No pics, no names

Several days ago we took in a nursing mother and her three new born puppies. (See, Nothing to see here, from June 12, 2023.) They were three days old. They are part of an on-going court case so I can't share any pictures or talk about where they came from, except to say that it's a sad situation. The fact that I can't post pictures of them makes them the perfect topic for today's post, however, because I left my phone out in thunderstorm this evening and it's currently buried in a container full of rice in the hope that it will dry out and still work. 

The mother is a smallish dog, maybe 25-30 pounds, sort of looks like our last foster mom, Holly, except smaller. The pups are one female and two males. The female is the largest. I started tracking their weights and they all seem to be growing. I noticed this afternoon that they are beginning to look more like furry potatoes rather than sausage-like appearance of newborn pups. Mom is eating well, four times a day, and using the pee pads to do all her business in the puppy palace, so they are all very easy keepers right now.

I've been trying to establish a relationship with the mother, but without much success. She's not exactly scared of me, but she does get up whenever I come in and move away from me rather than come to me even though I've been coming in there with a generous serving of puppy food four times a day. I tried giving her treats but she had zero interest in them. Yesterday I decided to up the ante and starting taking her a small plate of cut up hotdogs and cheese cubes, as well as the dog food. She won't take them from my hand but she does go over and clean the plate as soon as I leave. 

She has never made any aggressive move or even a growl towards me, and I'm able to handle her puppies to check their weight without objection. But I've never seen the least little wag of a tail from her or any sign that she's at all happy to see me. The puppies are in a plastic child's wading pool like we've used in the past, and it's big enough for her too but I also brought a bed out for her to lay on when she's not with the pups. I've never yet seen her use the bed. If she's not in with the puppies she's laying on the vinyl floor nearby. I don't think she has any concept of a dog bed or what to do with it. I have a few carpet squares that are pretty soft, I'll put those out and maybe she will use them.

Since she's got puppies we've got plenty of time to work on bonding and I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, including spending time out there doing stuff without bothering her and the pups. We do need names for mom and the pups (one girl, two boys) and I haven't come up with any inspired theme for the names. Suggestions are welcome.

Hotdogs, cheese cubes, and canned pumpkin, what's not to love?