Embrace the Chaos
“She embraced the chaos as it painted her life with purpose” - JH Hard. I don’t believe people purposely seek out chaos. Life just happens, and with it naturally comes some disorder and on occasion, complete pandemonium. Over the last several weeks I’ve experienced a bit of anarchy myself.
For the last six weeks I’ve been encountering complete chaos every Tuesday. I take care of my grand baby once a week at my son and daughter-in-laws home. Even though it’s a complete joy to build a special relationship with my grand daughter, I’m exhausted by the end of the day. However, in between the birth of their daughter and now, their three and one year old golden retrievers had nine, yes, nine puppies. Holy litter of cuteness and chaos, Batman!
Barley their three year old golden, was a terrific birth mother. She did everything. My son and daughter-in-law didn’t really have to do a thing besides keeping a watch if assistance was needed. Barley made sure everything was tidy and neat (I’ll spare the graphic details). She was such a good dog, albeit her young age.
Fast forward a bit and Barley started trying to escape her nursing duties. No doubt she was sore, tired and was in a constant state of hunger, and eating them out of house and home. She would consume anything she could get her paws on, including fruits and vegetable from the garden (pears, apples, gourds and pumpkins). Although she was fed plenty of food, she couldn’t keep up with her hunger. They started giving her 100% beef hotdogs to supplement her regular dog food.
Since they weren’t sure how Milo, their one year old golden/dad would act around Barley and the puppies they kept the dogs separate. There was a basement door between them that had a small doggie door. Milo would constantly stick his head through to see what was going on. I’m sure the racket made by nine puppies was keeping him curious.
While watching the baby, I had to make sure both dogs were let outside then put back in their designated areas; Milo in his room and Barley with her puppies. To house the birth and contain the puppies, my son purchased a baby pool they lined with blankets. This served the purpose well until Barley kept leaving the pool. The puppies cried and cried for her and I’d have to coax her back in, only to have her jump out after a bit. She was tired, sore and wanted a break. I guess I didn’t really blame her … LOL.
Then some of the puppies figured out how to escape the pool and to their mom. She would head up the stairs just far enough where they couldn’t reach her. I’d have to go down and get them back in the pool and once again coax Barley. Round and round this would go. Each time I’d have to attend to the puppies or the dogs, I’d have to make sure Emery, my grand baby, was in a safe location or position. Then I’d run down the stairs to fix or adjust as necessary. Up and down several times throughout the day usually had me worn out. They decided to get rid of the pool and corral the puppies behind a plywood wall, secured by a filled plastic container (for weight), however, Barley would push her way out there-by allowing the puppies to follow. I’d have to wrangle the puppies and Barley over and over until more weight was added to the plastic container. HURRAY, Barley couldn’t push her way out, but then figured how to get over the wall, leaving the loudly dramatic and complaining puppies behind. It was constant chaos (whimper, whine, groan, growl, yap, yip and grunt).
Some days we don’t have control over what’s happening on the outside in our lives so the trick is to control how we react to the situation on the inside. Thank goodness there is an end in sight, and I’m happy to report the puppies will be 8 weeks old soon and are all going to good homes. Alleluia … HA! My son and daughter-in-law have been in this constant state for several weeks. Thank the good Lord it’s only every Tuesday for me. My method is to embrace the chaos because nothing but time and patience is gonna stop it.
xoxox…..Sheryl
PS …. They are the cutest puppies and I’ve been working hard at not falling in love.
PSS …. Milo has been introduced and is gentle and very curious with the puppies.
Playing and eating outside while their pen gets cleaned (three times daily, oh boy).