springmilldogs

Here is Carly when we first met her. She is a 4-5 year old Buff & White parti cocker. She is so sad looking huh. This is her in Monica's vari kennel for the ride to meet with us.

Springtime Puppy Mill Dogs
Brought in to Cockers in Need on April 12, 2008 from an Amish Mill

We do everything in stages. The pictures below will show the dogs from the time we meet them during their transport, to the time they leave here. Lucky, these 3 seem very happy and eager.

Here's Daffy. She's around 7 years old and is a buff cockapoo. She's a happy girl.

This is Dilly in his travel crate. He's a 4-5 year old black poodle. Yeah, under those dred locks is a poodle. He's happy but a little shy.

After we transfered them from Monica's car to ours, it was a short drive home. They didn't make a peep. We were able to carry them to the back yard and let them have a little time to settle and relax before we let our gang out to meet them (and bark).

Daffy & Dilly on Mary Ellen's lap out back. Daffy even gave a little kiss

Carly on the patio. She was afraid to move. She's the most nervous of the bunch.

We put them in a little panel pen in the back yard so they could potty and stretch a bit. Dilly decided to hop right over, so we spent a little time enticing him to get back in there with his friends.

After about 1/2 hour we let our gang out for sniffs and barks. They did pretty good, a few good woofs and some nose touching and things settled down

Rags & Blossom say hi to Dilly. On the other side, Nemo is saying hi to Daffy

Now comes the fun part. We take each one and examine them and try to find the dog underneath that mess. Daffy was first. She was a good girl, but we found a frightening surprise. :-(

Daffy's scruffy little face and body was crusty and loaded with flea dirt and fleas

This could be nasty mammary tumor on her lower nipple. I'm hoping it's either an inguinal hernia or a set of "boy parts". Stranger things have happened

After a quick groom up we found her cute little face. Because of the fleas, we opted to Frontline her instead of a bath.

Carly the cocker during her grooming. She didn't have too many mats, has a pretty low maintenance coat. She was a very good girl for her make-over. She also got Frontlined because of fleas and flea dirt.

Yup, that's a poodle!!!

The process begins!

All done -- but instead of a bath, he got Frontlined. He did pretty good, no aggression in any of the dogs, just some fear and wanting to run and hide.

They are all resting comfortably in nice clean xpens with soft blankies and fresh water and food. We'll update again later on as we learn more about them.

They ate dinner with gusto and finished all gone. As a precaution, they are on Panacur for possible worms. We do this to all the new dogs that come in.

Sunday
They slept well and kept their xpens clean. We took them outside and they did pottys in the yard pen and were happy to see us and even took some food from our hands.

They are diggers. HA, Carly started to dig a hole to China. We had to move the pen over onto the brick to see if that stops them from being little dirt devils.

Day 2
The pups are showing a lot more interest in being held and pet and loved on.
The set of pictures below shows their cribs -- where they eat and sleep.
It also shows them outside in the pen and how they are now begging and standing up for us to touch them. This is excellent news for mill dogs!!!

Tuesday's Child
Dilly needs extra special time. He is so sweet and trusting, but shakes like crazy. So, today it's all about him. He wants very much to trust and have fun like the rest of the pups here. He's going to carried around today and allowed to mingle. He's wearing a belly band because he has no idea he isn't supposed to lift his leg on every single item in the house. He was never IN a house.
Our dogs are very good at teaching the new ones how to be a dog. Dilly will learn from watching. He is starting to come over to me when I put my hand out. He's a doll.

I came in this room all by myself, I am smart!!!

Oh I like that cow hoof

They are really doing well. We're allowing them to mingle with the crowd. Daffy & Carly have learned how to go up and down the steps, that's a BIG help. They willingly follow us outside and are coming in on their own too. Even Dilly -- but he's not so good with the steps yet, he's getting there.

Here are some random shots of the dogs relaxing yesterday

May updates
All of the pups have been vetted. There is good news and bad news. I've been putting off doing this update.

Dilly: He's doing wonderful. His bloodwork came back good, his exam went well and he's doing so much better. He follows us around and asks to be picked up now. He's even trying to play with the dogs. He will be neutered on May 8th (Thursday).

Carly: She's a princess in training. Velcro dog and wants very much to please. She IS displaying some possession aggression. Not to humans, but to the dogs - when it comes to toys etc. It could be because she's never had anything or because she is the mama dog (typical female). This might change after she's spayed, but to be on the safe side, we think she would be best as an only dog, where she can have ALL the toys and chewies. Her exam showed she is slightly anemic -- otherwise her bloodwork was good. She has a slight heart murmur which might go away with proper nutrition. She's on a diet too. We can't spay her while she's anemic, so we have to give her a little time to beef up, plus we think she's in heat.

Daffy: The news wasn't good. The large tumors are Mammary Adenocarcinoma. Both mammary chains are involved. We had xrays taken. She has a medium size spot on her lung, which basically means she will be in hospice care here till ..... :-( however she is eating and happy and loves to follow Garry around.

Pictures are from May 3rd... they love the yard and even do zoomies now. Daffy & Dilly are a team, while Carly hangs with me most of the day. It's cute to watch them open up and learn something new every day. They have also learned how to eat off of a fork. :-D

Rest in Peace Daffy