Puppy Update...

After we stuffed our faces with a wonderful Thanks-giving lunch, my Bro and I pried ourselves off the couch and drove to Bethany for a visit and a puppy fix.

I caught this shot of mom looking up like "are we done yet?" with a bit of the bloodshot eyes like all new moms, 2 legged or 4 legged seem to have with 19 day old spawn.

Madeline is being a very good mom. If people are around and petting on her or the babies, she is always counting them, making sure that they are all at her side.

This is a lousy photo but I decided to put it in for a size reference. If you look back at the newborn post, you would see that, at birth, the babies were a bit longer than my hand from the tips of my fingers to just about my wrist. Now they are almost from the tips of my fingers to my elbow.

Please ignore the wrap.I had a blood vein burst yesterday and I had to wrap it and ice it, but that is another story. This is all about puppies today.

Steve and Nancy Lu, my niece and her hubs, have moved Madeline and the puppies out of the den. The pups were already getting out of the baby pool, so Steve cleared out an area in the garage and they are living out there now.

They have a heater to keep the room warm and if they get out of the pool the concrete floor can be hosed down.



I had to put this shot in because of that little pink tongue. It was just precious and since this is my blog I can put in what I choose. That little pink tongue belongs to one of the two girls. The other three puppies in this photo are boys.

They lost one more puppy last Sunday. A little girl. She had to have something wrong inside because, while all the other pups were growing, she was not. They even tried bottle feeding her but she continued to lose ground.

So the final tally is 4 boys and 2 girls.

This is another photo to show the growth of the puppies. If you look back at the first post, I had another pic of a baby laying on mom's neck. This is the other little girl. She is going to be a dark brindle. Two of her brothers are brindle, but they are lighter like mom.

The babies are starting to exhibit more of the great Dane looks now. Their little ears aren't plastered to their head anymore, as you can see.

It is so fun to watch them grow.


This is Max.... big daddy. Max is an old man. He just turned seven this month. I thought you ought to meet him, too.

Max is a big lump of love. He gets so excited when they come out to feed or let him out to run in the big yard. They are not letting him out when Maddie is out taking care of business.

While they get along great and love to play, because of their rambunctious play Nancy is being cautious with Maddie until the pups are weaned. He misses her sooo much and will be glad to have her back with him.

Now... for the Melissa update. If you remember, Melissa is the 20 month old child Steve and Nancy Lu are adopting. She was so afraid of the big dogs that she would start hollering, even if she was being held, when the gentle giants were out in yard or when Madeline came into the house.

Now she wants to lay against Maddie. She often will suck her thumb and rub on Maddie's ear. Nancy said that last week they let Maddie in and Melissa walked all over with Maddie, always with her hand on her.

Yesterday, while I was there, Maddie came into the house and was standing next to different ones getting petted and several times I noticed Melissa would be leaning on her, touching her or laying her arm on her.

They have become companions. It is such a huge step from where that child was when they first got her. Here, in this shot, she is laying on Maddie and her head touching one of the pups.

Well, I have been a wordy girl today. I'll shut up for a while and give your eyes a rest in just a moment.

This is my niece, Nancy Lu. I just want you to see Maddie's mom, my sweet niece. They have such a wonderful connection, but Nance is so good with dogs, as well as children.

She and Steve both are so gentle and loving, but also firm with Melissa and I give them all the praise for the changes I see in Melissa.

She is becoming so much more confident and secure. It is a joy to watch the changes, but that, again, is another post.

One more picture of a pile of puppies... I'm going back to bed for a nap. You all have a great day and thanks for putting up with this 'novella'.


A Pile Of Puppies!!!


The End (for now)

(If you want to see any of the photos better, click on them... they'll get bigger.)