The Empty Nest

Purple at just a few days old

You know, I thought I had at least another 20+ years before I was going to have to deal with the "Empty Nest" syndrome. Nope. It's here. Purple was sold on Sunday evening to a very nice family and I'm sure she will be very happy. Still, there is a void in our house. I still have a couple potty pads lying around on the floor and to tell the truth, I've been procrastinating throwing them away because that means it's really over. I will do it today, but I might shed a tear or two. In fact, I think I'm working on a couple right now.....

Seriously?

Yes.

What a wimp!

I know.

I was the one who came up with the name for this blog. I decided on "Whelping Isn't for Wimps" and at the time, I thought I was referencing all the early stuff....like all the rectal temps I took on Molly in the days before she delivered, or all the weird birthing juices, or breaking the membrane sacs and cutting the umbilical cords when the pups finally did arrive. But looking back, the whole thing has been tough. Yet, completely wonderful at the same time. Though, now I think I'm finding myself in the toughest part of all.

I was talking to purple the day before she left and I realized that we've had puppies in the house since October. That's a long time! The whole schedule of my life has changed since then. And now it gets to change back. On the one hand, the lack of poop and stinky smells is nice. On the other, the lack of innate joy and happiness that just flows out of puppies leaves you feeling a bit let down when it's gone. Kind of like a balloon slowly deflating.

It'll be OK though. Spring is coming and I'll get back outside and on the horse (literally) and things will be happy again. I've been asked by several buyers and friends if I plan to do this again. The answer: yes. But will I do it with Molly? I'm not sure. She was a great mom but if I'm going to really do this breeding thing, I think I'd like to do the whole AKC/pedigree thing. Not that I'm going for show dog quality, but it would be nice to know that I'm keeping the breed standards more in mind when mating a pair together.

Though you can look at and scrutinize a dog's genetics and DNA tests and pedigree and all that other junk, when you have two dogs with amazing personalities like Molly and Baily, sometimes ya just gotta go for it. I did. And I'm proud of what I produced. No regrets.

So, I guess I'm going to signing off for a while. I hope to be breeding and blogging again soon! Thanks for reading.

-Monica

Too Cute!!

Nap time for Purple

Not much to report as of lately....just that the two pups that remain get cuter every day! I took out an ad in the paper tonight because if I keep them around much longer, I'm going to get way too attached :-) Green (Ana), is so smart and so good about the potty pads! She constantly impresses me. And Purple, she is just a complete cuddle bug! They are both just precious and have gotten so independent.

They go up and down the stairs as they please now. They totally have it down! They also follow me around the house and when they get bored, they go over to the toy basket, get a good toy and are content to entertain themselves for quite a while. It's so wonderful to not have to watch them every minute. Very well behaved pups. No more power cord chewing. Whew! :-)

Both pups playing in their toy basket.
 (Purple has her butt hanging out)

It's funny though because there is this one toy, a pink stuffed dog that Molly has decided is her toy. She does not want to share it! I'll find it around the house and throw it for the pups to chase. As soon as Molly sees what I've done, she goes after it, picks it up, and carries it back to one of her spots like on top of the bed or the back of the couch. Far away from the reach or any puppy. She doesn't mind sharing her other toys, but that one is HERS. lol. Oh well. She can have it. She deserves it. :-)

Green (Ana) has begun to adventure outside a tiny bit. She's been out twice now. The first time she just jumped out the front door and stood on the porch and then quickly came back in. Today she went down the 3 steps on the porch and walked down into the flower bed and sniffed the trees and the mulch. It was kind of hard to get her to come back in too. She was really enjoying herself. She's always been an adventurous one. Too cute. Purple is content to stand in the door way and bark at Ana and mommy to come back inside. She'll go outside when she decides she doesn't want to be left out of the fun anymore. It takes her a little while though. She's still working on her confidence with the stairs thing. Much more cautious than Ana.


Well, it's late and Ana is licking my hand telling me it's time for bed. Guess I'll sign off for now. Their ad comes out on Sunday in the Roanoke Times. Soon they will be famous! lol.

       

The green bean returns!

Lovin' on green and blue just a little more before they go

 Wow, it's been a while since my last post. So here's a run-down of what's been going on. We made our trip to CT via car and took all 5 pups. Also stuffed in the back was Molly and big ol' puppy-phobic Becks. The pups rode in a laundry basket and did SO well! We drove through the night so they slept for most of the trip. When it started to get more light outside as morning dawned, the restlessness grew and the laundry basket was no longer containing the puppies very well. It was OK though, it was only the last couple hours I was fighting them. They all needed to go to the bathroom in the morning but it was like 2 degrees outside and they aren't used to going potty outside anyway. So, we did the best we could with potty pads and paper towels while hurtling 70 mph down I-84. It was interesting. But, everyone went and was much more content in the basket after they had relieved themselves.  So, we arrived in CT on the morning of December 26th. We let the pups rest, run, eat, poop, etc for several hours and then let the prospective owners come over and pick up their babies. Blue went that afternoon and so did Green. I took the loss of these pups MUCH better than the loss of White. I had prepared and it didn't hurt that we still had Christmas presents from my family to open :-) Glad to report, no tears were shed. Ok, maybe one formed in the far corner of my eye....whatever.

Pink and Purple playing in the coffee table

So, life was great. We were (Notice use of were- as in past tense. Stayed tuned.) down to just two puppies, Pink and Purple. Well, my mom was still very much in favor of keeping one of them. Then as the days went on and everyone saw just how cute the two of them were together....the conversation changed to possibly keeping BOTH of them. I was in shock. But not total shock. I mean, these are my parents we're talking about and I've known them a few years or so. lol. But, that idea was only entertained for a short while because we all agreed that two pups was just too much and not really what my mom wanted. She wants a purse-puppy to go everywhere with her and having two dogs kinda complicates that plan. So, ok. They're only keeping one. But which one??? Mom loves Pink. Dad and Nancy like Purple. So, it's going to be interesting. :-) No final decisions as of yet.

Dad and Nancy lovin' on their favorite- Purple

So, as I said we were down to two puppies. Well, Sunday night, exactly one week from when the 2 puppies left us, I get an email. All is not well in Green's universe. Her new owner had rescued a dog several months ago and that dog was not a fan of the new puppy/competition. So, for the safety of Green, she was returned to us. I felt so bad for her poor owner who wanted to keep her so badly. What a hard decision for her to make! But I'm so glad she did the right thing and Green doesn't have grow up in fear of her troubled house-mate. So, Green is back home with us and happily reunited with her mommy and her sisters. They all took her back without any trouble. It was kind of amazing really. Such a good little family :-)

I do want to make sure that I clarify that Green's return had nothing to do with Green having behavior problems. It had everything to do with the other dog in the home being aggressive and having behavior problems. The sweet lady who gave Green back to us even mentioned that Green was so smart and almost completely potty trained already. :-) That's my girl!!!

So, wow. Green is back up for grabs if anyone wants a sweet, potty trained puppy :-) Pink and Purple are tied for first in the Massie household. No news from White and Blue is doing super great in his new home (where he has lots of Maltese buddies).  What a ride this has been! lol. That's pretty much all the news. Oh, except the pups are eating solid, non-moistened food. They love it! Wow, have their teeth ever come it! Like little razor blades. But that's it.

Reunited and it feels so gooooood

Currently, I'm sitting on the couch with the three babies and I'm thinking.....it's not going to be so bad to bring some puppy love back to VA. In fact, I don't know what I would do in a puppy-less house when we got home. Although, it might have smelled a little bit better.... oh well. It's totally worth it.

Everything has been totally worth it.