Here is the rest of the puppy story.
They lived in the back storage room with the space heater and each other to keep them warm throughout January.
Spring comes early here, and they were rapidly getting too big for the nine of them to stay comfortable and not make the air unbreathable in that little room for even a day at a time. My dad and I built this fenced-in area and made a doghouse out of a crate. They learned to use the dog door on the storage room door almost instantly, and about a day after this picture was taken a plastic flap was added over the door of the dog-crate so that they wouldn't forget how to use one.
Still couldn't really identify the breed mix they are. Lily has webbed feet and a soft baggy mouth like a lab, her ears are shaped like an aussie's and she has some aussie mannerisms, and maybe some border collie... no idea what she hooked up with but the puppies have similar features to hers. All different coats, different patterns, different fur thickness and length, who knows.
I would usually hop over the fence instead of using the gate because of how eager they were to see me or my parents or their parent. They had human contact every day they were here. I think they'll prove to be friendly and very easy to train as a result.
But since there's no grass in the back, they were always awfully dirty. Especially on the days that it rained. They got the idea of keeping the area surrounding the crate clean though, and all the crap would be closer to the wooden fence.
Right before they turned 8 weeks old I put a "free to good homes" post on craigslist. One person contacted me within the hour, but that night I also got into some texts with an animal shelter urging me to let them take them and put them through a more formal adoption process, which would include all their vaccines on time, deworming, spaying and neutering. I get that there are some freaky people who'll take free puppies just to abuse them or as targets to train fighting dogs, so I agreed... but I also let the first guy and his fiance come by and take two first. They seemed trustworthy enough. So just like that, two of them found homes and five of them were taken to a foster home to live in a volunteer's backyard until about three more weeks from now, until their medical stuff is finished and they're ready for adoption. Seven of them, gone. Yeah, of course I cried, which really got my eyes burning on top of not having slept the previous night. I slept for about 16 hours after that. I don't know if Lily was anxious about seven of them disappearing, or if she was just bored, but she tore a few things up in the days following, like my old shoes.
These two were still here for one more week. Little Bear on the left, Bowie on the right, the two my aunt Pat had chosen. She has one dog already, Sunny, who is really really old, an escape artist for leashes, a cat murderer... she is really very sweet, but not a take-on-a-walk dog. My mom and I took them there on Saturday and they settled in immediately. Sunny actually seemed a bit excited to have the company, her granddaughters love them, they're reportedly "already housebroken", and I get to see them grow up.
The next day, yesterday, I took Lily on her first walk (also her first extended period of time on a leash), into the orchards behind the house. That went well, and I wanted to take her on another one today, but didn't because the side of her mouth was all swollen up. I'm pretty sure she just got a bee sting. That's what happens when you try to catch bugs in your mouth indiscriminately! She's already looking better, so I'll take her tomorrow. She's got saggy empty teats that need toning.
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