
You wouldn't think that eight little puppies could cause so much excitement, but boy, have they ever!
On Monday, one of the puppies managed to squeeze in between the bars and escape from the crate. He also managed to get himself back into the crate (smart boy!) but not without several viewers witnessing his escape and becoming concerned. Thank you for the emails, but by the time I checked, he was already back in. We installed cardboard to keep that from happening again. Lesson learned.
However, on Tuesday, Nellie was a little annoyed that her humans both went to their offices and left her alone all day with her babies. So she had a little separation anxiety and tried to bust out of the nursery room. There's a very small pane in the french doors that lead out to the nursery that is missing its glass. It makes for a nice "cat door" allowing the cats to go in and out of that room even when the doors are closed. We had it covered (along with the bottom section of the glass doors) to give her privacy and to keep the cats out of the room. She managed to rip the cardboard off of it and squeezed through the tiny pane to get out of the room. One of the cats got into the room and checked on the babies in her absence. Our cats are not predatory, but I was worried that Nellie wouldn't see it that way. However, she was more interested in getting out of that room than attacking a cat, as it turned out.
We saw (and heard) her tantrum on the puppy cam and it was Jim to the rescue (since his office is closer to home.) He rushed home at lunch (thank you St. Clair Shores police for the speeding ticket) and found her waiting for him at the door. Since puppies can't go very long without milk, this could have been a real disaster. He repaired the door and she has not tried to jailbreak the room again, thank heavens. However....
On Wednesday, three of the puppies decided THEY had been in the crate long enough and decided to wiggle out of it to explore the room. We had put a roll of towels to block the crate's entrance, but they managed to scoot over it! Viewers of the puppy cam could see they had left the crate and hear them crying and Nellie, for some reason, turned a deaf ear. I think she's already tiring of motherhood. With so many mouths to feed and butts to clean, who can blame her? Again it was Jim to the rescue, leaving work early to come home and put the three back in the crate with momma. Whew!
On Thursday morning, Nellie decided being closed in the crate all night with the babies was too much for her. She managed to knock the puppycam down from the top of the crate, and shredded the cardboard we had put in place to keep the puppies from crawling in between the bars. The puppies were none the worse for her tantrum, thankfuly.
Cardboard has been reinstalled all the way around the outside of the crate, including the entrance, so that the puppies can't get out but Nellie can come and go. Yesterday was a test to see how long she'd stay out of the crate for and thankfully she seemed to settle down and have a good day with the puppies. Whew!
Tomorrow is the pups one week birthday! Check back here to see their individual pictures and names! One of the boys, the biggest one who we are calling Numero Uno for now, is without a name. So put on your thinking caps for good Irish boys names. There will be a contest to name him! I haven't figured out a prize yet. Maybe a big slobbery kiss from Nellie and a cuddle with the puppy?