Day 7 - A Week Old!

The pups will be a week old around midnight tonight. They have grown remarkably since then and are starting to develop their own personalities. I'll take some more pictures of the three of them probably tomorrow and I'll pose them lined up like they were in the Day 2 pictures for comparison.

We're working on getting Mindy and Schuyler reacquainted with one another. We'll have them both on leashes - upstairs, away from the puppies - and let them sniff and howdy-do each other for about a minute before we separate them. We'll continue to do this daily until all signs of tension between them are gone. Hopefully they can go back to being the best friends they were before the babies came, but we don't expect this to fully happen until the pups have moved to their new homes. If anyone has experience with this scenario, we welcome your advice.

We enjoy hearing from you. We feel like we've got a community going with good folks from literally all over the world. If you've never given us a shout-out, leave a comment or drop us an email, and be sure to tell us where you're from.

Day 5 Morning Update

Everybody is doing great. The pups are growing and Mindy is eating well. She's willing to spend a little more time away from the kids and be with us. She enjoys it when we sit on the couch beside the pen so she can jump up there with us and nuzzle up to us and get petted like she used to. The pups will whimper, though, and she's quick to jump down and get back to them. We're still keeping Mindy & Schuyler separated. In a day or two we will try letting them socialize again, but this time they will both be on a lead so we can avert any aggression.

Day 4 - This morning's action

We've been keeping Schuyler and Mindy separated since the puppies were born, particularly since she snapped at him a couple of days ago. This morning I was downstairs with Mindy - the basement door was closed - and she heard Schuyler walking around upstairs. She ran to the top of the stairs and was whimpering and her tail was wagging. I thought that since she was acting like she wanted to see him, I would let them get together again and see what happened. She ran right up to Schuyler, tail still wagging, and Schuyler immediately tensed up. I think he remembered how Mindy attacked him the other morning, because of a sudden he attacked her and a bite-fight broke out. We immediately pulled them apart and I took Mindy downstairs while Mindymom calmed Schuyler down. When I got Mindy in the pen with her puppies, I saw that my left forearm had been bitten. I think Mindy accidentally got me while I was separating them.
Mindy & Schuyler are both OK, and as for me, " 'tis only a flesh wound." (Trivia Quiz! What movie is that line from? First one to give the correct answer will be the first one to give the correct answer.)

By the way, when you answer the trivia question, or post a comment or send an e-mail, please let us know where you are from. We've heard from Canada, Manila, London, and other places. Mindy and the pups are on their way to becoming global superstars!

Mindymom bought some canned food and we gave some to Mindy. She gobbled it down quickly, which is the first meal she's eaten since the births. We're SO glad she's eating again.

Day 3 Update

Mindy and her pups are doing great. The 2 little boys are up to 1 lb. 4 oz each and the girl is 1lb. 1 oz. Mindy enjoys getting out once and a while for a quick poop'n'whiz break, but she can't wait to get back to her brood.

Schuyler the dachshund is livin' large as the only upstairs dog. He enjoys sitting with us more than he ever did. I guess he thinks we have only one dog now. Mindy is still very protective when she senses he is anywhere close to the babies so we keep them out of each other's eyesight.

Day 2 Morning Update

Mindy & the pups are doing great. All of the babies are very active. When I tried to line them up on the couch for a picture, none of them would hold still. They were squirming around looking for the milk bar. Mindy has been out for her morning constitutional but was very eager to get back to her babies.

We're keeping Schuyler upstairs for the time being. Mindy gets very aggressive when he comes downstairs where the babies are.

Day 57 WrapUp

It's been an uneventful day for our favorite mom-to-be. While she's content to rest and conserve her strength, she still likes her walks and is always ready to go out. Schuyler the doxie tries to get her to roughhouse with him, but she just lies there and gives him a majestic "You MUST be out of your mind" look.

This blog has had 112 visitors since we put a hit counter on it. We thank all of you for your interest in Mindy and the puppies that are on the way. We'll be having a contest to name the babies when they get here, so start thinking.

Good night, and we'll see you tomorrow. Mindy says "woof-grunt-moan-woof".

A scuffle

Day 56 - Mindy and Schuyler got into a short-lived fight this morning. They were both investigating a Christmas decoration in the kitchen and suddenly Mindy started growl-barking and attacked Schuyler. I grabbed Schuyler and took him downstairs to calm him down while my wife stayed upstairs with Mindy. He was physically OK, but was quaking after the attack. After about 5 minutes I took him back upstairs and Mindy came up to him to check him over. It was like she was saying "I'm so sorry! Are you OK?" All was peaceful after that. Hormones, I guess.

Our granddaughter spent the night with us and the five of us had a great time before we put the dogs in their pens. Mindy seemed restless and paced some but she eventually settled down. I was able to take a few pictures of the grandaughter and the dogs. I'll put these up later today.

Mindy's brother

Day 55 - Mindy had a quiet restful night. She let us sleep until 6:30am before she started whining to go out.

Mindy's not the only dog in our household. Schuyler is our 2-year old neutered dachshund who has almost 10 months worth of household seniority over Mindy. They are best buds (usually) and up until 3 weeks ago they shared the same pen. Now Schuyler stays in a separate crate which is just to the right of the pen shown in the Mindy Cam. If Schuyler's not in his crate when Mindy is in the big pen, she whines and barks until her buddy is nearby. He is a very calming presence to her.

By the way... we don't keep our dogs penned all the time. We enjoy having them participate in our household lives as much as possible. However, as Mindy's due date approaches, she'll be resting in her pen more than normal and Schuyler will be in his crate nearby to keep her calm. If the Mindy Cam is on but she's not onscreen, she and Schuyler are either out for a walk or spending some quality time with us.