Parenting styles

It's been interesting to watch Allison with the puppies. It was inevitable that I would compare her parenting style to Della's, and so I have.

We had Della for the better part of two weeks before she gave birth and we were well bonded with her already. She completely trusted us from the very beginning with her pups and accepted our efforts at co-parenting. I slept in the guest room with Della and her pups just as I'm sleeping with Allison and hers out in the shed. Della's pups were in a large circular wading pool. She would lay down in there to feed them, but she didn't stay there. Della slept in bed with me at night, although she'd hop down and tend to the puppies as needed. I would often awaken to find her in the whelping pool with them piled up on her. I would jump out of bed and do a quick count to make sure everyone was present and often had to go fishing around under or behind her because Della would just come into the pool and plop down, often right on top of a few pups. As the pups grew, Della became more and more a "helicopter parent," dropping in when she was needed, take care of the pups, and then go on about her business. There with plenty of tender moments between Della and her puppies, and she clearly loved them and protected them, but she was happy to outsource a lot of the care of us. 

Allison is a different breed of mother. She stays with her pups 24 hours a day. I have to coax her to go outside just for a few minutes to do her business. I hear her big paw scratching at the door to get back in before I've finished changing the bedding. Allison lets me handle her pups, although I think she'd prefer that I not. She knows what they need and it isn't me, at least at this point in their lives. She may step back a bit after a few weeks, we will see.

Yesterday evening as I was setting up my cot for the night, Allison stepped up onto as if she was planning to lay there. There isn't room for both of us so I asked her to get down. This morning Clay brought a large dog bed out to the shed to see if she would use it, but I don't think she's done so yet. It's rare that there aren't at least two or three pups nursing on her at any moment. The rest are usually arranged in a small pile nearby. I have pulled a puppy from behind or underneath her a few times, but she's quite careful of them. I've seen her lift up a blanket and tuck a puppy just under the edge of it. That drives me nuts because I panic if I don't immediately see all ten, but she knows where she put them. 

It will be interesting to see Allison's mothering style as the pups grow and mature. I know she'll be a good one.