WW Litter, 52 Days Old, Visits the Alzheimer’s Unit 
3/9/22 

Were the pups ever wild when we got to the Alzheimer’s Unit!  Tessa helped again, and this time she was quite busy.  The pups kept escaping the activity room and barreling down the hallway whenever anyone walked there.  Tessa and Joy were kept busy corralling pups.  They again liked Joy’s keys and had quite the tug battles.  Miss Green was the only one I noticed grabbing the keys; the other two grabbed the lanyard.  The girls started were really tugging and, when Mr. Purple joined them, he ended up with the lanyard around him and couldn’t quite figure out where to bite.  Of course, the girls were tugging away and pulling him all over, so his confusion made everyone laugh.

I got a fun new toy, a blue bunny whose long ears, when you squeeze the toy, flop straight up and back down.  The pups didn’t quite know what to make of it. Their vision still isn’t perfect, so they had trouble following the ears when Joy squeezed rapidly, and often grabbed where the ears weren’t.  We had lots of fun with that toy.

The room was really hot, so the pups soon calmed down and began trying to find cool spots behind the chairs and under things.  Joy and Tessa would pull one out every so often and carry it around to visit with the residents.

The sun was really bright, streaming in through the big south and west windows and west doors, so I had to really work to get into a position where I wasn’t photographing directly into the sun and could get a few photos of each resident as they held the pups.  The entire room was super-bright and the floor blindingly white, quite the challenge.  I had to color-edit nearly every photo.  Some turned out good; others are just usable.

This was the beginning of the second week the Alzheimer’s Unit was open to visitors since a weeks-long bout with covid.  All but 4 residents got it, and one died.  Several of the residents still look awful and have little energy.  The ones who LOVE the dog visits, especially the puppy visits, still were weak enough to just summon a little enthusiasm and fain smiles, so unlike their usual welcome to the babies.

to WW litter page (in their new homes)
to WW litter diary (on website until March 22)
to WW litter background information