Della has a large family

Saturday was Santa Paws 2019, a big fundraising event for Green Dogs Unleashed. It was held at a cider making venue (more like a winery, less like a cider house) on a very beautiful, sunny day. There was a big crowd, lots of vendors, lots of raffle tickets sold, and it appeared to be a great success. I'm very happy about all of that, including the fact that we won several of the gift baskets/prizes that were included in the raffle.

All of that aside, the most important aspect of the event was that it was also Della's family reunion. I have early childhood memories of family reunions that were not so nice. Mostly I remember car sickness on the drive, and then being paraded around extended family that I really didn't know, and spending a long day trying to fill time with virtual strangers until we finally headed home. For an introverted child, it was agony.

I enjoyed today's event much more. Della's kids all came. Well, all but one, and we met on the beautiful grassy lawn out in the sun for a family photo. It was wonderful to see them all again. Della loves a crowd of people and she really liked everyone greeting her and loving on her. She still goes into mother mode around her pups, however. She checks them over, makes sure everyone is healthy and eating well. She dishes out discipline as needed, and she assumes a protective posture as to other dogs who are not her puppies. When we were outside and just among her pups and their adopters it was fine. Afterwards, when we were inside among the vendors and the other activity, including other dogs, she was a handful. I had two leashes on her and had both hands engaged most of the time just holding onto her, so I didn't get to snuggle the pups as much as I would have liked, but Clay did and they were all wonderful. I think they all remembered us as well as Della and seemed happy to see us.

Della loved the activity and all the people. She sucks up attention like a sponge and she attracts a lot of it. In addition to all the adopters, a lot of people knew her, or knew her story. She got lots of hugs, kisses, and petting, and she enjoyed it all. A couple people asked me if she was one of Della's pups.

We see some of the pups fairly often because they live nearby and sometimes stay with us during the day. We see some of them frequently on Facebook. But it was great to see them all together in the furry flesh today. I hope we can get them all together again for their first birthday next June.

Della, realizing that all her puppies were back again.

Della meeting Stella

Della greeting Poppy (Peroni)

Meeting Abita for the first time since her adoption.

Della with Maze (Chimay)

Della and Woody (Carlsberg)

Woody's black sleeve on his right front
leg, just like Della's.

Della meeting Augie (Paulaner)
When Della stopped nursing during the first week due to
mastitis, the vet and every woman we know told us that the
best cure (in addition to warm compresses) was nursing.
Paulie had a very strong urge to nurse and he would suck
and kneed the flesh with his front feet when others would
give up and move to another nipple. He's the one we kept
putting onto the affected nipple hoping that he'd get the flow
going again, and he did. I give him credit for the cure.

Della in mother mode, looking over the crowd for threats
to her pups.

Bodhi (Modelo) is the biggest of the litter
at 107 pounds now. He will be bigger than
Della soon, but she let him know today
that no matter how big he gets, she will
always be his mother.

I'm in the center trying to hold onto Della. Immediately to the left of me is Mo-Dean (Allagash)
and to the right is Killian.

We get to see Duvel pretty often because
he lives nearby.

The pup with the nicest "sit" is Stella.

Abita has a nice sit too.

Bodhi (Modelo) and Augie (Paulaner)

This is Astro (Guinness), a close second to Bodhi in size.

Me messing with Della, and just behind on
the left is Maze (Chimay). We've always thought
that she is the most like Della in terms of
personality. Stubborn, head-strong, smart.

Killian waiting with Astro.