Whew! What A Week!

As I sit down to come up with something to share with our readers, I find myself reflecting on what’s happened in our lives in the last seven days and boy has it been INTENSE!

Thursday, December 1 – My alarm isn’t going off for another hour. What are you doing up right now?!

It was about 5:30am and suddenly the mascot of this page and sole reason I’ve decided to dedicate at least the next 15 years of my life to French Bulldogs, Scrump, starts trying to hide under the blankets of my bed. Now don’t misunderstand me, I like her enough to offer a warm place to sleep but she’s usually on top of the blankets. Anyhow, she starts trying to rearrange my pillows and I decide that this behavior is off just enough to indicate to me that she’s starting to go into labor. So, we get up (remember…before the alarms have gone off!), shower, grab a cup of coffee and head over to our vet’s office which opens at 6:30am. We get there, I explain her behavior and he decides she deserves a single room accommodation so he can keep an eye on her. I agree, head off to work expecting that this is a false alarm and we have at least a couple more days til the pups arrive. She had different plans.

I get the call from the vet stating she’s in labor, puppies are coming and I can head over. Tell my boss the predicament, request extra vacation days, clear my calendar, dash back over to the vet’s office. I arrive in time to see the great staff getting all FIVE of the pups crying and moving about with very healthy vitals. We agree she should stay to recover a bit (she had a c-section) and I leave quite quickly to go run a few errands so I can get back when she’s discharged because I know we’re not gonna have time to do anything during the weekend! I return back to the office and pickup my Heart and her new entourage to begin their lives in our home where we’ll hardly sleep for at least the next 4 days!

Friday, December 2 – Give me COFFEE!!

After realizing that a dog that delivers c-section puppies may not want anything to do with them, I wound up bottle feeding the minis for the entire day & night before through all Friday. I finally fell asleep about 11pm, on the couch for about 2-3 hours. I think my relatives stopped by to see the puppies but I can’t really remember! (At least Scrump finally started to acknowledge the pups and helped clean them after each meal.)

Saturday, December 3 – Listen you! These are your babies so feed them!

Saturday morning, I connected to other breeders to try to pull some bit of information to help me get her to do her job and be a momma-dog! I wrestled her to a sit (since she kept trying to get away from the pen) and brought the puppies to her to “clean” and then left them right next to her while I fed the runt. She eventually started to calm down and by the end of the night, she was nursing her puppies with supervision leaving me to only feed the runt to get her back to her birth weight. That night I fell asleep on the couch and got a blissful 4 hours of rest.

Sunday, December 4 – Gotta get back to real life…starting tomorrow.!

Feeling slightly more rested, I met guests coming over to see the puppies, and coach my litter-sitters on what they’d need to do while I was at work during the day. I finally had an opportunity to enjoy the little bits and my girl who was turning into a wonderful mom.  I did a few chores, cleaned the house, and finally went to bed (yes, I said bed) at 12:30.

Monday, December 5 – …And then it happened.

I spend a tense day at work running home at lunch to check on the be-bes. All is good and as my sitter leaves, I head home. I arrive at the house to check on everyone and realize there’s one little body that’s not responding to my annoying rubbing on his back. Immediately, I launched into action, clearing his airway, attempting to express any fluids I could, started chest compressions, and attempted to get breaths into his little body. Apparently, this little guy (actually the biggest in the litter) had overeaten and unfortunately aspirated the meal, filling his lungs. Try as I might, there was nothing I could do to bring him back. The entire experience made me extremely nervous for the rest of the night and I think I might have slept a total of 1-2 hours since I kept waking every time there was an odd noise from the whelping pen.

Tuesday, December 6 – Calm? What’s this strange status you speak of? Is that some kind of cheese?

This day was difficult as everyone at work is asking “how are the puppies” after Elvis had passed the evening prior. (I know…you don’t need to tell me. Just like his namesake. Ironic.) So I fight back tears and bravely trudge through the day and make it home. As I walk into the house, I realize I’m holding my breath as near the pen to find them all laying there very still. I quickly lean forward and give them each a gentle scratch on the back (enough to irritate them) and they all begin wiggling furiously and calling for mama. Nearly giddy I weigh them like I’ve done everyday since I brought them home and record the results. I fix a bit of dinner and sit to eat it when I realize I’ve a meeting of the local obedience club I’m supposed to attend. I finish a couple of bites, get the items I need to take together and check on everyone and bolt out of the house again. Great meeting, pictures of puppies loved by all, back to the house to get ready for another day. I hit the pillows this night at about 11:30 and sleep like the dead. Note to self: try to remember to get more than 15 hours of sleep in 6 days!

