Our first adventure outside the whelping box

Today Squirrel and Mudge had their first adventure outside the whelping box. A quick trip to the vet for a check up and dew claw removal. Easier said than done. Although the vet is only 4 minutes down the street, it felt like 400 miles! I had to separate the pups from mom so that they wouldn't get squished enroute as Tioga was wildly yelping and pacing from window to window. She was definitely excited to go for a car ride. As we started off, the pups began squealing for their mom and Tioga became increasingly agitated at being apart from them. The receptionist met me in the parking lot and whisked the puppies into the office so that I could stay in the car with Tioga and keep her calm. They had their dew claws removed and were given a clean bill of health and swiftly returned to their waiting mom. After they left, she fell fast asleep (don't tell the pups, they think she was crying for them the whole time) Obviously, the whole ordeal (which maybe lasted 15 minutes) was exhausting for Mudge and Squirrel because they have been fast asleep ever since!