Puppy Journal

Hope turned three on Cinco de Mayo, the puppies are 12-weeks old today, I am 48 tomorrow, and it is time to put this tome to bed.

There wasn’t a journal entry last week because I try to support small and local businesses whenever possible. That means that Mike my server guy went fishing and left everything on auto pilot. The pilot crashed and I was without Internet for several days. :-) Remember all those weeks ago when I wrote about my washer? I had a call yesterday from Dennis the appliance guy saying he had the part. I was in Reno. Who knows how many weeks it will take to coordinate a visit. The only person lonelier than the Maytag repairman is this woman in Battle Mountain, NV waiting for him to show up. :-)

When last I wrote, Bogey (white boy) moved to New Berlin, WI, Miki (blue boy) moved to Jamul, CA and Emmy (purple girl) moved to Poway, CA. The three remaining puppies came to school with me last Thursday so I could get them to their after school vet appointment on time (2nd set of shots). It was a pretty great day. My math students were given their assignment and told that we would take the puppies outside as soon as everyone finished. Great motivator! :-) Due to a string of anti-dog administrators, it has been about 10 years since I’ve been able to bring a dog to school. I almost forgot what an effect they can have even on jaded high schoolers. Many girls just wanted to hold them and several boys told me they just wanted to jump in their pen with them. :-) When we had them outside, they didn’t hesitate to get down on the ground with them. Rural schools aren’t perfect but we generally have good kids. However, we do have our troubled youths just like any school.

We also have a number of students (usually boys) who are living here with relatives in order to get them out of a bad home life with their parent(s) or to get them away from a drug and/or gang culture. It isn’t unusual for me to butt heads with these kids until they bend to my will. :-) Once they do, we get along very well. I have a boy who is a particular challenge to me, his grandparents, and his P.O. He loved those puppies. He tried to stuff Clancy (green boy’s new name) into his backpack (in a kind and gentle way) but he really took to Lucy (pink girl). He recited poetry to her and sang her love songs. He got down on all four and play-bowed and wiggled his butt for her. He answered his math problems correctly. His behavior reminded me that there is a little boy in him. On those days I have a hard time liking him, I will remember how he was with the puppies.

My fourth period class began with two boys puffed up and ready to fight (spring mating season). They sulked in their desks and didn’t interact with the puppies. What the puppies did was defuse their classmates. Normally, a situation like that would affect the entire class with students taking sides and engaging in off-task, nonproductive behaviors. All these kids knew was that there were puppies to hold and hug. One girl asked one of the sulking boys, “Do you want to hold a puppy? You’ll feel better.” He didn’t but the class did.

Conversations that day centered around stories of their own pets. They all wanted to take pictures of the puppies with their camera phones. They told me it was the best day ever. It was such a good day, I’m thinking about talking to my principal about raising Lucy as a therapy dog.

Saturday was another trip to Reno. Mercy and Picabo had appointments for acupuncture and a post-birthing adjustment respectively. Yellow Boy was going to meet his new family and head home. Yellow Boy is now “Rex” and is settling in (and disrupting!) his new family’s home in La Mirada, CA.

Then today I drove to Elko to meet Debbie to return Picabo to her and pay her for the lease. I show-groomed Picabo and told Debbie not to put any more weight on her. Her coat is coming in and I think she will be just beautiful in a month or two.

There are two puppies in my house. Pink Girl will be Wolftree’s Stardust and I am calling her Lucy (in the sky with diamonds…). She is the black bitch and I won’t lie and say it was an easy decision to keep her. Purple Girl (Emma) is more my kind of girl - shorter coupled and an unflappable attitude. Lucy has a lot of very nice features and I eventually made the decision to let Purple go. Lucy still has a white frosted face (stardusted) and her front is worrisome. I keep looking at Juno’s front and ask myself if that is Lucy’s front. She moves beautifully and effortlessly for a 12-week old and sometimes she stands and stacks herself so nicely I tell myself not to worry. The rest of the time however… Well, we will just see how she grows up. The fact that she is black is another worry. If I can’t keep my liver dogs from bleaching red, what hope do I have for a black dog? :-)

The other puppy is Green Boy and I have been calling him Clancy this week. That name seems to be sticking. He was hands down my students' favorite puppy. He is happy and outgoing. He is boisterous. He is all boy. He is still waiting for the right family to call. He needs a home where he will get to go out and do things (like meet people) but (like a lot of boys) he also needs a structured home so he knows his boundaries. He is pure pet with his freckled face, one white foot, tan smudged wrists and ankles and tan butt (not tan under the tail but the whole butt).

I worry about keeping two puppies for too long. The things I have done to socialize my litter now need to be done with each individual puppy. I can’t do that well and I worry that all of my hard work will unravel as these two get older. Debbie and I talked about splitting them up for a week or two. That would be great if we each had one puppy for one week and then swapped for the next week.

As I reflect on the last 12 weeks of life with puppies, I feel I have done a very good job of getting these guys ready for interesting and active lives. I have no complaints about them. The four that have been placed live with wonderful people. For me though, these were 12 of the hardest weeks I have ever gone through and there really isn’t any end in sight. I was already exhausted when they were born (school in upheaval) and it went downhill after that. I have shed many tears over whether or not everything would get done. The experience was such that I am definitely stepping out of breeding for awhile. I have three dogs over the age of ten (10.5, 11.5 and 13) and three dogs over the age of six (6, 7.5, 7.5). I have a 3-year old who forgot her flip finish. In three years my old dogs will most likely be dead and my veteran dogs will be old. I will look at Lucy and see if the world and I need another Field Spaniel. Right now the ones I have need a little more attention from me.

Time for a group hug! Everyone hug and kiss your old, young, and in-between dogs! :-)

Sheila Miller

Wolftree Acres

Nevada, USA

sdmiller@the-onramp.net