Puppy Love

So lately my life is full of flowers, sunshine, and puppies. Well, not too many flowers- although we have some on our gate... For those of you who don't know, Mus's house is now inhabited by 12 puppies, and I will now proceed to bore you to death by telling you all about them.

First, you should know the permanent residents, the adult dogs. We have three females. First is Satchmo, who is the oldest and the mother or grandmother of every dog and puppy in the compound. If Satch were a human being, she would be an old English governess with a tight bun at the back of her head, silves spectacles ona chain, and a dumpy frock and apron. She is all about the rules. No fun allowed and affection comes secondary to function. For example, it's her duty to feed her 8 puppies and keep them clean, and she performs these duties very well, but it is not her duty to cuddle her puppies, and she will growl at and even bite any puppy who approaches her face. She has similar rules for humans. No human is allowed to touch her under any circumstances, and she'll yell at you if you try. I'm not allowed to touch her puppies, but I am allowed to sit near them, and they are allowed to touch me- although I'm ony allowed to do this if I come to her den with a present, such as a cracker or a piece of bread. I'm also allowed to feed them by hand, as long as she sniffs it and approves the food first.

Now on to Poos-Poos. She's the next oldest and the daughter of Satch. If she were a human being she would be a flower child. She's free and happy and easy-going, and life is all about the fun and the loving. She's terribly stupid, but has a heart of gold. She loves food and physically trembles in awe when you est in front of her. She currently has a litter of 4 puppies and it's her first go at mothering. She's given birth twice before, but was too stupid to understand that she must be careful to not sit or lie on her newborn pups- as a result, her first two litters were smothered in the first days of their lives, leaving Poos-Poos a bit distraught and totally confused. This time she has the hang of it, though, and her puppies are happy and well-fed. You can see in her interactions with them, she really loves being a mother. Lately, she's even taken to mothering Satch's pups when Satch is in a mood. Satch's pups will be hungry or scared and crying, and Poos-Poos will go and suckle them and lick them and let them chew on her ears and legs. They just love her- they never get that kind of loving from Satch.

And lastly, we have Scooby-Doo (By the way, I didn't name these dogs, Mus's sister did) Scooby has had a tough life. She is also Satch's daughter. Unfortunately, there is a guy around who takes the puppies when they get old enough and sells them, and he's not nice. He tried grabbing Scooby one night when he was drunk, and Scooby freaked out and bit him and then ran and hid. He got really mad and took a 2 x 4 and beat her, and seriously injured her spine. This was all before I ever met her. They tell me that for awhile she couldn't walk, and would drag her back legs around behind her. Mus's mom applied some herbs to her bones, and now she's healed enough that three of her legs are fully usable, and the fourth is usable except when she runs. She's much smaller than the other two, probably as a result of the inujury when she was a pup, and even though she's fully grown and almost 2 years old, she's not sexually mature. I doubt she ever will. She's naturally timid around people and dogs, and frightens easily.

When I came none of the dogs would permit a human to touch them. But once Satch and Poos-Poos had their puppies and were spending all their time in their dens, Scooby got lonely and bored. She's always been taken with me, because I would greet her by snapping my fingers when I came in (something I learned from Mus). She started sitting near me to watch me. Then, gradually, she would come up to me and lick my fingers. I took this as a sign. So, working on things for some time, I was able to convince Scooby to let me pet her and even get a flea collar on her, though she was NOT happy about me trying to hold her still while Mus put on the collar, and she was pissed at me for awhile.

Once Poos-Poos saw the scratching Scooby got, she decided she wanted to jump on the love train too. Sometimes I catch Satch looking longingly at us while I scratch them, but as of yet, she hasn't let down her guard. She will eat out of my hand though, which is a pretty big step for her.

So I'm taming the dogs, and everyone's excited. All the people in the house (short of the puppy-seller) wants to see the dogs happy and healthy, and they fully approve of my taming them, since now I can pick ticks off of them and put flea collars on and just overall take care fo them. I'm also taming the puppies- Poos-Poos's are as good-natured as their mother and come when I call. I'm working on Satch's. I'm hoping we can keep maybe one puppy, but even if we can't, I love my time with them now. It's amazing to wake up in the morning and head outside, and get covered in puppy kisses. Puppy loving is the best, isn't it?