A year earlier

It was one year ago, June 11, 2019, that I wrote a blog post titled: "Late Night Cravings" in which I told the story of Della catching a rabbit in the middle of the night, just two days before she would deliver 12 puppies. The first picture here is from that post taken a year ago. Della has proven her prey drive repeatedly since then and she has also shown that she has an insatiable appetite. She has gotten into the foster food barrel and gorged herself on more than one occasion, and still wanted to eat at the next scheduled mealtime. While some of her pups have become somewhat picky about their food, Della is still "anything, anytime, the more, the better" when it comes to food.

The next two pictures are Della today, a svelte 111 pounds of cookies and cream at her vet visit today. The vet told me that Della was "fabulous," which came as no surprise but I didn't know that was a clinical term now. She got checked over, got her vaccines updated, and got lots of love and admiration. That has always been Della's experience at a vet's office, which is why she never seems to mind going.

While Della's maternity days are behind her, Luna is still in the midst of hers with three week old puppies. With only three pups she seems to have plenty of milk for them, but we've been introducing them to milk replacer once each day so they will know how to lap it up when that becomes their primary source of nutrition. The pups seem to be enjoying the new space and are working on their coordination and leg strength. Luna seems to like to new space too, particularly the doggie door that lets her go in and out as she pleases. I have been closing her in at night, however.

Journey is still pretty much the same. I think he's going to be a long term project to get him to trust, like, and bond with people. I should take him on a hike, that always helps, and I need to get back to it myself. 

Simon, the boxer, is warming up. He's very quiet and curious, fine with all the other dogs, still trying to figure out us humans. He finally ate part of his food this morning, but in the evening he ignored it completely until Clay fed him some by hand and then stayed with him while he finished the rest on his own.  

The garden is doing well. I'll close with a picture of the flamingo garden, which is beginning to come into bloom.