Adventures with Puppies

The puppies are all doing well and should soon be opening their eyes in the next few days. They sure gave me a scare today though. I went to feed the dogs this morning and, when I did a head count in the puppy pile, there were only 3. Etna had been "redecorating" in the puppy nest and had dug a hole under the fence just big enough for puppies to squeeze through. The ground drops off steeply right behind the pen and has fairly dense undergrowth. As the pups squeezed out, they rolled a ways down the hill. I found one right away about 6 feet down the hill. I found numbers 2 and 3 about 20 feet down the hill. They were all asleep and had no idea what had just grabbed them. They squealed a bit and were very happy to get back to their mom. I searched up and down the hill for the last puppy and couldn't find him. I finished feeding and cleaning up for the big dogs and decided to give it one more shot. I guess he was getting hungry because he was awake and crying a little by then. He was only about 3 feet from the fence but all the way down at the other end of the pen. He must have tried to get back but, being blind and deaf still, had no idea which way to go. Etna was very happy when the head count finally came out right and everyone was back in her nest. What a relief. I would have had a terrible time trying to concentrate at work if I hadn't been able to find that last puppy.

Hopefully the situation is now remedied by a hay bale against the fence and the house and puppy pile moved toward the center of their pen. Before I know it, they will too big to worry about them squeezing out and rolling down the hill.

They are growing fast and getting stronger. They all like to sleep as close together as they can, in one big knot. This sometimes results in some interesting sleeping arrangements...