All Quiet in Puppy World

Not a lot going on right now with the puppies - they're just eating and growing. At this point they weigh between 4 and 5 1/2 pounds, which is great.

Their foster mom says that they're doing really well, starting to show their personalities. At this point, they are more excited to see her in the morning than they are to be fed (now that's love!).

Connie is spending more and more time inside the main part of the house with the family, really enjoying some adult time. While she's been so devoted to the pups, she clearly looking forward to when they move out on their own (and she gets her own home).

And the Boys!

And a few updated photos of the little boys as well. There are also more new photos on their Petfinder page!

The Girls...

We have some new puppy photos - these are the three little girls. Check out their Petfinder page for more updated photos! We'll post the boy photos here tomorrow.

Adventures in Dining

It's always exciting and messy introducing babies to their first solid food, and puppies are no exception. First step, soak some dry puppy food in water until it's soft and mushy. Second, pour the food in a large shallow pan. Third, add puppies. And I do mean "add the puppies" - the first time I literally put their front paws into the dish. What happens next varies. Sometimes one smart puppy figures out right away that this ushy mushy stuff is food and starts licking at it. Most of the time though the puppies just walk through the bowl getting themselves nice and messy (sometimes they crawl on top of one another in the bowl, it's a little like mud wrestling). Clean up isn't a problem though, as soon as they've had enough fun and food, I let their mom join them. She finishes off the puppy mush and then licks the puppies clean.

The little white girl puppy took to the food on the very first try and by this afternoon - the third day and the sixth meal - all of the puppies showed some interest in the food. Maybe not coincidentally, the three smallest puppies eat the most - perhaps the two fat boys are so full of mom's milk they can't be bothered with puppy mush.

Puppy Socialization

I take this phase of puppy fostering very seriously. Proper and consistent socialization is key to the development of a friendly, well behaved dog. My husband, two daughters and I make a point of holding and petting the puppies many times during the day.

My next door neighbors have two wonderful gentle children, five and three years old. Yesterday they came over to meet the puppies for the first time. Sitting on the ground, they held the puppies in their laps. The children were thrilled and the puppies enjoyed their gentle pets and sweet voices. The three year old boy was not happy when it was time to go home.

The Joy of Puppies

The puppies are now three weeks old, their eyes and ears are open, and best of all they're ready to start making human friends. Dogs are amazing creatures, after years of selective breeding, they are hardwired to crave and depend on human companionship. All that is required is for their human friends to reinforce this innate tendency with gentle loving contact. These babies are no exception - when I say "what sweet babies" in my sweetest voice, they wag their tails and move towards me. If one of them is feeling lonely or neglected by mom - they are babies after all - she'll immediately stop crying if I pick her up and cuddle her.

For the Petfinder pages for the puppies, click here for the boys and here for the girls.

Another (Related) Success

Connie has spawned another successful rescue (in addition to Randy) - a wonderful couple who applied to foster Randy has taken in Layla. Layla has a similarly heartbreaking backstory - she originally landed in a shelter as part of an abuse case. She spent 2 years there while the case made it's way through the courts. When that was through and her time was up, a solo rescuer pulled her.

Unfortunately, the rescuer had a bigger heart than she did capacity to help animals, and Layla spent the next couple of years in an outside kennel with lots of other dogs. She didn't have a place to go indoors in the winter (and pit bull coats are *not* made for outside living), didn't get any attention and developed a bad skin infection.

When we found out about Layla, we brought her to the northern VA area for vet care. Her skin condition cleared up with regular care, but finding a place for a 10 y.o. pit bull is not easy. However, she's now spent the last week in a home; above is a photo of her with her foster brother, enjoying a sunny nap. (Layla is the white dog in the back; her foster brother she's snuggling with was adopted from the same shelter Connie and Randy had been at.) More pix and info about Layla are here.

Before this whole experience, I'd only placed 3 pit bulls - hounds and shy herding dogs are more my "thing" (since that's what my dogs are). But working with Connie and the associated dogs has really made me think more about helping these pups that die at such disproportionate rates in shelters, and are treated so much worse as a group than other dogs outside of shelters.