Our Busy B&B plus PUPPIES!

Puppies! We have puppies! I once again have a house fused with puppy energy, puppy happiness, and of course, the smell of puppies. Charm and Chism are both over-the-top happy girls who beg for my attention every time I walk by the mudroom, clamoring against the puppy pen and whining. Most times I can’t resist their velvet soft ears and sheer joy, so once again, not much is getting done around here.

These puppies are about the same age as my last puppies, except they are twice the size of the last puppies. And let me tell you that cleaning up after two BIG puppies is much more work than cleaning up after six small puppies. This time around OPH had puppy pads for me, which would be awesome if C&C realized that they were meant to be peed on, not torn into a million tiny plastic shreds. Fun times.

But let’s not talk about that, let’s talk about the cuteness level of these two girls. Obviously, Chism steals the show with her splashy, crazy coat. What kind of dog looks like this? Your guess is as good as mine. Her file says ‘hound mix’, but she hasn’t got the hound bark and I don’t really see any hound characteristics at all. She seems more lab-mutt type. Where she got those markings is anybody’s guess.

Chism is in charge of Charm, bossing her around and stealing her food. Charm takes it really well, seemingly happy to share. There are none of the battles of the last batch of puppies. In fact, it’s pretty quiet in that pen unless someone happens by. Both of these girls LOVE people. They don’t snuggle together, but they don’t wrestle either. Every now and again a tug of war breaks out over a toy, but Chism’s got about five pounds and a couple incles on Charm, so she wins that battle every time.

Charm is a love. She’s still light enough that I can pick her up and she will snuggle right into my shoulder and be still. If she moves at all, it’s only to give me a few kisses on the cheek. She won’t stay snuggle-size for long, though, with her mile long legs and good-sized paws. I’m partial to hounds, so when she broke out in a long hound bay the first morning, I loved it. The two of them back up Gracie every time she sounds the alarm that maybe, possibly, there could be something as scary as a leaf blowing around on the driveway. It is not a quiet house.

Records don’t indicate if these girls are actually related or if they were simply turned into the shelter at the same time. I would guess they aren’t related. They are very different dogs in look and temperament. And while they seem to be good roommates, they won’t be headed out to the frat parties together. I can’t wait for their quarantine to be over (6 days!) so that I can get them out of the tiny pen they are stuck in. That pen seemed much bigger last puppy go round. When they jump up against the sides, their paws are over the top edge and it’s only a matter of a few more pounds before they’ll take the whole thing down with their jumping.

In addition to the puppies, we’ve had two other guests this past weekend. We brought an extra puppy home with us from the transport and kept him only until his foster could come pick him up Saturday. This is Melissa’s first foster and I’m almost afraid to check in with her. Connor, the lab puppy she bravely agreed to foster, had even more energy than my two girls, but was about a month older and ten pounds heavier. He was way too skinny, so I’m sure as soon as he gets wormed and some real food in him, he’ll be even bigger. In terms of fostering, Melissa is jumping in the deep end taking a puppy of that size. But I suppose this is baptism by fire and this will either be her first and last foster or we’ll know she’s an actual nut-case like the rest of us. Next time she’ll be taking home twelve coonhounds.

Readers of this blog may remember Kylie, who we babysat for a weekend last May. Kylie was returned to OPH not long ago. The reasons behind her return are sketchy, but I think it’s best that she’s back with us so she can find the right forever home. We aren’t her real foster; we’re only babysitting for the babysitter. Her Maryland foster daddy is away this week and she wasn’t getting along with the foster-babysitter’s dogs, so we agreed to keep her until Wednesday when her foster daddy will come home and be surprised to discover she’s left the state.

We love Kylie and her CRAZY ENERGY. I ran her four and half miles (fastest time I’ve had in years) on Sunday morning and she was still doing laps around our kitchen when we got back. My hubby got up late and said, “Aren’t you taking her running this morning?” My legs were still shaking or I would have kicked him.

Kylie is a terrier mix and VERY INTENSE. She spends her hours patrolling the kitchen keeping watch out the window for those dangerous cats on the porch, alerting us when they change positions or locations. As I write this I can hear her whining and clawing at the door, so I’m guessing Crash has moved from his spot in the box to his other favorite spot on the bench. Good to know. Thanks for the update Kylie. Every now and then she does lay down. Like every other dog who visits, she loves the Frank bed.

There is never a dull moment when you foster dogs. Maybe that’s one of the things I like best about it. That, and I get the incredible privilege of loving on so many different awesome dogs. Seeing Kylie’s happy face and knowing she’s safe again brought me great joy. And there is nothing like puppy breath for your soul. Cleaning up puppy poop in my mudroom and collecting the remnants of the puppy pad are a small price to pay.

You probably do have to be a little crazy to do this, but it’s a good crazy.