At the end of last week my dear friend and rescue colleague Vicki Pearce of Shedd Rescue came to visit us and brought of tons of goodies like food, bully sticks, wee wee pads, toys, doggy litter and NorthWest Naturals raw meat.
Pups are eating a raw diet, in the morning they still eat their Solid Gold kibble, soaked, but they are slowly transitioning to raw. They’re going wild for the NorthWest Naturals Salmon and Turkey Dinner Bars. I had some left in the freezer from our Gwen who was crazy about fish, salmon especially. I decided to see if the pups would be interested in eating it, it’s so easy to feed. You just defrost it in their bowl and it’s ready to eat. All veggies, minerals and vitamins are added no need to worry about feeding the right amount. I sure hope prospective adopters will keep on feeding them raw as well, it has so many beneficial points. Of course I can’t force them to but I can put it in my list of what kind of home I’m looking for for these pups. They are at the start of a long healthy life we hope and feeding a good raw or no-grain diet will certainly help. In the long run one saves on vet costs because raw fed dogs and dogs who have been fed a no-grain diet do not see a vet as often as other pets do. Very few develop allergies or hot spots, and I haven’t seen a flea on my pets in years.
At the moment their schedule looks like this.
7:00 AM wake-up go outside potty and get breakfast, Solid Gold soaked kibble, being fed by Dad
7:15 AM Play time while Dad cleans up the pen and put down clean wee wee pads and cleans the doggy litter box.
7:30 AM Back in the pen with a chewy and play while Dad is having breakfast himself and goes to work from home with conference calls that we interrupt with heavy puppy whining, that's our job.
9:00 AM Mom gets up and takes us outside for play and potty while she has her first espresso in the yard, after that we’ll stay in the family room where they can run around and play and interact with the cats and Lotte for a while.
10:30 AM Back in the pen for a nap
12:00 Lunch time, NorthWest Naturals Dinner Bars and outside for potty and play. We again play and learn in the family room while mom works on her laptop.
2:00 PM Back in the pen for a nap while mom also goes for her nap till 5:30 PM.
5:30 PM Outside for potty and play in family room while Mom makes afternoon tea and wait for Dad to come home. Play with cats and Lotte and the agility tunnel. Watch the cats having dinner but we can’t reach the counter tops.
6:30 PM Lie in the kitchen in a circle like good little Border Collies to watch Mom preparing our dinner.
7:00 PM Dad’s home!
7:15 PM Dinner time! NW Natural Dinner Bars with a little bit of Lotte’s Sojos veggies because we’re crazy about them.
7:30 PM Potty time outside.
7:35 PM Nap while Mom and Dad have dinner.
10:00 PM Outside potty and play time with all family members in de family room! What fun we have!
10:45 PM Snack time, we get an apple, dried fruit like apricots or figs or cottage cheese with banana, YUM! We LOVE apples!
11:00 PM Last potty break and nite nite, sleep till morning.
Below:
Four pups and a ball; play time in the yard.
We decided that their pen was not working for me, I needed to bend over every time I had to clean or pick up a pup, and part of my illness is something called Orthostatic Intolerance, which makes me faint if I bend over, get up or turn too fast. Fainting and falling in the pen was not an option ;-) We cleared out our den, put the dining table in the living room and make a double fence from the pen units. The den and living room are an ‘open plan’ type of thing, and the den is reachable by sliding door from the kitchen. So now with the den fenced off and the crate in the den the pups have a wealth of space to play and lie wherever they want to. They have 2 doggy litter pans with a wee wee pad in front of it to catch anything that doesn’t make it ;-) I can walk from the kitchen into the den and sit on a chair and do whatever needs to be done. They also have windows now to look outside and that can open. They love it and when we’re in the living room working or watching tv they still can hear us.
Below:
Pups in their new pen.
Fynn asleep in the crate, Lass and Liam on the bed and Erin, of course, next to it.
Double fence!
Unfortunately over the weekend I started to feel unwell. As very often is the case if I go out in public I’ll catch a bug and with a non functioning immune system you get ill very fast. By Tuesday I had a high fever and was crawling around the den cleaning up after the pups and having no energy to spare to play with them. I lay shivering from fever on the couch watching them. I always have to be careful not to develop Pneumonia as that could be fatal for me. Taking care of the pups was getting too exhausting taking that little reserve that I had left.
Thank God for good friends! Vicki wrote me an email that she would be happy to take 2 pups so that it would be easier for me. Of course I objected, felt a bit like a I failed these pups, but waking up next morning and feeling even more awful I called her right away and took her up on her offer.
Vicki drove over with lightning speed and took home my love bug and hero, Liam and little Miss Independent, Erin.
Below:
Liam a few days before he went to Vicki.
Below:
Erin, also a few days before she went living with Vicki.
It was bittersweet having to part with them but I know it would be better for them and for myself as well. Liam and Erin are the most active and rowdy pups, at Vicki’s there are more adult dogs at home who can teach them a lot. These pups have missed a piece of their education from their mom and I’m so happy that they will be learning that now from Vicki’s dogs. These 2 pups will be the best socialized pups ever as Vicki will also take them to work with her as well, meeting all kinds of people, children and dogs. Vicki works at Animal Crackers in Corvallis.
It is strange being down to 2 pups, I didn’t realize what difference that would make. Our home was filled with peace and quiet and in the evening I lay on the ground with my 2 cuddle bugs, Fynn and Lass. After an afternoon nap I already felt better, less to clean and run after. Lass and Fynn compliment each other so well, Lass being a bit more laid back and shy while Fynn is curious and the first to go after something and more outgoing. It will be difficult to part with them in a few weeks, especially now our contact is so much more intense.
So from now on there will be no more updates and stories about Erin and Liam, maybe Vicki can find the time between her full time job at Animal Crackers, a lot of rescue and volunteer work for GreenHill Humane Society and her pack at home to update her blog and show you how Liam and Erin are doing. Besides Erin and Liam, Vicki also has 2 other BC cross pups older than our pups in rescue. Their names are Sugar and Spice, don’t you just love it??
Thank you Vicki for caring so much and being a wonderful friend by taking 2 of my pups!
If you’re interested in Liam or Erin you can still contact me on the address listed in the file ‘Why and When I became a rescuer’ if you click on that title it will take you to that file and I will send your message to Vicki or contact Vicki directly by going to her blog Shedd Rescue here or Shedd Rescue on Petfinder.
The last photo for today, below is our resident dog Lotte(14 y.o this year), she a real grandma who every now and than still plays a bit with Liam and Fynn.
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