One thing about summers in the south is that it's so hot you end up being lazy. I see blogs written by people up north with pretty parks full of people and summer evening strolls outside with their dogs, and I feel slightly guilty about not enjoying our area parks more. Then I step outside and remember instantly why we don't go outside more- especially not in the middle of the day. In the middle of the day when the thermometer reads 96, it actually feels like 105. The concrete is too hot to walk on barefoot, so there is no way I would want to take the puppies with their tender inside-dog feet for a walk on that. Plus, after about 5 minutes, all you want to do is drink something cold and stand in the shade. Getting the dogs to come back inside after playing in the yard was difficult in the winter and spring. We would sometimes end up spending 5 or 10 minutes just trying to convince them to go inside. In the summer, you just have to say, "Okay, everybody in," one time, and they are already waiting by the door. It is just plain hot outside right now. Besides that, even if you don't mind dealing with the heat, the minute you step outside most days, you are greeted by a flying welcoming committee of mosquitoes. The closer to the coast you go, the bigger and fuzzier they get. Sometimes you worry about them beating you up and taking your wallet. They are practically the size of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. 
Needless to say, once I've been outside in the yard for about half a minute, all of the guilt I once felt about not going to the park just melts away.
So what do we do instead, you ask? Inside stuff. Lots of inside stuff. Where there is air conditioning.
We went to Grandma and Grandpa's after a trip to the vet last week. It was already time for Mr. C and Miss B to get their 3 year rabies shot that they get a year after their first shot. Mr. C weighed in at a whopping 80 pounds! Miss B was right at 55. Miss S, Miss M and Mr. M weighed 74, 54.7 and 69 respectively. They are all so big already! I'm not quite sure where the time went and how it could possibly be time for the one year booster shot. When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's the puppies went to work on the plastic bottles that Grandma and Grandpa needed crushing. Grandma outsmarted them this time and moved the cat food before they got there. We took them outside several times, but with the heat, the potty breaks didn't take very long.

The puppies love visiting Grandma and Grandpa, but they always get so excited that they don't nap as much as they should. They were so worn out that after the early morning potty break the next morning, Miss B and Mr. C slept in until I made them get up at 10! The little ones won't sty still for very long after the first potty break of the day, so if we want to get any more sleep after that, they have to nap in their crates for a while. Miss B and Mr. C gladly sleep very still on the bed most mornings so that they don't get sent to their crates too. The day after the vet visit was a school day, so we let them sleep a while and then got them fed and took them out before getting them ready for class. We learned all kinds of fun things in school. This class we learned physical skills as well as mentally challenging ones that actually tire them out quite well- a very good thing when it is so hot outside.
For the past couple of days, we have been practicing their new skills and then playing some outside with the pool in the evenings. We are very proud of Miss M- she seems to have gotten the idea that she should pee before getting into the pool (unlike a certain 80 pound someone).

Of course, every time they cool off in the pool, they find a new spurt of energy and someone always starts a new game of chase. Miss M gets impatient with the bigger dogs if they aren't out of the water fast enough and will bark at Mr. M until he gets out and chases her. Then they stop and she chases him. Miss S doesn't like it when the play gets too rough and is constantly trying to make sure that Miss B doesn't get out of hand with the little one. Miss S is so funny. She takes Miss M's toys all day long and would take her food if we let her, but if anyone messes with Miss M, Miss S is quick to step in and handle the situation. She's big enough now that once she grabs Miss B by the collar to pull her away from Miss M, Miss B can't get loose. Miss B has a ton of energy and is very vocal about it. So even though she never actually bites down on Miss M (or any of the little puppies), she sounds like she is getting wild. Miss S doesn't appreciate her cussing like that at all. When any of the other puppies gets a little too rambunctious, Miss S gets right in between the two offending puppies and breaks it up. We used to think she was bullying them, but the more we watched, the more we realized she just doesn't like them to play too rough. 

