Puppy Power

I always thought that taking care of babies was a lot of work. Well, it appears that I have forgotten that taking care of two small puppies is just as much work! I have had an eventful week, filled with lots of cleaning up after two small puppies...Mignon and Musette. They arrived last Thurs. afternoon, very dirty and a bit shaken from a long plane ride, but quickly warmed up to us after we got them home. We had the perfect solution to the potty/litter training, as we had gotten a device to hold the pee pads firmly in place, so the puppies couldn't move them around, therefore spilling the contents. That was the theory, anyway...

They were marvelous about immediately using the pee pads, but then came our first problem. Their poopies were a bit runny after the plane ride and the trauma of the journey, etc., which the breeder explained would go away after a few days... A FEW days? "Great!", I thought, "Just what we need," as I watched them accidently walking through their feces over and over again, trailing it from one end of the small enclosed area to the other. Well...., we adjusted, and I reminded everyone that they had to whip out a puppy wipe every time they wanted to hold one of the little darlings, and wipe their feet and bottoms. Then I bought several paper towel rolls and some Fantastick to constantly wipe up the floor. (Luckily, we only have wood floors, so it wasn't too bad. I shudder to think what I would do with carpet!)
I also have to mention that after the wiping of the floor, I had to spray it down with the chemical smell remover, (we've tried ALL the varieties over the years...) so the little things wouldn't get confused and think that their entire space was one big puppy pad.

Then came the next problem. They were fascinated with the holder that held the puppy pad in place and decided amongst themselves that it was the devil and needed to be destroyed and the puppy pads shredded, so as to give their runny poopies more freedom. Ok, ok....so maybe they were digging for a treasure, but whatever the reason, and even though I TAPED the pad in place, attached to the holder, they managed to shred it up into little pieces and yes, you guessed it, there was pee and feces all over the floor and their little feet, and....well, we were back where we started...

So, after much thought and extra money spent, I thought that since we were going to train them to a litter box eventually, anyway, it might as well be the present, as I had had ENOUGH of the five days of cleaning up the floor, paws and little bottoms... Besides, I had to leave them for the first time to go to MA to teach my voice students, and I could IMAGINE what their area would look like after me being gone for six hours! (Well, you should have seen it every morning...) So, I went to Petco, and after talking to the salesgirl, who ASSURED me that the puppy litter would help the puppies WANT to go on it, and then obtaining some spray to prompt them to go there, just to be safe, I got the new litter, a pan, a few toys, (can't get out of the pet store now without a few toys...)and proceeded home.

The set up was great, and I put a pee pad in front of the litter so they would know to start there and move into the pan. Well, the first thing that they did was get into the litter pan, and start chewing on the small litter pellets! (It is made up of tightly rolled newspaper stuff with scent on it) I even used the spray to prompt them, but they still thought that the litter was a great thing to chew on and also, to play in, as they moved all their chew toys in there to play with.

I did notice that they were still peeing on the pad, but were confused as to where to poop, so they kept leaving little turd piles around the litter pan, close to the pee pad. I wasn't about to give up, and I still had one more trick up my sleeve and I was bound and DETERMINED to not let these little girls win! (I have been watching Dog Whisperer fanatically and was GOING to be a good pack leader...) So, I proceeded to take the litter out of the pan, and put a puppy pad under it, then put the litter back over the top of it. Then, I left to go to my teaching...

When we returned to the house last night, I was overjoyed to see that there weren't any poopies outside the litter! (well,....maybe one just clinging precariously to the side, but I'm sure that it was MEANT to go in...) They had tried to shred the pee pad at the front, but I guess that when it wasn't attached to the devil holder, it wasn't any fun anymore. (No challenge...) And then, this morning when I got up to feed them, they didn't have any accidents around the litter at all!!

Of course, only my beautiful puppies could be so smart and so wonderful to accomplish this in less than a week! Everything is right with the world again...

Now, if I can only figure out how to get off all the crusty, dangling dried poopies that keep reappearing on their little bottoms without having to soak those said bottoms three times a day. (The puppy wipes aren't strong enough to soften them...) Any ideas?