Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Three Little Rescue Doberman Puppies!

The main reason why my blogging has come to an abrupt hold around the middle of April is this: Three four week old rescue Doberman puppies, all little girls, have found their way into our home...



...and have turned our life upside down.



All photos in this post were taken spontaneously the first evening when they arrived with an iPhone, so please overlook the not so great quality of the images.



Since the puppies were constantly moving (at least one of them always was) you neither got all three of them in one photo,... 



...nor did you get a sharp shot. 



Here is Skylar, our red Dobie boy, testing the new x-pen, the afternoon before the puppies moved in. He seems to approve of their new home!



'Can I find some mother milk here?'



Cuteness overload?!



The puppies have been rescued by Susan Kelber, Los Angeles, who is involved in Doberman rescue for the last twenty years. She got them from a backyard breeder, who was selling them individually over Craig's List at the age of four weeks. According to Susan, he claimed their mom was hit by a car and dead, and that was the reason why he was selling them at such a young age.

Puppies should stay with their mom until they are at least eight weeks old. If the mom is not available anymore, they at least should be brought up together until they are eight weeks old to keep each other company, play together and teach each other important things like bite inhibition etc.



When Susan got in contact with the backyard breeder he stated that it was a litter of ten puppies and that he had already sold four. According to Susan she explained to the man that puppies should not be separated at this age and tried to convince him to relinquish the puppies to her for rescue purposes, but he didn't want to do that. So Susan bought the remaining six puppies from him with the help of two generous and dog loving friends, to keep them safe and make sure that they stay together at least in groups of three until they can be separated at a more appropriate age.

Our friend and dog trainer Alexandra Gant, who is heavily involved in dog rescue, was looking for a second rescue Doberman for us and heard through her rescue contacts about the litter and connected us to Susan.



And so it came that three puppies went to a Doberman breeder in the Los Angeles area for fostering and the remaining three ended up at our home.



Our job was to raise and take care of them as good as we can until they are at least eight weeks old and can be adopted out.



First of all, we took them on, because we wanted to adopt one for ourselves. As I said earlier, we were looking for a Doberman companion for Skylar and we were searching for quite a while by then. But, of course, we also wanted to help these little puppies to get the best possible start into their lives, after obviously a very bumpy early beginning.



'This is a fun toy to play with!'



Skylar: 'Yes, but this one is mine and will stay mine, no matter how cute mom and dad think you are!'



The decision to take the puppies on had to be made rather quickly and I freely admit that we had no idea what we were getting into and how much work and time was involved to raise these little girls.



As luck would have it, I was taking part in a Vedic Chant workshop in Ojai, California and on the way back to San Diego, it was easy to stop by at Susan's home in Los Angeles and pick them up.



Not knowing anything about Doberman puppies, I was shocked how little they actually were when I saw them in person for the first time. But still, moments later I had them loaded up in a cardboard box into my car to take them home.



'My nose tells me that there is water!'



Crashed on my husbands leg after the long drive from Los Angeles to San Diego.



They really craved human contact.



Another one crashed in my arms. They seemed to either play, sleep, eat or poop and pee.



They were so little, they were fitting into one hand.



'Yum, puppy gruel!'



'Shall we eat some more?'

I just wanted to show you the little Dobie girls the way they looked the moment they arrived. By now, about six weeks later, they have grown so tremendously, they are hard to recognize.

If you would like to follow their story, please come back soon. I will try to post more pictures of them in the next couple of weeks and let you participate in their development!

Thanks for stopping by, as always I really appreciate your visit! Hope you enjoyed seeing some photos of the little Dobie girls!

Warm regards,

Christina



I am linking to



28 comments:

  1. They are so cute and you and your hubby have such big, kind hearts to take them in. Have all three of them wormed their way into your hearts to keep them all instead of just one?

    I look forward to reading more and seeing more of them.

    FlowerLady

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    Replies
    1. Lorraine, they definitively have made their ways into our hearts and there were times where I was contemplating to keep at least two! But with the size of our lot and house and also for financial reasons it is not possible to keep two. Dobermans become big dogs and with Skylar already being a really big boy only one can stay!

