Mona

Oh you’ve got grey eyes …


Actually, ALL the pups have blue eyes. And by “all” I mean all puppies everywhere. But Marsha and Mike have blue-blue, sky-blue eyes. That means when the other puppies’ eyes turn brown, Marsha and Mike’s will remain blue.

Mike did not cooperate with the photo shoot as he was asleep. Which is GREAT! I *love* it when they are asleep, as it no longer happens often enough.

You can’t tell from this horribly unflattering photo, but Marsha is going to be a knock out.

All of the puppies, in fact, are very attractive little dogs.

Big boy Bobby

Squealy, AKA Picasso

The time of puppy dominated photo blogging is rapidly coming to an end. And I don’t mean in the grand scheme of things, I mean this in a most literal sense. I am actively looking for an alternate foster home for Mona and her babes now.

The puppies are 31 days old and are outgrowing my apartment. I’ve expanded their xpen area by another third but can literally make it no larger – it’s now an obstacle course to access my kitchen and I’m practically sitting on them while I type this. And whenever I type, I’m almost sitting on my bed as it is. In other words, this town ain’t big enough for the (nine) of us.

Raising puppies is a lot of work when, as my good pal Mike pointed out, you do it properly. These pups are heavily socialized by my friends and family and me. I spend a lot of time interacting with them and otherwise trying to make sure they are well adjusted. I rotate their toys daily and introduce them to something new every day. But there are only so many hours in a day and too many of them are devoted to the puppies for me to get on with life. And surprisingly, life takes up a lot of time as well. My own dogs are suffering from a lack of attention and time and I am suffering from a lack of sleep. Cookie Uncle helps me out by exercising my dogs, and Auntie Jody helps me out by coming in mid day to feed and play with them. But I still feel like I’m not doing enough and that the pups deserve more.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing the growth process with you all! But blog fodder is not a good enough reason to keep these pups crammed into my small living space if there is an alternative for them.

If you are in the Vancouver area and think you might be interested in taking Mona and puppies home for the next 4 weeks, please email me and we can chat!

What do you think this could be?

It could be puppies exploring my apartment. It is, in fact, puppies violating my office chair!! And who’s in that photo, humping merrily away? It’s Picasso!! Bastard. Pervert. What kind of puppies am I raising?!?

Before we go any further, I want you to hold up your right hand and repeat after me:

“Food Lady is insane (in a good way). Food Lady has 12 dogs in her 400 square foot apartment. Food Lady is raising rescue puppies, running a dog rescue and is forced to live with Tweed 24/7. She takes the dogs to the beach almost every day. She takes lovely puppy pictures for us almost every day. I therefore will not judge her for the obscene amount of sand on her floors. Sweartogodamenbrutha.”

Okay, we’re good. I didn’t vacuum and sweep until *after* puppy playtimez.

Ladies and Gentleman (Yeah, just one gentleman. I assume it’s only Cookie Uncle representin’ for the boyz) we have little dogs.

Not potatoes, real live little dogs. Look!

We had a playdate. In just a couple of days, it has become play for 25 minutes and sleep for 45, then repeat. I’m thinking of starting them on heroin or some other kind of downer.

“Yum. Flesh.”
^^ takes after Donut!!

Tweed passes on more perverse secrets.

I’m annoyed that I screwed up the focus on this one because it’s such a pretty shot – or it would be, even with the trashcan in the background. If you really loved me, you’d pretend the puppy was in focus too. kthanx.

Besides, I make it up to you with heart tuggers like this:

That’s Cindy. Appropriately, given the Brady Bunch theme, she is the most wee puppy in the pack. And she is so SO social. She toddles around after me wagging her tail like mad. She’s a feisty little girl with lots of sass. She reminds me of someone … oh. right. me.

And for Rainy …

Marsha Marsha Marsha!

Attack Of The Zombie Puppies
Poor Piper. Piper has no love for puppies. She is terrified of them – as the only other female dog in the household, can you blame her? Mona, young single mother, has scared Piper straight. She will remain a blessed virgin until she dies. Frankly, I might too.

The pups are almost 4 weeks old (wow!) They now play for 15 minutes and sleep for 3 hours; repeat ad nauseum . Mona is always begging to get out of the pen for some time away from her brood. She doesn’t do anything except go somewhere far far away and lie down.

But she’s a good mama, and she can’t stay away for long.

It’s too cute for mere words.

Have I mentioned the puppies have teeth? Ouch. No body part is safe, and I leave that to your imagination, but will say some bite marks are difficult to explain.

What does concern me, a bit, is the inappropriate Tweed-and-puppy relationship. Not because Tweed has done anything inappropriate to them (reformed??) but rather because he seems to have taught them something inappropriate. It is normal for not-quite-four-week-old puppies to hump … me? My feet? My arms? How about computer chair legs? Normal? Blech. I did not record that for posterity, as I can’t photograph that and jump up squealing “EEEEWWWW! GROSS!!!” at the same time.

Cookie Uncle had a puppy party at my house while I was off getting frostbite at agility class last night, and he and his friends tell me the original humping puppy was Picasso.

Picasso is NO LONGER MY FAVOURITE!!! Sorry Picasso.

They are even starting to look lascivious.
I like romping rolly polly fuzzy wuzzies, but I like ’em sleeping too. Mostly cuz they are easier to photograph that way.

Marsha nestled against mum

Mike takes a snooze

Mike and some of his difficult-to-tell-apart siblings

But you have to admit they are VERY cute awake as well, especially since it’s so brief.

Another of Mike and his sibling checking out the world outside the pen

Oliver and his brother

You could die, right? Look at the tri colour!

So thanks again for all your generous donations. I still can’t believe how kind you all are. I just don’t understand why no one offered to take all the puppies … they come with cash!!

In 4 more weeks, we will be looking for foster homes for the pups to go to while they recover from their neuters and dewclaw removals, until they go on to their real forever homes. If you’re interested in fostering one of Mona’s famous puppies, please visit our fostering page for more information!

Thanks to all of you

Holly wrote:

I just really enjoyed reading through your blog. You’ve captured both the look of your kids and their personalities. I’ve passed on your website to a friend with a border collie and we were exchanging quotes from your website and laughing. I think my favorite is the dog trying to get the treat of the table. Priceless.

And I never realized that merles should not breed. So I’ve learned something new!

Anyway, I’m making a donation. I did a bit of volunteer work in Toronto while I was there and I am so impressed with what you’re doing.

Laura wrote:

The following folks did not leave messages, but we’d like to thank them anyway:

• Anne-Marie, Kristin, Sharon, Kelly, Pia, Fern, Janet, Lynne, Robin, Rainey, Helen, Jacqui, Rossie, Erin, Saskia and Alison

Not to single any one of you out but HOLY COW Andrea, thanks so much! That’s crazy!!

Thank you for your generosity!