Chapter 1: Shhhh! Library Voices Please!!!!!

One surprising thing about Gim’s passing was how great Ferg took it.  I was a mess, but to him it was another Friday night.  I couldn’t quite understand how he could be so cavalier about it all. A life with Gim was all Ferg ever knew.  Gim was his bestest of buds, his partner in hijinx and his finisher when retrieving from of water.  I thought for sure Ferg would feel his absence as much, if not more than I.  It turned out he was more resilient and chose to focus on the bright spots- more room in the bed, no more having his supper stolen, all of my free time was his and his only;  while I clung to the loss of what was and would never be again. 

Gim knew all the best mud spots

How Gim loved to run

The years that followed focused on  picking up the pieces and slowly getting on with life.   Walks around the block, that brought back memories of day of yore, turned into fitness challenges that had us walking in new neighbourhoods for hours.  Next was a return to back-packing, something that Gim used to enjoy.  It felt strange being on the shores of the lake without Gim there, faking lameness so that I would pack out all his gear. Ferg’s love for the outdoors and adventure was a balm for my sadness.  With each day that passed the bone aching sorrow became less and less.  But now I had a new fear.  

I made it through the loss of Gim with the help of Ferg.  He was my anchor through the whole ordeal, but if something happened to him I would be pooched.  It would be just me and the cat.  Oh Bill would try his best to provide comfort, but let’s face it he would fall short of the mark because he was lacking an essential factor… he was not a dog.  

There was no other option… I needed to get Ferg a playmate, so I contacted GoldenPride and put a deposit on a puppy to secure my place on the waiting list.  All I had to do then was be patient and wait for Mother Nature to take her course.  

The universe had other plans for me, though.  One day I received an email from Jen (owner of GoldenPride) asking if I would consider a different option.   She wondered if I would be interested in a foster to own with one of her current Mom’s.  Whisper  would live with me, but go back to GoldenPride for breeding and whelping.  I was hesitant about accepting the offer, as I didn’t know if I could handle everything that went with living with an intake female…. heat cycles, girlie bits and pre-natal care. 

“Why don’t you take her for the weekend! Try it out!!!”was Jen’s suggestion. 

What would trial hurt?  Besides at the time, I felt having a little more female energy in the house wouldn’t be a bad thing given the males outnumbered me.

Ferg fell in love right away.  Whisper could not escape him.  If she zigged, he zigged if she tried to leave he would follow.  At one point I had to crate her just to give her a break from his incessant admiration.  Bill could not believe his eyes… how could I bring another dog into the house???? Sacrilege!!!  While Ferg was busy stalking Whisper, Bill was following me around listing off a litany of reasons why adding a new dog to the mix was the worst mistake I could make.  It was a long day and night.  

Permagrin…. Ferg’s Vote Yes to keeping her.

There may be bars between us… but I’ll wait for you!

She has pierced me with the bullets of love!!!

WTF Linda!!!!

I woke on Day 2 knowing that Whisper had found her forever home.  Let’s face it, as soon as the cat balked about it, my mind was made up.  It served him right for all the late night wake-up calls.  Of course her calm easy demeanour also worked in her favour.  

Lazy Weekend Mornings

You might be thinking pretty sweet deal. I think about getting a dog and just like that a quiet, trained,  adult just falls in my lap.  I got to jump past of all the potty, leash and obedience training into the fun bit and bonus, everyone got along right from the start.

As I write it out it sounds a little like a fairy tale and it would have been except for one thing….. there is a reason why Whisper’s nickname is Wee Wee.   Wee has had and continues to have occasional bouts of incontinence and she is also prone to having the occasional bowel accident in the house.  Shortly into her stay with us I started finding wet spots on the carpet… typically with my foot… YUCK!  

What was going on?  

Add to the carpet bombing, flooding her bed/bedding when crated.  Ohhh the laundry!!!

