Ms. Lucy speaks her mind

Lucy gave me my chuckle for the evening. I took her a bite to eat - her fourth mealof the day (a smaller portion - a bedtime snack of some broth, rice, chicken) and as soon as she saw me with the dish in my hand, she jumped out of bed and came to the x-pen gate - just as she had this morning. I let her out of the x-pen and fed her on the mudroom floor, then took her outside for her bedtime pee.

I must have made the mistake of saying "bedtime", because in the pre-puppy days that always meant the evening pee would be followed by a treat in the kitchen before settling down for the night. And that's exactly what our Ms. Lucy expected tonight - she came in from her pee, never even glanced at the puppies, and headed straight to the babygate that seperates the mudroom from the rest of the house. I opened the gate and she was off to the races - down the hall, into the kitchen, and sitting up expectantly, tongue hanging out, in front of the treat jar!

What a hoot. Poor Ms. Lucy was feeling so hungry I think she would have wolfed down the whole jar, given the opportunity. Instead I fixed up a bit more rice and chicken and, as she hasn't had the runs all day (in fact, hasn't had a poop all day) I gave her a small amount of kibble and some canned puppy food. Hopefully I wont be up in the wee small hours taking her out.

Even when she'd finished that, she still wasn't ready to face reality (ten puppies) -first she ran around saying hello to Sadie and Charley and Allie, and then she headed off to my bedroom instead. Sorry, old girl, but with ten puppies to keep fed and warm (to say nothing of gucky stuff still leaking from your back end), you are going back to the x-pen.

With the help of her leash, she went back to the pups, and dragged her feet as she reluctantly stepped back into the box and settled down to nurse the babes once again.

And what exhausted new mother hasn't at least once said to herself "oh for the life I once had!" ?