Sunday, October 07, 2012

#118. or, Dog Pile!

 I have news!  Old news, really. About a week old. We now have 13 dogs. Which sounds rather hillbilly-ish, I know, but it's not quite like we're crazy dog hoarders......just yet, anyways.

  Remember a couple months back when I posted about helping our good old male Labrador Retriever, Tuke,  find a little quiet time to get jiggy with our other, sexy young Lab? (you can read about it here.)

  Turns out that the old boy still had it in him and now we have 10 new puppies. Now, I realize that sort of makes me some type of dog pimp, but I live on the farm and we get to call it animal husbandry, which makes it all good.

  Anyways. the puppies.

   It had been obvious that Abby, the mother, was pregnant for the last month or so. She was getting rounder by the day. The week before she gave birth, I could put my hand on her while she was laying down and feel a bustle of activity going on inside of her belly. She had been spending some of her time looking for private places to hide. We had to follow her about and board up places that she seemed to find interesting, to keep her from burrowing under a shed or someplace we couldn't get to her when she had pups. I was a little concerned that she might crawl under the deck and I'd have to shimmy under there on my belly to get them all out. In an effort to encourage her to take advantage of the dog house, I had Little Son get a bale of straw and pack it in there to make it cozy and more appealing. Then we hoped for the best.

  The days before she gave birth were like each one was Christmas morning for Little Son. He'd get up and go to check if the puppies had arrived. On the day they did, it was pretty obvious. Tuke was practically beside himself. Anybody that came into the yard, received the same treatment. He's come barrelling up to you, full of excitement, spin about in a tizzy, then go bounding back toward the dog house. Like, COME QUICK! LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING!!! Thankfully, Abby had decided to give birth in the dog house.

  When she was done, she had 10 puppies. 4 yellow, 5 black, and 1 brown. You could nestle them nicely in your hand, their fat little bellies resting in your palm. When you'd walk up to the dog house, you could hear them all  squeaking away inside as they all crawled over each other, struggling to find their way toward lunch.

 

about a day or 2 old

  It's been about 10 days since Abby had her pups. The tiny pile of dog in the nest of straw in the doghouse has gotten substantially larger. Now one pup spills out of your hands when you cup them together. They don't even have their eyes open yet, but I can tell we're going to have to set up new diggs before too long. It's hard to believe how fast they are growing.


that's a pile of dog!


about 10 days old
  While Abby is busy being a good mother to her new puppies, I don't have any doubt that Tuke will be an equally good daddy. One time when he was younger, a neighbour stopped over for coffee on his way home from the veterinarian after having his box of puppies there for vaccinations. He set the box out of the truck for us to look at his little dogs and as they'd scramble out and scurry off, Tuke would run after them, pick them up by the scruff of the neck and bring them back and drop them into the box. While he's beginning to show the signs of getting a little older, I think he's still as excited as any new young dad could be.

  So, the plan is to not keep all of these adorable little puppies. The thought was to see how their personalities develop and maybe keep one that appealed to us. Right now though, they're all pretty damned appealing. We may have underestimated our ability to resist the adorable cuteness of a basket of puppies.

 



   I am submitting this post to Dude write this week. It's where guy bloggers come together to submit posts, that get voted on from Sunday to Tuesday evening to see whose was most popular. I encourage you to pop over and take a look at them and maybe come back and vote on your favourites. 
You can get there by clicking on THIS LINK.

29 comments:

  1. I love everything about this post today! First, the new header picture is great...you look quite striking and in charge up there! I was wondering exactly how you got the grain out of the combine...and now I know.

    And the puppies! Oh, the puppies! The internet is awesome, because we get to 'meet' people from all over, but today I am cursing it, because I wish you were close enough that I could pop over and see those puppies. So irrestible!

    I love the story about Tuke and the other puppies that he kept putting back in the box. That is so adorable and really quite smart :)

    I can't wait until they start moving around. They are going to be so much fun!

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    1. Thanks Kianwi.

      I don't know how much of a striking figure I actually am. Big equipment always makes you look more impressive that you actually are.

      I think, everybody loves puppies.....but I might be wrong?

      I have another story about Tuke but I think I might have to save it to help fill out another puppy post in the weeks to come. :)

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  2. That's an awesome picture with your new combine!

    I LOVE them! I'm a Lab girl and I want one. Lost our old gal in June and I'm bartering and begging and making all sorts of promises I can't keep just to get me one. I'll take the chocolate one for sure and one of the yellows ;-)

    Keep posting pictures because they won't be a basket full of puppies for much longer! Great post today, doggie pimp!

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    1. Thanks Gina.
      It's pretty hard not to be a Lab person after you've been around one for a while.

