APL came out today and rounded up the last 3 stragglers so all of Scout’s puppies are now being cared for by loving, responsible people. Kristine says that the first 4 are already allowing people to pick them up without screaming or snapping so that’s very encouraging. I hope things continue to go well.
I did get a few shots of the 3 pups from today:
Scout is currently laying on the bedroom floor, alternately chewing her bone and one of Graham’s stuffies. Graham is displeased.
Wonderful news about the pups and about Scout. Adorable dogs. All of them.
this is wonderful! they are so dear…thank you.
What a great ending. The little guys sure deserve to have good homes.
Wait–she’s on the bedroom floor with “her” bone?!?!?
;)
LOVE it. Can’t wait to hear the next chapter for Scout. What a lucky girl (and pups)!
so cute..they will make great pets..
All together now … AWWWWW. I love the shrinking violet pup!
This news sure made my day better.
Oh how cute! I’m glad they’re all safe!
I’m thrilled all are safe and sound but gotta ask. If the pups are 5-6 weeks old, why separate mom from them? Looks like she’s done well by them so far, why not let her finish her last “mom” job before the separation?
I have to agree PJ, they should stay with mama for at least 8 weeks of age for health and social reasoning dogs don’t learn all proper dog behavior from humans, they learn it from mama too… I always keep pups with mama for 12 weeks.
Clarification. I wasn’t suggesting not catching the pups but taking mom to wherever the pups went. I’ve worked mostly with cats (and am taming a stray kitten about the same age right now); always seems to go better with mom’s consent when that’s available.
In case you haven’t been following the story, let me give you the Reader’s Digest version: Scout (the mama dog) was in very rough shape physically and mentally when we intervened. We worked to earn her trust over time. The pups have gone to a no kill shelter where there are plenty of dogs to socialize with.
I do normally keep mama with pups for about 8 weeks but in this case I weighed the options. Taking Scout away from her newly adopted home environment (us) whom she had only recently come to trust and sending her to the shelter with her pups for 2 weeks vs. keeping her here. I chose the latter. I fully trust the shelter staff to socialize the pups properly with humans and other dogs so that they can be adopted out. They’ve done this many times before. I want Scout to feel that she was right to trust us – that she is safe here and we don’t send her off with strangers after just getting her to feel comfortable hanging with us. It was a unique decision for a unique situation.
She has been a great mama dog and if the situation was different, I would have kept her with the pups longer.
What an amazing new beginning you’ve given these sweethearts! It’s so heart warming to think of the love they will have from now on.
She did a good job as a Mom. Worm bellies, but not skinny. Time to tame them!
Oh, my goodness, what adorable and yummy pups! If dogs could hit the lottery, I’d say this bunch did! Great job!
FANTASTIC!! Kudos to all concerned in the rescue and you in particular Biscuit! is she going to be around her puppies still? what about Scout herself? I can’t believe that shy, scared dog is sitting on your floor happily chewing a bone!
I know, right?
I have been following which is why I was a little startled about the mom and pups being separated. I wouldn’t trust any of our shelter folks around here to properly socialize pups but you know them and I don’t.
If you’ve been following then you know these are good people who went way above and beyond to rescue these pups. I have every confidence in them. Now my local AC, well there are reasons I didn’t want to call them.
For example, I called them once after a pack of dogs killed another dog across the street from me. AC showed up, pulled into the driveway of the property where the killing took place, beeped the horn, waited 30 seconds and then drove over to my house. NEVER GOT OUT OF THE TRUCK. I told him someone was home over there, I’d seen the person just minutes before. He didn’t care. He just wanted to mark down in his book that he’d “followed up” on the call. None of the loose dogs were rounded up, the dead dog was left to rot and the person who lived at the home was never even talked to.
I would hate to have to rely on them to socialize puppies. Not that I believe they would have even gotten out of the vehicle to catch them in the first place.
“way above and beyond to rescue” Sorry, not seeing anything other than a pretty standard dog/puppy rescue. I’ve crawled in the ditches, stuck my hands in dark pipes and holes; even let friends tie me off while I leaned out over rushing water to snatch a clinging kitten off a branch (admittedly, stupid and was 17 at the time). This stuff is just plain jane animal rescue.
It’s rather sad if we’ve reached the point where those basics are “above and beyond”. Still, glad they are all alive and I’ll leave it at that since I did a bit of research on that puppy age issue and found the answer already.
Based on the experiences I’ve had with AC in my life, this *is* way above & beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed. At any rate, your attitude on this whole thing is really a pisser. There is no “answer” to be found on what is the best thing to do for Scout with regard to her puppies. And you certainly didn’t find it, Mr. I’ve Got a Secret so I’m Better Than You.
I think this is the best possible outcome for Scout’s situation. You know it is, that no kill shelter sounds like they give a damn, just from how much effort they put into pulling these babies!
And Scout, her middle name ought to be Lucky! She must know what you’ve done for her :)
Now its time to let Scout relax and enjoy her fattening up!
I’m a huge advocate of mother-love and discipline for normal pups up to 8-10 weeks.
But in the case of a feral litter — which these little boogers are, regardless of their mother’s tameness — the immediate need to get them dependent on human beings for all of their needs, and accustom them to handling, far outweighs that general principle.
Our Lil’ Dude Cole was an unhandled near-frozen “feral” when he was rescued. His mother could not be ID’d among the seized survivors. To top it, he was evidence for the next eight months, so could not be socialized normally to the world at large.
Regardless. He had some pretty serious issues about other dogs at nine, ten months of age — a direct result of not having his Momma, AND of being raised in a crowded kennel that he could not leave. (FWIW, his sisters did not have this problem.)
Know what? It was WAY more important that the volunteers who cared for him got him tame, handled him, made him love people. The dog-dog problems we fixed fast. The people-loving means that, overlaid on a really lucky genetic temperament, he is not only a normal dog — he is a FANTASTIC dog, and has made the cut for SAR work, AND to be a dog-trainer’s assistant, AND could easily work as a therapy dog as well.
None of the young dogs and older pups from this cruelty case can do that. They are adopted, they are beloved, some of them are pretty close to normal dogs now — but they got ROBBED by the abuse and neglect of their breeder, and no one can give those baby weeks and toddler months back to them. When they should have been learning to love and trust humans, they were trying to survive and stay out of the way of hands and feet. Their mothers loved them (or they wouldn’t have survived), but that didn’t fit them to live confidently in the human world.
Principles that are sound for normal pups in normal situations must be modified for fearful ferals. These pups need to learn to depend on humans, or humans will always be monsters to them.
Those shelter people are wonderful in my book. We don’t even have AC here, we have sheriffs, which are frankly quite busy with drug and mob violence that keeps leaking across the border. Stray dog problems are solved with guns.
The AC in the nearest big city, consisting of four officers for the whole city, MIGHT come out for a mob of dogs attacking a person. Feral pups, no.
Sounds like these pups have a great shot at a new life to me.