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  2. Oh Christina, I wondered already what was happened to you, but this is such fun, you've got a busy household with these three cuties. I hope Skylar is not jealous for I suppose they get a lot of attention. I can understand you cannot keep them all and have to find a good home for two of them, but I think it will be very difficult to release them.
    I know it is quite a job but they reward you with so much pleasure and love and I'm looking forward to your next puppy post.
    Regards, Janneke

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  3. Hallo liebe Christina,
    da hast du dir eine große Arbeit und Verantwortung aufgehalst, indem Du die 3 Welpen aufgenommen hast. Ich finde es großartig, dass du das tust. Es ist also bei euch in den USA nicht anders als bei uns, die (Ost)- Hundehändler werden immer skrupelloser und verkaufen die Welpen kaum das sie geboren sind! Eine bodenlose Gemeinheit gegenüber den hilflosen armen Kreaturen! Ich hoffe Du kannst den kleinen süßen Wesen einen guten Start in ein artgerechtes Hundeleben ermöglichen. Skylar schaut ja nicht gerade glücklich ob der Hundebabys, aber auch einem "Einzel(hunde)kind" schadet es nicht einmal im Rudel zu leben. Ich wünsche Dir alles Gute und viel Freude und wenig Stress mit den Welpen!

    Liebe Grüße
    Ingrid

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  4. Oh, Christina, what an angel you are, and hubby, too, for taking in these sweet little orphans! It is so good that they are getting off to a good start with kindness and love before launching into the big world. I wish you the best and know it will be hard to part with them, but hopefully you will be able to choose one and find loving homes for the rest. Looking forward to following along with these dear little pup's journey. Skylar will make a great big brother! xx Karen

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  5. What a handful and also boundless bundles of joy these cute little Doberman puppies are. They are very fortunate to have come within you and your husbands loving tender care. I too, shall look forward to seeing how they develop and go off into the big world.

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  6. They are gorgeous. A big and generous decision to take them on, but how could you do otherwise?

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  7. I was just wondering where you were! You obviously have your hands full (no pun intended). They're adorable.

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  8. They are so cute!! Wonderful additions to your household :)

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  9. Da hast du nun gut zu tun, meine Liebe. Gehen sie mit dir in den Garten, wenn sie mal müssen? Ich hoffe, ihr findet gute Besitzer für sie.

    Sigrun

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  10. Ah...they brightened my morning. Good Mommy and Daddy. Hoping they get good homes. With how some of these dogs are treated...I would have many questions for the owners. We see Dobermans at our doggie beach and our two 17 lb dogs love playing with them...well Our dogs like to chase after them and they are so gentle they love the attention.

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  11. That's a very good reason for not-blogging! Adorable! Demanding! But you survived!

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  12. Oh Christina, I am so relieved this is the reason for your absence from your blog, how cute they are! How are you going to manage to just choose ONE out of these three? I think I would have needed to keep all of them :-)

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  13. adorable! you and hubby have hearts of gold.

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  14. Dear Christina:
    How puppy adorable - hope they all find homes. Thanks for sharing and linking.

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  15. I am so happy that you and Klaus stepped up to help us help these puppies. They all have an important place in my heart and I'm so glad that I get to see these three beauties grow up, thru you guys and the other two adopters. I am told the other three, 2 males and a female that went up North, have all been placed in wonderful homes as well. Happy ending here. xoxoxo

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  16. Thank you for the amazing care they have received...I am so happy and grateful to have been one of the people to adopt such a beautiful and well cared for little girl. You all did an amazing job in saving their lives to live and love in their new forever homes.

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  17. Liebe Christina,
    toll eure Rettungsaktion!
    Da war natürlich Leben im Haus :-)
    Schön dass ihr dann auch noch einen behaltet!
    Sie sind wirklich so knuffig :-)
    Liebe Grüße Urte

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  18. Hi Christina, I have been catching up on your blog! These pups are adorable, and I am eager to learn what has happened in the meantime. Did you choose just one yet?

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