July 25

July 25
While I understand that everyone wants to know about the puppies, I
feel it is important to share a little about Annabelle's story, too.

To begin with, she is an amazing dog considering where she came from.
There are a few behavioral matters we need to work on, but nothing
major or unexpected to overcome. One of her problems is that Annabelle
thinks that she is a lap dog. If she has the chance, she wants to
cuddle with me. I am okay with her sitting next to me on the sofa, but
she is too heavy to try to crawl on my lap. Her other issue is that
she eats out of trash cans. Given that Annabelle had to forage for
food, it doesn't surprise me that a trashcan has often been her dinner
plate. It may take her a while to learn that she will aways have
plenty of dog food here, but as she learns to trust people to provide
her food, her interest in the trash bin will diminish.

On a positive note, I have been really surprised with how she has done
with house breaking. Based on the condition of her previous residence
and the smell of ammonia that permeated the building, I expected her
to have no knowledge of house training. So far, no accidents. And I
couldn't be happier about it. Annabelle will bark at the bottom of the
stairs if she needs to go out in the middle of the night. While not
ideal, it is better than waking up to a large puddle. My pregnant or
post natal friends are happy to remind me that this little girl just
gave birth to 9 puppies. Annabelle drinks a ton of water to keep her
milk production up. She also cleans up when the puppies urinate or
deficate; this means that Annabelle is taking in that much more fluid.

The other thing I have been surprised about is that Annabelle is
really friendly with our cats. She isn't a fan of the neighborhood
stray cats - if a cat runs, she will chase it - but Annabelle hasn't
shown anything except curiousity towards our house cats.

I am also surprised that she is willing to let me handle the puppies
with our male cat, Cringer, around. Cringer will come over, sniff and
attempt to figure out what these squeaky little "things" are.

I would guess that Annabelle is only about 16-18 months old. The
neighbors have told me that, Annabelle had a previous litter this
spring. For being as young as she is, having back to back litters is
tough on her body and mind. Having a second litter with 9 puppies
could be overwhelmind, but so far, so good. She is eating like a pig:
10+ cups of dog food, some extra protein (usually 3-4 scrambled eggs
or a chicken breast), and then additional calcium (ice cream, a
sprinkling of powdered puppy formula, or a daily tablet of Tums). For
all that she is eating, she is still not putting out enough milk for
all of the puppies. I will keep letting her eat as much as she wants.
It takes a lot of energy to make all the milk that 9 puppies need!

I wish I had sound equipment to record the noise of the feeding frenzy
these pups make. For such small babies, they have one heck of a food
drive!