Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Puppy Love

When Olivia was 5 months old, my sister found a stray dog at her garage sale in Trenton and asked if we would take her. We had been wanting an outside dog, so we did and the kids named her Sandy!


Sandy has been such a good dog since we got her. She allows Olivia to play with her and sometimes she is rough. Sandy has never hurt the kids but she does want attention so she will jump on you. Olivia says "down Sandy!"


Here is a beautiful picture of Olivia that Becki Wright took during Olivia's 1 year photo shoot!

Needless to say, we love Sandy, and my mother, Stacy Seaton, loves her granddog too!

So fast forward a few years, last November, we came home from being out of town for Thanksgiving and Sandy had two male visitors from the farm up the road. Larry had to run them off a few times. 

Fast forward to last week. Monday, Larry went out of town for work overnight and I was locking the door and trying to get Sandy to come in the house where she slept in the laundry room when it was cold outside. She didn't come in while I was yelling for her. The next morning, I went outside and yelled for her. She still didn't come in. I assumed she would be cold and would want in. It worried me but I didn't know what to do if I didn't see her and I had to get to work. So Olivia and I got in the car and the lights on the car went right in the dog house next to the house. Sandy was in there, head up and eyes open. I was confused because there is no way that she would be in her dog house and ignore me welcoming her in the house on a cold night or morning. So I drove off (I know, that was terrible) and got down the driveway and turned around. I knew something was wrong, I was thinking a broken leg or something. I went to the dog house and tried to get her to come out. I offered treats and slapped my legs. She just sat in there looking at me. I heard her whining and crying. I didn't know what to do. It was freezing, Larry was out of town, I was on my way to work and I don't know anything about dogs. I was about to go get my phone and call Larry when Sandy lifted her leg and showed me 4 tiny puppies nursing! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We didn't even know that she was pregnant (I know we are terrible doggie parents!) But she is not an inside dog and it is cold outside so we didn't really play with her. Anyway, I was completely shocked and Olivia was completely beside herself with excitement!  We brought Sandy some food and water and covered her with a towel and left. I took Olivia to daycare, called Larry and then called my friend Sarah. Her husband said to move them all inside to the laundry room. I stopped by the vet, got some advice and headed home to move them all in the house. After calling into work first, of course! And my boss is a huge dog lover and a great boss, so she completely understood! I got home, moved Sandy and the 4 puppies to the laundry room and it went very smoothly!


4 puppies, 1 black male, 1 black female, 1 white female and 1 cream female! Sandy is such a good momma, she and the puppies were all cleaned off! So that actually didn't take much time and I went into work! Olivia was so excited to come home and see the puppies!!

Guess what??? The story doesn't end there.................

4 days later, we were at a birthday party for a 3 year old friend and her grandmother said that her lab mix had a puppy (only one in the litter) that morning and it had died. Her dog was very sad and distressed and was trying to nurse her stuffed animals. She was worried that her dog would get an infection because she had milk and no puppies to nurse. So................. after a lot of talking and thought put into it.................she took two of our puppies to her dog. I was a little worried that it wouldn't work and that Sandy would be upset but it actually worked really well. She came and got the puppies and put them in a pillow that her dog slept on and had some of her stuffed animals. So the puppies got the new mommy dog's scent on them. The new mommy dog, Molly, accepted them right away and they were nursing within minutes. Sandy didn't seem upset, she still continues to nurse the other two and is still eating and drinking.

So..... We have 2 puppies and our friends have 2 puppies! Here is Molly with her new puppies, the black female and the cream female, just a few minutes after she got them!


Here is Sandy (now named Sandy the Surrogate by my sister, adorable) with the other 2 puppies, the black male (who Olivia has named Jack and the Bean Stalk) and the white female (whose name changes daily!)

 


So, I know that it is weird, but it works. The goal is to give the puppies away when they are old enough anyway, so why not let a sad mommy have them now? ALL involved are doing well!

After all, I work in foster care and adoption in my full time job, might as well do it on the side as well!

No comments:

Post a Comment