How?

How do you get ready to say goodbye? I mean, you can't spend every day thinking that it could be one of the last, but in reality, it could be.


Abby had an off day last week...every time she slows down I can't help but wonder if this is it.

But you know...sometimes an off day is just an off day. Abby lives every moment...not as if it were her last, but just because it is.

We could learn a lot from an old dog's tricks!


P.S. For those who are keeping track, her lump grew pretty quickly and now the growing and spreading has slowed down. We started her on the cottage cheese and flax "cancer" supplement...whether or not it's doing the trick I don't know...but she likes it.

But I don't want another puppy!!!!

Who'd have thought I'd ever say that!

Peyton, fka Tipton, is coming back to Kaos for a while. His family got in touch with me the other day and a pending move puts them in a position of not being able to keep the little bugger. My heart breaks for them...giving up a puppy is probably one of the hardest things ever.

Like many responsible breeders, our contract states that puppies are to be returned to Kaos if for any reason an owner can't keep them. Good reason not to breed as often as I'd like! Imagine if all of the rest of the Satinklettes came back! I shudder just contemplating the...well...kaos!

The adult dogs here are going to be thrilled to have another puppy around, if for no other reason than Emmy will have someone her own age (and energy level?) to amuse her.

A Month of Lumps and Bumps

It's been a rough couple of months here at Kaos. Abby, Grandma's rescue and one of the sweetest darn dogs we have, had a lump biopsied off of her shoulder....benign. Phew! Then Ryder had a lump come up suddenly on his wrist...again, benign. Waiting for the histo reports is a game of preparing for the worst and hoping against hope for the best. In both cases, all of the preparing paid off and we were rewarded with the good news.

Then, last week Grandma said something along the lines of "Abby's got another lump...on her tongue." Well, it didn't take a lot of research to learn that 9 times out of 10, lumps in the mouth are cancer. There, I said it. Abby's probably got cancer. What can we do? Well, they could cut through and remove a huge chunk of the tongue. Would they get it all? Probably not...the lump goes under and into the muscle in the mouth. Radiation? Yeah, that'd kill some cancer cells, that's for sure.

But what's best for Abby? Does this rescue dog, of indeterminate age, who already has kidney issues need more surgery and radiation? Is allopathic medicine where we're going to turn for treatment? She may live longer...but is her quality of life going to be the better for it? I know these are questions that every dog owner has to wrestle with when they find out their much loved pet has cancer...and it happens so much more often than it should. It's been years since we had our Nikki, Sasha and Tasha lessons. But, we learned them.

Abby's going to be kept comfortable and we're turning to our homeopath for treatment. Whether the cancer can be cured or not, we don't know...she's done it before with other peoples' animals.

What we do know is that Abby came to us for a reason, she needed something from us. She must have found it. Somewhere between snarling at every dog in the house and learning to accept petting, grooming and scratches and giving out the sweetest dang kisses ever, Abby found what she needed here at Kaos. Running and jumping at the doors, insisting on her walk anytime a leash appears and jumping into the car as if a ride in the car is the best darn thing in the world Abby is one of the pack. She adores Blaze, her red boy, and plays with him like he was her best buddy...and he is. Maybe it was just time for us to take a refresher course in Unconditional Love 101...although I think we're actually moving into graduate work this time.

So, we have to go down that road again...hopefully not for a while, as she's happy, not in pain or discomfort and just Abby. But when we start to lose the essence of Abby, it'll be time again to wish one of our dogs an easy journey to their spot North of the Rainbow Bridge. I don't even like Abby...she's not my dog. She's Grandma's. I'm not getting attached to anymore stinkin' rescues...I'm not I tell you...at least not after this one!

That was then....

Cleaning out the camera card, I found this adorable picture of The Emmy, taken on March 31. It made me laugh, looking at her perched on her little rock... ...especially since this June 12 picture was on the card too!

Emmy's been to her first match now. We realize a couple of things.
1. Puppies are not born knowing how to walk on a leash.
2. Puppies are not born liking a collar.

We expected Emmy, being an exceptional puppy, to be above those petty little details. She happily showed us that she isn't! So it's off to a few handling classes for Miss Emmy before she makes her debut in the show ring.

In non-Emmy news, Katie and her boy Zach have been working so hard in Junior Showmanship. They only need few more wins and they'll get an invitation to Eukanuba. And Zach has taken over handling Katie in the ring too. She shows better for him than she ever did for me! They've take some reserves, including a major reserve at the Mission Circuit shows. I expect them to take their first point any weekend now.

And Mr. Blaze is well on his way to being Mr. Ch. Blaze. With a 2nd major at Mission Circuit, he just needs two pesky little points to be done in the show ring for a while. Neither of us can wait! Robin, on the other hand, is stubbornly refusing to grow hair so that she doesn't have to go to shows...leaving me with either showing the untrained Emmy or just going to watch Zach. I haven't decided which way that is going to go yet.

