Friday, May 25, 2012

New Routines With Dogs And Trees

Fostering 5 puppies is hard but fostering 5 puppies in my bedroom and being sick for 3 days is extremely hard!  I am feeling better finally.  After work yesterday I came home and had to catch up on chores like picking up the yard and watering the trees.  The puppies think it is a lot of fun to pounce on the lantana bush and tear it up so I put some chicken wire around it.  Last night one of the puppies was bouncing on the chicken wire on top of the lantana!  This time I took the puppy fence that they aren't using any more and put it around the lantana.  I think that will protect it.
 
The puppies are almost all well except for some coughing fits at midnight.  I will give them their last dose of antibiotic on Thursday and hopefully they will be able to get their first vaccine soon after.  They are all eating hard kibble but are still nursing too and I have let them do it because they have been sick but now it is time to get serious about this weaning business.  With my last momma dog I put a t-shirt on her and tied it so the puppies couldn't nurse.  The thought occurred to me to put some of that bitter apple no-chew spray on momma and perhaps the pups will decide that the milk doesn't taste good anymore.  Poor momma is losing her hair.  The vet said it is not mange and it is probably from an infection.  She is scratching off clumps of hair but then it starts growing right away.  She seems to be molting like a chicken.  I am hoping that once all of her original coat has fallen out she won't have this itching problem anymore.  The new hair is growing in nice and soft as opposed to the course hair she had.  I just bought some more itchy skin shampoo because I didn't want to use all of my parents' Head & Shoulders shampoo on my dog.
 
Although these puppies are really cute I dearly want a break from them.  I want to take a half day off and then take a nap in my quiet dog-free office.  haha.  If all goes well these pups should be ready for adoption in 4 weeks.  I'll be happy when they are gone but I will miss them too.
 
I am also trying to walk my 2 dogs everyday.  My own dog is so fat because I have given him treats to keep him busy instead of taking him for walks when I am too tired to walk after work.  I also stopped walking because it was hard to walk many dogs at once (including crazy foster dogs who pull on the leash).  It is easier to separate the dogs now and just take my 2 dogs for a nice calm walk which is much more enjoyable.  We go for a short 15 minute walk which is about all my poor chubby dog can handle but hopefully he will regain some of his energy and lose some weight if we keep this up.  It is 105 degrees today but they say it will cool down to the low 90's this weekend.  It isn't too bad at 6pm when I get home but it is still hot. 
 
What else...I planted a total of 5 trees in the yard and now I have the arduous task of keeping them alive through the hot Summer.  I only have to water them until the Summer rains start but that isn't for another 6-8 weeks!  What was I thinking?  The one rose plant that was getting leaves got trampled by dogs and puppies.  My raspberry plant died.  I don't know what it needed, probably a different type of soil.  I should stick to plants that just need water.  The Chinaberry trees are sprouting from the roots left in the soil.  I am pulling those whenever I see them.  I would love to spend time and money on the yard but for now I will just keep watering what I can and see what survives.  Next year the trees will be established and I should be able to water only once every week or two.  There is a drip system but it doesn't seem to be connected to anything.  Maybe I will investigate it some day.  On the other hand, drip systems and dogs don't really go well together so it isn't high on my priority list.
 
So, those are my 2 hobbies right now.  Dogs and landscape.  Keeping the dogs from eating the landscape and trying to get the landscape to grow so it will shade the dogs.  Maybe next year I will attempt some sort of patio extension and grassy area, if I am feeling ambitious.

2 comments:

Lizzie @ her homeworld said...

It all sounds very overwhelming at the moment. 105 degree temperatures must just be the icing on the cake.

Daizy said...

Down to 93 tomorrow! So far it isn't too bad. I'm in the office all day anyway.