Dolly's Puppies, Update

Dolly Momma's puppies are 4 weeks and 4 days old and are all eating puppy chow mixed with milk replacer and some wet food. They have become very mobile in this last week and are starting to follow me around while I clean their area. They are seriously considering attacking the broom and mop, so it's time to introduce some small toys that they can carry around. They have received their first vaccination and also been wormed.

Dolly is beginning to enjoy her time away from them, as the 10 of them can literally knock her down when they want to nurse. Hang in there Dolly - won't be long till they are old enough to wean!

Dolly Momma

Dolly Momma ("We're Patiently Waiting", 3/5/10) blessed us with 10 healthy puppies on St. Patrick's Day. When we got her, the staff at animal control told us that she was not a good eater, ate mostly dog biscuits and little else. It was obvious - she was thin with ribs and backbone palpable, and since she was also pregnant, it was important to get some weight on her. We also found out she was heartworm positive and needed to gain weight and get healthy to be treated for heartworms, not to mention raising the puppies, and getting spayed along the way.

Normally if a new dog gets exercise and starts to relax, it will start eating on its own. Not Dolly Momma. I use hot dogs to jump start an appetite, and in her case, I went to the refrigerator almost immediately. After all, she was pregnant.

Dolly has gained weight even though she is feeding 10 puppies. She has a diet of 8 cups of puppy chow, three cans of her favorite wet dog food, 18 hot dogs, two multivitamins, and at least a half dozen of either chicken or duck fillets, and a few dog biscuits just for old times. If she leaves anything, it's the dry dog food. She will actually spit the dry food out if it isn't mixed well enough to smuggle it into her. She always has dry food in front of her, but she doesn't touch it.

The puppies are fat, happy, and content. Their eyes are open, and they have gotten big enough to crawl out of the kid's wading pool and start to move around. They are three weeks and two days old, and beginning to respond to my voice. It won't be long till she starts to wean them, and I am determined to make sure that they have better dietary habits than their mother.

If you want to see photos of the puppies, go to http://www.pawshancock.org/info/photos?GalleryID=1270

Missy, the Basset

Missy was a favorite at a local animal control, but no one would adopt her because she had a hard mass, the size of a lemon, on her belly. She was good on a leash, loved to ride in the car, was good with kids, other dogs, and most cats. She was housebroken and would have made a wonderful companion.

When we saw the "Urgent" appear on her site, we knew they were full and had to move her or euthanize her. She had had a stillborn puppy the week before. We met her and immediately liked her and thought she deserved a chance. We scheduled her to be evaluated by the vet and have spay surgery, as well as remove the mass. Because of a veterinary emergency, the surgery had to be postponed for a week.

Two days ago, at the late night bed check, I noticed a tarry stool, fresh blood, and evidence of vomiting in her kennel. We took her to the vet and he first suspected parvo but the test was definitely negative - thank God for that. He knew we had wormed her, but went ahead and checked that out too. No worms, but the sample was full of cancer cells. The cancer had infiltrated her colon. She snuggled in my arms as we euthanized her to prevent her from suffering any further.

Maybe that was the plan - she loved to ride in the car, loved to go outside in the play yard and sniff and dig and roll in the fresh grass. She loved to eat! She was a real sweetheart and will be missed.

Goliath's Return

He's back! Goliath was returned to the rescue as he has developed into a fear biter and has a bite record - one official and twice not recorded. He has been to obedience school and graduated. He has been worked with by three trainers. His behavior improved, but they could no longer trust him - and that works both ways. So, he's back.

Right now he lacks both trust and respect, but we are working on that. He has done well and had not tried to bite till yesterday when I was massaging him and started to rub and lift his front paw, as you would when the vet wants to draw blood, and he snapped at me. AH HA - now we have a clue as to what triggers the aggression. All of his visits to the hospital for his heart, all the IV's, etc. have made him fearful. He's also fearful of the other dogs in his area.

He is not adoptable with a bite record, and I certainly would not want him to hurt anyone in the future. I offered to adopt him and the rescue coordinator agreed. We have a lot of work to do. We are establishing respect and working on trust. My goal is to make him more brave and trusting and let him live out his life.

Missing Cell Phone

After 4 years of a simple cell phone that a techno dummy like me could figure out, my brother got me a replacement with all the bells and whistles. If you touch it in a certain place, this eerie music starts playing. Finding a ring tone that was acceptable was a major project. I ended up picking out one that reminds me of a vigorous workout routine every time it goes off. It takes pictures and even video - but don't ask me how to find it once you take the pictures or video. It took me two weeks and trips to the house to read the instruction book to learn how to find out who had called and how to get to the voice mail. I consider this new phone a necessary evil.

Last week I lost the phone. Looked all over the building, some 5400 square feet, and could not find it anywhere. Because of my age, I detest admitting I misplaced something - gives my husband way too much joy because he teases me about it.

I finally admitted the loss and asked him to go to the house and keep calling the cell number till I found it. I was walking down the shedrow and heard the workout music, and in the last kennel with a puppy, Fleur, was that darn cell phone. Fleur had taken it into her crate and buried it in her blanket. When the phone started making music, she picked it up, carried it to her water bowl, and dropped it in.

Guess she feels the same way about cell phones as I do!!!