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| Mr. Buff with his milk moustache! |
“The Memo”
No matter how hard
we tried, she would have none of it. We begged and we pleaded and even resorted
to bribery but it was all to no avail. Whitney was so dedicated to the
wellbeing of her new family that we finally had to drag her out of the whelping
box just to get her to go out for a bathroom break. Once outside, to linger was
out of the question. Like a woman on a mission, Whitney would race back to the
door, anxious to get back to tend to her babies. Even Whitney’s meals were
delivered to the whelping box so that she could enjoy breakfast in bed with her
flock.
One never really
knows how a girl will take to motherhood, but Whitney has joined the ranks of
those we deem “supermoms”. She has been exceptionally enthusiastic when it came
to the hygiene of her pups and initially licked them so much we were surprised
they still had fur on them. This certainly qualifies as the cleanest litter
ever. We were awestruck by the observation that Whitney rotated sides when
feeding her pups so that her top nipples were always full of milk. How did she
figure that one out? A mom’s milk contains antibodies vital for the first several weeks
of their lives. Thanks to Whitney’s dedication, the milk bar is open
twenty-four hours so the puppies’ weights have doubled since birth. Of course
they don’t spend their entire time eating; they spend a great deal of time
sleeping and a bit of time in the gym as well. We’ve introduced a couple of
stuffed animals into the whelping box that the little minions need to climb
over as they scurry about in search of a snack.
Weighing the
puppies, which we do twice a day for the first while to ensure that everybody
is getting adequate representation at the milk bar, proved to be an immense
challenge. Whitney whimpered as we removed a puppy to transport it to the weigh
scale and despite its prompt return to the whelping box wasn’t convinced so
that she began to escort each and every one on the journey.
Puppies are born
without sight or hearing and it will be a while before their eyes open, so for
now their senses of smell and touch are what guide them to their mom. They use
their tiny forelimbs, coupled with a great deal of determination, to propel themselves
around. Now mind you the scale of their world is quite small at this stage so
that when a puppy makes a wrong turn and ends up in a far corner of the 48” x
48” whelping box, the volume of their cries for assistance causes us leap to
attention. And if that weren’t enough, Whitney herself begins to whimper just
to be sure that we got the memo.
That’s
it for now, but be sure to join us next week for another beguiling installment
of “Puppy Tales”
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