Waiting and anticipating

These are the new dogs Moose and Squirrel. She may be pregnant. I don't know what they did behind closed doors, but they mated every time they were with me. I am so tired of witnessing doggy love.

Since we are familiar with Kitty and Raina we are sure they are both pregnant. Squirrel seems a little rounder than she was when she arrived, but then she was so skinny what we may be seeing is just healthy weight gain. I hope not. I may be really crazy in wanting 3 litters of puppies all coming within a week and a half to 2 weeks of each other. Kitty should be first, then Raina and finally Squirrel. I just told my son that if two of the dogs come into labor at the same time, I am calling for help immediately. And I mean at 3 a.m. if necessary.

I am always excited by the impending arrival of new puppies. By the second week of March I will know for certain how many litters are coming. I will have to prepare the whelping areas for each dog. With the Yorkies and Maltese I'll need my colored bands to identify the puppies since they will all look the same as their litter mates. I will have make sure my camera batteries are all charged up and ready to go. I need to order supplies for puppy kits too. I have pink leashes, but no pink collars! I decided to figure my "worst case" scenario of litter size and prepare for 15 puppies. I could wait until the puppies come, but then I may run into the situation that I did with the pink collars. Bring on the puppies!

The Hazards of Wishing

There is an old saying, “be careful what you wish for because you may get it”. That’s me right now. I was sad that I do not have any puppies right now and so I have 2 dogs that have come into heat! We noticed Kitty Cat’s condition the other day and were planning on watching for signs that she was ready to breed. Within 24 hours she was “presenting” herself to old Reggie who is a female! I guess when you are in the mood you let the closest dog know. I called my son and had him bring Ozzie over. Ozzie was here with Kitty for all of 5 minutes when we had a successful mating. (I just checked on them and they are at it again. They need a little private time.)

Now my Yorkie Raina is in heat. Why do I always find out by a stain on my jeans? Gus is our male Yorkie and he lives with my son and daughter-in-law. He will be arriving tomorrow so that he and Raina can get acquainted again. She has not seen him since he was a puppy. I guess Raina is going to be a “cougar”. She is almost 3 and Gus is just coming up on his first birthday. This is a big deal for Gus because it will prove him as a stud.

We obtained a male and a female Maltese a couple of weeks ago. We call them Moose and Squirrel. I confess that we are all Rocky and Bullwinkle fans. Squirrel is now looking like she may be coming into heat. If she does we are going to let them mate. I will go from not having puppies to potentially having 3 litters in 58 to 63 days. I will have to come back to my blog to remind myself that I was missing the puppies.

Empty Nesting

I miss every puppy when they leave, but I think I miss Bob the most because I am without puppies for the first time since August. I guess I did ask for this. I had told my daughter-in-law that I needed a break, but I have changed my mind. Kitty Cat is showing signs of being in heat, but it’s the early stages. The poor dog is going to have to put up with being swabbed daily for a little while. Ozzie must be in the mood to make puppies too. He has been practicing on Gus and Gus does not appreciate it in the least.

Bob is a very lucky little guy. He got a new family of dog lovers. It seems like all of the puppies got their own little girls this time. I do enjoy the pictures I get of my babies after they leave me. I know then that I have launched a little dog off to a good life.

Reggie's adventure in rodent control

It seems to be feast or famine with my blogging. Right after I published the puppy news, I remembered Reggie’s adventure the other day. Reggie is an aging beagle-dachshund mix. Food is the only motivator in her life. Well maybe some scratching is appreciated too.

The other day I was trying to nap. Raina was bothering me and I had finally gotten her to settle down. Then there was a strange noise. It was the crackling of plastic and Reggie making her “mooing” sound. When I got up Reggie had a mousetrap glue board stuck to her face, both front feet and a rear foot. All for a little dab of peanut butter! I thought we had removed the last of the glue boards. I have no idea where she found it.

I removed the glue board and cleaned Reggie off as best I could. I couldn’t think of anything non-toxic, so I risked a little nail polish remover. Fortunately Reggie didn’t suffer any ill effects from the polish remover. Later my son suggested vegetable oil which worked very well. Reggie managed to get the rest of the glue off, but did it by walking it off in every room in the house! After waiting a few days so that the dirt would show me where the glue was, I started cleaning with vegetable oil. It was a big hit with the dogs! They followed me and licked the floor where ever I had cleaned it. Wookie wanted to get the freshest oil so she was right with me. I had to push her head out of the way to clean. Now I just have to scrub the floors to clean up the oil the dogs missed. I wonder how I can get them to clean the bathtub?

I got a picture today!

I love to hear from people who have gotten a puppy from us. Today I got a picture of Bailey. She was one of our August Shih Tzus. I called her Dorothy. I like her permanent name better. She is just beautiful and obviously well loved. I can’t ask any more for one of my babies. Thank you to Christina for the picture.


It always seems that we have one puppy in a litter that is around for a while. This time it’s Bob. He is adorable. He plays with the older dogs and takes their rough playing in his stride and comes back for more. Bob also loves the dead leaves the other dogs bring in from the outside. He carries them proudly like a treasure. I just wish he was big enough to reach a wastebasket to dispose of them himself. I guess that’s my job.


I am of two minds about Bob leaving. It would be nice to know he has a good home, but I would be without puppies for the first time since August. I have become accustomed to all of those tasks I perform to take care of them. It might leave a hole in my day. I have been whispering to Raina and Kitty Cat that they need to come into heat soon so that I will have more puppies. I am missing that stage where trying to walk among them is like wearing puppy slippers, except that the slippers are licking my feet!

Wookie's babies are a week old

I was so glad when Wookie delivered her pups last Sunday. They are growing so fast that they have actually doubled their birth weights! Sometimes I hear them crying and thinking there is a problem. It usually turns out to be one of the pups complaining that they want to nurse. Wookie worries me that she is not drinking water, but then why should she when I keep her supplied with puppy formula. I have also been trying to get her to eat puppy kibble, but she wants only canned puppy food and boiled beef liver. What a wonder thing for me! I get to remember those days of my childhood when I choked down fried liver with lots of catsup. At least this is boiled so the aroma is a little different. After boiling, I grind up the liver in a food processor. I suppose it is worth the bother since it produces the most beautiful and healthy babies.

A brand new litter!

I am pretty fatigued today. I have not been sleeping well because of the impending birth of a litter of Shih Tzus. This time the mother is our Wookie. Normally she is full of energy and constantly in motion. The last week or so she has been resting a lot. Since no one witnessed the mating, we did not know Wookie’s due date.

At 3:30 a.m. Sunday I was awakened by a loud moan. I got to Wookie in time to see the first of the puppies arrive. By 6:30 a.m. all of the big work was over and Wookie became the mother of four puppies. The first three are females and number four is a male with the most beautiful reddish-brown spots. Two of the females could be twins! They are both mostly black with white toes, small white patches on their chests and faint white stripes on their heads.

Wookie is proving to be a good mother. I was a little worried since she is usually a goof. Now she is all business.

A day later I get back to this and Wookie is acting nuts. I had forgotten how weird Kitty Cat behaved for the first few days. Wookie is not eating or drinking unless I hold the bowl for her. I think I need to let her get very hungry and thirsty so she will take care of her needs. She does get out of the whelping box to go potty. I need to change out the bedding today. She seems distressed that it is soiled. I found two puppies wrapped in a blanket this morning. I am going to try the tray I have used with other litters to see if that makes Wookie feel better.

I am so glad I voted by absentee ballot. I don’t feel like I can leave Wookie for more than a few minutes. I just have to remember that Kitty did settle down and relax after a few days and Wookie will too.