The Bath

You guys won't believe this. Momma yells at us for getting all muddy and her solution is to spray us with water! Not only that...she then turns a loud machine that sounds like the vacuum monster toward us and blows at us! It's HORRIBLE! We screamed really loud, expecting someone to come save us, but Momma just laughed at us. At least she didn't have a camera out there. We don't look good in wet.

Our sisters, Pixley and Sage, have gone off to their new homes. Pixley lives just a few miles away and has a new big brother, Prince. Pixley learned how to scream like she was upset and now she gets to run all over the house all day long. We knew she was smart.

Sage flew on a big bird to Texas to live with her Grandma Cha'tima and Grandpa Tucker and all of our relatives there.

It's pretty quiet with those two gone; they were obviously the noisy puppies and we're all angels. So we're working hard to make sure Momma and Daddy don't miss the other girls.

Here are some pictures of us after our horrible baths today. Aren't we adorable?

Delano
Denver
Tipton
Emmy

Let sleeping dogs lie...

I've probably used this blog entry title before, but it bears repeating...at least around here.

"Awwww, isn't that adorable?" I can hear you all thinking it. And believe me, no one loves the sight of a sleeping puppy more than I do. Let me tell you how my Saturday started.

First, the dream. I was trying to get ready for a dog show (shocker, I know) but I kept tripping over puppies, lots and lots of puppies. And then they started screaming because I was tripping on them. What was happening in reality about 4am this morning was that a particular group of puppies was hungry and they were expressing that hunger at the top of their freakin' lungs! Now, they may be 7 week old puppies...but they've got adult sized volume on 'em. There is no sleeping through the "I'm HUNGRY NOW" chorus. Some morning I'll wake up enough to record it for those who think I might be exaggerating.

So at 4am I stumble carefully down the stairs, grab a bag of whatever's at the top of the doggie food drawer in the fridge, go upstairs and dump it in the puppy pen....ahhhhhh blissful silence. About 2 hours later it started again...I dumped the contents of the next bag in the doggie drawer in the puppy pen and went back to sleep. Around 7:30....Yep. Again. But this time Daddy was awake and did the honors for me. AND he let me go back to sleep!

I was going to be the best puppy mom. I was going to document every bit of their growth and development in pictures. Heck, now I know a little more how a new mom feels. I'm lucky I have time to brush my teeth between feeding the puppies, playing with the puppies, cleaning up after the puppies...and starting it all over again 2 hours later!

I wouldn't trade it for the world. But next time I'll think twice before I leave the puppy pen in my bedroom past 3 weeks!

We have names!!!!!

Girl 1, Star, Girl 3, Buff Boy, Whitey and Gray boy.....boring names, no question about it. Now we're the 99'ers. Named for small towns along Hwy 99, the drive from Denali's to Satinka's, Mom & Dad have finally decided to give us names. We're so excited...and pretty certain that we can get away with murder 'cause a) we're cute and b) they won't remember who is who!

Girl #1 is now Madera, or Maddie. Star (aka Girl#2) is now Manteca, or Teca. And Girl #3 is now Pixley. Buff Boy (aka Boy#1) is Delano, or Del. Whitey (Boy #2) is now Modesto, or Des. And Gray Boy (Boy #3) is now Tipton.

The Rule of Sevens

Yep, there are rules for everything! By the time a puppy is seven weeks old, a well socialized puppy will have:

1. Walked/played on seven different surfaces - we've already covered tile, carpet, vinyl and fleece...three to go, we're thinking that grass, gravel and concrete will round out the seven.

2. Eat off of seven different types of bowls - well, tonight's first food was out of an aluminum pan...we're going to have to do some work to cover seven surfaces...I wonder if eating the spillage off of vinyl flooring counts...I'm gonna count it!

3. Experience seven different kinds of toys....right, like THAT'S going to be a problem?

4. Experience seven significantly different sounds - well, they've heard an alarm clock, tonight they got to hear a drill and a vacuum cleaner...I'm sure I can come up with four other sounds...oh, wait, they've heard me snoring! That's another!

5. Been in seven different locations. We're going to have to work on this one. So far they've only been in my bedroom. But hey, they're just three weeks old. We've got time for this.

6. Met and played with seven different people. Well, now that their eyes are open, we should probably start this count over :-)

7. Been exposed to seven challenges - well, this will be fun. Some of the examples I read include: climb on a box, climb off a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence

8. Eaten in seven different locations - this one may be tougher. Do you know how messy puppies are? My general rule is that they can only eat in easy to clean places.

Sheesh. And this is after we did the Day 3 to Day 16 "Super Puppy" exercises! And some people think this breeding thing is easy. I've got a word for them...but I don't think I can publish it on Blogger!

Something new every day

One of the joys of puppies is watching, almost hourly, their development. From finding their feet to being able to navigate the bedroom on the tile floor (under supervision of course, otherwise I'd have to go fish puppies out from under the bed!) to finding their voices (not so thrilled about this one at 3am!) they seem to change on a daily basis.

