What an amazingly warm fall we’ve been having. (I mean, aside from the few times that we’ve had snow. At least it all melted. Twice.) The ground isn’t even frozen yet, which feels late for us. We’ve had enough rain that it’s like a whole extra mud season. But it still gives us extra time to catch up on stuff. We are perpetually behind.
Maggie continues to heal. She’s not staying in the house anymore. She’ll come in, wander about, and then want right back out again. It’s been so warm that I’m not really worried about the cold, and her fur is growing back at a great clip. We brought out one of the puppies to meet her yesterday and it was just hysterical to watch her. The puppy was afraid of the big wide world, of course, but Maggie was determined to make it all okay. Let’s play!
Speaking of the puppies, they are growing like weeds. Fat and sassy weeds. They’ve got the dog door figured out now and happily go in and out from the whelping box onto the back balcony all day and all night long. Every time I hear the click click noise, I smile. I’m pretty sure they’ll all be potty trained by the time they go to new homes. (There are still two looking for homes! Christmas puppy! How can you resist?!) They are also starting to get afraid of stuff, more aware of their surroundings. I was vacuuming and looked over to see these faces. I didn’t realize they could all fit there still! Poor, scared babies.
They are just starting to realize that there’s a life outside the whelping box. I think we’ve got about 24 hours to figure out a lid or we’re going to have puppies in the living room. I’d like to to that introduction a little more controlled — gradually let them have more access while they learn to find the dog door, rather than having to watch them like a hawk on the whole upstairs floor. I’m still trying to decide how to figure that out. Right now, they all look like they are doing chin-ups, or coming up to the side and jumping. (copying mama!) It won’t be long until they make it over. I’m trying to make being on the balcony fun and interesting — they have lots of food and water, toys, and plenty of space to run. I saw several of them peering over the edge and barking at the sheep this morning, and they played back up barking when the other five adult dogs were harassing a hawk that was looking for a chicken or turkey dinner.
And because we have become The Puppy Channel around here lately, here’s the latest video. Disa plays with them so cutely when she’s not staying away from them so they don’t eat her alive, and you can see several of the puppies going in and out of the dog door.