnant. Kitty's first due date is March 18, Raina is due March 21 and Squirrel is due March 25. My daughter-in-law shaved their bellies and "toots" for the sake of nursing puppies and hygiene. I have one whelping box in place and cleaned. The other needs to be brought up from the garage. One dog will have to give birth in the living room! Some time after the 14th we will be making a trip to the vet for x-rays. I feel more secure about safe deliveries when we know how many pups are coming. I have all of my supplies in one place. I need to cut down some of the colored neckbands for the puppies. Yorkie puppies all look alike and I assume the Maltese will look alike too. Shih Tzus are much more interesting in all of their colors and markings.

These days when people ask me what I do, I don't say that I am a retired systems analyst. I am now the caregiver, housekeeper and midwife to a pack of dogs that allow me to live with them!