Puppies, puppies, everywhere

Foster dog Nancy finally decided to have her puppies yesterday evening. We saw the nesting behavior start, and ran out to get a 4' baby pool.

Nancy's digs: our guest bathroom

Byrd and Star napping on the floor outside the bathroom as they wait for the babies. I've been sleeping here at night, on puppy patrol.

Nancy is ready to get those babies out!

Finally, some puppies!

Seven babies in all! That looks like a lot.

Five males, two females.

I wonder what these pups will look like when they're bigger?

Nancy doesn't seem too keen on being a mom to so many puppies. I know she's tired--I've been awake with her all night, so I empathize--but I really hope she stays committed to these little guys.

Postscript: For those of you who guessed Nancy is a Boston/Beagle (aka Boggle) mix, you are most likely correct. Strangely, the shelter labeled her a Pug/Beagle mix, so she's "officially" a Puggle.

A change from mange

Though we've established a pattern of fostering mange dogs, I decided to have a change of pace and foster a pregnant one instead.

This cute little momma dog was going to be killed by the local pound because of her condition. They don't have the resources or the sanitary conditions to deal with newborn pups. And at this very late stage, pregnant spay is not a good idea.

So my foster group, which only takes dogs from the pound's euth list--a policy that has earned the group my eternal respect and admiration--pulled the dog, "Nancy," (I didn't name her, alas) and put out a plea to their fosters. She got bounced around a bit before I managed to persuade Byrd to let me foster her.

And here we are. I've never done the whole puppy delivery thing before. I have no idea what to expect or what to do. But I figure, if bajillions of backyard breeders can do it every year, then it can't be that hard.

Public service announcement: If you really want to experience the "joy of birth" or "joy of puppies" (or whatever), please, become a foster home for homeless dogs like Nancy.

Your local foster group will have--waiting for foster and salvation--

• pregnant dogs
• dogs that have just birthed a litter
• orphaned litters or lone puppies that need hand raising
• slightly older puppies just needing a place to crash until someone adopts them

You can have your fill of puppies and birth and whatnot, AND save their lives at the same time. It's a win-win situation.

The excuse for getting rid of Nancy was quite simple. Her paperwork said: "Can not keep."

I can and have volunteered at several shelters, but I could never deal with intake. I would kill someone.

Fun Game Time!!

What type of dog do you think Nancy is? Any guesses? Or, rather, pretend that you are a member of an adoption agency, and you would like to make sure that when people are searching for Nancy's likely breed, Nancy will show up in the search results.

Here are a bunch of pictures to help you decide what to call Nancy. Nancy weighs 31 pounds pregnant, so she is probably about 25 pounds usually. She's somewhat bigger than a cat.

In a future post, I'll reveal what breeds the pound thought Nancy is.

And I'm going to need some downright adorable, irresistable puppy names. So start thinking about that, too! :)