Days of Our Dogs

The dog drama continues here, of course. Apparently when dogs live in the Rocking Pony household they cannot live sedate and normal lives because that would just be weird.

We've got two litters of puppies again, for those who care or are counting. The spaniel birthed 4 beautiful spotted and silky bundles of hugeness, and the Scottie has 4 black and various sized offspring.

And remember that I bottle fed some of the Scotties? I do. And remember that Mom Scottie nursed one lone puppy all that while? She did. Here's where I put in a plug for breastfeeding. Your own milk is made for your own children. See how that works? It's the best and healthiest thing for them. Period. That one lone Scottie boy grew and flourished and acted like a normal puppy. On steriods. I mean, Mama Scottie had enough milk prepared ahead of time for that litter of 7 she incubated, and ended up only feeding 1 for a while. We all get big when we over eat, okay?



There is Gigantor, and his sisters Large, Medium, and Small. Large was holding her own well enough, but Medium and Small sometimes wish they could interchange roles and I really worry about them on some days. In fact, I'm still supplementing them here and there because sometimes when I pick them up they're too thin for my liking.

Poor Medium and Small are still in the surviving stage. They need to move on to thriving. For nearly 2 week old puppies this is highly unacceptable. But I have a plan. (I always do.)

Gigantor is the size of the spaniel puppies, born exactly 1 week before he was. I kid you not. And those are some of the fattest and biggest puppies for their age I've seen in a while. So I put Gigantor in with the spaniel family. Yep, he's their size alright. And it looks very much like a game of which of these things is not like the others. Mom Spaniel mothers everything and couldn't be more thrilled to host a sleepover for a while.



That left Mom Scottie with Large, Medium, and Small. Large took off, not having to fight Gigantor for food any longer, and grew to unreal proportions overnight. Literally. But Medium and Small are worrying me. Those things are puny, little, and not growing. This baffles the heck out of me and I'd think something suffering from fading puppy syndrome would never have hung on for nearly 2 weeks. But there's a reason for this and we may just be going to be vet again. (Although we'll leave the corgi to die here at home. I'm willing to take that chance.)

In the meantime, Mom Spaniel is now hosting two exchange students and Mom Scottie is trying her best to get Medium and Small up to speed. Let's hope this does the trick.

(And just to clarify things, a Scottie that nurses from a Spaniel does not make that Scottie a Scottie/Spaniel cross. I've been told this before, but it's just the stupidity talking. Milk does not the animal make. If that were the case, we'd all be cows.)