Quarantine puppies?

 Well it’s been over a year since we have been living in a pandemic and I think we have all learned some valuable lessons.  So, what have I been doing during this whole shutdown? 

During the begging of the shutdown in March, I was grateful to be at home not because all my classes were suddenly switched online but because I had 5 puppies waiting for me at home. I decided that I wanted to breed my dog because I wanted the experience and who doesn’t love puppies. Well when we got sent home it was perfect timing because I only missed the first 4 days of their lives. I was able to see the whole entire process of breeding and selling puppies and handle it all myself. So, some things I learned vet bills cost of a lot for 5 puppies and the mother, registration fees cost a good bit, and managing people wanting to buy puppies is even harder. The whole process of trying to find the best home for them to go to was a lot of work and overwhelming. I posted them on our advertising website at 12pm and all the puppies had been spoken for by 5pm that night. I learned about venting people to make sure that they were serious and overall just had a loving home for our puppies. 

 

Other than learning about the selling process and the amount of money it takes to make sure they are healthy and registered. I also learned about how to take care of multiple puppies and some early training habits. Thankfully we had a nice spring and it was warm so we could take the puppies outside a lot to play and go to the bathroom. This was one of the best habits that we started so when they left they were on their way to being potty trained. We were also trying to teach them how to sit before they could be picked up and also how to stop biting. If you know anything about puppies they have razor sharp teeth and love to bite.

 

This was one of the best experiences I could have had over quarantine because I saw all my hard work pay off when they all went to loving homes. I still get updates from each family that took home a puppy and it’s amazing to see how spoiled they all are. It was worth the 9 weeks of cleaning their puppy pen multiple times a day, having scars up my arms from bites and scratches, and eventually saying goodbye to the puppies I had become attached to sending them off to their forever homes. 

 

So, were has this lead me now? I just recently had another litter of puppies that all found their forever homes again. This process was a bit different since I wasn’t able to be home all the time. Thankfully my dad did all the heavy lifting with the puppies and during the weekends I was able to be home with them. 

 
Is this something I would want to do in a classroom with my future students? 

 

Of course, I would love to do this with my students so they could see the process. But I think having puppies are out of the question but bunnies or another small animal could work. I think watching animals from grow from birth to maturity is a great learning opportunity in its self. But when you also add in the marketing part of animals it becomes an even better lesson for students. Hopefully this is a lesson that I could include when I am student teaching or in the future in my own classroom.