Today was the day that the kitties had their attitude adjustments. We dropped them off early in the morning and left them at the clinic all day. The puppies didn't really notice too much. Miss M glanced at the kitties' bathroom a couple of times to see if they were there. Most days, the cats find a nice cozy place to sleep for hours on end, so not seeing them isn't unusual.
As the afternoon progressed, the sky started getting darker and darker. We got a call around 4 letting us know that the cats were in recovery and would be ready soon. On the way to pick them up, the sky sprang a leak. Okay, really it opened up and was raining so hard that we could hardly see the road. There were deep puddles in the outer lanes of the road. Idiots in big pickup trucks kept flying through the puddles at normal speeds, sending huge waves of water flying. By the time we went 10 feet from the car to the door of the clinic, we were both soaked. The lightening was near constant and was so close, the thunder followed almost immediately. One of the vet techs at the front desk was visibly nervous and jumped several times with the thunder.
When we got home, we kept the puppies all in their crates until we could get the cats situated. The kitties kept to themselves for a while, sleeping in a nice safe hiding spot. Finally, Kitty S came slowly into the kitchen while Miss M was helping Mom get the puppies' dinner ready. Miss M whimpered a little and wagged her tail. We think she was worried about the cats and really wanted to play with them. Of course, playing was out of the question. 
Kitty P jumped up on our bed to take a nap for a while in the evening and was doing well until we noticed her aggressively pulling at the residue around the incision site. We were hoping to not have to use the cone of shame, but we couldn't have her messing with her incision. So on it went. She doesn't like it at all. Kitty S hasn't messed with hers too much so far. She has mostly been sleeping, only coming out to get a little something to eat in the kitchen and then going right back to her safe place. We hope that she won't have to go in the cone, but we will have to see how she does tonight. 
The puppies seem to know something is up with the kitties and were fairly nervous when we got home. I think the hardest part of the next week or two will be having to keep the kitties and puppies apart. 
We don't have any pictures of Kitty P in her cone yet. We will try to take some tomorrow to post.
On a different note, apparently, Kitty P had an infection in her uterus, Pyometra, that we didn't know about. This is a life threatening illness that is most commonly found in older animals. We had noticed that Kitty P was fairly small and not growing very quickly, but just thought she was a small type of cat. She didn't have any other symptoms that we could tell. She slept quite a bit, but all cats sleep a lot. She wasn't throwing up and all of their stools were normal. Had we not gotten her spayed when we did, we wouldn't have even known about the infection. We were glad they caught it. We have to give her antibiotic drops for the next week as a precaution.

The puppies have a routine now that they go through when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma puts all of their empty water bottles that need flattening in the pantry in the kitchen, where they are easily accessible. The puppies know where the water bottles are. So, any time we go there, they go get their water bottles and proceed to flatten, or at least mangle, them. Wednesday, we went to the vet to pick up their monthly heart worm prevention medicine. We still go in every month so that they can get weighed. After the vet, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit. Mr. M went straight to the water bottles and picked out one to chew on. He got to work right away, making sure to earn himself some treats from Grandma. 
This time, Grandpa had a special treat for the puppies. He had ordered something that came in a big box. As soon as he was done with his water bottle, Mr. M went to work on the box, with quite a bit of help from the other puppies. Some jobs require teamwork. Once the box was taken care of, they went right back to work on the bottles again.

Of course, the puppies were all glad to help with the cleanup efforts.

We made the mistake of playing with Miss B and then with Miss M with the broom when they were small. Now, whenever they see a broom, they instantly slip into playing mode- especially when a woman has the broom since it was Mom's bright idea to play chase the broom.

The boys don't chase the broom as much. Mr. C politely excused himself from helping with the cleanup efforts so that he could help Grandma in the kitchen.

Finally, after all of the hard work, Mr. M just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. So he decided to take a nap in the middle of the floor so that he could monitor the progress of the cleanup from time to time without actually having to get up.

