One of the Canine Kids

April 5, 2012 by

As the children I gave birth to get older, spread their wings and threaten to move out, I find myself having to mother the canines in our life as if they were babies.  Or that’s what the humans in my house accuse me of.

RoseThat’s little Rosie on the left. As one of the pups in the last litter our momma Olde English Bulldogge had, she’s been a part of our lives since she took her first breath. For those of you who disagree with me about how dogs can be like children, check out the following list.

1) Don’t do that! – The number of times I tell our little toddler to not do something compares very closely to when my little ones went through their terrible twos.

2) You’ll ruin your dinner! – Rose will beg for treats the same as any kid who begs to have ice cream before dinner. The picture shown is the perfect example. She’s eying the bank teller and hoping there will be a milk bone when the canister comes back.

3) No pouting! – Had there not been a treat, my baby-girl would have put her head down on the seat and covered her nose with her paws. Dogs pouting? Most definitely!

4) A blankie and a teddy! -Just like the kids, Rose has her favorite toys…and a favorite blanket and when it’s nap time of playtime she goes to those favorite comforts.

5) Nighty-night! – We know when it’s bedtime without looking at the clock. Our little baby paces around, circles in her bed, and moves from lap to lap. Sighing and snuggling. Begging for bed.

I know I’m not alone. Most pet owners treat their animals like children, but how many of you have animals that act like children?

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Puppies are Here!

May 22, 2009 by

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting (but was actually only 65 days), we’ve been blessed with the arrival of 5 little Olde English Bulldogges.

The biggest blessing, however was that our wonderful vet was able to safely deliver them via c-section and save all of the puppies as well as our Lily after complications developed. After what I believed to be unusual behavior, we took Lil to the vet on Wednesday for a check and they discovered one of the pups was wedged in sideways putting the whole litter into fetal distress.

In their distress the pups had already clawed up her uterus causing some internal bleeding and infection. Once they were into the c-section, it was still touch and go, both with Lily and with the ‘little girl’ but I’m happy to report mom and babes are doing just fine.

Pictures can be seen at my flickr account.

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: , ,

Upcoming RWA Nationals/Lily Puppy Update

May 12, 2009 by

After having such a productive writing day yesterday, I felt as though the wind was sucked from my sails today.  I had a large agenda, but the worl had to stop so I could wrangle with the RWA site.

This one day a year–when editor/agent appointments for Nationals is opened up to PAN/PRO members–is the only day when their site just can’t handle the traffic.  I’d given advice to the new pros in my local chapter this week: When the site crashes, don’t panic. It always happens.  Suprising, I was able to take my own advice and I even tried to continue working while hitting refresh every few minutes in the background.  Of course, with attentions divided, everything took a little longer that it should have.

I wasn’t able to access the appointments until nearly 1pm (was supposed to be 9am) but once in was able to get my appointments scheduled quickly.  The appointments I booked were with those who were high on my list, so I’m pretty happy…or I will be when I destress.

After getting Katelynn from school, we went to pick up Lily from the office.  After getting the report that she hadn’t been eating or drinking, and coupling that in with the fact that her milk started coming in yesterday, I decided to check her temprature.  It had dropped, which prompted a call to the vet, who decided she wanted to examine her and do an x-ray.

Puppies still weren’t real visable on x-ray so the vet decided to another ultrasound.  The growth between last Thursday and today was pretty amamzing.  Incredibly we could see puppie toes, and one of them wagging their tail!  She only looked at the one side, because she wanted to confirm heartbeats in the three she was on x-ray, which she did. But I got to think there are at least two on the other side.

The latest guess from the vet is this coming weekend, but theoretically we could be into next week.

Here’s hoping I’m able to get good night’s sleep so I can catch up on everything that I had to let slide today.

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Puppies! Puppies!

May 8, 2009 by

Those that follow this space closely know all about Lily and her (okay, our) prusuit of motherhood.  53 days ago lily visitied her (boy)friend Freedom down at Blair’s Bullies.  Even though we’ve been pretty sure for a week she had a viable pregnancy, we were able to confirm it today at her vet appointment.

Nearly 10 pounds heavier, the x-rays were inconclusive, but an ultrasound showed at least 4 -5 beautiful little bulldogges.  I know what you’re saying, how can I tell how pretty they are by an ultrasound…well, we just know.  I mean, just look at our beautiful momma!

Lilly07

A week from Monday is her ‘due’ date (though it’s a little more tricky with dogs than humans), and we have another vet appointment on Wendsday.

Stay tuned for updates and hijinx reports!

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: , ,

Bulldogge Puppy Update

August 29, 2008 by

Little baby George is a week old today.  I’ll post new pictures later (I have to take some for the “photo diary/log” and to send to his family and his daddy’s owner anyway).  Yes, I’ve been taking pictures almost daily of the little guy.  That may seem obsessive, but honestly, I swear If I look at him for 10 minutes, I can actually see him growing before my eyes.  Like my babies, they change so much, so fast.

At one day old, I could hold him flat on the palm of one hand.  At four days, he can’t be contained in two of my daughters.  (We have similar hand size).  We didn’t weigh him at birth.  We had intended to buy an appropriate scale, and ran out of time.  It was a good thing though. I remembered a couple days later that I had a postal scale and we’ve been charting his growth with that.  We estimate he was between 6 and 9 ounces at birth, certainly under a pound.  Yesterday he weighed two pounds (at 5 days old).

The wrinkles on his face, including the ‘rope’ over his nose become more pronounced daily.  I especially see huge changes around his eyes — and I expect they will open by the middle of next week.  Everyone is hoping he will have his daddy’s green eyes.  And hoping against hope that if not green than blue (the blue eyed gene is present on both sides).  Wouldn’t he just be gorgeous with blue eyes!

The most difficult part of the week has been, of course, the constant supervision.  Though I have to admit everyone in the family has been great about pitching in and taking a shift.  The late night watches are leaving me blurry eyes to a point.  No matter how late I stay up, my internal alarm clock wants me out of bed by 7 am most mornings.  I’ve succumbed to some afternoon naps, but for the most part they don’t really help and only make me wish I could sleep longer.   With the holiday weekend, I’m hoping to catch up on the sleep.

At one week, he’s still crawling vs. walking and still blind (and I understand deaf too).  He does respond to touch and is getting used to being held by me and my daughter.  Mommy Lily is still very protective and very concerned though she is allowing herself to leave the box while he is sleeping and doesn’t complain if I separate them for a few hours at night so I can sleep — but only a few hours.

Keep checking back for more pictures and more progress.  As soon as he is more active, I hope to include video as well.

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: ,