They've finally figured out that there's a big world outside of their whelping box. How they made the connection, I'm not sure. We take them out of the box to play a couple times a day, but they're always pretty content to hang out in their bar and have the mobile catering unit come by when called. It seems that little bit of nirvana (mine). All too soon it'll be time to set up the downstairs puppy pen and let them explore a little more of the world. I know it'll be a lot quieter at night when their world encompasses more than just my bedroom!!!

Today we discovered our feet!

Six little toddlers running around the whelping box. That's what's happening in my bedroom these days.

Just a couple of days ago, Girl #2, aka Star, started opening her eyes. Little, tiny, squinty eyes...but I saw eyeballs! Slowly her brothers and sisters followed and this morning, when I went up to torment...errr...play with the puppies, they all had their eyes open a little bit. Some of them don't seem to be as inclined to open their eyes and face the world as quickly as the others. Here's Sunday's group picture. That's Star there on top (see how creative we got with her name?) and that yawning puppy on the right? That's one of the boys. Don't ask me which one, can't you see how similar they all look?

And watching them try to walk is SO adorable. They'd get up on their feet, so darn proud...but a yawn or a too-fast turn of the head would send them tumbling like defective Weebles. (If you don't know what a Weeble is, I don't want to hear about it!) I went upstairs about 10 minutes ago, in response to a cacophony of noise on the baby monitor (yes, we got a baby monitor so I could listen to Satinka and the puppies...next up? KaosKam!). They're WALKING! The whelping box is a hive of activity with the little dudes and dudettes toddling across the blanket. Satinka doesn't look as excited over this development as I am. She really has to rush to get into the box and into feeding position because now they move really fast...well, compared to before when they were simply dragging their little bodies across the blanket.

Today we toddle, tomorrow the Iditarod!

And, yes, if you haven't checked lately, there are new pictures from last weekend's photo shoot on the website. And we'll take more this weekend, but it may take me a few days to get them up because...drum roll please...I have a new job! Of course, it happens just as the puppies are getting interactive...but hey, it'll pay the bills!

The Satinklettes have arrived

From the first squeak at about 4:30 this morning to the surprise #6 puppy at about 10:30, the Satinklettes made their way into the world. The first one out was a gray girl (gray, not so surprising, girl, very exciting). Then, after about 30 minutes, gray girl #2 showed up. She's the one with the diamond on her back. Then, after another 30 minutes or so, gray girl #3 showed up! I can't tell you how excited I was at this point, because I wanted a girl. Now I have three girls to choose from.

Then the boys started arriving...boys as in PLURAL! We were hoping for one more, and the arrival of the bonus boy, #5, produced cries of joy (after all, we didn't have to do anything but watch).

Then a little bit later Sean hollered "there's another puppy!" Number SIX! WOOHOO!

Six darling gray and white puppies, three boys, three girls. A little later today, after Mom and the kids have had some time to bond and eat and rest we'll take their Birthday pictures. For now, we're just going to enjoy them!

This is Satinka....

Here's Satinka...isn't she a lovely, elegant looking young lady?






And here she is, a week before she's due.

She looks thrilled, eh?

We're almost there!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. From just a month ago when we first saw the puppies on the ultrasound screen to today, one week from The Due Date.

Satinka is due next Wed/Thurs. Her milk is coming in...from the feel of it, these puppies are going to be WELL fed :-) She's decided that she needs to be next to me at all times and woe to the dog who tries to get between us. She spends a fair amount of time demanding that I rub her belly. Last night I felt a puppy move for the first time! Holy cow was that exciting or what! Then, of course, I kept her up for a couple hours hoping to feel it again...but they must have been stretching before going back to sleep. I did hear puppy heartbeat with the stethescope too. That's way cool.

The whelping box is clean and tonight the husband is re-caulking the corners. I scrubbed most of the caulk off. Tomorrow I'll be setting up the Whelping Palace (no mere box or pen for La Diva!). She's heading into the vet for an x-ray on Thursday or Friday...Monday at the latest, but if she surprises me and goes into labor sooner than expected, I'd rather not be on the road.

I've got batteries for the baby monitor, a radiant ceramic heater, puppy pads to provide Satinka with somewhere to pee if I'm not around to let her out, blankets and towels, everything I could possibly need for the Event, including the phone numbers of some good breeder friends who I'm sure won't mind me calling at 3am in a panic (uh, right?) and a sleeping bag because I'm certain that if she can't be on the bed, I'm not going to be allowed on it either! Tomorrow I'll start taking her temp AM & PM and charting it in my very first Whelping & Puppy Notebook...not that I'm obsessive or anything.

She does think it's pretty cool getting two meals a day, I'm sure I'm going to hear it in a couple of months when she goes back to pre-puppy amounts.