So the puppies
took to Vienna right away when we brought her home
yesterday, both girl dogs are extremely motherly. When
she cries, they whimper and want to help. Always
concerned, sniffing and licking her when the
opportunity arises. They do however understand that WE
take care of her and when we tell them (even softly)
"no", they back off and watch from afar as we soothe
the baby. Couldn't ask for better pets in this
situation. Very sweet.
Finally put them
to sleep in their house as we put Vienna down for a
bit and when it was time for a feeding they heard her
cry and started whimpering outside. I wasn't letting
them in even though they'd be good around the baby
because I wanted to continue the pattern we started
that they stay in their house at night. But boy were
they clawing at their door, the back door, and every
part of the house they could get to trying to get to
the crying baby.
This was the start
of unfortunately the 2nd "90 minute +" session of
getting the baby to latch. For whatever reason (had
several visits with lactation consultants) she's tough
to latch. She's a "hand sucker" as they like to
call her and prefers her hand/fingers/palm to
anything. We are trying desperately to avoid
pumping/bottle - but the baby is on the line
weight-wise of losing too much (all babies lose some
after birth) and not gaining back fast enough. Talya
is totally "engorged" and we know the baby, even when
it does latch, isn't getting enough. So it's a high
pressure situation. After trying from 1:38 to 3:15
this morning, we finally had to succumb because the
baby was now only sleeping because she had been
fighting and screaming for 2 hours, not because she
was well fed and satisfied. I started boiling the
bottles while Talya tried to keep the baby soothed and
pump at the same time. And then there's a bang on the
window. Soon followed by an even louder bang on the
door. We're running on fumes as it is (funny what
taking 2 hours per feeding does to you when the baby
has to feed every 2-3 hours - lol). I go out back
and see the gate is open. I close it and look out
front and there's a van and a light. Whew.
I run up half
naked but ready for whatever awaits... and it's animal
control. With a rope and ready to take the dogs. Big
dude. He tells me they attacked a cat and wanted
identification. I say OK, go back inside and
realize that we hadn't unpacked all the bags from the
hospital earlier wherein my wallet resides. The water
is still boiling, the baby is still crying and now the
dogs are locked inside the house going absolutely
ape-shit because of the guy in the front bangin' on
the door. After about 5 minutes of no luck I go
out front and tell the guy the situation and asked him
to repeat everything he said to me because
I remember none of it. He does, Talya finds the
wallet and I give it to him. He proceeds to write
up a citation at his truck and I sit on the
sidewalk barely awake.
As he's talking me
through everything, I finally process what had
happened. There was a stray cat in the street and the
puppies went after it. That cat apparently had an
owner, though it's an outdoor cat and they called
animal control after the attack. He said they were
taking the cat to the vet and he doesn't know if it
would make it, it was "a mess". He asked me some more
questions and asked if I wanted to give my information
to the cat owners and I said "of course" and gave
that to him. He said while I was processing
everything that they can subpoena that information if
they want it anyway - and at least this shows you are
acting in good faith. He could not however tell me who
the neighbors were so I guess I have to wait
for the phone call. He was very nice, and could have
taken my dogs, could have done all sorts of stuff that
he didn't do. The scary part however is...
...if that cat
dies, I believe they're in their right to not only sue
me, but to have my animals put down. I guess. I'm
still finding it incredibly hard to believe that you
can let your pets out and then sue if they get hurt.
If my cat got out and was mauled by a dog, I certainly
wouldn't blame the dog owners - even if their dog was
roamin' free. Once you let them out? Kinda game-off in
my book. So now we await the call. I'm concerned
however we're just gonna get a notice in the mail from
a lawyer or something else from the city. All such a
blur. And so heartbreaking knowing the dogs were
trying to get to the baby. They were freaked out
because the baby was crying and none of their doors
worked, so they went through the gate. (heart hurts)
They saw a cat and, well, there you go. They are still
dogs after all.
So once all that
was done I had to clean up CeBe who had cat shit, dirt
and maybe blood on her? Couldn't tell, but there's no
doubt there was an altercation. LeeLoo was spotless.
Get the baby feeding with Talya (which she finally did
- looked like she had never eaten in her whole life
she was so happy) and only now am realizing how tragic
this may be. So we just wait. I'm drilling a hole in
the gate latch to put a chain around it today and
honestly? Am just more concerned about that baby
eating. I love my dogs but if they have to be put
down, that's my fault for not having a gate that was
chained. It's just heartbreaking that it was Vienna's
cries that made them try and get to the front of the
house. They're so protective already of her and it's
like she has 4 guardians. Jesus this is
heartbreaking.
Chest hurts. What
a whirlwind. Thought I'd post the video of us taking
her home and meeting the pups. Which depending on the
outcome of this story may be the saddest video I've
ever put together.
Jesus,
life really is a balance. Here's hopin' we extend our
fairy tale a little longer before tragedy
strikes.