I removed the bedding from her crate, upped the frequency I was taking her outside but she still would have an accident every few days.  Scrubbing carpets was my purgatory for not listening to the cat’s initial pleas to reconsider.  Ferg continued to look at her with adoring eyes.  I was starting to shoot her a hairy eyeball every time there was a crate or carpet accident to clean up.  Monitored water intake and frequent trips to the great outdoors helped get the inside peeing under control.  Once that was sorted out, and my cleaning duties were back to a reasonable level, I could start to enjoy her as much as Ferg. Even Bill was coming around.  

Although consistent in her ability to have house accidents, Wee is unpredictable when it comes to her heat cycle. First off was the timing between cycles.  For most females that tends to be 6-7 months. For Wee it was between 8-9-10 months, definitely not something you could set your clock by!  

Once she started a heat cycle it tended to be a split cycle i.e. she would have all the signs of being in heat but it would stop just as suddenly as it started.   All this has meant that  I  have had to  get up close and personally acquainted with her vulva.  Of course not really knowing what an out of season vulva looks like it also meant some time on Google to educate myself on the differences… yes my Google history is very, very assorted… don’t judge my thirst for knowledge. 😁

Around the time she was supposed to be in season I started checking out her Bits:

“Nope no swelling.”

“Still no swelling.”

“Hmmm…. things could be looking a little bigger.”

“THERE’s BLOOD!!!”

At the first sign of blood I rushed her out to Jen’s, only to have her returned two days later,  because she was back to showing no signs again.  In those two days of absence both Bill and Ferg questioned what I had done with her.  They wanted their Whisper back

Ohh the forlorn looks I was subjected to while she was away.  The second time that blood appeared, she stayed in heat and had some vacation time at the kennel, getting her groove back with Nigel.  

Upon her return we resumed our walks and daily routines, counting down the days until it would be revealed if she was pregnant. 

She’s Back… and so is the Permagrin!

Whisper has never been one to have the one day of morning sickness that most dogs have… that early indicator that some buns are a cookin’!. She heartily spins like a tornado while I prepare her meals and hoovers food down like it was going out of style through each pregnancy.

For the first pregnancy on my watch, Wee Wee did just that… she had many, many wee’s around the house.  I started to suspect that something was wrong with her girlie bits and a trip to the vet confirmed both a bladder infection and that there were babies on board.  Whoot Whoot!  I was going to be a Grandma!

Wee with her buns in the oven

The one drawback of fostering a Mom is they are gone for 8 weeks to have their litter.  The awesome part is all the puppy play dates over those same 8 weeks. 

It’s boys and girls!

Ohhh those little faces.  100% cuteness overload.  It was a bitter sweet sadness to see them go.  On one hand Wee was home, but on the other no more watching the antics of the puppies learning and experiencing new things and no more access to puppy breath….ohhh how I had become addicted to puppy breath in those few short weeks. 

You know how I mentioned my Google search history has some pretty interesting search topics… well Whisper’s return brought another one… mastitis.  Whispers teats were hard, mega red and hot.  I thought it might be because of the pressure build up so I started hand milking her to try and relieve some of her pain…yes, I can add milking a dog to my resume under soft skills.  

Periodic milking helped,  but not enough.  Next up epsom salts soaks.  When that didn’t work either I channeled my inner Vivian Westwood and fashion her a cabbage bra using a tensor.   All efforts to solve the issue naturally were a fail, so it was back to the vet for an assessment and intervention.  A pregnancy, book ended by vet visits, and we were only 5 months into our time together. 

While she was away the house was lonely and too quiet without her.  I share my first world problem of empty nest syndrome with Jen on one of my visits to see Whisper.  She offered a solution, I could foster one of the males she had at her house.  I was hoping for George, as I found humour in the fact that I would have a George and Bill living at my house (which happen to be my cousins names).  Sadly, Gorgeous Georgeous (my nickname for him) was already spoken for.  She was looking for a foster for a male Springer Spaniel.  She quickly followed that nugget up with her now infamous phrase, the one that gets me every time.  “How about you take him home for the weekend.  Just try it out!”.  

You know me…. I’m a sucker… I said sure.

And then there was Oaks!