Nothing New on Pups

Emy is being very lazy, but she is still eating small amounts of food every couple hours. I think I mentioned that girls generally stop eating 12-48 hours before labor, well, before noticible labor.

Email inquiry
I received an inquiry from a family in the "metro NYC" area and sent it on to a couple people in NY/NJ/PA. (Yes, even though I was stationed for a couple years at Ft Monmouth, I've forgot what is considered "metro NYC.") Anyway, anyone who feels like responding to the email, please contact the folks. If you live in that area and did not receive an email from me, fear not. I just pulled the addresses of a few people I'd heard from most recently. If you want to participate, let me know and I'll send you their contact information. THANKS!

Letters, I Get Letters!

My normal... as in "no puppies available"... email usually amounts to about a half dozen a day, give or take depending on the day of the week. When I have unspoken for puppies or a litter on the way, that doubles or triples or quadruples. Usually, if I don't hear back from an inquirer within a week to 10 days, I delete the emails from/to. Over the last 2 months, for some reason, I went back and forth several times with a number of different people and then they seemed to move to the moon. I figured they had found something else and deleted all that correspondence. And THEN, weeks later, they came back. Now here's the thing, as long as my "trash file" hasn't gotten too large, those deleted emails will still be there, BUT it means looking through hundreds of missives to locate them. Which does not put me in the best of moods! I know most people don't think there is a lot of work involved with breeding and selling puppies. Heck, every weekend, you can pick them up for free outside Walmart. And you can find any number of breeders on the internet who don't put a lot of time into answering questions, screening prospective homes, making as sure as possible that things will work out well for everyone involved. I've never been one of those breeders. But today I decided enough was enough... I PERAMNENTLY deleted over 300 emails from my inbox AND the trash file. It's gone. Bye bye. Soooo, anybody who wrote more than a week ago is gone. Bye-bye. Starting over from the beginning is still an option. I won't remember who inquired before anyway!

Talk about long odds
One of this weekend's Derby prep races, the Louisiana Derby, had an unexpected winner. Hero of Order went off at 109-1. That means he paid over $200 for a $2 bet. Not bad for an afternoon at the track! Oh, he is not nominated for the Kentucky Derby and his people say they're not interested.

Not Much

First, Peri IS in season, right on schedule. Such a good girl. I'll be breeding her with Sparky in a week to 10 days. These pups will be about a week younger than Emy and Boon's.

A friend sent me this:
Dogs Welcome

A man wrote a letter to a small hotel in a
midwest town he planned to visit on his
vacation. He wrote: I would very much like
to bring my dog with me. He is well-groomed
and very well behaved. Would you be willing
to permit me to keep him in my room with
me at night?"

An immediate reply came from the hotel
owner, who wrote: SIR: "I've been operating
this hotel for many years. In all that time, I've
never had a dog steal towels, bedclothes,
silverware or pictures off the walls. I've never
had to evict a dog in the middle of the night
for being drunk and disorderly. And I've never
had a dog run out on a hotel bill. Yes, indeed,
your dog is welcome at my hotel. And, if your
dog will vouch for you, you're welcome to stay
here, too."

Weather back to normal
Well, normal for THIS Winter! In the 60s, sun shinning, yard drying out... but still wet enough for muddy paws. LOTS of muddy paws! More rain scheduled for tomorrow night. Last year I put gravel around the perimeter of the yard, a 5 foot wide path all around. And it was quite enough to cut drastically down on how often I had to mop floors. This year, even if the entire yard was gravel, the floors would still be a mess most of the time!

Just a Couple Things

First off, a number of people have sent me multiple emails, most complaining I haven't answered their inquiries. As it says... in several places... on the website:
I answer every email, 99% of the time within 24 hours. It also says... several places... if you don't hear from me in a reasonable length of time, check you spam/junk mail folder. In EVERY case, sure enough, my responses were sitting there.

Second, all Cotton and Brogue's pups have been spoken for. Yeah! It's nice to know every one of them has a home to go to. Now, it's just getting the indetification system up and running, so people can begin to choose. Several people with later picks want to get their pups sooner rather than later, but a couple folks with earlier picks can't be here to choose the second the pups turn 12 weeks. I'm hoping for most, pictures will work. That's the way it's usually done... although any number of breeders ASSIGN pups to homes. And to be honest, you picking, me picking all works out the same in the long run.

Finally, Marna sent me this photo of a young Dakota and I think it is lovely.

And if you don't know the story of Marna and Dakota, it's on my website Whoodle page. AND there are any number of articles on the site you may have missed as well!