Monday, May 14, 2007

And then there was one...

Most people get "Hi, how are you?" I usually get "Hey, so how many dogs at your house?" Which is always a fair question because it always changes. So, if you're curious, the answer today is 5. FIVE. That's a record low since 2004, I'm pretty sure. Down from a high earlier this year of *cough* 18 *cough* (when we had the dachsund family visiting)*cough*cough. Oh don't freak out, seven of those were little gerbil puppies, so it's not like they were all sitting on my couch smoking cigars and swinging from the ceiling fan or anything. But I have had the puppies since February. We've been handpicking their adoptive families based on who seems most likely to buy them bonbons and set up a college savings fund for obedience classes, so it's been a pretty slow process. Mama was adopted last week and yesterday I took pretty Delaney to meet her new family. (I was proud that I only cried a little). My first ever successful New Mother/Puppy Raising is ending and now I am just down to one baby left--Miss Gem the Tiny. I'm theeeessss close to being a little sad about my empty nest.

Unfortunately, Gem misses her sissies and she tends to make the noise of ten dogs trapped in a helium factory, so it's not as peaceful as one might hope. This morning when I went to work, I left her in the puppy pen with a greenie, a kong full of peanut butter, a bowl of puppy chow, 2 treats, 6 toys and her favorite sock. According to Sam, she blew through all of that in 45 minutes and howled from about 9:15 onward.

This is going to be a long week.

2 comments:

Steph said...

Oh, that's so sad! I hate to think of little puppies missing their siblings - that is why I can never have puppies at my house. I would keep all of them.

Stinkydog said...

Well, by the end, their mom hated them and they spent most of every day seeing who could maim each other the worst, so it seemed a little less emotional at the time. Plus, you have to know that to stop the howling, we have to rub her tummy. She's a wee bit spoiled.