The Routine

We are working on establishing a routine. So far it's been that at least one of us has been in the room with Della and the puppies at all times. Getting her out to eat and do her business and changing the papers and pads in the pool is a two-man job. We put the puppies in a cardboard box. I take Della outside. She will reluctantly leave the pups for a few minutes. While we are outside and Della is eating, Clay changes the papers and cleans the pool. That's about it, not complicated.

She is willing to go outside now and she is back to eating, although she insists that I add some canned food to the dry. I'm also adding some water to keep her hydrated, some pumpkin because her stool is bad, and a high calorie liquid supplement called Dyne.

Erika came over in the afternoon with growth charts and collars. The puppies now have distinguishing colored collars, names, and the start of a chart to track their growth. They all showed at least some increase over their birth weight. Now we can keep an eye on each pup and help out if they aren't gaining weight as expected.

I took this picture Thursday night. She was wanting to get some sleep herself but needed to know
that all the pups were safe. She gathered them all up around her, under her "wings" and even
wrapped her tail around to make a nice tight, cozy bundle where everyone felt secure.

The puppy pile now with colored collars.

Della went back to playing the favorite Dane game around
here, which is barking at the shepherds in the dog yard.

She didn't drink much yesterday and I was concerned that she
would become dehydrated, but she's back at it today.

I took Maya and Serena out for a three mile hike Friday afternoon. The other dogs have been very good about the upset to their routine, so I'm trying to make sure they don't feel abandoned. Tomorrow I'll get the shepherds out for a pasture run.