Time to say good bye…
Seven weeks and three days I have lived with the puppies. I’ve seen them arriving in this world, I slept in the same room, fed them at night. Later, when the tiny, blind and helpless creatures transformed into proper little dogs I’ve fed them at night, let them out into the garden early in the morning. (Hey, I mean really really early. 5 a.m. give and take half an hour was the usual start of the day.)
Raising puppies is not a one-man job. And these were eleven very lively puppies. There were enthusiasts supporting and backing me. All the daily work with the puppies would not have been possible without them. And I mean the daily work. Feeding is not work. Feeding is fun. But you know, whatever creature you feed, you will have to remove the droppings afterwards. And that was a litter of eleven (!) puppies. Eleven puppies which ingested more and more each day. Number and size of the piles increased dramatically.
My beloved wife and my children were on my side. As soon as she was allowed to touch the puppies, my little daughter was around them whenever possible. She helped with the superdog training (you remember the puppynauts, don’t you?!?), cared for and (positively) stressed the dogs. The boys joined her frequently. Karlsson and Kari were the puppies adopted by them for ‘as long as they are with us’. And whenever advice and support was needed, Ole and Dorthe were available from afar, by phone, chat, video… And, for the previous four days in person.
They are all gone now. My wife, my dog, my friends, all puppies… (Well, my kids stayed here ;-)) Them all have travelled to Denmark to prepare for the pick-up of the puppies by the new owners. Late Saturday and Sunday the puppies were tested for their reaction in various situations. In combination with our observations it was then decided how to pair puppies and future puppy owners.
Life… is calm now. It is so different from the overwhelming hush and rush of life bustling around whether one wants it or not. There have been eleven of them. Even if eight were sleeping, three were fighting with each other or with the interior of the puppy room. It’s great (and it was absolutely time for it) to have some time for oneself now, to breath and relax, not to be running for feed, removing droppings or whatever. Nevertheless, it’s a big void now. Now that they are gone…
The end.
The end? No!
A series of portraits of each of the puppies shot on Monday (7 weeks and two days of age) will follow soon.
