The Disappearing Puppies 🐶

Foggy Oak Farm raised eight puppies over the summer, but they keep disappearing! Learn about raising puppies and the mysteries that sometimes result in this fun, farm-focused episode. 

Previously our February bonus episode for Patreon members!

New intro

Transcript

0:35

♪ Foggy Oak Farm ♪♪Foggy Oak Farm ♪♪ Come on down to ♪♪ Foggy Oak Farm ♪- Hi friends. Welcome to Foggy Oak Fairy Tales. Each week, we'll bring you a new story. Some weeks, we'll share a story based on what's been happening on our real-life Foggy Oak Farm, where we have all sorts of animals and adventures. Other weeks, we'll use our imaginations and create new adventures together. I'm so glad you're here. This story is based on our experiences over the summer, raising a litter of eight puppies on the farm. We'll learn about how puppies grow up, and we'll learn about where they like to disappear to when people aren't necessarily watching them. Once upon a time, or in this case, as spring was turning to summer, we had a litter of eight puppies at Foggy Oak Farm. They were born on June 13th, and they were a mix of white with black spots and all black. We had six boys and two girls. When they were first born, they were probably about the size of a guinea pig. Now, when you have a litter of puppies, you might already know that they are very dependent on their mom or whoever is taking care of them for the first several weeks of their life. In fact, their eyes don't even open until they're around 10 days to two weeks old. So for the first week or two of their lives, they primarily experience the world through hearing and tasting and smelling things. And they stay very close to where they were born or where the mom wants to keep them, which is you can call that a den, but it's like a safe, small space where the puppies are protected. And as their eyes open, and they get a little stronger, and they stay away, longer, they'll start to explore a little bit, and their mom or whoever is taking care of them, will feel more comfortable letting them move around and explore and learn more about the world around them. Also for the first several weeks, until they're about three and a half weeks to four and a half weeks old, they get most of their nutrition from their mom or from a replacement formula that's especially designed for puppies to give them the kind of milk that they would get from their mom. Once they get a little bit older to that, three and a half or so a week range, the people helping take care of them can start introducing them to solid food. So when you introduce them to solid food, there are lots of different ways that you can do that, different kinds of food you can give them. In our case, we gave them puppy formulas that milk that specifically designed for puppies, mixed with wet puppy food and dry puppy food. And that way they get used to dry puppy food, but it's moist and really chewy because it's been soaked in the milk and the wet puppy foods was easy for them to eat. I am guessing that you don't think that sounds very yummy. And I agree with you. I don't think that sounds very yummy either, but the puppies absolutely love it. They go crazy for that food and get really excited when it's time to eat. So when we started feeding them, the way that we would do it every time and you feed them every few hours when they're that little is go puppy puppy puppies. And they would come running an excitement to get that food. We wanted them to associate being called by us with good things. So we made sure that we always called puppy puppy puppies. When it was time for them to eat, so they started to learn, oh, I should come when I'm called. As they got older and started eating solid food and started being stronger and able to walk around a bit, we felt comfortable letting them start to walk around outside. So we introduced them to sheep and goats and chickens and ducks and let them learn more about the lay of the land. This place where they were growing up. We wanted them to have a lot of different kinds of experiences so that they were well prepared to go on to their new homes when it was time for that to happen. The puppies really loved exploring and they would go all over the woods that were in the dog area. They would go on these little walks with us to spend time with the other farm animals and they generally made themselves really comfortable in their expanding environment. And then of course every day, a few times a day, we would go outside and call them puppy puppies. And wherever they were, they would come running to get their food. One day, when I went outside with their dinner, I called puppy puppy puppies. And no puppies came. That was very unusual. So I called again. Puppy puppy puppies! Still no puppies. I walked around to the other side of the house in the backyard and I called again. Puppy puppy puppies! I heard a little and suddenly around the corner came seven more puppies all very excited about eating. So I thought, well I guess they just weren't where I had gone before and thought nothing more of it. A few hours later, I brought their next meal out to them and called puppy puppy puppies! But again, no puppies came. Then I wondered, where on earth could they be? So I called again, puppy puppy puppies! No puppies. But, Rose their mom came up to me happily wagging her tail and wondering if she could have her dinner. So I asked her, Rose, where are your puppies? And she just wagged her tail and looked at me happily like,"I'm not worried about them. I know right where they are. But, I'm not going to show you." And I wanted to know where on earth they were hiding. So I started walking around the yard, calling calling,"P puppy puppy puppies!""P puppy puppy puppies!""P puppy puppy!" No puppies. At that point, I decided I needed reinforcements. I called my daughters out who are 7 and 5, and they began to hunt with me."P puppy puppy puppies!" We called by the trampoline. No puppies."P puppy puppy puppies!" We called by the slingset."No puppies.""Coffee puppy puppies!" We called and the woods."No puppies." Finally, we ended up in the backyard."By a little white shed." We looked at each other."I don't know where they are," I said."Let's try one more time." My daughter said."And they called with all their hearts.""P puppy puppy puppies!" And suddenly, muffled. We heard, "Buh!" What? Where could the puppy be? We called again, "P puppy puppy puppies!" This time, more barking. All muffled. We walked around the outside of the white shed, since it sounded like maybe it could be coming from there."But no sign of any puppies!" My daughter decided to go look. In the back of the white shed, where there is a little room for holding firewood. She went in there and said, "I don't see any puppies!" But I'm going to try calling them anyway."P puppy puppy puppies!" And suddenly, a puppy emerged. Unknown to any of us, Rose had dug a den, underneath the white shed that the puppies could get to by walking into the firewood room. When one puppy emerged, many other puppies followed her until they were about five puppies in the firewood room, happily wagging their tails and looking my daughter."Oh my goodness, puppies!" Did Rose dig that for you? I asked them. They didn't answer exactly, but as we led them to their food, two more puppies came out, and then finally the eighth puppy came out. They had all been under the white shed, and that was where they were disappearing. What we eventually figured out is Rose had decided that as her puppies were exploring the world, she wanted them to have a den that she made where they could go when they needed a rest, or when she thought it was time for them to rest. She had made that den secretly under the shed and taken the puppies to it so that they would know where it was. We had had no idea. And so every day after that, when we would call the puppies, at least if you were under that shed, having a nap, and feeling safe and cozy. For now, I can tell you that the puppies are about five and a half months old, and we still have two of them here on the farm, and they still like to try and get under the white shed, even though they're too big now. Instead, if they have an opportunity to they'll try to get under the bed or under any other object that's high enough for them to get cozy under, because that still feels like a safe space. In fact this morning, one of the puppies who we still have, whose name is Orion, was sleeping under our bed when we woke up this morning, and he was very cozy. We have lots more to share about our experience with the puppy litter, but I thought the tale of the disappearing and reappearing puppies at Foggy Oak Farm was a fun place to start. The End. Remember, your part of the story, too. What did you think of this story? What did you imagine when you were listening? We'd love to hear your part of the story. If you and your grown-up want, you can share your thoughts or a picture you drew with our Foggy Oak podcast family. You might find it easiest to share with us on Facebook at Foggy Oak Farm, but we have lots of options on our website, Foggyoakfairytales.com. You can also check out pictures from the farm and learn more about us. Thanks for being part of the story, and I hope you'll join us next week.[ Music ]