Today was a big day for the puppies. We started out by taking the kitties to the vet for their booster shots. The puppies of course, love going to the vet. They got to visit with everybody and got weighed. I think secretly they were making fun of the kitties on the way back because the kitties had to get shots and the puppies didn't. Mr. M slobbered all over the vet's wife- giving her kisses all over her face. Miss M tried to run and visit with a small dog that came in. I think she is just happy when she sees animals that are smaller than she is. Normally she is the small one- although at the rate she's growing, she isn't going to be the smallest for much longer.
After we went to the vet, we decided that the weather was just too nice to stay home. So we dropped off the cats- they were just glad to be home again, had some lunch, then loaded the puppies back into the car and headed to the beach. The puppies' trainer recommended trying the gentle leader head collars to keep the puppies from pulling so much on the leash, and last time recommended a tandem leash to put two dogs on a single leash instead. The tandem leash is actually really cool because now we can hold 3 leashes instead of 5. The gentle leaders are great. They really cut down on the pulling. Today's walk on the beach was unlike all of our other beach walks. Normally they get super excited and pull so hard that I can't wear any rings because the leash handle squishes my fingers together and it hurts. With the gentle leaders and tandem leashes, we had the smoothest walk ever. I was even able to wear rings without getting my fingers bruised up. Once we got the hang of the tandem collar, Mom started working with Miss B to get her to stay on the same side of Mr. C the whole time. 
They did really well. There were some distractions, which is fairly normal at the beach. At one point, Mom looked over and saw a wing sticking out of Mr. M's mouth. He had found a small dead bird on the ground and was proudly carrying it along like a trophy. He really didn't want to let it go. We haven't gotten to "drop it" yet. Mr. C and Miss B are actually pretty good at "drop it." We worked with them quite a bit on "drop it" when they were small, but somehow, we didn't get that one taught to Mr. M and Miss S. So Mom had to reach in and get the bird out of Mr. M's mouth. Although to be fair, Mr. C and Miss B have never been tested with something as tempting as a dead bird.
After our beach walk, the puppies were tired and happy. We were enjoying the walk too much to stop and take pictures. So I didn't get any good shots of us on the beach, although at several points, all five of the puppies were walking side by side in a line. It was great. All I was able to take a picture of was the sleepy puppies in the car on the way home.

I know that most people will tell you that cats are easier to take care of than dogs, and in certain aspects, that is probably true. You don't have to take cats outside for exercise or to do their business. You don't need to take them to any training classes. They don't need quite as much attention on a daily basis. But that is pretty much where the easiness ends. You don't usually need to bathe cats. This is true, but when you do have to bathe them, the situation is extremely unpleasant. They seem to hate baths, and on top of that, they were probably super dirty and super smelly for you to want to bathe them in the first place. They also aren't as good with going around to visit other people as dogs are. 
Today was an excellent example of how cats are not easier than dogs. The kitties had their first vet appointment today so that we could get them started on their kitty shots. We took the puppies along too so that they could be weighed for their heart worm prevention medicine, which is given by weight. A short way into the trip, we started smelling something rather foul, and one of the cats started meowing. We were really hoping that one of the dogs was just gassy, but the smell didn't go away. In fact, it seemed to get worse. The puppies all started crowding as close to us as they could- I think to distance themselves from the cats and the trouble they felt would follow. We were very early for our appointment and decided that it would be best to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's to  clean off the cats and wash out the carrier instead of taking poopy cats to the vet- kind of like when you brush your teeth before going to the dentist.
Seriously. Cleaning cat poop off of two long haired cats and out of a small kennel makes you really appreciate having dogs. The smell was so bad that I had to even close the bathroom door and open the window to get the smell out of the bathroom but not let it into the rest of the house. The cats had poop all in their fur. I couldn't just wipe them off with a paper towel because it wasn't coming off. I ended up washing them off in the sink with hand soap. They were not happy at all. I was wishing they were dogs at that point.
Another way dogs are easier than cats is that when you go to the vet, you don't have to keep the dogs in a kennel. Our puppies are a little different than most of the dogs we have met. Our puppies absolutely love going to the vet. They get super happy as soon as we get there and pull us toward the door to go in. When they were young, we couldn't take them in public yet because their puppy shots weren't done. So going to the vet was a total treat. They got to visit with other people and see other puppies. Everyone at the vet's office pays attention to them when they go there. They get petted and talked to, and sometimes they even get treats. The vet office is awesome.
The cats don't really seem to agree. Kitty P was okay with the vet- except for the fecal sample part. Kitty S was not really enjoying her time there. She did not appreciate the exam or the blood sample, and especially loathed the fecal sampling. Other than that, they were fairly indifferent and went about cleaning themselves the rest of the visit. I could hear the puppies in the waiting room with Dad visiting with everyone. Apparently, the puppies were very concerned that Mom took the kitties in the examining room and kept trying to go check on them.
After the vet visit, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's. The cats pretty much just slept in their kennel the whole time. The puppies made themselves right at home after saying hi to everyone and giving them puppy kisses. They now know where Grandma keeps the plastic jugs that need flattening and went ahead and got all of the flattening out of the way- anything to help Grandma. Then Grandma made popcorn. Mr. C was intrigued by the air-pop machine. It was loud, but stuff kept coming out. It looked promising. After all, Grandmas seem to be very good at sharing. 

