Buckeye

Buckeye is being neutered and rabies vaccinated today.... completely ready to be adopted when his family finally finds him!!!

Update on Willow

Sweet mama Willow has had her heartworm treatment and is doing well in her current foster home. Soon she will be 100% ready to find her OWN forever home!!

Just Buckeye...

If someone had told us 3 months ago that darling BUCKEYE would be the last puppy in his litter to be adopted, we never would have believed it. But all of the other pups have gone now, and somehow Buckeye, with his special outgoing and loving personality, has been overlooked. He has been out at the main rescue for the past couple of weeks, but he will be returning here for a week or so beginning this weekend. We are going to put all of our energy into helping him finally finding HIS special home-- no one deserves it more!

Birch

We had some very hard news last week about little Birch. He had found a home but was returned to us after a significant heart murmur was found at his pre-adoption well-puppy check at his new vet. We took him to a vet cardiac specialist last Tuesday to get a diagnosis and determine a course of treatment. At the specialist's office he had an echocaridogram which revealed significant heart disease secondary to severe pulmonic stenosis. Unfortunately, this is not a condition that can be corrected medically or surgically-- there is no treatment that could have prevented Birch from suffering or allowed him to live a normal life. The wall of his right ventricle was already much larger than it should have been at the tender age of 3 months. Because of this, we made the very, very sad decision to euthanize Birch.

This type of congenital heart defect has a polygenic mode of inheritance. This basically means that while it is inherited in some way, there are so many factors that it is impossible to say for certain if any of the other puppies in the litter might be at risk for a similar heart defect. Luckily, ALL of the other puppies in the litter have been checked and NONE were found to have a murmur. Phew!

We are all very sad here about poor Birch, and so sorry that his new family had to experience this saddest side of dog rescue.

Meet & Greet... And goodbye again, Willow

Willow and the puppies all came out to the Meet & Greet Saturday. The puppies got lots of attention, and it was great having mama Willow there to point to ("We don't know *what* breed she is, but there she is for you to make your own guess!!!"). Willow got her microchip today too, so she is now only needing heartworm treatment to become fully adoptable.

Willow left with the Rescue Director after the Meet & Greet on her way to a new foster home to await her heartworm treatment. Good luck, Willow!

And hopefully at least a few of the many people who came by today will put in an application for one of the puppies!!!

Willow

Willow returned to us a little over a week ago. Her milk was dried, so we had her spayed on Friday. She is doing well enough to come to the Meet & Greet today where we plan to have her microchipped. We are looking for another foster home for her to convalesce at during her Heartworm Treatment. She is such a sweet girl, we will be so happy when she is finally over her pregnancy and heartworm disease and finds a HOME!

Puppy Videos

Busy Week for the Babies!

The puppies have made a lot of progress this week! First of all, they have started escaping their puppy pen regularly and will be moved to crates to begin their "crate training" tomorrow night... yay! They are preferring to potty outside of even their puppy papers now, so they will begin practicing their housebreaking in the yard this week too. Such big milestones!

They will also be posted to the website this week and we will begin taking applications for their adoption. They will be all be ready to go to their new homes on March 1st, but some puppies may be able to go as early as February 24th. We plan to have them all with us at the Meet & Greet this SUNDAY from 1-4 at the Great Hills Trail PETCO. Hope to see you there!

Goodbye, Willow!

We took Willow to the vet this week and learned some disappointing news: She is heartworm positive. Luckily, heartworm disease is treatable (though it is both painful for the dog and expensive to treat so prevention is MUCH better!!!). So Willow has gone to a new foster home to rest and wait for treatment. In a couple of weeks she will be spayed, and following that she will get her heartworm treatment, which will take a little over month. After that, she will be eligible for adoption.

In the meantime, the puppies are growing like weeds and having so much fun now that they are 6 weeks old! They are weaned and eating and drinking well. And they are having fun romping and playing with our other litter of puppies.

They will make their Meet & Greet debut a week from Sunday... come check them out!

Puppy Playtime

The puppies are all eating well and playing a lot these days. Their mama is ready for them to stop nursing but she still accommodates them now and then-- so patient! They have been getting lots of holding and love this weekend. It won't be long now until they are ready for adoption!

Lots of cute new photos of all the pups in their photo albums!

Weaning

The puppies have really started eating their dog food this week. They are eating both soaked and dry kibble with gusto and are drinking water out of the dish. Just in time too, because Mama Willow is preferring to spend less and less time with them and is ready to wean them. She is really enjoying exploring the house and getting to know the other dogs. But she especially enjoys hanging out with her human hosts!

Olive- 4.5 weeks old

Maple- 4.5 weeks old

Fig- 4.5 weeks old

Buckeye- 4.5 weeks old

Birch- 4.5 weeks old

Aspen- 4.5 weeks old

Out in the puppy pen!

We took the whelping box out on Saturday so that the puppies could have the whole puppy pen to wander in now that they are walking. Too cute!

Three Weeks Old

The puppies are doing great! They are squawking and walking around their puppy pen and growing well. We are starting to get to know their individual personalities, and getting to know Mama Willow very well too. She is extremely gentle and a bit shy... but seems ever so grateful for a safe place for her family. (Olive, Aspen, Birch, Fig, Maple, Buckeye)

Willow's babies

Willow and her sweet puppies arrived at our foster home on Monday. 6 sweet tiny babies, just 10 days old. They don't have their eyes or ears open yet, but they were covered in fleas so we gave everyone a nice bath and we will give them a safe place to grow big enough to be adopted.