Dogs Rescued from White County, TN Puppy Mill

Week 3

Monday March 2, 2009

Wow, what a night it was around here. All of the dogs watched the finale of the Bachelor last night. They were jumping for joy when Jason asked Melissa to marry him. But, then things got ugly during the "After the Rose" show when Jason came out with his shocking change of heart. The dogs were all throwing their toys at the tv. You'd think with the excitement that Angelina would have had her puppies, but not yet. Still anxiously awaiting!

Tueday, March 3, 2009

Well, the dogs have learned that playing in water is fun. They step in their bowls and dig the water out. LOTS of mopping happening around here. They continue to have a blast with all of the toys. Skipper has decided he wanted to move out from his roommates and joined up with the girls and Preston and Parker. He did it all on his own. Climbed right up the exercise pen to the other side of it. lol There hasn't been any bickering between the dogs so that's a good thing. We think all of the dogs are now successfully pee pad trained!! Joy got her harness on today. She was a little scared and didn't know what to do for a while, but then she got over it. She sat in her foster mommy's lap tonight and they watched tv. She stood up with her front paws on the chair and tapped her foster mommy to let her know she wanted to come up. She picked her up and was so happy to sit and snuggle with her head on her foster mom's chest.

Now, about food! These babies are all doing great with eating. And they looooooooooooooove plain vanilla yogurt! Tomorrow we try cottage cheese. Both are very good for them. They also love chicken. and chicken gravy on their dry food. We're also big fans of Iams dog food here. We've tried a lot of different brands for dogs rescued from puppy mills, and they all seem to do really well with the Iams dry food and the Iams Lamb and Rice canned food. We mix them with together with warm water for their afternoon meal. They eat it right up. Oh, and they ALL know they get treats before they get tucked in their beds.

They all love to be brushed and enjoy it every time. Tomorrow some of the boys will get baths again. And we'll put more harnesses on. We picked up a couple training leashes (the 20 foot long ones) to get them used to leashes. Hopefully it will go well! The trick is to take it slow and make it a fun thing!

Now about Angelina.. she is the funniest girl When she first got here her tail hung straight down. It only took a couple days for her to start wagging it and it hasn't stopped since. The way she wags her tail is really cute... she wags side to side, up and down, and then around in a circle. Absolutely too cute for words! I can't wait to see what her puppies look like when she has them. Keep her and her four unborn babies in your prayers please.

It's been a busy week here so far. The Adoption Committee has been working very hard on applications to adopt these precious babies. We've chosen homes for some of them and are processing those applications. We changed the website so dogs that had a  lot of applications wouldn't show, but then everyone was wondering where they went so we changed them to available for sponsorship while we're doing reference checks and home visits. There is still so much more to be done. Our volunteers are working their fingers to the bone! We sure couldn't do this without each and every one of them, that is for sure! So many people have been so supportive. People have offered their help, sent donations, made phone calls, brought needed items.... We are so grateful. These furbabies are so grateful. Thank you to everyone who is helping! We're a very small rescue but we sure have accomplished some pretty big things! The love these animals give in return is priceless!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Today's toy of the day........

bouncy balls! 

They absolutely fascinated all of them! they figured out real quick that if they pick them up and drop them they could make them bounce by themselves. These babies learn quick!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Today Elvis and Skipper got bathed again. Got all brushed out and got fitted for harnesses. Skipper learned how to walk on a leash. Of course everyone else was jealous but they will get their turns too! Elvis and Skipper go for their neuter tomorrow and Sunny goes for her dental. We told them they were going to the spa tomorrow. We'll probably be in big trouble when they find out what "going to the spa" really means. Rocky loves his red kong toy and played with it most of the night. He's chosen that as HIS toy and won't let anyone else play with it. Joy is still getting accustomed to her harness. Angelina is still round and has not had her puppies yet. We are anxiously awaiting our 4 cocoa puffs!!!!!!!!!!! It was a very very busy day here. I don't have much time to write anything else. I am working night shift tonight so more news tomorrow. Keep Elvis, Skipper, and Sunny in your prayers for tomorrow!!!! More harnesses and leashes tomorrow. Who will we try on a leash next? hmmmmmmm Anyone in the central TN area want to help leash train these babies????? email me at southpawrescue@yahoo.com if you want to help! We could use some extra hands.

Friday, March 5, 2009

Parker is helping to mop right now. He absolutely just loves it and thinks it's a great game! What a character he is. Parker instigated play with Jolie today, which was a first. Jolie seemed to really enjoy it. It's nice that they can play now without worrying about all the male/female hormones. Sunny had her dental done and her heartworm test today. Everything went very well. Sunny lost one small tooth, but her teeth are all healthy and clean and she's a happy girl tonight. She got to ride home on the front seat on the way home from the vet and she loved it. She was very good in the car. She's eating her dinner and seems to be completely unaffected by the day's events. I have her here by me right now so she can eat without the others bothering her trying to eat her food. My sister is in the kitchen and she's wanting to go by her. It's nice to see these little furbabies bond with people. She's doing some pacing by the puppy gate wanting to go by her. These 12 definitely seem to have a "connection" with each other, but they've all done well meeting our dogs and cats and they are very open to new "family" too which is great! Skipper and Elvis were neutered today. They both also did very well! Skipper weighed 7.2 lbs and is a good weight for his size. Elvis weighed 9 lbs. I'd really like to see him put more weight on. He's not a big eater and is the only one of the group needing encouragement to eat.

