Meeker Moments: Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! Fall 2019

It's pretty much ALWAYS puppy season on the Reservation. It's dangerous to go help out at any house on the Rez because you're pretty much guaranteed to find puppies.

We helped out on a property cleaning up. I went over to a neighbor's house to check in on my friend whom I had taken puppies from earlier this year. Turns out, she had 3 momma dogs who all had puppies within a week of each other.

Momma #1: Chihuahua mom with no given name so I named her "Jujubee" or "Juju" for short. She had puppies that were promptly eaten by coyotes. I'm not sure how she got away but she was definitely not thriving or doing well on the property. I honestly looked at her and thought, "Oh yeah. This dog is gonna die soon." She was STARVED and was still producing milk. But upon learning that she had just had puppies (and NOT parvo) I decided to take her. Juju came to live with me for a couple of weeks. She more than doubled her weight and then went to be fixed/treated/ and adopted by the sweetest elderly couple with no children at home. This dog seriously went from coyote food to Queen Bee as this couple treats her as their own child--she has plenty to eat, goes on daily walks, has a fancy collar, and sleeps IN the bed with them. Honestly one of my most favorite rescue stories.

Before/after pic

Living her BEST LIFE!!!

Momma #2: This poor momma had 4 puppies but she began having seizures shortly after they were born. The momma passed away and so did 3 of her pups. The last surviving pup was taken in and raised by Momma #3.

Momma #3: Again, no given name so I called her "Jilly-boo." (All these names come from a family favorite children's book--Skippy Jon Jones). This amazing momma took in the orphan along with her 2 babies born and she did a TREMENDOUS job raising them. She was an excellent mother. Potty trained from day one of having her so she pretty much had run of our whole house because we trusted her completely. Her pups were just days old when I found them. So they spent pretty much their entire lives in my house right up until they were adopted between 8-10 weeks old.

Nutella

Ivy

Violet

These 3 cuties grew up before our eyes and turned into these adorable pups:

Momma of the Year--Jillyboo!

It was a ROUGH day when I had to take Jillyboo back to her home on the Rez as the family wanted her back. It broke my heart when she tried to jump back into the truck with me. But she was never my dog and I promised to bring her back. I cannot bring myself to go back to the property to check on her. I sure hope she is still alive. I tried getting her fixed but she had tick fever and the vet could not fix her. She needed medicine but the owners would not give it to her. So this is one of my failure stories. I'm sure there will be many more stories like this as I continue to move forward.

After many many hours working on getting puppies adopted and females spayed and returned home, I was feeling like I was making some progress--I had taken 9 females out of the reproduction ring on the Rez through adoptions/spays--then BAM! I get a text telling me that there were 11 MORE PUPPIES BORN.

So here I go again. I went to check on the puppies shortly after birth. They were fine and in a good place. I had a date that I would come back and get them. I had just gotten rid of my last foster pup on a Sunday, Rocco had surgery on Monday, then on Wednesday, I got a text from the owner telling me the puppies HAD to be moved that night! 2 weeks earlier than I had anticipated. But they were in danger so Chris and I went out to the Rez that night--forgetting any flashlights and with only our cell phone lights--and rounded up the 11 puppies and their mother. So I had a DOZEN extra dogs at my house for a month!!! I named them all the reindeer names and the shelter had them ALL ADOPTED within 3 days of their availability!!! Seriously one of my most favorite litters EVER! They are lab mixes and just had the best personalities. They were a TON of work and I just loved them.

We had to put our 15 year old beagle, Sofia, to sleep this September--it's was a TOUGH fall for me all around with my dogs/puppies. I knew instantly that I was going to keep one of the 11 puppies. I let Lost Our Home know right away that I was keeping one. They were extremely supportive of it and even took care of ALL of my pup's shots and surgery and would NOT let me pay for anything. I have been fostering for them for almost 3 years now and they thought it was the least they could do for me. So MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!!! I got my new little girl--Lola Mae!!!

Helping me wrap presents:)

We had to put a cage around our tree this year.
She was eating all the ornaments!!!

My male beagle, Rocco, has always been a submissive dog to a fault!!! Seriously will roll over and show his belly to anyone! I stopped taking him to the dog park because every time I turned around, he was getting beat up or mounted! And so the pattern continues as we can see that he willingly takes the smaller dog bed over HIS OWN large bed...