1 life gone, 8 to go

Today started off like any other day at the kennel, for about the first 3 minutes.
I had gotten up, and about 5 dogs (out of 10) that sleep in the house at night, wanted to go out right away. I open the door to let them out, not 30 seconds later, I see them chasing something. I thought a rabbit had gotten in the yard, which happens on occasion. Then I heard it. hisssssssssssss!!!!
A cat, from the many that had been "fixed", had gotten into the backyard. The dogs had it trapped in a corner--for about a split second, before it made a mad dash for the nearest tree. Where it sat for the next 2 hours. Meowing. And Meowing. That's right cat, that's how NOT to get the dogs' attention. And the dogs sat under the tree the whole time.
Meanwhile things need to get done. Sit there cat, 'cuz this is the dogs' time now.

After I had gotten the other kids out to play, I went inside to let Mama Emily out and feed the pups. In case you don't follow me on facebook, the pups have started eating real food. Anyway, as I go in to get Em, I can see her laying on the floor of the pen, and I see something black next to her. I thought, oh I guess one of the girls got out of the box. I go and open the gate to the pen, and ALL 3 pups had escaped the confines of the whelping box. They're only 3 weeks and 2 days old. They normally don't all get out of the box until after 4 weeks.
I can tell I am going to have my hands full with this crew.

Back to the cat in the tree. Once I got everyone put up after playtime, I told the cat, she could come down. She just meowed. So, I didn't bother her for about 30 minutes or so, thinking she just needed time to realize the coast was clear to make the escape, which she did. I didn't see her leave, but, I'm hoping she learned a valuable lesson, and won't try coming to the backyard again.