Puppies!...and Dogs.

For the second time this year the neighborhood stray had puppies under my office in January. The first litter was small. Last July we managed to trap 3 of the 4 as they were quite agile. One of them (#5) had died by the time we started trapping. I managed to rehome all three of the four we caught. One even went to Washington. It was an investment of time and money. I admit it was a nice diversion from the grind of work and school. I hoped that it would not happen again as the building had some repairs that would hopefully prevent the dogs from getting under the porch again. The one pup we didn't catch as he got too smart and too big for the trap continued to roam the neighborhood with the mamma dog.

We have been calling animal control for almost 2 years to come pick her up. She is a sad mess. Her back right leg dangles - either broken or dislocated. It's been like that longer than I've been around. She is skinny and gets enlarged and infected looking teats after every batch of puppies and she isn't friendly. Seeing her makes me sad. It is even more frustrating that two years of calls to animal services has ended in "We might be able to get to it." She is too big and too unfriendly for me to try and trap.



January 2016 litter - 7 puppies!

Well this January nature struck again, as the tiny whimpers started up. We endured for a couple days before we tried once to get them out. That was a fail as they were too far under the building. Later in the week our board president bravely crawled under the building in to the mud as it had been raining for days and this is what emerged. Seven pups all girls but one. All hungry and in need of a cleaning.

I immediately started rehoming them and trying to find fosters. Two got homes that night.  I ended up taking two home for a night and another gal in the office took three. Of course, they got names. I had to have something to say in the middle of the night as we struggled through another feeding on homemade puppy milk (thanks Google!) because by the time I finished work that night all of the pet stores were closed.



Wynn has her tongue out and
Maisey was waiting for more
breakfast.

Meet Wynn & Maisey. Wynn...because she didn't know how to say "when." She could drink so much milk! Maisey because she was my snuggly cutie. After a mostly sleepless night, I brought the girls back to the clinic to be reunited with their siblings who didn't get homes.

Unfortunately, we had to make the hard decision to take them into a local animal rescue where they would likely be put down. We couldn't find home for them and I certainly couldn't keep all three.



Three sleeping girls as I dropped
them off at the shelter.

I drew the short straw and had to go drop them off. Even walking in the building I was wrecked. I felt so guilty but there wasn't anything else I could do. All three were fed and sound a sleep cuddled up with their hot water bottle by the time we got to the shelter. I sat in silence wracking my brain for ideas to keep from leaving them. There was a long intake line. The lady in front of me was surrendering 9 large pups. I knew that my little guys who still needed to be bottle fed would be at the bottom of the list. The silence in the corner where I sat was only broken by the little whimpers of pups dreaming.

People, please spay and neuter your dogs. This one mamma has left behind 12 pups in less than one year. All of these little lives have met different fates. Some of them I would prefer not to think about. You are responsible for stopping the spread of puppies, dogs, kittens and cats. Cost should not be a prohibitive facotr. This expense is part of caring for your pet. There are low and no cost spay and neuter programs in many areas. Seek those out and be a responsible pet owner. My heart can't take another littler of puppies that need homes.
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Update: Another part of responsible pet owneserhip is microchipping them and keeping them safe. This sweet girl showed up at our property. She either escaped or was dumped. From day one, she tried to get in my car every time I opened the door. She only wanted a little love and snacks. She was clean and well-fed when she came to us. This tells me she had a home at one point. I never found her owners and rehomed her with a co-worker. This process took days and I worried every day if she would still be there. I know there is dog fighting in our area and every night we had to leave her outside on the office property is one that risked her becoming a dog fighting casualty. Her new name is Sydney and she has a new family.