Puppies Growing Up: A walk down memory lane

Just like with human folk babies, puppies growing up can happen so fast you don’t know where the time went! It’s been 10 months now and I thought it would be fun to walk down memory lane and see what they looked like at different stages. We’ve all been takin’ real good care of em! They only weighed a few ounces at birth, so it’s downright amazin’ how big they are now! I might be biased, but I think they are purdy doggone cute too!

The Puppies Growing Up: Brandi and Ozzy’s Story

Brandi is only about a week old here. Her eyes aren’t even open yet. She sure is a little thing! Ain’t she cute?

This is how Brandi looked at 7 weeks old. Maggie, my other sister, is helpin’ her get her picture took. Brandi was a real cutie pie!

This is little Ozzy at 7 weeks. He’s little, but even as a pup he was bigger than all the rest and was kinda wild actin’. That’s why he got named Ozzy. WOOF!

We still had 4 of em here and they were learnin’ to eat that mush food my Lady fixed for em. If y’all remember their momma, Little Girl, took 4 of her pups and left here in a freezin’ storm one night when they were only 4 weeks old. She left these four pups and my Lady had to bring em in the house or they would a froze to death! Anyway, they made it right fine with the formula my Lady was givin’ em. Then they had to learn to eat real food!

I sure liked all those squirming babies! I use to stand and stare down into that bed at em! My brothers, sisters and me all helped watch over em. That darn Little Girl stayed gone takin’ care of her other four and we took care of these. We found two of em a new furever home and we kept Brandi and Ozzy here with us. Seems no one wanted a girl and no one wanted a black dog 🙁 That’s alright! My Lady loved em! She had been with em since they were born and was havin’ a real hard time lettin’ em all go anyway!

Who could resist that face? She’s a growin’ on up! This is how she looked at about 12 weeks old. She’s gonna be a heartbreaker! I might be all freckled up, but I got some real purdy sisters and brothers!

This is Ozzy at 12 weeks. He’s a growin’ too. And, I mean REALLY growin’. He’s gonna be a big ole lug! I have to say – he’s a might handsome fella too! Funny how Brandi looks just like her daddy and Ozzy looks just like his momma!

They were in potty trainin’ at this age and they got to go outside for walks and playtime. Most of the time they were on a leash. Sometimes, my Lady would let em off to play but they were happy either way.

Ozzy’s liked to sit and watch the bees. He even tried to catch one once! Youngin’s! He didn’t know it might sting him!

They still weren’t to sure of the outside world. These days they love it though. They always stick together. They’re like two peas in a pod! Some say you shouldn’t try to raise two pups from the same litter, but we seem to be doin’ alright with it.

They do love each other a whole lot! They are awfully protective of each other. But, so are the rest of us!

A few more months have gone by and now they are really playin’ outside! We all take turns keepin’ em entertained. Here, Maggie is playin’ with em.

Seager is takin’ a turn. He’s a good big brother to em. Sometimes it can be iffy with a male dog and pups, but Seager took to them little ones right off! They crawl on him and he wrestles with em all the time. He’s actually quite patient with em! It’s a good thing cause they are gettin’ bigger than him now!

Sallie don’t play much anymore. She is gettin’ on up there in years and gets kinda cranky 🙁 But, she makes a darn good baby sitter! I think she’s like gettin’ ancient or somethin’ cause she’s been here to help raise all of us! She was trained by the best of em, my Lady’s Sadie that went on to Rainbow Bridge ‘for I got here. Anyway, Sallie keeps her eyes peeled right on em. If they get out of line or danger comes, she lets out a ferocious howl that brings the rest of us runnin’!

I help stand guard on the other side of the yard. I have some good guardin’ skills, even running the perimeter ever day to make sure all is right around here! Y’all remember that Sadie’s spirit helped bring me here and she told me some things for I got here! If y’all would like to read again how I came to be here ya can. Lemme tell ya! I really was conjured up WOOF!

Maggie stands on the hilltop and watches the pups play. Maggie and Seager are the muscles of our pack! They don’t look scary to me, but to others they’re barks and growls are purdy darn scary. Woof!

There’s Seager taking up the other line. He’s got a voice that can rattle the rafters and he don’t mind usin’ it either! Yep! We got em covered in all four directions! Ain’t nothin’ gonna bother our babes!

Well, 10 months have passed and look at em now! They got huge alright! Ozzy weighed in at the vet the other day at a whopping 96 lbs! Brandi is a little smaller at 73 lbs. And, can you believe they ain’t through growing yet?!

These days they run and play and they can wrestle with the best of us. Our puppies are growing up!

They run and played so hard, they come draggin’ back up here literally ‘dog-tired’ WOOF!

Oh, and I have to mention the latest addition to our pack. Little Bit arrived here one night with no where to go. Of course, my Lady took her in too. Since the pups done went and growed up on me, I guess she is the resident baby now. Did I mention I like babies? 🙂 Even though she is an old girl, she’s still little like a baby and she won’t grow up! WOOF!

We all take turns lettin’ her sleep with us. She likes to sleep all snuggled up to stay warm! Little Bit sure is a cold little thing. She shivers and shakes somethin’ terrible! She even has to wear clothes to keep her warm! She’s snoozin’ with Ozzy right now, but it’ll be my turn next!

Brandi’s all zonked out in her favorite spot – the chair. It don’t look that comfy to me, but she picked it and seems to like it just fine! She naps there all the time!

Then, of course, you can always find Brandi and Ozzy just hangin’ out together!

It’s been a long, and short, 10 months! Is that possible? I know when we had the four pups in here startin’ at age 4 weeks old they stayed pretty much in what my Lady calls the laundry room. My Lady was cleaning night and day! With four of em, one was always a doin’ their business in the floor! And just like babies, they still needed formula. Then they had to learn to eat food and she had to mix up that mushy food.

Once we got past all that and the two little boys found a furever home, we had to move on to potty trainin’ for Brandi and Ozzy. They flew through that just fine, but man oh man, they still had some giant chewin’ issues goin’ on. Them little varmits would chew the baseboards, floor, walls, furniture – anything they could get their mouth on! We’re still workin’ on some of those chewin’ problems and they’ve still got some growin’ to do. It’s just unreal how somethin’ so little you can hold it in your hand can grow to be a 100 lbs in 10 short months!  As far as the work, it has been a long 10 months, but when it comes to puppies growing up, they are just like kids – they don’t stay little long!

These days, I’m not sure they even remember their real momma. Truth be known, I don’t remember mine either ummm. They really think my Lady is their momma. As big as they are, if they get scared, they still try to get in my Lady’s lap WOOF!