Echo’s sweet babies are now eight weeks old. They have grown from helpless newborns to the adorable, active puppies they are today. The love to play together, chasing each other and go exploring.
Preparing for Puppies Go-Home Day
It is always bittersweet the day before puppies leave. You are excited for their forever families and just imagine the joy they will bring but, sad to say good-bye.
There is lots to do to get ready for puppies to leave. Paperwork, pack their puppy bags with some treats. Also the daily chores of caring for the puppies, cleaning, laundry etc. Keeping busy helps keep my mind from thinking of saying good-bye.
PACKING THE PUPPY BAGS
Puppy Adventure – gone wrong!
While I did the preparations for Go-Home day that begins tomorrow, my husband Tom took over the duties of watching the puppies by himself. The puppies were playing in the big yard while he kept an eye on them and every now and then he would practice the “Puppy, Puppy” recall. On one of the recalls when the puppies came to him, he noticed he was four puppies short. So he put all the puppies in the puppy enclosure on the deck and began looking for the four missing puppies.
Tom discovered that the missing puppies had gone under the deck and didn’t know how to get out. They had gone in a hole under the stairs and continued to explore under our deck.
We can thank Echo for the hole under the stairs. We noticed Echo digging a few days ago. When we noticed this Tom said “I had better fill that in”. Which he didn’t do it soon enough. The puppies found their way in.
Tom to the Rescue
I came out to try to keep the puppies calm. They were scared and whining loudly. Tom went in to gather some tools and returned to remove a board and rescue the puppies.
Not to worry, all four puppies made it out safe and sound but very dirty. Just for the record, all the lost puppies were girls – Pink, Yellow, Red, and Purple Collar.
It is never a dull moment around here. Taking care of a litter of puppies is a full time job!
After the puppy rescue, Tom went to work right away and refilled the hole LOL!
Crate Training
The puppies have started crate training this week. Some puppies love their crate while others love to protest. This is something that the forever families will continue to work on at home.
After our ordeal today we fed the puppies their lunch and put them in their crates for a nap. I forgot to cover some of the crates which I quickly corrected. Covering the crate with a blanket makes it feel like a cozy den. The puppy should think of their crate as their safe place.
I gave them a piece of a biscuit for a treat to help them settle. Some puppies ate their biscuit and went right to sleep. A few puppies complained loudly but soon settled and went to sleep too.
When we put the puppies in their crate I give them half a biscuit for a treat. Sometimes this helps distract them and think of their crate as something good.
LOOKING AHEAD
The puppies are leaving this week for their forever homes. You have a lot of work ahead of you correcting, training and caring for your new puppy but be patient, they are still learning. The time and work you put in to training your puppy pays off when you have a loving well behaved dog that will love you as only a dog can – unconditionally. You will be the most important person in the world to them.
It’s is always bittersweet saying goodbye to our puppies. I have enjoyed every minute of their care and they have a piece of my heart. It is with sadness I say goodbye to my puppies, but it brings me joy to see the excited families smiles and to know that our puppies are joining such wonderful, loving, forever families.
