Make yourself at home...

Hannah surprised us by immediately settling in on the couch the first afternoon she had access to the house. Why rest on the floor when this comfy couch is available?! She is a total cuddle-bug and couch potato at night after a full-energy busy day.

Crate training is going without a hitch. We put a folded blanket on the bottom of her crate after we saw how much she liked a cushy resting space, and she seems quite happy with that. She also gets a treat every time she gets in there. There are no complaints at night or when we are in there now- whew!

It's so exciting to finally see all three dogs out in the yard together!

The wheel of time turns on...

We are left with lovely Hannah, and the focus of this blog will turn to her and her adventures with us from this point on, without the pups. And what a change there already is. Without the dear ones to protect, Hannah bowed down playfully behind the gate at Luci, and seemed to say "let's be friends!". We opened the gate that had separated them for the last month, and Hannah joined the regular flow of our life. We added a crate for her in our bedroom and she is just walking around the house now with our pets. She chases the cats and is a little too interested in the Guinea pigs. But otherwise, it is going well. She and Luci and ancient Jack are learning to share the house, the backyard, and even our attention. We have sent a message to PawMatch to let them know about the pups, but we are tentatively planning on fostering Hannah for a few more weeks until she has recovered fully and is ready to be spayed. I took her to White Rock Veterinary Hospital this morning where everyone fawned over her and remarked how beautiful she is. She rode in the car with me to take Ben to school today, and we started crate training at home. We plan to use these weeks to polish up her manners so that she will be all ready for a wonderful forever family. After everything she has been through, she really deserves it!

4 Weeks Old: Helo

We only had one puppy make it to 4 weeks old. We called him Helo (previously known as #7/ Mr. Teal). This photo was taken at 10 AM on Wednesday, November 8, 2006. He was so spunky and walking around then, and he was already gaining weight for the day. We really felt very hopeful about him, against all odds, I suppose. But 18 hours later (at 4:30 AM) he was so desperately ill that Jason took him to the Emergency Animal Hospital, unable to leave him suffering even until our 8 AM appointment at White Rock.

And so the puppies are all gone. Mr. Purple and Miss Navy (dear White Tips) both failed very quickly-- a matter of hours from the start of neuro symptoms until the end-- only a day apart. For White Tips and Helo we pulled out all the stops--even trying some experimental steroid therapy Jason read about on the Internet. But nothing could stop this terrible disease.

Of course we are so sad. We truly loved those darling pups. And we will never forget our experience with them-- what an incredible month! But as Ben told his teacher this morning, "We tried our best". And really, that is all anyone can ever do for another creature. And we don't regret trying-- Hannah is a beautiful, wonderful dog who will be completely devoted to some lucky family-- and she wouldn't be here if we hadn't been willing to try.

Fresh Start

We lost 5 puppies this past week. It was heartbreaking if not unexpected. But we are ready to regroup and move on with the three big, healthy, pups we have left and their strong mama.

Our life is much different today. These three pups are good nursers and not so dependent on the supplement bottles. They don't need tube feedings or eye treatments or other time consuming interventions. They are strong enough to get up and walk around, so we reconfigured their area so that they have a little penned yard coming off of their pool/bed. They enjoy walking out there to pee and play, and then walk back into the bed to nurse. They can see us moving about now, and they can watch Hannah when she gets up to take a drink or get something to eat. We put away all of the IV fluids and syringes and medicines except their antibiotics, so there is less of a hospital atmosphere going. They have started to play with their puppy toys and they like to get attention from their human family.

We feel we still have a chance of pulling these last pups through with Hannah, and we are savoring these hard-earned, precious puppy moments.

The surviving pups are:

• Miss Navy/#8 (aka White Tips)
• Mr. Purple/ #4 (aka Big Guy or Rottweiler)
  
• Mr. Teal/ #7 (aka Chocolate or Brownie)

Goodbye, Littlest Loves

We lost Mr. White & Mr. Green on Saturday. Mr. Green had been ill since the wee hours of Thursday morning but fought hard for over 48 hours. Mr. White became suddenly very ill on Saturday afternoon, with seizures and a pained cry that even large doses of Valium couldn't calm. I took them to Banfield early Saturday evening. You might think it would be getting easier to do, having done it three other times this week, but it actually gets harder each time. We loved little Mr. White and Mr. Green so much, and we all really, really wanted them to be OK. But they were both so pitiful at the end, there was no question that they were suffering and it was time to let them go. Hannah was frantic and whining, getting in the bed with them, then getting out and coming to me, silently pleading with me to help them. Even Ben said "I don't think they can make it, Mom." And so we let the "teeny tiniest" and his small brother (who had lost so much weight, they looked like twins again) go together.