The Pupsters had their first car ride (well, actually a van...) tonight! I had a meeting in Appleton, so loaded them up in the crates I carry, four in one crate and five in another on nice fluffy bath rugs. My first challenge was locating all the pups. I took the first batch out and loaded them, returned and only counted 1 puppy. How could that be?? I looked around. No pups. Then I saw that three of them had sneaked into the metal crate where I had placed Roya. Roya likes to open doors, so I had put her in what we call the Lion Cage, which is one of those heavy duty welded aluminum things. There are big metal bars, and the pups had decided it would be pretty cool to go in by mom! Except one of them -- Pinkie-- some how got STUCK partway through. I was able to remove her without resorting to Crisco, fortunately! Got the wayward pups out, Roya back in and off we went. I travel prepared with clean up materials (spray, paper towels, plastic bags and clean rugs) as well as a container of antibacterial hand wipes for people to use who want to handle the pups. Hey, I don't know where their hands have been!There were mild protests as we started off, but they soon settled down. Being Wisconsin pups, it is entirely possible that they wanted to be able to clearly hear the Packer vs Jaguars game, so had to be quiet!
They were excellent travelers. The meeting lasted approximately 1 1/2 hours and since it was a dog-related meeting, everyone wanted to meet the Pupsters. I had to count heads several times as people would start to edge away, holding one of the little darlings tightly... ha ha! I discovered I am not alone in loving the smell of puppy feet AND thinking they smell like Fritos'! And everyone loves puppy breath, I think. There is just something magical about the smell of a puppy and the way they look at you and assess.
I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. This time there were no cries after going back into the crates and they apparently went back to sleep. I was amazed when I took them out at home that there were no poops on the rugs and it did not seem that they had peed much, if at all. I can't believe they would not have, given that amount of time, but once they were free at home every one of them peed. Maybe? They had a lovely homecoming meal of Momma and Meat, had a brief romping period and are now fast asleep once again.
