Stumble It!
I get puppy fever pretty bad every now and then. Oh, chills and fever! Oh, for the joy of watching a tiny Australian shepherd puppy romping and playing and growing into a well-behaved dog.
Two friends have litters of Aussie pups that will be ready for homes in a month or so. I have even picked out my favorites in the litters. Just wishful thinking, of course. Of course. Vladi and Xena, though, would be mighty unhappy if I brought home another puppy and allowed it to stay. They were very unhappy about Ellie staying. They are both needy, neurotic rescues with sad backgrounds, which matters a lot to us, and has prevented us from fostering for Aussie rescue for more than a day or two. Suzie doesn't care--whatever I do is fine with her. That being said, I needed a cure for my puppy fever, and I needed it soon!
My husband Kevin and I volunteer with Australian shepherd rescue, and one day last year we got an email asking if we could help with three 7-week-old purebred blue merle Aussie pups. Because of their age and lack of vaccinations they were being boarded at a kennel owned by a staff member of the shelter they had been turned in to until Aussie rescue could take them in. Foster homes had been found, but the pups were a minimum of 50 miles from any of them. My husband's place of employment is minutes from the boarding kennel so he agreed to pick them up that Friday after work, bring them to our house and then they would be distributed to their foster homes Friday evening and Saturday morning.
Friday afternoon I took Vladi aside and tried to communicate to him that Kevin was bringing three pups, but they would be staying only one night and then they would be gone to their foster homes. I'm not sure I got through to him, but he wasn't as upset as he's been before when we had a rescue dog here for a day or two.
Oh my word, they were so very, very cute. The boy and one of the girls had natural bob tails and the other girl had a full tail (the owners didn't pay to have her tail docked right after birth--after about 3 days it is too late due to spinal nerve maturity). They were around seven or eight pounds each, with the tailed girl being the smallest. Just the right size for their age. They hadn't missed any meals, that's for sure!
Again, due to their age and lack of vaccinations, we had to keep them separated from our dogs and out of most of the yard to avoid any chance of the puppies picking up a disease. We carried them from the car into the dining room and plopped them into an exercise pen that was on a waterproof tarp covered with newspapers and piddle pads. They had a nice nest bed, a water bucket, toys. You would think that they would think that they were in puppy paradise. Oh no, not them.
The barking began--yipping, howling, barking, screeching, jumping, trying to climb out of the pen. If you have never had a puppy, you cannot believe how much noise three itty bitty puppies could make. It was unrelenting. I believe in the training philosophy that bad behavior unrewarded will extinguish itself. But good grief! I had to reward the behavior with attention every now and then to quiet them even briefly for the sake of my sanity. So it went on every time I stopped paying attention. I fed them, hoping that some food, water and a potty run would make them sleepy. Not this gang. They wolfed down the food in under 15 seconds, dumped the water all over the newspapers and piddle pads, and waited until they were back in the pen to potty. I can't even remember how many times I replaced papers and sopped up water and piddles.
Turning my back on the pen would set off a racket of unimaginable proportions. We closed all our windows so the pups wouldn't disturb the neighbors (you could hear it outside even with the windows closed). I thought things might quiet down once the boy pup's foster family picked him up at 7 p.m. Uh-uh. The girls could hold their own. They started up the cutest little coyote howls--or they would have been cute if I had any patience left. They would lift their little heads, purse their little mouths, and let out a high pitched little ooooooooooo.
Our poor dogs were totally freaked out by this noisy pack of pups. They were pacing around and whimpering. They tried to bury their heads in our chests and in the sofa cushions. The piercing puppy yelps had to hurt their ears. By 10 p.m., bedtime, we were sure it was going to be the longest night of our life (at least since Ellie was small), but once they were put in a crate together and the lights went out, so did the barking and carrying on. Those little girls slept all night and never a peep or accident. Who knows how long they would have slept if our early bird Ellie hadn't awakened them at 5:45! On a Saturday morning.
The pups were taken out to potty right away, of course, and they took care of business like good little girls. Then they went into the pen so we could make coffee and eat breakfast. And the racket commenced, louder and higher pitched than the evening before--of course the girls were refreshed from their nice long sleep. They had enough energy to go on all morning. Talk about a long morning. Weekdays we get up around 5:45 a.m. when Kevin's alarm goes off. Normally, it seems like no time at all before it's 9 o'clock. This morning it felt like there were 12 hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., when I took girl puppy with tail to her foster family.
Bob tail girl had to wait until 1 p.m. to meet her foster family. And she made up for her missing brother and sister. Even Ellie could not have topped this girl's barking, yipping, and howling for longevity. Ellie would go hoarse after an hour or so. This little pup went on and on and on. Finally, it was time to take her to meet her foster family. She sat in the crate in my van and yipped and barked all the way to the meeting place.
After I had said goodbye to that last pup, I realized I had been cured of puppy fever! Halleluia! It was a miracle! I am sure memories of this rescue operation will last at least a year, and we will remain puppyless for the duration. In fact, I may stick with adopting young adult rescue Aussies from now on! Cuteness factor aside, puppyhood is highly overrated!