Daisy - Her 1st month

When Daisy first arrived to our home, a "normal" dog she wasn't. As we all know, dogs will drop everything for a tasty treat! Daisy though had never been offered a treat before and didn't even know what one was. She was so scared of everything around her, she wouldn't even let her nose guide her to the likes of human chicken or turkey!

My dogs however, showed her otherwise.

The excitement in the room when the "people food" came out became infectious to little Daisy and now our reach for the fridge door incites excitement in this little girl! We have found her favorites - deli sliced turkey, chicken, and American cheese and have used those as incentive for her to come out of her shell.

Other than her food and periodic treats, we refrained from giving Daisy human touch for the first month as she had plenty to "work on" settling in here. Building Daisy's trust at her own pace was the goal for month 1.

We have celebrities among us....

Both Simba and Sofia are celebrities - they are in the 2009 TLC calendar... Simba is our March 'pin-up' boy and Sofia is our July 'pin-up' girl... The calendars can be purchased at the TLC CafePress store located here... ALL profits from the CafePress store go towards the rescue of small dogs from the Ventura County and Greater Los Angeles shelters...

Simba is also a T-shirt star with spreading the message of "Have a heart - don't buy from petshops" also available at the TLC CafePress store here... Thank you for all your support and our little ones thank you as well - 'woof woof'!!!

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Daisy has arrived....

Daisy came to us on Thanksgiving weekend last year and however thankful she was! Daisy was adopted from the East Valley Shelter; shaggy, scared, fearful and in pretty bad shape. At the time, she was in heat, had swollen and bloody gums, and was scared of her shadow. Now, about 4.5 - 5 years old we can see that she has had at least one litter and poor emotional care in her past but like many delicate souls we find in the shelters, we have no other information to help guide us as to how she became so scared, distrusting, and uncomfortable in her own skin.

New puppy photos!

I suspect Nacho and Sofia will both have fluffy coats for they're much longer and fuller than the other three...

Here are the new puppy photos as well as their own individual blogs set up!

New puppy photos at 3 1/2 weeks -

Dulce - http://tlc-dulce.blogspot.com/

Ebony - http://tlc-ebony.blogspot.com/

Mercedes - http://tlc-mercedes.blogspot.com/

Nacho - http://tlc-nacho.blogspot.com/

Sofia - http://tlc-sofia.blogspot.com/

Today's discoveries...

I have finally found two things Bella doesn't like - balloons and taking a bath! (smile)... I got as much of a bath as she did yesterday!... Whew~!!!... Afterwards, she ran outside and jumped up onto the futon platform where two HUGE fluffy cushy doggie beds are and rolled, rolled, rolled!... Despite getting so wet giving her the bath, it was SO enjoyable watching her lovin' life like that!

It was my hubby's birthday today and the office surprised him with some balloons... Bella took one look at them and headed for the hills!... I think she was truly afraid of them floating around like that... After we noticed it, we quickly took them into another room!

For all the things she could be afraid of, not like or be a difficult foster over, I can take these two things with ease! Here's a quick photo of her snoozin' away tonight... Raising those pups is HARD WORK!

P.S. Like her new, shiny collar? It matches her well, doncha think?

Laundry basket-ful of pups!

Every day we change the bedding of the pups now that they are up and moving around... And because they're active, it is actually easier to put them one by one into a laundry basket while we do this... Isn't this just precious! Of course, Dulce is in the center as always!



As we move them around, we weigh them to make sure everyone is gaining weight like they should... Drum roll here...

Dulce - 33 ounces
Ebony - 26 ounces
Mercedes - 20 ounces
Nacho - 20 ounces
Sofia - 28 ounces

Just a chillin...

I couldn't resist snapping this photo of Bella as she stretched out on a pillow on the futon, snoozing away the afternoon! But when she heard the sounds of me grabbing the camera, she opened up her eyes!



This might not seem like a 'biggie' for some people, but with all the sick dogs I've tended in my lifetime... and the fosters... Bella possesses a sweet attribute that I wanted to mention... Every four hours (as long as she is feeding her puppies), I need to give her the calcium glucose (orally)... It's done with a syringe (no needle), but you still need to give it to her...

Bella never gives me a hard time about this... I call her, she comes wagging her tail... Sits down and I give her the meds... Not a problem - not an issue... No trying to sneak it into her food or a 'Pill Pocket'... I'm telling you - as many Chihuahuas and other breeds I have rescued and/or fostered, I have never seen such a sweet, loving, obliging dog so in tune with humans... If you've ever had a sick dog that doesn't want to take their meds, you can appreciate what I'm saying here...

What a sweetie!