do the kids ever sit still for the family portrait?
I have a puppy obsession. There. I said it.
Look, it wasn't always this bad. Years ago, I could go days without even thinking about a single puppy. Well, those days became a distant memory when my husband and I decided to become foster parents for a Chicago-area animal shelter. What we wanted was our own dog, but this was also the time we began discussing the possibility of moving abroad, so adopting wasn't quite fitting into the plan at the moment. Fostering became the next best solution.
And then we got our first foster request on, what initially appeared to be, just an ordinary Tuesday in 2015. The shelter had rescued six 5-week-old puppies and their mom from a vacated apartment in southern Illinois. And it was preferable that we picked them up that night, as space at the shelter was tight.
My husband may have uttered the words, "I don't think this is a good idea," but shortly after, he conceded. Listen, he wanted this just as much as I did- his judgement is just sometimes clouded by... logistics. Or is it my judgement that's clouded by puppy love? Never mind. Doesn't matter. We agreed to do this thing!
That evening, we drove to the shelter to pick up seven dogs for our very first fostering experience. And so began three weeks of utter chaos mingled with an absolute, heart-melting puppy-palooza love fest.
top row: mulhearn, minnie, manu; bottom row: mia, madrid, milo
The first nights were tricky- mainly because we agreed that if the team awoke in the middle of the night, we would apply the "cry it out" method. Right. Except I couldn't sleep at all with anticipation of the puppies crying in the middle of the night, and consumed by the fear that any of them could simply stop breathing and die. They did wake up around 3am the first few nights- and guess what. The "cry it out" method is a bit alarming in a quiet Chicago apartment with six little puppies wailing in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we raced to their crate; however, my husband and I are a clever bunch and we intentionally schemed a bedtime routine that exhausted them so hard, they then slept through the night from that point forward. Brilliant.
that time they all fell asleep OUTSIDE their crate, just before bedtime
As the days passed, we figured things out, re-figured them out, worked together, and tightened up routines to keep things somewhat manageable. Seven puppies is no joke, people. We spent most of our free time sitting in the pup play area, snuggling the entire canine family. I mean, how could we not? Of course, that's when we weren't cleaning up all their poop. Yeah, I said it. Constant pooping.
They captured our hearts, though, and at the end of the three weeks with us, they all had adoptions lined up! So all that's really left to do is share just a taste of puppy cuteness with the Steemit community.
we tried to keep her off the couch. then she tried to keep us off the couch.
patiently waiting for a meal
i'm not exaggerating when i tell you- there was endless snuggling.
you're probably not supposed to have favourites- but just look at him.
puppy piles everywhere.
we've heard parenting is exhausting
my life for 3 weeks- sometimes we napped together... well, they more than i.
this one loved snuggling up with the water dish.
more nap piles- the cuteness never got old.
Well, I have hundreds of photos, but I think this sampling will do. Hope you enjoyed the pups!