13 puppies Part 2

Week two was stressful because I was desperately trying to figure out what the best thing to do for these puppies was. My Aunt heard about the situation and she is a HUGE animal lover. She knew that I couldn't afford it myself, but she was willing to take care of food costs and veterinary bills for ALL of the puppies if needed. So awesome!

I was able to find a home for one puppy Tuesday night and I had quite a few interested in coming to get one Wednesday. I went to go put Whiskey outside for a while and I saw a truck right beside my neighbors kennel. I ran over there and saw that it was animal control. I told them that I had people coming to get these puppies and they ended up allowing me to keep the puppies that they had not already put in the van. So I had 6 puppies now (including Whiskey).

I need to back up just a little and explain some more frustration I have towards my neighbor. I mention earlier that he was planning on keeping a puppy. Well I had noticed when we bathed all the dogs that this particular puppy was injured. I don't know if it was a dog bite or if he accidentally poked it with the stake he used to push the puppies back in the kennel with. Yes, he would hit them in the face with a wooden stake. So I saw this injury and told him he needed to take his puppy to the vet quick and get that taken care of. He said "Oh yeah, I will take him today." Later that night, poor puppy was just sitting in the kennel with the rest of the dogs. When animal control came, he gave them that puppy and traded it for another puppy to keep. That shows he doesn't care a whole heck of a lot of happens to these dogs. It is just something to own.

While animal control was there I made sure to give her the "please help these dogs" look. She caught on pretty quick and started asking him for vaccination records on all 5 of his other dogs. Yep, this new puppy will make 6 dogs. I just hope they keep on top of him and then maybe either his dogs will have to be fixed or just taken away.

As of yesterday, I was able to find homes for 7 puppies! This was such a crazy ride and not one that I hope to take again. I just feel a little better knowing that they will get the care that they deserve.

I have kind of followed up with everyone that came and got a pup and they have been really quick to respond with how great their dog is doing and let me know what they named them.

One little boy was named coco and lives with a family that has a 2 1/2 yr old little girl.

Another little girl was also named coco and they have a 9 month old daughter. They drove all the way from Huntsville, Alabama.

This little girl is named Nala.

A mom brought her twin boys over to surprise them with a puppy. She originally wanted to get a girl, but these boys fell in love with this little guy. They didn't have a name picked out yet. I'm sure they will have a lot of fun with him.

We decided not to keep Whiskey. I just knew I was going to seriously regret it. Not that we wouldn't love him, but I already have my hangs completely full. So...my neighbors mother really wanted him and she even kept the name Whiskey!I didn't get a picture of them together, but  i'm glad because they said they will bring him over all the time and I will get to see him.

The last two puppies stayed with us until Friday. We brought them inside to give them another bath.

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This is Nash and his new family. They already have a 10 yr old Half Heeler mix named Whiskey. (crazy huh?)

Last but not least is Max with part of his new family. They actually got another puppy that day to. One for their daughter and this one for their son.

I am so relieved that this is all over and I know that although in a different circumstance I would probably be willing to foster a dog, but I don't think I could ever work at a shelter that may have to euthanize any animals.

13 puppies Part 1

So these last two weeks have been kind of stressful! Week one, my husband was out of town ALL week so I was left to tend to our girls and our dog. It is a lot more difficult than it sounds. I have so much respect for single mothers and military wives! I needed a break BADLY.

One afternoon I was outside playing Frisbee with Ruca and I saw something strange in my neighbors kennel. I looked a little closer and I saw little bobbing puppy heads. A lot of them. I called out and said "You have puppies?" to which he responded "Yeah, from your dog!" I had to inform him that that was impossible because my dog 1)is female and 2) is spayed. Turns out it was another Blue Heeler that would frequent our neighborhood. We had to return him to his owners multiple times. It all makes sense now :)

Moonshine (the male Heeler) did not get one, but two dogs pregnant and now my neighbor had 13 little puppies. I went over to investigate closer and I immediately felt sad. These puppies were stuck outside by themselves ALL day. I checked outside often and I never saw them out running around and they didn't even have a dog house. They just had a blue tarp placed over the kennel that sagged and had holes that the puppies would get stuck in. I asked him if I could help find homes for the dogs and he said yes. All except one. He was keeping one-UGH.

I had been telling Kevin all about these puppies. I would have a hard to sleeping because I was so worried about them. Were the getting enough food? Are they just sitting in filth? Are they getting played with at all? I just couldn't handle it. When Kevin makes it home, we show him the puppies and we even end up putting a dog house in their kennel as it was POURING down rain.

The next day we take all of the puppies and bathe them in our daughter's little swimming pool and then place them in our kennel to dry off.

I wasn't want to offend my neighbor and make a real enemy out of him so when he noticed the dogs were gone we brought them back to his house, but continued to check up on them.

I posted pictures of them on Facebook and begged my friends to spread the word and help me find homes for the cute pups. Although, I have several people share my post I had ZERO responses through Facebook. I put an ad for them on craigslist and I had tons of responses. I had been told that was a quick way to find abusers and people that just want to harm puppies so I grilled most of them that responded and found some people I felt were really sincere and just wanted to help these pups find homes. I had reached out to several animal rescues, but it was several days before I heard anything back from them. I had to act fast.

At one point we toyed with the idea of keeping one. We even named him. Meet Whiskey. The son of Moonshine :)

The next picture will make my mom throw up. No I am not OK with her putting that ball in her mouth. This situation just made me laugh and I had to capture it. This is how these two would interact. Natalie was totally fine with Whiskey climbing on her. She would just push him off and he would keep on coming. Here they were fighting over the same toy.

I had some pictures taken of Natalie and these were a few of my favorites. Luckily I got them taken right before her two top teeth arrived. She is just growing way to fast! She has been crawling for a couple of months now and she is super fast. She walks along the couches so i'm sure walking isn't to far off. She also claps, gives high fives and likes to bob her head to music. We are working on getting her to sleep thru the night and I think we are making some progress, but she is definitely a momma's girl and doesn't like to be to far away from me.

A big THANK YOU to Catherine and Citrus Co Photography for these shots of my girl!