Our biggest difficulty right now is getting all the dogs to hold their potty overnight. They still have not been able to do that so far. This will take some time and their forever homes will have to continue working on this goal. We are probably giving them more room than we should to train them to hold their potty overnight, but after what they have gone thru in the mill we want them to have plenty of room to move around. We continue to work towards the goal of them holding their potty overnight. Families adopting these babies will need to have a small area to confine them overnight with something for them to lay on and a pee pad to potty on until they are able to hold it overnight. We use the washable pee pads here because the disposable kind tend to slide around and bunch up and get chewed up by puppies and young dogs. It's a great game for them. Elvis got to the vet this morning and had fuzzies all over his face from chewing up the disposable pee pad that was in the carrier. Quite funny really, but not the intended goal. lol

Saturday, March 6, 2009

BIG news!!!!!!!!!! Angelina had her puppies last night! More info coming later. Lots to do around here this morning and running on little to no sleep here.

Angelina is a wonderful mommy! All babies and mommy are doing well!!!!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

The first of these precious furbabies went to his forever home today. Preston has been adopted by Gloria N. and now has a yorkie sister and a Chinese Crested brother! We were able to get Preston to the point where he will walk on a leash and he did very well with it today. It was very windy and that made him a little nervous, but he did very well. He's very open to learning new things and we think he will do great in his forever home. We love you Preston. I'll miss your sweet smiling face around here!

Angelina finally let my sister get a good look at her puppies for just a moment. There are three girls and one boy. They are all doing very very well! She is a great mommy! We're pretty sure she has had puppies before. She needed no assistance during whelping.

Now that all the boys are neutered there is less stress for all the male dogs. Simba, Rocky, Romeo and Chief are all sharing the kitchen area now and getting along. They were not getting along with Chief before because he kept trying to make his moves on them if you know what I mean. He has since stopped that. Simba continues to love squeeky toys and balls. He jumps on them, grabs them, tosses them, chases after them. He's so funny. He can play all by himself if no one wants to play. He's such a loveable dog. When I go into the kitchen they all crowd around and Simba will back away rather than try to push to the front of the pack. He's just not a pushy guy. I always make sure he gets extra attention because he does that. He's such a nice boy. If I didn't have dogs already he wouldn't be going anywhere. Chief is our resident jumper and climber. I bet he'd be good at agility. He jumps up and kicks off of the exercise pen like it's nothing and he can climb out with no problem too. What a character. Romeo has really been enjoying the toys too. This boy has such a nice personality. He gets along so well with all the dogs here. And he shares nicely too. He's not too sure about cats yet. And my cat doesn't help the situation. She keeps running past all the dogs. But they haven't tried to hurt her so that is a very good thing! Rocky has been doing really well. I still look at this boy in amazement at how handsome he is. He has gone outside of his own accord to the fenced area and seemed to really enjoy it. He's definitely open to exploring and trying new things. Skipper is also going outside without having to be carried out. He runs and plays with all of our dogs and is just such a happy go lucky puppy. He's very cute and he's going to grow up to be a very handsome boy! Elvis has really made some progress this week. He's playing more and seems to really enjoy being with the other dogs. I would still like to see him gain more weight. He's not pushy enough with the other dogs as far as getting his face in the bowls to eat. He likes to eat with the other dogs, but won't push in to eat with them. So we give him lots of encouragement. He has a family ready to adopt him and they will also be adopting a sister for him so he'll have a playmate! He'll love that! Parker, oh Parker is such a cutie pie. He still loves to help mop. He loves toys. He's a bouncy happy puppy. He loves running around and playing with the other dogs. He still hasn't learned totally what is and isn't acceptable within the pack, but he is learning quickly. The hair around his eye is starting to grow back in now that he's not living in a dirty environment. His beautiful coat is so nice and thick. All of these boys have fabulous coats. We've been giving them plain vanilla yogurt too and that extra protein makes a difference. They also like chicken gravy over their food. They like chicken, and cheese, and treats too! Everyone is wearing harnesses and we're trying to get them used to them. Skipper walks nicely on a leash. Joy is a bit unsure about it still, but is a lot better than she was. The others need more work on accepting harnesses. Lots more work. It takes two people to even get a harness on any of them. And we can't leave them on when they aren't supervised or they chew them up. The girls have made wonderful progress this week also. Joy has been a little lady about the house, as have Sunny and Jolie. They ALL love to be couch potatoes and watch tv. Most are fascinated at the images on the screen and the sounds. But while they accept tv, we aren't sure how they are with the radio. When I brought Preston to his forever home today he sat on the front seat. He was totally relaxed and enjoying himself. I put the radio on quietly for some music. He completely panicked. So I shut it off quick. First time he heard a radio I guess. All the dogs have gotten acclimated to household sounds. The dishwasher, washer, dryer, telephone, etc. They all seem pretty comfortable with all those things. I'll have to get the coffee grinder out so they can hear that sound too. Oh, and when my alarm clock beeped this morning, they did NOT like it. They all howled. The entire household was then awake. They do seem to do things in unison at times. Don't try to sneak into the kitchen or laundry room in the middle of the night. It's wall to wall dogs. They are so funny. They all dig and fluff their beds and then totally crash. Guess they are enjoying the excitement filled days here because when they sleep they are out cold. I'm glad they feel safe enough to sleep so deeply. It's quite amazing to see.

Angelina's puppies - 2 days old

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