Wednesday, December 7 – One week older and a little bit wiser

I wake up and have a “normal” morning. I work my 9-5 and have a “normal” shift. I return home to a what I now consider “normal” evening of checking puppies, taking measurements, playing with my Cocker Spaniel, Lilo, and cuddling up with my French Bulldog, Scrump, when she can get away from the furry little milk vacuums! Even with all the crazy that we’ve experienced this past week, I wouldn’t trade it for the world because you’ll never know when it can all slip away from you!

Thank you for reading and sticking with us through the journey. If you want to get updates on our blog, events, sales, and more, subscribe to our newsletter, The Scrumptious Paws PupDate, through our Contact Us page.

Since your life may have been wild as well last week, feel free to comment about your crazy week in the comments!

 

In loving memory of our little-big-man, Elvis. While you weren’t here for long, there were many who loved you. Rest in peace.

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Uhh…How do we do this? The Top 3 Reasons Behind the Beginning of Our Blog

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

When I first started thinking about my website, I never envisioned having/maintaining/writing a blog. I mean really, I don’t know many people who’ll sit and read something that a total stranger wrote and definitely not the entire way through, much less want to begin reading the musings of a over-educated under-achiever. At least until I caught myself thinking of all the negatives, yelled at myself (yes, I literally shouted “Stop!”), and chose to focus on the positives. During that process I built a mental list of why I should write a blog and decided that alone is good enough reason to draft one if only to list out the pros to counter-balance the “Wrath of  Con” shouting it’s reasons in my head. So, in honor of the fight waged in my mind over the completion of my initial foray into the Land of Blog I present the top three reasons on my “You are doing this!” list.

Number One – Even if no one reads it, at least I can add “blogger” to the list of other monikers I’ve had throughout my life.

Think of it. You’re finally dead and someone has to draft the obituary for the local (albeit online) paper. They start out with the standard demographics (age, family, location) and then go into what you’ve done. I’m not sure I want my life to be summarized into one “blurb” that’ll run for one day when I’m dead. I mean really, it’s not about the back of the book, it’s about the pages between the covers, isn’t it?

Number Two – This is going to help you share your life with others.

I’ve never been one to keep diaries so my history is based on an “oral tradition” of storytelling at family gatherings and my own internal perspective which no one else can hear/see/understand. ADHD is great for slamming out a paper the night before but hell for building habits…good or bad, so perhaps by holding myself accountable to an audience, I can make the change and start by sharing a perspective on living, skewed as it may be by my life experiences! Who knows, someone may be able to walk away from reading this blog and be able to say, “Wow! At least I’m not that messed up!”

Number Three – You are wise and information you share may help others.

I went to college to avoid having to grow up after I tried it and didn’t like it. Yes, I started my formal education a bit later than some and had a few more life experiences than most. I decided that I loved it and wound up with four degrees (AA, BA, BS, MBA) and halfway through my doctorate. I’ve studied all the normal classes for the degrees so I have a wide-breadth of book smarts. Probably due to this, I have an uncanny ability to read something and generally be able to digest and share that knowledge with others. I did this time and again when I taught myself to build/fix computers, build a motorcycle, and now entering the world of dogs (training, showing, and breeding). So, if someone is able to glean even the smallest tidbit from my blog that aids them in their life, I can be proud in that accomplishment!

 …And away we go!

As Trevor Denman, the legendary announcer at the Del Mar, says as the gates open, I step boldly into this realm of online words. I present my heart and thoughts for others to encourage discourse in a positive way. I seek to find value in opinions of others whether I see things the same or not. I seek to share with my readers part of myself, bits of knowledge, and hopefully, some humor and happiness because, really, who can’t smile when they look at puppies?! And really, that’s what Scrumptious Paws is about!

PS – Please feel free to share, comment, and critique. It’s all about the learning process here!