      Sorry for your loss, I hope that you will be persuasive enough to get a new one. I know how much they fill up ones life.

      I'm pretty sure the basket won't be containing them for too much longer. :)

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  3. You're doomed. How do you think I ended up with five cats at one point? Because kittens are so freaken cute. Puppies? You don't even stand a chance.

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    1. I think you might be right. They're just so damned adorable when I peek into the dog house and they're laying all about in various positions.

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  4. Wonderful news, man. Looking forward to reading about some wacky stories of whichever one of them you'll keep!

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    1. Between puppy and combine posts, I think you guys might get a little tired of my topic choices before too long?

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  5. Hello friend!
    I'm back to the land of free wireless and hope to get back to 'normal programming' over at the hammock! Thought I'd have opportunity to blog easily this weekend but to no avail.

    Who doesn't love adorable, roly-poly, poochy belly puppies? Love this post! Look forward to future posts about the pups and stud-pup, Tuke.

    LOVE the header picture!!! Way cool!

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    1. Thanks Carrie!

      I'm trying to get more posts in, but I don't seem to be able to find the time these days. I could use a little hammock time myself.

      I'm hoping to get a little mileage out of the puppies before they go.......if they go? ;)

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  6. I can't imagine how you give any of them away. They'll all have wonderful personalities, but it probably isn't possible to keep them all. Good luck.

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    1. That's A LOT of dogs to keep! Still though, I'm sure it will be difficult to let them go. It's funny how each of our dogs have their different personalities. I can't wait to watch these new ones develop.

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  7. Pile of puppies!!!!!! Pure joy. I'm so happy that you are having some fun right now, puppy papa. I hope they each go to nice, loving families. Don't you just wish you could keep them!

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    1. Hi Pish! The pups are certainly the bright spot in things these days.

      I sort of wish it was still mid summer. It's going to be a lot of snowy paws to clean to bring them into the house to play. :)

      Part of me wishes for a yard full of bounding puppies. The other part of me is wondering who's gonna pay for all of that puppy chow!

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  8. Congrats on the new pups, you have a good looking bunch there, as they grow one will actually pick you instead of you picking him and finding homes for the rest will not be any easier.

    Can't keep them all though.

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    1. I'm quite certain that will be the case. I know that's how we got our male dog.

      As much as we would like to, you're right, we can't keep them all.

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  9. TEN pups,wow,way to go Abby! Absolutely adorable bunch too! Definitely keep us updated with photos as the weeks go on, and let us know which one (how many) you end up keeping!:-) Bet you will have no trouble finding good homes for the rest. Love watching your headers change with the season and life on the farm. This is such an awesome blog!

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    1. Thanks Josie.

      Sorry I haven't been popping by as much as I would like these days. I hope the winter will see me slow down a bit and I can catch back up with you.

      I'll try to do a few posts about the pups.

      I'm not too sure what I'm going to do for headers when the winter comes? I don't know if people want to see pictures of me feeding cows in the snow or not?

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  10. I think we should give Tuke the father of the year award!

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    1. Maybe a special tag for his collar or something? I know he likes to rock the bling. :)

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  11. Wow, Ken. Reading your post, I could actually smell that "new puppy" smell - so much better than "new car," for any of you who haven't experienced it.

    When I was a kid, my parents would keep us home from school whenever one of the dogs or cats was having a litter - they figured it was a better learning experience than we'd get at school that day, and it's something I'll always appreciate. The childhood hours I spent burrowed into a dogpile are some of the best memories of my life.

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    1. Hi Reanna.

      maybe I should look into canning new puppy smell? Maybe a Glade plug-in or something?

      That's a cool story about you and your parents. I know that sometimes, life experience if a far more valuable lesson than what you could get out of any book. And that your parents wanted you to learn that is a pretty awesome lesson in itself.

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    2. Glade puppy plug-in is a great idea! Or a body spray. I'd date a guy who smelled like fresh puppy.

      My parents certainly had their moments.

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  12. No one could resist a box of puppies! Congrats, puppy grandad!

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    1. Thanks Kellie. They are pretty irresistible. I'm quite certain that my son would like to have them all living in his room with him. :)

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  13. I'm one of those horrible people that gets sucked in by the cute puppies and then doesn't want the responsibility when they get older. I have gotten better at resisting them, but they are cute.

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    1. They're a lot less hassle to take care of when you live out in the country. They wander off and get their own exercise and don't need to be taken for walks and kept indoors overnight.

      I'm certain that if we lived in town, having a dog have pups would have been out of the question for us.

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  14. This is one of my favorite posts ever. Very cute. Good luck giving any of them away!

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    1. Thanks so much. I know that it will certainly be a struggle to say good bye when the time eventually comes. Not looking forward to that day at all.

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