Diva Mama

Although she certainly is a Diva, Janey has been tremendously enjoying her time as a Mama.  She is inordinately proud of her puppies, and her devotion and meticulous care of them would arouse envy in the most dedicated Jewish mother. 

It was perfectly understandable that while they were small, she would be ready to feed and clean up after them, but now they are over two months old, big, fat and active, but Janey, although she hasn’t really got milk anymore, is still willing to let them sprawl across her and suckle a few times a day.  The sight of these puppies, already about a third of her size, but still her babies, is quite intriguing. 

She still cleans up after them, and she cleans them.  This is not an easy job.  These puppies, from two desert born parents, have decided that water was created to splash in, and they spend much of their time with as many feet as possible in the water buckets.  Not only feet, of course.  The next stage is to  run around the yard collecting leaves and mud that sticks to the dripping puppy fur.  Janey patiently attends to each one in turning, licking them dry and cleaning them fastidiously, so that they can go back for their next turn at the water bucket.

Although she is a very eager eater and never one to turn down a meal, she is still regurgitating food for her babies.  Few bitches still have this instinct, but in Janey it is still strong and she can’t resist giving the little ones this additional food, even though they are eating three hearty meals a day.  They, of course, eagerly gobble down these extra treats.

Protecting the puppies is, of course, essential!  People are very welcome to pet and play with them, although Janey prefers to have all the petting for herself. But no other dogs are allowed to get anywhere near the perimeter of the puppy pen – Janey stands between the invader and her darlings showing her teeth and producing a sort of banshee scream, “Stay away from my children!!!!!” Janey is always quite vocal, expressing her opinion in varying tones about everything – this is, after all, a diva characteristic.  But the puppy-protection tone itself is definitely enough to deter anyone.  Habibi is the major target.  Any time he comes out of the house, there she is, vigorously warning him from getting near.  Habibi finds this whole situation very boring – he has no interest in invading the puppy pen, and really doesn’t see what the fuss is all about.  He passes the diva with a supercilious expression of , “Oh, really….!”

However, when the puppies are running free in the yard or on the lawn, Janey has no problems with Habibi being a substitute father.  He is very tolerant of puppies, and even enjoys playing with them, and Janey seems to see this as a break from her responsibilities to entertain and discipline her family.  She rests in the shade, watching what is going on, perfectly calm and unconcerned about Habibi’s participation.

She does love to play with the puppies herself – especially in the evening, when the weather is cooler and the yard is shady, she runs and plays rough and tumble with them, teaching them everything a good Canaan needs to know about communicating, and is always very careful to keep everything at a level that is suited to youngsters.

A few of the pups have gone to their new homes, and Janey doesn’t seem to  miss them – there are still five, and some of them will be here for several months more before they leave for new homes.  Somehow I think that Janey will not be interested in resuming her diva life until all the puppies have gone – motherhood for a Canaan is more attractive than anything else.