All of his patience paid off. Again and again and again. As it turns out, the puppies really like popcorn.

Mr. M got a little sleepy but didn't have his normal nap spot. So instead, he cuddled up next to Mom's purse and outer shirt. Miss B crawled up into Dad's lap but found that it was just too small to make a good napping place.

The puppies were very concerned about the kitties and kept walking over to their kennel to check on them. When we got home, the puppies went straight to the kitties' area to check on them and make sure that they were still there. I think that they were worried that the cats might not be there anymore. Even though the cats don't always want to play with them, the puppies have decided that the cats belong here. The kitties were okay about seeing the puppies too. Kitty P even played with Mr. M through the child gate. I've never actually seen her play with the dogs before. So I guess they are okay with the puppies too.

For the past week or so, the weather hasn't cooperated with our picture taking plans. Every time the back yard starts to dry out, it rains again. This has been going on for a while now, so our backyard is a slippery muddy swamp at the moment, making it hard to take any good pictures outside since we can't let the dogs out for their normal running, jumping playtime. Instead, we have been running around the house, which doesn't make for very pretty pictures.
Yesterday, Miss M had a vet appointment for her next round of puppy shots, so all of the puppies got to go for a ride. Since they are all growing so fast, we have to take them all in regularly to get weighed so that we get the right dosage on their heart worm prevention. This time we were shocked. We know Mr. C looked a little bigger than before, but we thought that he might be around 60 pounds. As it turns out, he weighs 71.5 pounds! Miss B went up to 51 pounds, Miss S is already at 49 and Mr. M is lagging a little behind at 43.5. Miss M is over three pounds heavier than Miss S was at her same age. She weighs 16 pounds already- at 10 weeks old.
The puppies were all very happy to visit everybody at the vet's office. They got all kinds of attention. After that, they got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for a while, where Miss S tried her hardest to convince Grandma that she needed to sit in her lap on the couch. Mr. C took up residence on the kitchen floor- where Grandma always hands out stray bits of whatever she is cooking. This time, she was making chicken and dumplings, which was good for Mr. C since he really likes pieces of chicken.

Miss B decided that she should play with the cat's toys since the cat won't play with her. The cats at Grandma and Grandpa's are very much against all forms of dog, which of course gets the puppies even more excited. They didn't even notice the cat being very quiet on the back of the sofa when they first got there. The cat watched them, being very quiet and trying to blend in with the wall behind her, but eventually, one of the puppies spotted her and they all decided that they should bark at her- except Miss M who was more interested in the puppy toys that Grandma had on the floor ready for them. The four bigger puppies are all more than capable of jumping up on the couch and going after the cat, but they stayed back and just barked. The cat hissed her disapproval at them, and they thought that was the funnest game ever, so they barked some more so that she would hiss some more. It's like an interactive squeaky toy with claws. They don't have any toys like that at home.
Eventually, Grandma rescued the cat and put her outside. Grandpa wasn't in the house at the time or he would have probably waited a little longer to see what the cat would do.

