reunion

Not only did I get to see my old roommates today and see their new house and eat at my favorite Indian restaurant... I got to see Mo/lly!

Molly, formerly known as Mo, formerly formerly known as Michelle, is now over 3 months old, and she is a beautiful, embiggened version of her tiny cuddly puppy self.

I was just a liiiiittle bit happy to see her, and to hold her, and to have her squirm in my lap and even bite my finger with her terribly dangerous puppy teeth.

Good bye, little ones!

tiny little BB

slightly less little BB

BB has been adopted by a lovely family with a black dog to remind her of her sister.  I got to talk to the adopters, and had the chance to tell them some of how smart BB is, how she seems to learn really well with clicker training, and we got to hug her and hold her one last time.  I hope you are happy in your new family BB.

Mo, on the other hand, I absolutely know will be happy in her new family, because I used to be roommates with them.  Two of my former roommates, who are now engaged, were able to adopt Mo, and I am so happy I will get to see what she grows up to be like.  She'll be living down in Cincinnati, but hopefully we can set her up for play-date-reunions with Truman every once in a while.

Mo, whose name will likely be changed

UPDATE: Mo is now known as Molly.

in a rare moment of peace

BB sleeps happily, using her food dish as a pillow

I must take this rare quiet moment, between grad school assignments, while the puppies are playing quietly and don't seem to be chewing on anything they're not supposed to be chewing on, or jumping off anything they're not supposed to be jumping off, to share an update. 

Both puppies have amazingly passed the 3 lbs. mark.  In fact, Mo, the tiny runt who I was afraid wouldn't even make it through one night less than 2 weeks ago when we brought her home, is just 2 oz. away from 4 lbs.  We're guessing the tapeworm she was hosting had something to do with her tininess, but now that it has been taken care of (sorry, I don't have any pictures of that to share; it was pretty shocking) she's doing so, so much better.

I have some video that I haven't had a chance to upload yet, but expect that to be coming soon.

settling in

BB

The puppies have been settling in very well, and I'm really amazed at how well they're doing.  At first, we had some trouble getting them to eat-- they seemed hungry and would try to eat it but the puppy kibble was too hard for them to chew and too big for them to swallow.  They'd hold it in their mouth a while but then it would eventually fall out. So we started grinding up their food, which seemed to help a lot.  In fact, this morning, when I brought them food, they both chowed down pretty hard.

They've both gained a couple ounces.  When they first arrived, Barbara Bush puppy (I would like to point out again that I did not choose their names) weighed 2 pounds, and now she weighs 2 lbs. 2 oz.  Michelle Obama puppy weighed just 1 lbs 14 oz when she arrived, and now she weighs 2 lbs. 5 oz.!  Tiny differences, I know, but this is only their second full day with us, so any progress is good progress.

This morning we had playtime outside.  It was just slightly raining, and there was a little bit of thunder, which I think gave them an opportunity to get used to that.

Mo with Bryan

It's incredible to see what distinct personalities they have already.  Mo is much more energetic and extroverted, and way more talkative.  BB is a lot more laid back and takes things in stride.  She loves to sleep, but handles new experiences a little more confidently.  Both of them, however, seem to equally love the opportunity to chew on earlobes.

the babies are here

Ooooh, dear.  I was not prepared for this level of cute.

It's surprising to me that any dog could make Harriet look big, but they've done it.  Mo and BB appear to be some sort of lab mix. Their official names are Michelle and Barbara; all the puppies of the litter were named after presidents or first ladies.  But it felt really awkward calling a dog Barbara.  So we're going with their initials.

Mo (Michelle)

BB (Barbara)

They are supposedly 6 weeks old, but oh my goodness they are tiny and skinny. You can particularly see it in the photo of BB, how boney she is in the hips and ribs.


We were originally supposed to get two puppies from a different litter last week, but that group turned out to possibly have ringworm, so they have to recover before they can be fostered.  Though I'm worried about the fate of those puppies, for our sake these girls were worth the wait.  They're eating a little bit at a time.  Mo can't figure out how to eat puppy kibble so we've been crushing it up and mixing it with water so she'll eat.  They are playful and talkative.

But most of all, they are sleepy. 

The toughest part is keeping them isolated from our other dogs for the first 2 weeks.  Truman wants to sniff them SO badly!