Ollie at PAWS

Ollie arrived at PAWS to join the other O Puppies at College. Good Luck you guys. Study hard and make us all proud. Thank you to all the foster raisers who worked so hard with you. Cleaned up your messes and repaired what you chewed, took you to so many places, taught you and loved you and proudly walked you back to PAWS. Thanks to the staff that will now care for these pups. They will be fed and groomed and exercised. Thank you trainers at PAWS you are the BEST. It is now time for you to work your magic as only you can do.

Ollie Gets Ready for College

Ollie had his last few days with us here in Burr Ridge and then in Michigan before he made his way to PAWS. He will be missed by his mom as they shared the little bed in the kitchen often. We will miss this cuddly guy who never passed up a chance to be close. He is silly Mr. Blue from the O litter who would make his laps around the pool. He is all grown up now. Handsome and wise. Does it get any easier? No. I think we know what it will be like to let them go and we work at telling ourselves why we do this, but we are weepy and sensitive. Julie was asked at dog class last night where he was and that is hard. Even if you tell people he will be going they forget and then you explain again the process swallowing hard as they ask - How do you do this? You have to see the big picture and know what these dogs will be able to do and the difference they can make. I have to thank Naomi, Jim, Amy and so many others who remind me of what these dogs can do by letting us be a part of their lives. "Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you are not really loosing it, you are passing it on to someone else."

Emma

Kari was celebrating Mary Blain's birthday - Happy Birthday Mary. Mary works in the front office at PAWS and is one of the great people who came down to meet Cheeto and her pups. Emma was also celebrating. She looks all grown up. The E puppies are 6 months and looking beautiful. Thanks for the picture Kari.

Ellie Celebrates

That is Ellie on far right with her friends Flynn and Phoenix (L-R) They are celebrating Ingrid's birthday. The cake was a real work of art. This is a people cake as Ingrid is Ellie's field representative for PAWS. For those not familiar with puppy raising this is great for the pups. Outings together in public teach them to have control even when their best friends are sitting next to them and they really want to romp. Socialization is one of the greatest things puppy raisers can do for their pups. Flynn's not too sure about this but all the big guys look comfortable in a mall wearing capes AND hats. Thanks Carol this is really fun to see.

No Puppies

Well, here is the story. On April 3 Cheeto was examined by her local vet and she did not feel any pups at that time. She did a progesterone level and it was inconclusive. The level was up but not high enough to say for sure that she was with pups. On April 4 the vet at PAWS saw Cheeto and Dr. Jeanne did an ultrasound and did not see puppies. We then waited until today April 12 to repeat an ultrasound at Bob's office and the results: no puppies. What did we see on the early ultrasound? Well, since we are not experts at looking at puppies it could have been a piece of bowel on end or an early pregnancy that did not continue. In any event Cheeto and I both get some time off! She is feeling good and the vomiting stopped this week. Hopefully there will be another litter before the end of the year after a summer of beach and swimming that Cheeto just loves.

Many of the O puppies are making their way back to Michigan. Olga has already been turned in and Ollie goes back next month. Good luck and study hard O puppies.