This puppy seeks attention in the most peculiar way

In the middle of the night, about 4 am (it’s always around 4 in the morning, am I right?), I hear a desperate cry for help from the whelping pen in the living room.

I bolt out of bed and rush over to where Dreamer and her puppies are gathered.

The crying continues.

Quick!

Turn on the light.

I flick the switch and scan the 4’ x 4’ space.

1…

2…

3…

4…

4…

Where’s 5?!

Thinking Dreamer has laid on one of the babies, I lift her up by the shoulders as her yellow eyes glare back at me for disturbing her sleep.

Nope.

No puppy underneath.

More cries, so I count again.

This time I look past Dreamer’s shoulder.

To my surprise, a pudgy puppy is caught between Dreamer’s side and the wall of the whelping pen.

Thinking it just got lodged and couldn’t back out, I moved the puppy back to the security of Dreamer’s middle.

I counted the puppies again, just to make sure.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

PHEW!

Panic over.

NOW… who the heck was that puppy?

I made a mental note… Delaney (purple), the giant gold wolf sable female.

Okay.

Everything’s okay.

Back to bed.

No sooner did I crawl back into bed and close my eyes when… I hear little puppy cries.

NOW WHAT?!

I drag myself out of bed to look into the pen again.

And do you know what I saw???

DELANEY WAS BACK IN THAT SAME SPOT

BETWEEN HER MOM AND THE WALL!!

This time, I wisened up.

I checked the sides of the wall and Dreamer.

Plenty of room.

This puppy was not being squished.

But there she was… wailing away… as if her very life depended on it.

Curious.

Very curious.

I stood up, folded my arms, and watched that little cretin and her antics.

Sure enough.

She cried for a few more minutes, then quieted down and fell asleep.

Right there… between her mom and the wall.

SHEESH!

Of all the dirty, rotten tricks puppies have pulled on me, this one is the most inventive.

Now, if it were only one time, I could explain it as a random event.

Perhaps Delaney just doesn’t know where she is, Dreamer leans back, and puppy panics.

Maybe Delaney really does get stuck and feels trapped, like she can’t get out, and puppy panics.

BUT… OH, NO! *finger wag

You might think that.

I did at first, too.

But I now know this little puppy does this on purpose!

I have caught Delaney in that same position, several times, crying her eyes out like she’s suffering some trauma.

The VERY moment I touch her, she stops her loud tones and waits.

Obviously, she is in no real danger.

I swear this puppy somehow realized early on that if she got herself into a predicament, she would be rescued.

So she now purposely gets herself into a bind and cries out for help… even though she isn’t in any danger whatsoever... so that I will come and rescue her.  

When I move her back to mom’s middle, she settles right down.

Then crawls right back to the same place and the whole thing repeats.

Delaney is really something!

I swear she’s the most intelligent puppy I have ever had.

I mean… to figure out the steps it takes to get a reaction from me… and then implement them consistently.

Just WOW!

Delaney and her siblings from the Luck of the Irish litter are a second generation from a Lab/Shepherd cross.

This means her grandmother was a 50/50 Lab/Shepherd.

Which also means her great-grandmother on her father’s side was a full German Shepherd Dog.

In fact, the particular German Shepherd Dog used comes from the Sater-Norlicht show German Shepherd Dog lines.

The famed Sater-Norlicht kennel is actually less than an hour’s drive from us.

They must be producing some wicked smart dogs there.

And Delaney has received this legacy.

Her intelligence is only overshadowed by her giant size.

She is going to be one spectacular looking dog with the brains to back that up.

Just so you know, we have now added prices on the puppies we are allowing to go to good homes.

Delaney will be placed with the right family when the time comes.

There is only ONE MORE WEEK before we officially open this litter for sale.

If you would like to consider a puppy, please make sure you have completed the puppy adoption questionnaire and been approved.

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.