Another One

Marco's new mom flew in from Chicago to pick him up this afternoon. He went to the groomer this morning and looked SOOO beautiful... but he came home for a couple hours and played with everyone else. What can I say... he's a puppy! Marco weighed in at 12 pounds 1 ounce yesterday. I'm fairly certain he's going to get all the care and attention he needs... his new mom and dad just got back, yesterday, from a vacation trip to Washington DC. And while they were there, Dad had a heart attack requiring some surgery. BUT Linda still came after the puppy today. Marco's got it made in the shade!

Spider
Just wanted to know what her weight was up to on the official veterinary scales, so she went with me and Marco yesterday. She is 9 pounds 6 ounces! Made them weigh her twice just to be sure.

Two More in Their New Homes

Elliott left, on schedule, Saturday... which is more than I can say about Lola who was supposed to travel then as well. Let's start with her.

First off, Lola weighs right at 10 pounds and, outside of getting wet mouthed every time she was in the car, seemed to handle the trips to the groomer and vet... and TWICE to the airport... without problem. Saturday morning, at 4:30 (yes, AM,) the price in Delta's computer was more than $65 higher than what I was given over the phone. It was more than $65 higher than what it cost to ship Charlie two days before that and he weighed a little more and was in a bigger crate. Since I prefer to not spend other people's money without their permission and since it was 2:30 in the morning in Colorado, Lola and I returned home. Michelle wanted her shipped on Sunday, BUT Denver cargo is closed on Sundays. (Heaven help you if you are in Denver and need a heart transplant which becomes available on a Sunday...!) So, Ms Lola didn't leave until this morning. And today the price was correct in the computer.

I can hardly WAIT for Thursday when I'm sending TWO pups in one much larger crate and the quoted price is the same as for Charlie and Lola. We'll just see...!

Now, Jack Elliott... 15 pounds. Needless to say, he's the largest in the litter. And, according to Caren, the smartest. He learned to walk on the lead within a few minutes and has figured out air conditioning vents in the floor.

Pet Insurance

Some of you have asked about pet insurance. Marna (Montana's mom) uses VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance.) She received excellent service from them with her first puppy and signed Montana up as soon as she got her. And that's all I know on the subject!

Additional on 7/26/10:
Caren reports that she has used the Kroger pet insurance for years. It is available in their grocery stores and on line (krogerpersonalfinance.com) and comes with a variety of options. She carries the catastrophic insurance, rather than the every day run of the mill care, because she figures that is what she'd have trouble with in the event of an accident.

One Down

Brother left this morning. He let his new family hold him without rolling his eyes. In fact, he barely moved at all! He weighs 9 pounds 4 ounces.

And Charlie and I are going to be at the airport by 4:30 in the morning. He weighs 10 pounds 14 ounces.

Both boys did very well at the groomer (where they didn't want to be separated from each other) and the vet (where they both fell asleep on the exam table.) The first car ride was a little frightening for them, BUT by the time we got done late yesterday, they were settled in... a little wet mouthed, but that's about it.

Lola and Elliott are next on the list, both leaving on Saturday.

Update on Rehome

I had to run over to the vet's this morning to pick up a prescription renewal (thyrozine for Keogh, my doodle.) Now, going to my vet at any time takes a while. I don't know exactly what it is as they seem to have enough staff and everyone is always busy but everything takes forever... checking in, waiting for a room, checking out. And heaven help you if you have an emergency and have to go as a walk-in! But Saturdays are always like Black Fridays (isn't that what they call the day after Thanksgiving?) When I got there, the lobby was full so I called... from their parking lot... to tell them I needed the refill and then went to eat breakfast. Forty minutes later, I returned... and stood in line for over a half hour. There were only 4 people ahead of me, and 2 of them had appointments, but we waited in line. Then the vet tech whose mom adopted Moonie, the rehome, came into the lobby and told me how well he was doing. She said the 2 of them have become inseparable and she's not sure which is more enamored of the other. Moonie stayed at the vet's just a couple days before going to his new home and everyone there fell in love with him. It's nice when things work out so nicely... and so quickly!

Have I Mentioned...

These are Smart Puppies
It's almost noon, the door to the outside via the deck is wide open, the pups (who LOVE it outside) are loose... and they're all IN the house. Even Wonbat who was born and raised outdoors. Several of them are chewing on my fairly new straw broom... I get a new one before every litter... but the rest are lying in front of the floor fans. When I say it's hot here, you can believe it!

TWO Smart Puppies
Yesterday the crew was here cutting the grass. And last evening when I went to bring the pups inside, two of them were outside the fence. I thought they had widened the hole under it which they started after the rain earlier this week. One, Elliott, was standing outside the front gate yipping to let me know he couldn't get in. The other one was all the way on the opposite side of the yard, at the back gate. As soon as she saw me, she came tearing all the way around the fence to the front and waltzed right in. Now, THAT is pretty smart for a little bitty 11 weeks old infant no matter what the species! By the way, that pup was... Dora the Explorer (aka Remy.)

And they had not finished the escape route under the fence. The back gate... where Remy was waiting when I went outside... was unlatched. The pups managed to squeeze thrugh to get out but couldn't figure out how to open it enough from their side to get back in. I wouldn't have found it for a while except Ost and Rida got out this morning and I caught him wiggling his butt back in. (Rida, like the puppies) came in the front gate.)

Missing Street Found (Temporarily)

The vaccines showed up, right on schedule and my regular driver just grinned and shrugged about the mix-up. He stayed just long enough to take a gander at 9 puppies staring at him from the yard and deck, made no comment and drove off. Not one peep out of the pups although the guys in the house were almost spastic.

Now, just to make the story interesting, I got a call this afternoon from a breeder in Florida. She said "I've got your vaccines here." Here's the backstory... a couple years ago, she bought a dog from me and had Jeffers Pet dropship a crate to my address. Ever since then, Jeffers seems to think everything she orders should go to Tennessee rather than Florida. She emailed me a few weeks ago that something she had ordered had been misdirected to me and I should be on the look out just in case Jeffers wasn't able to straighten it out before it was delivered here. (Get the picture? If I order it, no one can find me. If it's sent by mistake, it's here promptly.) Anyway, it never showed up and it pretty much slipped my mind. HOWEVER Friday, when MY vaccines (being sent air rather than ground, from an entirely different company) some how made their way to the Fed-X GROUND facility and those folks remembered shipments to me were supposed to be redirected to Florida and apparently, that is what they did. I can't make this stuff up!

And since it is 8:40 PM, I need to go round up puppies and get them bedded down for the night!