Apparently, the cones of shame are supposed to last for at leat 10-14 days until the littles have their stitches removed. We are only 5 days in, and already the cones look like they've been run over by a monster truck. Mr. M somehow removed the staple in the top part of his. They are no longer cone shaped but rather resemble a translucent flower. The vet said to let them play with each other and take them outside to play for a little while each day. They stay inside almost all of the time (hence the newspapers in all of the pictures) in an attempt to keep the cones clean, but even from the few minutes of supervised play in the yard, they have dirt down in the adjustable notches. It is wedged in between the pieces of plastic, and I can't seem to get it clean.
I think the vet underestimated just how active these two are. Add to that two very rambunctious and curious older siblings, and I'm not sure the cones stand a chance. We were going to take them in at 14 days to have the stitches removed but may end up taking them at 10 or 11 days just so that we can get new cones.
Thankfully, the littles are doing better than their cones. They have been flying around the house at top speed, chewing on Mr. C and Miss B and eating whatever they can con us into giving them. All four of them love when it's time to put the antibiotics on their ears because it means that the peanut butter jar comes out. They sit really still for us as long as we keep the peanut butter coming.

I am constantly reminded how resilient pitbulls are. It was only three days ago that the littles had their ears cropped, but aside from an occasional attempt at scratching their cones of shame to get to their ears, you wouldn't even know anything happened. The evening after their surgeries, they had fairly loose bowels and pooped a lot. Our entire floor looked like we lived in a print shop because we plastered almost all of it in newspaper. I thought that they probably wouldn't really like us anymore for taking off part of their ears. If I were a dog, I don't think I would like my owner anymore if they did that to me, but the littles still go crazy and give me kisses all over my face when I come home from work.
I thought that the cones would slow them down a little, but they are as fast as ever and have been jumping like crazy- jumping when they hear the treat bag, jumping trying to get on the furniture and even jumping on the big puppies. I thought that their appetites might be affected by the pain medicine or the anesthesia, but I was wrong on that count too. They are eating as much as ever. The only difference is that we have to tilt the bowl a little so that they can eat the last little bit because the cones get in the way.

I thought that Miss B and Mr. C wouldn't care if the littles were there or not, but last night, I had them on the bed with me while I was doing some work on the computer while the littles slept in their room (aka the guest bathroom with plenty of space for their bed and a tile floor that is easy to clean up in case of accidents). Mr. C was super restless. He kept looking around the bed, under the covers, under my lap desk, and he kept making a little quiet wimper. I couldn't figure out what was wrong at first. Finally, I asked them if they were looking for Miss S and Mr. M. Instantly, they began wagging their tails. So I went and got the littles and put them up on the bed with us. Mr. C and Miss B calmed down right away and went to sleep. They actually like the littles. They haven't even tried messing with their ears too much. They smell their cones and kind of check things out, but then they back off right away.
I was worried when we first brought them back from getting their ears done that I wouldn't be able to get them to hold still long enough to put the anitbiotic drops on or masage the antibiotic gel onto the bottoms of their ears. As it turns out, as long as we keep the peanut butter coming, they don't mind at all.
Pitbulls are amazing at not showing it when they are in pain. I know their ears must hurt, but there is absolutely no difference in their mood or behavior. The more time I spend with these four dogs, the more I realize that I don't think I will ever be interested in a non-pitbull again. Other breeds are ok too, but pitbulls are where it's at in my book.

It's been a long time coming, but we finally decided that something had to be done. Miss S is now a member of GMA. No, not Good Morning America... Goat Milkaholics Anonymous. Her habit started out innocent enough. A little bit of goat milk when she had diarrhea to keep her hydrated when she was only 4 weeks old. Then it progressed and she started having warm goat milk to help her sleep. A little just wasn't enough after a while and she started doing devious things to get her fix- like stealing her brother's goat milk. Finally, Mr. C just could take it anymore. He called for an intervention.

The puppies decided that it would be best to put her on a twelve step program to ween her off of the "G-Juice," as it is called on the streets. Miss S resisted at first. She didn't want to stop the G-Juice. Mom and Dad enticed her to try something more vegan instead- like apple juice.

In the end, it was the peanut butter cookies that saved the day.