It's a Good Thing That They Are So Cute....

 because if they weren't so darn cute...well let's just say getting rid of them would be a heck of a lot easier!  6 weeks and 4 days have gone by since these adorable little bundles of trouble came into our lives...yes it's been 6 weeks and I wonder how it's gone by so fast.  We have homes for 3 of them, Moose, Tank and Silver Girl...they are all going to wonderful people and will make them crazy and happy all at the same time I am sure!

"A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his."

 Tank, our big boy silver...he found his new family the first week of his life!

 Silver girl...sweet, sassy, tenacious little thing...can't wait to see what excitement she brings her new family!

 And of course Moose, he's going with Kelsey so technically he's staying in the family!

 

 I thought I would share a little peek into the life of living with 8 puppies, oh and let's not forget one very jealous mama dog!  My day starts off somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00am, it doesn't start quietly either, it starts with yapping, yipping and oh a WHOLE lot of howling and by howling I don't mean beautiful graceful howls like those of wolves, I mean gagging, screeching noises that sounded more like they are being strangled...apparently, my ears are the only ones that can hear this insane noise because the rest of the house stays fast asleep while I go tend to their screaming!  First off, the pen...the pen is a disaster...it's a product of whatever mess that they decided to make in the middle of the night...sometimes it's just one big pile of poop and pee other times, it's paper shredded, stuffed animals gutted and whatever electrical cords that they can find strewn all around. I find it amazing that these little guys can be so incredibly destructive at the tender age of 6 weeks...did I mention I still have 5 more to find homes for????  Ok, moving forward, here's where it gets fun...first off is carefully opening the pen, they push and squirm and more than a few have managed to get their tails stuck in the gate...once they are out, I then trip, stumble and shuffle my way to the front door...trying to avoid stepping on 8 puppies before my first cup of coffee is no easy feat.  They are now going outside, so it's out the door in to the front yard, 8 puppies and me...oh Lord help me...they fight over pinecones, trip over rocks and roll in the grass...when we were lucky enough to get rain, being the labs that they are, they discovered the puddles and managed to soak themselves.  I have to be careful though, we have a neighborly hawk that tends to fly circles, I think trying to decide if it would be worth his while to try and snag one of them!  

After a rather long trip outside with me screaming "puppies, puppies, puppies!!" in some annoying, high pitched voice that seems to get their attention (I'm SURE that my neighbors find me ridiculous!) I rush them inside...1, 2, 3, 4,5....uh, 6, 7.....7....7....crap!  I run back out and sure enough find 8 nonchalantly wandering the flower beds eating what few plants are growing there....I scoop him/her up and back inside we go...dodging and gently nudging (kicking) puppies back inside the door!  Once inside it's time for breakfast...here's a little glimpse of what THAT looks like....

  

As you can see...they like to be fully involved in their eating...

And when they find it boring and tiresome to share the pan...it's always so much easier to flip it with one swipe of their little (quite LARGE) puppy paws and scatter it all over the floor...it's much more enjoyable to eat food that is rolling around everywhere than contained in one spot, I am certain that I will be finding food all over my house for months to come.

But the food is just the beginning of the fun, in addition to tug of war over socks and towels and whatever else there is to fight over including each others ears and tails....there are also books and magazines to shred, brooms to have stand off duels with and crayons to eat and hence scare me to death with rainbow colored poop....

 Wine boxes (yes I drink boxed wine...quite a lot of it lately, thank you very much!) make wonderful chew toys!

 Brutus is taking this broom DOWN...notice the towel...they are a new decor item in my house these days...

And this one...Hooter looking oh so innocent with that "who me?" look on her face!

But for all of the trouble and early mornings and late nights and scooping poop and mopping pee and nibbled on toes and tugged on clothes...I wouldn't change any of it...it has definitely been an experience, one I do not wish to go through again and I'm sure Bella doesn't either....she has been doing her own share of "bad dog Bella" lately...

 Don't let this face fool you...she's trying to blend in with the floor in hopes I don't see her...

Look closely...amidst the basket of clothes (1 of many that I haven't folded lately) there is a bread wrapper...and that is one of I think 4 loaves of bread she ate in a 2 week period, I guess she was having severe carb cravings due to nursing all of the hungry puppies!

Oh, marshmallows too...they go great with whole wheat bread....

 Needless to say Bella has been reintroduced to her kennel which not surprisingly has been her safe haven these days from the brood of hungry mouths that still want mama's milk!

"Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all."
— John Grogan

And that is the truth because for every "bad dog" moment that these dogs have there are so many more moments that melt our hearts and I know that these puppies will bring twice as much joy as they do trouble to whoever is lucky enough to have them...after all how can you resist these faces....