So, my sis-in-law rescued a pregnant dog from the shelter several weeks ago. It is a medium sized dog, about 35 lbs. She was due any day, and they waited patiently for the pups to arrive. Then May 9th, they came, all 10 of them!! All the pups are healthy, they are 5-1/2 weeks, and are about ready to be weaned. This past weekend, she and my brother went out of town, and she asked if we could puppy sit. I knew it would be a lot of work, but there weren't many options for her to find someone to care for that many puppies...so I agreed.
They arrived on Friday morning. We set them up in our utility room, which is on the main floor. After we got the playpen set up, we put Sheba (the mother) in the pen to nurse them...They all swarmed around her grabbing a nipple. It was a FUNNY site for sure. Mom wanted to get out after a short time, so I helped her out. They ate, and slept, and pooped, and pooped, and pooped for the rest of the day. We had taped a puppy pad in for them to go on, but they had decided it was a toy to play with and tore it up. Then I put some newspaper in there, but they did the same. So, we just had towels and sheets on top of a plastic sheet for them to go on. I switched out their bedding about 3-4 times that day. By the next morning the sheet left overnight was FULL of really stinky poop. The pups were as well. I took them and their pen out to the back yard. We have a small yard, mostly a patio, no grass. It was a bit warm out there so I kept them in the shade, and kept moving them as the sun moved. Pretty soon there would not be any shade, so I had to figure out what to do next. I had cleaned up the room they were in, but the WHOLE house wreaked of doggy poo! Mike suggested that we put them in the garage. So, he parked his car outside, and we set them up in there. Then it was time to deal with the pile of soiled sheets. Not wanting to put poop in our washing machine, I took them outside to the common area, and hosed them out on the lawn. Then I had to wring them out before running them to the washing machine. By this time, I was pooped and grossed out and thought how does she do this everyday?!
So Saturday the pups ate, and slept, and pooped, and pooped, and pooped for the rest of the day. Sunday morning I started out doing the same, changing the sheet, and feeding them, and hosing down the bedding. A few hours later the pups had soiled the whole sheet again!! Not wanting to soil any more sheets I decided to try the newspaper again....they played with it for a few minutes, but then left it alone. If they pooped, I just covered it with another layer of newspaper!!! Feeling stupid I just didn't stick with the newspaper from day one, I was still glad that it worked out so well for the rest of the day until they came to pick them up.
So, I had a little taste of motherhood this weekend. And all I can say is at least babies wear diapers!!
