Settling in

The first 24 hours is all about letting mama get her bearings. She has to get used to a new home (not the shelter, not the streets), and she has to get used to the quiet, calm. She has to endure getting food every few hours. She has to tell me her preferences: kibble? Kibble and canned? Scrambled eggs? Cottage cheese? All of the above?

If she’s ok with letting me handle her pups, I can change the blankets. And no matter how great a mom she is, 11 1-week old puppies will leave a mess.

She’ll learn the schedule – she gets to go outside whenever she needs to – and I will NOT be trying to sneak a peek at her pups while she’s outside. I’ll make sure I’m not even between her and her access to her pups while she explores her new yard.

So far, this mama is doing well. She’s eaten, a lot. She’s been drinking fresh, clean water. She finally did her business outside. She let me change the blanket while she enjoyed her cottage cheese snack.

The pups are a bit on the scrawny side for my taste. But I get it; life in the shelter is stressful. They are all nursing and able to find their place at the milk bar. They’ll be plumping up in the next few days. We’ll get weights as soon as we can and put collars on them in order to identify how they’re progressing.

In the last 7 days, this mama gave birth to 11 pups in a stranger’s yard, was picked up by animal control, survived the chaos of the shelter (no matter how great they were, it’s still loud and scary), drove for a couple of hours with strangers, and landed in our home where there is plenty of space and support for her to nurture her family and take her next steps toward her forever home.

Thank you Paige Green Photography for transporting. You learned first hand that transport isn’t just ‘a ride’. And without YOU and your boys, we all wouldn’t get to help this mama bring us all some joy.