So the Routine is this at 10:30pm, I put them to bed back in the whelping room. I now have piddle pads down for them to use and they spend the night in the Whelping box - there are 6 puppies and the whelping box is 4 x 6 so there is plenty of room for them.
Mom usually checks on them a couple of times through the night but somehow the 5am check up requires them to scream and cry and let me know they are awake and ready for food. If the weather was better, I would run them all outside to go potty but that is not an option right now. So instead they then go and piddle kinda close to the pad, hey if the front feet are on it and the back are not - I am pretty impressed for 4 week old puppies to be getting the hang of this is a good thing. I then turn on the coffee pot because, well life cannot go on without it and make the puppies breakfast. Gandalf usually has to get a bark in here and there because God forbid at the age of 10.5 he hasn't missed a meal yet and somehow I haven't forgotten to feed him, but this might be the morning that happens so he wants to make sure that I don't forget. Sorry Gandalf you are going to have to wait until after puppies have eaten.
I take my coffee (again this is a requirement at this time of the morning for me to just function) and the puppy food and we go back to the whelping box. By now they have all pooped and it is now my job to pick up the poops. I do that, then put down puppy food. They are getting more excited about the puppy food and eat, walk away, then stumble in to it, walk away, wipe their heads on each other as they scramble over each other, normal puppy stuff and when they are done, Nevada is ready to come in and do clean up patrol. She eats whatever they don't and proceeds to clean them from head to toe. I get a warm wash cloth turn on the scale, wash them off, weigh them and then take them into the big playpen in the living room. One at a time until they are all done. Clean up the whelping box, start a load of laundry for the bedding, grab another cup of coffee and sit and watch them play and romp and run in the new area and pick up more poop.
By now Gandalf is practically going to hyper-ventilate for lack of food and I have to leave my puppy TV to feed him and the other dogs. Pick up dog yards, More coffee, maybe something to eat for me, shower, get ready for work and if I am lucky I will have a little bit of time to play with them before Larena shows up. Off to work - get home at 5 to 5:30, depending on if I feel I can leave early. Get home and watch and play with puppies. Larena has given them Lunch and I feed the dogs at 6pm & then feed the puppies around 9pm to help hold them through the night. At 10:30 off to bed they go, I clean up their puppy area, change out all the bedding, put another load in the laundry and crawl into bed.
It is a lot of work, but I love it and the joy these puppies give me on a day to day basis is undeniable. They also help others too. Friends now call me and say I am having a bad day can I come play with Puppies. My son cannot wait to get back home so they can crawl all over him, he is 26 and lives over in Everett. He called today and is hoping to come this week. Last night my friend who is the fire chief in Sequim called to come up with his two boys. Ben is a big guy about 6'4 and it was so funny, he just crawled in the pen, laid down and immediately had 5 puppies on him. The 6th was in his son's lap. He just glanced over at me and had the biggest grin on his face and said this is what its all about! So True!
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