Puppy Grand Central Report (Updated)

All is well here, which means everyone is alive and the laundry is not too far behind! Yay us!

Daisy is a wonderful and easygoing mother, and her puppies are thriving…

The Moonshadows are very pretty with lots of flashy white — this is Kale…

This is Neil and Arche — do you see the heart?

The Moonshadows are doing their job, which is to make it through the first perilous week . They eat and they sleep, and they grow — perfect.

This is Pozy congratulating the Heavyweight Champion of the Whelping Box, Moonshadow Division…

Hunter weighed in at 27.3 ounces this morning.

The Heavyweight Champion of the Whelping Box, Bright Stars Division is Heze.

The competition is stiff — Mirak and Sun are close behind at 3.52 pounds.

This is Sun with a new friend…

Lyra (more white) remains the Champion of the Lightweight Division — she is 2.46 pounds. She wishes to point out that she is NORMAL and her siblings are all Baby Hippos. The Baby Hippo with her is Nova, who weighs 3.2 pounds.

Orion (orange) and Sirius (blue)…

The Bright Stars decided that eye opening and walking and plotting escapes was not enough — now they are attempting to mouth each other.

This is early play and while it is still clumsy and awkward, it won’t be long before they add mouth play to their growing list of skills.

Sun notes that being an overachiever is exhausting!

Andy and Kale agree…

I hope your day contains an achievement or two — but I do not recommend mouthing your friends, FYI. Even with a mask on!

Evening Photos

Daisy and Portia

Moonshadows Titan and Kale

Moonshadow Metis

Moonshadow Ariel

Bright Stars

Bright Stars

Bright Stars Nova and Zaniah

Bright Star Perseus

A Report from Puppy Grand Central (Updated)

Having twin litters is a lot of work but the worst part is the HEAT!!!!

Daisy and Moonshadows

Newborn puppies cannot regulate their body temperature and so need the ambient temperature to be way higher than this human is comfortable. I am currently wearing shorts and a tee-shirt because having the temperature be close to 80 is my idea of a hot summer day.

Daisy and Hunter

Staying well-hydrated is one of our daily challenges — for the nursing moms AND the sweating humans.

Portia is lavender and Metis is Dodger Blue

The Bright Stars had a puppy confab…

They apparently decided two things. First, they decided it was time to open their eyes…

Mirak

Second, they decided it was time to start planning their escape — they sent Heze to do reconnaissance…

Mirak

Uh Oh.

Eyes open over a period of days, and once open the vision is not clear for some unknown amount of days. But they definitely can see light and dark and shapes, and we are careful about startling them.

This is Sun air scenting as Claire walked by…

Zaniah practicing a sit…

Rosebud was concerned that someone had lost a collar…

She took it to Daisy to see if perhaps Arche was missing his lime green collar. But Arche has his collar and so Rosebud deduced it must be Sun’s collar and no way was she taking it over to Claire — so she decided to leave the collar with the Moonshadows and just take a nap.

The Bright Stars agreed that taking a nap was a Bright Idea and so they did…

…minus one lime green collar. Luckily, Sun has a Swiss kiss and so is easily identifiable.

Have a cool day!

Evening Photos — and Video

Moonshadow Andy

Daisy and the Moonshadows

Claire and the Bright Stars

Claire and Perseus and etc.

Perseus!

Claire and Mirak

Four Bright Stars

Puppy Grand Central Report

Orion has learned a hard lesson about the dangers of overtraining.

Bright Stars Orion (orange) and Zaniah (pink)

Train too much for a heavyweight title and the overeating gives you the runs. #trainsmarternotharder

Carol will be thrilled to see this…

Weight in pounds

I think he might actually be gloating a bit.

In a separate — but somehow equal — division for the Moonshadows, our winner is…

Weight in ounces

Just to ensure fair weigh-in, we have a Scale Monitor.

Arche

Like the 2020 election, our weigh-ins are safe and fair. #nofraud

My Mighty Little Peanut, Titan, continues to gain and is now 14.6 ounces.

Titan (yellow) and Metis (Dodger Blue)

Don’t you worry — Titan will grow into his name! Small size now means nothing about his adult weight.

Oh No! One puppy is getting away, Rosebud!

The Moonshadows are gaining weight, the Bright Stars have (mostly) stopped needing constant changes of the whelping box (think diaper blowout), and so hopefully the Worry Factor has been reduced a bit around here today.

WHEW.

A Bright Star - but which one??

Eyes should start to crack open in the Bright Stars in the next day or so…

…and they are starting to get some ground clearance when they attempt to stand up. Ears are still sealed shut.

Bright Stars Perseus and Lyra

In this time of increased demands and loss of Normal Life, I am acutely aware of the need to pay close attention to mental health. Not just me — all of us.

I wish I had a Magic Wand to make everything better for everyone — but I don’t. If I did, it would head first to Colorado because someone there really needs a Magic Wand.

Pozy: Is this the Magic Wand?

Self-care is essential to ensuring we can all keep doing everything we do. Like staying upright in a pandemic — or being flattened a bit by cancer treatment.

For me, self-care means dialing back where I can, lowering my expectations, accepting and appreciating help (Thank you Dear Husband, Suzanne, and the Cheerleaders out there), and it means I keep doing the things that help me be okay even though I am busy. #noexcuses

A big one for me is exercise…

I have my Peloton bike set up such that I can ride and watch both whelping boxes — one on my right and one on my left.

Self-care is not about being weak — it is about staying strong or even just staying okay. It is so critical during this time of increased stress and demands — and I am talking about all of us. We all matter.

Please have an amazing day that includes some kind of self-care.

Evening Photos — and COOKIES!!!

We had a busy day around here, and it included a fun Zoom session between the puppies and Dear Friends…

Our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Shoni Card of Animal Blessings Pet Hospital, came to the house today for Round Two of rear dewclaw removal. This is so much easier than dragging two basketball teams worth of puppies to the vet clinic — we love our veterinarian.

The Bright Stars helpfully produced loose stools while Dr. Card was here — she was not concerned, which is reassuring, and suggested it did look like the consequences of overeating.

Suzanne came to help with the puppies AND helped me locate the studs in the wall so we can hang the new curtain rod. So great to have such a helpful friend!

Bright Star Sirius

Bright Star Nova on Heze

Bright Star Capella

Moonshadow Metis

Moonshadow Portia

AHHHHH — Daisy and Arche

And now for the COOKIES! This is Wildflower Zeus and one of his humans, Ada, who is now a Daisy — a Girl Scout Daisy, that is…

Ada is selling Girl Scout cookies and given the pandemic, it is all online. Yippee — the cookies can be delivered to your house!

You all likely remember selling things as a kid — let’s support Ada in honor of those who supported us :) Click HERE to order from Ada’s Girl Scout cookies page.