July 31

For any of you who wonder what you can do to help your local humane
society foster new born puppies, here is a list of things that I would
bet every animal charity could use.

1) Towels and Blankets. The birthing process is messy. The towels that
a dog gives birth on are usually unsalvadgeable. For the first week or
two of their lives, a puppy only goes to the bathroom when mom
stimulates them by rubbing or licking their genetalia. As the puppies
begin to get more mobile, then accidents happen. When the puppies
climb all over each other, someone could get stimulated and have an
accident. So that these accidents do not become a habit, I have had to
change out the towels at least twice a day.

From birth until the puppies are about 2 weeks old, I use a dog bed
covered with heavy duty garbage bags that are duct taped together. The
bags protect the bed from any accidents, any stains caused by
Annabelle's bleeding, and from being discolored by the Chlorox Cleanup
that I use to clean the puppy area. When the puppies are about two
weeks old, I stop using the dog bed because the pups will begin
digging into their bed (ripping holes in the plastic bags) and chewing
on whatever they can get their teeth on (including chewing apart the
garbage bags).. I don't want the puppies to swallow or axfixiate on
the garbage bags.

As the puppies get more mobile, the towels and blankets are easier to
clean when someone makes a mess. If one of the pups steps in a mess
and then tracks it back to their bed, I need to be able to wash
whatever is soiled ASAP. If I keep the puppies bed insanely clean for
about 10 days, that will reinforce natures programming that a dog
doesn't potty where it sleeps (or eats or plays).

I only have one dog bed. If I had to wash the bed whenever a puppy has
an accident, the dogs would never get to sleep on their bed. Towels
and blankets are easier to clean than a big dog bed. The towels and
the blankets I use for beds, can be washed and ready for the next use
within 2 hours. If I have to wash the dog bed, it will take at least 2
days to dry.

The towels also get used for bath time. When the puppies are ready
for adoption, they will also need a bath. With 9 puppies, that means 9
towels. Even if the puppies did not make another mess all day, the
baths alone would mean about 2 loads of towels just on bath day.It
adds up quickly! Which leads to our need for...

Laundry detergent and bleach: I do about 2 loads of towels each day
with my current litter of puppies. Each load of laundry needs to be
bleached so that there are no lingering smells. Besides using the
bleach for laundry, I also use it to clean up when the puppies have an
accident. Bleach solutions thoroughly clean up the smell of the
accidents.

Collars and Leashes: I touched on this earlier, but I spent about $25
putting collars on Annabelle and her puppies. Besides helping me tell
the puppies apart, the collars will hold an ID tag with my information
in case a puppy gets lost, an ID tag from the microchip company, and
when they are old enough, their rabies tag. Spending $25 per litter of
pups may not seem like a huge expense, but the Humane Society I
volunteer for is relatively small. They will only find homes for
between 100-150 dogs this year. That would mean they spend $300-800 in
collars per year. We probably spend at least that on leashes as well.
If we spent less money on things like collars and leashes, the money
can be used for vet bills, dog food, or any of the other expenses that
a humane society incurs. So the next time your dog outgrows a collar
or you buy a shiny new one for your pup, your local humane society
will be appreciative for your old collars and leashes.