I think the puppies are getting very comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa's house because they used the bathroom more times than they ever have before. Thank goodness for newspaper and poop bags! Mr. M had a good time when he realized he could go up the stairs. Unfortunately, once he got upstairs the first time, he was afraid to come back down. Mom had heard puppy feet on the stairs but got a little suspicious when she didn't hear them come back down again. She went upstairs to see what he was up to, and boy, was he glad to see her. He led her straight to the bathroom (the only room with the door open) and tried to convince her that he should get in the tub to play in the water. (He would have already been playing in the tub if he knew how to turn the water on). She disagreed and led him back to the stairs where she had to work with a little bit to get him convinced that he could go down the steps by himself. Once accomplished he was very proud and went up a few steps again so that he could come back down. It was a good visit.
Sunday morning, Miss M decided she needed to help with the blog to make sure there were pictures of her.

The puppy shots are finally over! We have been getting puppy shots off and on for the past 4 and 1/2 months. So now, we are finally finished with all of that. The vet visit was rather uneventful. The littles got their microchips while we were there. With the older two, we had the vet put in the microchips when they were getting spayed/neutered, so we didn't see the size of the needle, and they didn't feel it at all because he did it while they were already asleep for their surgeries. Had we realized how huge the needles are that put the chips in, we might have waited until the littles were getting spayed and neutered to put theirs in as well. They didn't flinch when he gave them their shots, but they yelped and squirmed when he was putting the chip in. The insertion site was even a little bloody- the vet had to put a little glue on both of them to stop the bleeding. But now at least that's over with, and they even have the bling to show for it.
After the vet, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit- and to invade their kitchen to see if the treats there were any different than the treats at home. Grandma had peanut butter and muffins! What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's.

It was a busy day.

The littles were supposed to have their stitches removed tomorrow, but we finished all of our Saturday errands early and decided to take them in today instead. As luck would have it, there was another dog about their same size having his stitches removed as well. We got to talking with his person, and his person said Mr. M looked familiar and asked us where we got Mr. M and Miss S. As it turns out, the other cute little puppy (Mr. B) was their littermate! He had opted to have his ears cropped as well but like us, had wanted to make sure that he took him to an actual vet. We couldn't let them play because our puppies aren't quite finished with their puppy shots, but Mr. M was very interested in him and was wagging his tail. Miss S was already in the back getting her stitches out and didn't get to see Mr. B. We were relieved to see that his cone of shame is flower shaped now too. So our puppies are not the only ones who are hard on their cones! Mr. B has a human baby to play with, and we were very glad to hear that he watches out for his two-legged baby, even checking on him when he cries.
Hopefully as they get bigger, we can get together with Mr. B and his family to let the puppies play. Mr. B's parents were telling us that he had had the same worm problem our two had in the beginning. His mom told us that he is a big fan of nibbling on sandals and toes- just like our two.
We were glad that we decided to take them in today. If we had waited until tomorrow, we wouldn't have met Mr.B and his people.
On a side note, it's funny how when you have dogs and meet other people with dogs, you forget to ask the people their names. We only know the puppy's name, so we only know the people as Mr. B's people.

This weekend was non-stop vet visits. We started off by getting the second round of puppy shots for the littles. Miss B and Mr. C got to come along to get weighed so that they could get the right dosage for their heart worm prevention. It was very exciting. They got to visit with the office staff at the vet's office, where they are always super popular. Then they got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Miss B still wants to make friends with their cat- the cat still disagrees with that idea. Mr. C tried getting close to the cat, and the cat swatted at him. After that, Mr. C rolled on his back, trying to make friends with the cat. He swatted at the littles, who yelped and started shaking. Keep in mind, that the cat doesn't have any claws...
Mr. M found a nice basket to chew on.

I'm not sure where he learned to chew on baskets.....

