12th, 13th and 14th Day.

6 weeks left and I wonder how on earth I am going to cope. The three dogs I have now cause mayhem and eat me out of house and home...and there's another ????? on the way - and I have to get a vet! Heaven knows what that will cost, but now begin to realise why puppies are so expensive.

I don't normally complain about anything, but the dogs have behaved very badly for a few days, even eating the mail. Piglet goes outside for what should be a relief run, and then comes back indoors and does it...a bit of a no brainer, but I guess she'll catch on when the time is right - and Alfie's love of cats is not dimming.

Next week should be better hopefully, as we won't be quite so poor!
The dogs are wonderful really, and I hate myself for having a moan but sometimes it helps. I feel better already!
I suppose its the time after Xmas when all the bills are dropping like flies on the doormat, and the coffers are empty...so they will have to wait until next week. No use worrying about them, they will get paid-but in my time, not theirs.

I need a whelping box....I have the room ready, but Maddy will need somewhere her babies can be safe for quite a while, and it will have to be cosy with the ability to be kept clean. Next job!
I am thinking I may turn my wardrobe upside down and take off the doors and pole...it is made from reed so is totally natural, but do I want it ruining? Hmmmm.

So much to do and so little time to do it - but she is healthy and happy at the moment and has just eaten a whole cooked chicken breast, so is reclining on the sofa.

Someone asked me what I would charge for a puppy the other day, and to my horror the thought of letting one go made me feel sick. I know we have to, but how can you put a price on one of Maddy's and Alfie's puppies? If I do sell them, I am going to have to check the homes they go to and keep in touch with whoever buys one. It makes sense to me to board them if ever the owner goes away, and if someone felt the need to move abroad or they just couldn't cope, then they must come back to their mummy.

I also thought about pet sitting if the owners are at work all day, but that wouldn't happen, as I would be very loth to sell them to anyone who works as it isn't fair on the pup. There may be a few extenuating circumstances, like if the owner ran their own company and could take pup to work with them, or worked from home - as it is now, nothing is set in stone!

Having walked a few miles with 3 dogs, we are all suitably tired but refreshed. Since the rain started a few days ago, it has been that long since we all had a walk, so the dogs really went mad.
I look at Maddy and find her putting on weight gently, which is great for her. She is still wanting to leap about, but has slowed down a little. Does she know? I find the animal kingdom incredibly fascinating, and would love to know what goes on in their minds.

It's time for bed now and I am slowly weaning them all off my bed. Three..two large and one small growing puppy is too much for my bed and sleeping habits which aren't great at the best of times, as I wake at every little sound, but Alfie looks at me with his hang dog eyes as if to say..."You don't love me!" Of course I do, but am no use whatsoever if I don't get my sleep!
Tomorrow is the start of week three - this is going too fast for me!

Days 10 & 11

Nothing much to note, apart from Maddy getting fatter - and for some reason happier and more playful!

I think this blog a fanatastic idea, but there's only so much you can say about your dogs digestion, feeding habits and wonderful personality!

Be back soon....

Day 9 - 2nd week

Having been awake until 03.00hrs this morning because I was sandwiched like a hot dog in a roll between them all, my mood is not of it's best this morning. Having let the dogs out for a call of nature Alfie then came back in and deposited what can only be described as horse droppings on the lounge floor. I then followed Piglet and she did 4..all around the lounge and dining room!

Dettol works wonders as does antibacterial spray, but what has come over them all? Roll on warmer weather, and training classes. I don't think Alfie has ever been told what to do and it seems he is a very determined dog and when he sets his mind to do something, he WILL do it...that is until I came along.
There has to be rules in a house with more than one dog. Maddy has never been a problem dog at all. She didn't chew furniture, pooh anywhere she shouldn't, and was completely housetrained at 15 weeks.

With Piglet it is more difficult as she can't hear me, but she knows...and still does it - little minx!
A good job I'm used to it. Having brought up my two sons alone and then almost 4 years doing the same with my 3 grandsons from birth, I am used to the smelly jobs, so no shock there.

Maddy has had a runny egg with dried biscuits this morning - as I am saving the egg shells to make her bonemeal.
The other two had Butchers all in one dried food!

They are such good friends now, but their playing does get noisy with Piglets ear piercing bark not quite developed. Ear plugs please!

We are incredibly short of money until tomorrow, so we are going to turn the electricity and gas off and go to bed to keep warm. There's enough food for the dogs and cats tonight, thank goodness, and tomorrow I get paid. Whew just made it!
Chris and I live frugally and eat when we are hungry. I always have a few staples in the fridge for emergencies so we won't starve, but it will be cold if we run out of gas and it's on emergency already!

