Herding Puppies

Hi!

I'm sure you're wondering what my crazy statement about herding puppies meant in my first post.  Well, dear readers, Nelly had puppies!  Five to be exact.  Their names are Nova, Ned, Normandy, Nike and Neon.  All five are yellow Labs, just like Nelly.  They were born on November 17, 2011, which means that they just turned 7 weeks old.

It has been a very strange experience, starting when mom cleaned out my plastic pool and brought it into the house.  Then she kept pestering Nelly by taking her temperature a lot, apparently monitoring for the onset of labor.  I offered Nelly my sympathies - the temperature taking got out of hand.  The night before the puppies arrived, K and Nelly slept in our office instead of in the bedroom.  Then, at around three in the morning on the 17th, I heard K and Nelly go outside followed by K talking on the phone.  Within a short period of time my aunts R, B and T had arrived and I knew that something big must be happening.  I had to stay in my crate all day, although K came to feed me and to take me out several times and keep me up to date on the delivery process.  Finally, at about four in the afternoon I got to come out of my crate.  Mom and my aunts told me how proud of me they were for being quiet all day and Aunt B shared her cheese fries with me!  They were so yummy!

The next few weeks were a little odd.  Mom blocked off the front of the house so whenever I had to go outside it was through either the kitchen door or the garage. By the second week Nelly was spending some time in the living room with K and me but I still wasn't allowed past the hall closet. By week three I was allowed to view the puppies from the office doorway and by week four I was allowed into the office but separated by a gate that was set up around the pool.  The puppies were pretty active by their fifth week and I was allowed to play with them for short periods of time.  Nelly left for her forever home the week that the puppies turned six weeks old so it was up to K and me to supervise.  K has to change the papers in the puppies pool a lot so I go into the office and play with the kids while K cleans.

For the past two days the weather has been so warm that the pups and I have spent several hours outside where K set up a second playpen for us.  It was awesome!  One of the puppies, Ned, went home with his adoptive momma yesterday afternoon.  I have been informed that three of the puppies will leave for their adoptive homes late next week. 

As for the fifth pup...Did I mention that I have a brother?  Neon is going to stay with K and me!  My three aunts knew that Neon had bonded particularly closely with K and me and so conspired to surprise us a few nights ago.  I like Neon, he likes to play.  Playtime is very important!  My advice is to play as much as possible.

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