Sunday was a very difficult day for Mom. Dad had already decided before bring the littles home that he wanted their ears cropped, and today was the day. We took a long time researching the best place to have their ears done. Unfortunately, there are a lot of underground operations out there who are not qualified to crop ears. Ear cropping is fairly serious. It's surgery, which means that the puppies are under anesthesia when having it done. The main problem with this is that if a person is doing this who is not a licensed vet, it is really easy to mess up on the dosage of the anesthesia. I didn't realize how much of a problem this was until I started researching it. Apparently, quite a few puppies die every year having their ears cropped because the people doing it are not legally licensed to do so and mess up on the anesthesia.
I wasn't totally gung ho on this whole thing anyway, but if the puppies were going to have their ears done, there was no way I was going to put them into the hands of an underground cropper. We settled on a place and took them in. Miss S and Mr. M were not used to going anywhere without the big puppies, and got nervous stomachs in the car on the way over. (You should read that as: the car smelled really bad by the time we got there.) We filled out the paper work, chose the ear shape we wanted and left our puppies in the hands of total strangers. It really hit home when they handed us their collars. I may or may not have cried in the car when we left them there. It was going to be a few hours, so we went to eat lunch and get our grocery shopping out of the way while we were waiting. We didn't want to have to leave them alone to go grocery shopping after we got home. When we got back to the clinic, they were just waking up so we had to wait for a little while longer. I may or may not have cried again. (Twice). They brought Mr. M out first, and handed him to Mom, who immediately cuddled him. He licked her face and perked right up. The vet told us that they had been the best patients that they had had all day. They had been really quiet and calm. But as soon as Mr. M had Mom to back him up, he decided he was done with that place. When the vet assistant came to take off the material that was holding his cone of shame in place and put his regular collar back on, he growled at him. He then growled at the vet when he took off the bandage on his leg. Miss S wasn't quite as vocal as Mr. M, but she didn't want to hold still for them to put her regular collar back on. They were both ready to go home.
When we got back, Miss B and Mr. C were very concerned with the littles being in cones. They were so preoccupied with checking on them, they wouldn't even go outside to go to the bathroom without them coming along too, despite having been in the crates all day. After some investigation, it was playtime as usual. All of them were happy to be back together again and calmed down quite a bit.

Before getting Miss B and Mr. C spayed and neutered respectively, we did quite a bit of reading on Google to find out what we could expect during their recovery. The internet told us all kinds of horror stories about how they were going to be groggy and probably have no control over their bladders for a couple of days. Nothing we read about on Google really applied. They were not really groggy when we brought them home- only a little tired. They are normally high energy, and the evening after the surgery they were more like normal (non high) energy dogs. The next morning though, they were pretty much back to normal. There were no losses of bladder function or anything like that.
What Google did not prepare us for was how hard it is to keep the cones of shame on and how determined our dogs would be to mess with their incisions- especially Mr. C. The vet gave us a heads up that we would have to watch him closely because boy dogs have more of a tendency to lick their nether regions, and he was right.
As is turns out, both of our big puppies are escape artists when they want to be. We tried the Kong inflatable collars first. Those lasted about a day and a half. Next we went to the cones of shame. By the end of the week, Miss B's was mostly duck tape and was only being held in place by one set of clasps instead of two. Mom went to the Petco near her office on her way home the first day to find a better solution for Mr. C, and the cashier recommended using toddler diapers with tape on the sides. He didn't like it too much, but it was better than the cone. So for the next few days, he alternated between the diapers in the evening and at night, and the cone during the day.
A note about the cones of shame: they are a pain in the behind. I think we hated them as much as the dogs did. The cones are wider than they are and they bumped into everything! Legs, window blinds, little puppies, each other, the door of the crate... everything.  I know they serve a purpose, and it is better than going back to the vet with stitches that have been torn open, but I can honestly say that we almost threw a party when it was time for the cones to come off.

One thing we have noticed since their attitude adjustment is that they are both a little more mellow. Miss B has been playing with the littles more, but in a more relaxed and natural play mood- not the jealous, dominant way they were doing before. Mr. C is still trying to be dominant, but he is also playing a little more and is more relaxed with them sometimes- except when he goes into hyper puppy mode.
When it was time to take the cones off, everybody was happy and Dad got kisses from all of the dogs. At the same time.