I will come back to this this afternoon when we turn everything back on....
I'm back and thankful we still have the electricity and gas. The dogs had rice with fresh cooked vegetables, tuna in brine and cod in butter sauce all mixed up. They loved it, but even my cupboard is running bare now.
I will be glad when I can visit the butcher, as they must be on a meat withdrawal.

When I was a small child my father was incredibly strict, and any amount of waste was not tolerated. Coming out of the RAF and meeting my mother, he left his first wife and 3 daughters for her. It was a horrible journey for us kids, as he was mediaeval in his upbringing. There was no love - just discipline hard work and no pocket money. I was being kept wasn't I?

My brother and I longed for a dog to love...and one day he came back with an Alsation who we named Tammy.
She was beautiful and my brother and I were thrilled, until one day sat on the pavement we saw her being led away. She ate too much or did a pooh somewhere, and sadly it was the shape of things to come.
Everything had a price, nothing was worth keeping. It went on like this for years, first Tammy, then Yogi our Boxer dog, then my Rusty New Forest Pony, then Sally the Irish Connemara I learnt to jump with, on and on, until he sold my beloved piano...actually no he didn't sell it, he chopped it up for firewoood. I used to play in the stables with Rusty, learning every day and loving it until one day I came home from school and it was gone, like the horses and dogs. No warning - take it or leave it!

My life was a difficult one - some horrendous things happened to me and I don't know how I survived it all, but I did and luckily I had the strength to become a nicer more compassionate person in spite of it.

One day I will write a book as I do think I could help people get over some of their problems, but then again, I have had to be strong. Not everyone has it in them I suppose, some people turn violent, some turn passive - I turned out to be stubborn but very caring. That is not a bad thing in itself if you meet people the same. I didn't!
Suffice it to say, life got very messy and me and my children eneded up on the streets 11 years ago, and we have been struggling ever since, as I married a con man and he took everything I had worked for over 20 years...in just 4. I had accumulated a house todays value of £500,000.00 and a thriving business. My sons and I were left with nothing, no car, no food, no home, no bed. It was a long haul back, but we are now content and happy.

There is so much more, but the point I am trying to get to in the blog is why I love my dogs and why I need to write. It's so therapeutic and if just one person reads this and thinks - if she can do it so can I, then nothing has been in vain. I am not materialistic but like a nice home and car - and I have that now. My dogs, my sons, and my home..who could want for more? At 55 years old, I now understand life a bit more, and can never envisage ever trusting a man again. What for?
Life was tough, but I learned a good lesson.

Day 8 Maddy's second week

Computer down yesterday so couldn't get online and finish. Nothing much to report apart from Maddy beginning to swell. Pictures above are top: Alfie and Piglet and below Maddy. Not terribly good ones I know, as were taken on a phone camera.

Having checked Maddy today, her belly is fuller and her nipples are larger, so I would expect this to be a confirmation of what we knew already.
She is lying at my feet as I write and the other two are driving me nuts playing loudly, another funfilled day in the madhouse!

Having just found Alfie and Piglet with one of my leather gloves chewed to smithereens I am not happy! No wonder they were making so much noise - but fully chastised with the said glove on their rear end - I think it is time for a walk. They are bored, and so am I...some fresh air may put that right.

Another wonderful walk, with piglet running off because a few children frightened her. Doesn't she know she's a Staffy? Daft thing, but we ran after her and nothing apart from her own curiosity brought her back. No use calling her, she's deaf!
All Muddied and wet Alfie decided to wallow in the mud and then come back and haphazardly wipe it all over my clean leather sofa. He is deliriously happy and who could not be happy for him...the suite can be wiped off!
Alfie after covering my sofa decided he would sit on my lap...all wet and grubby, and I felt Maddy was feeling a bit left out, so gave her some one to one time as well. It's hard to love them all equally as they are wanting attention 24/7 and climbing over each other to get to me. God knows what will happen when the puppies get here?

Another day with no dog meat..plenty of all in one dog biscuits but not sustenance with a purpose, so I cooked more rice and opened Sardines and Tuna, mixed it all together and shared it out. Piglet's stomach looked like it would burst, and that was her second meal of the day.

My son gives me some respite, as they all love him too, but he has to keep the three cats from Alfie until they are used to him. Poor girls, first Maddy then Piglet then Alfie...not a lot of fun for them I guess, but they are pretty much used to them all now, and squeakers gives back as good as she gets.

Tomorrow I go shopping. I didn't manage to get to the butchers the other day, but it has to be top of my agenda tomorrow!
Now we go to bed...wish me luck......