Individual Achievement

The prize for first to make Honest, Unadulterated Contact with a Human...
goes to the smallest red girl in Diamond's litter.
(I was holding her in my hand, with her belly up so I could rub it, looking in her face and making small talk with her when she made eye contact with me and started answering with little barking sounds. She was lying still, just looking straight in my eyes, making sure I knew it was ME she was talking to.)

Winner of first prize for Walking All the Way Across the Nest without Falling, Staggering or even Touching a Nose to the Ground to Maintain Balance...
is one of Cotton's larger boys.
(I had all the pups out of the nest while I changed the bedding and I put him back first, on the side away from where the gang always congregates and watched in amazement as he marched his little butt straight across to where his mama had left him. He's one pup who will always be first in the chow line.)

And finally, the prize for the first pup to make a Deliberate and Planned Escape from the Nest without the Aid of Mom's Nipple or Climbing Up and Over a Pile of Littermates...
is presented to Emy's smallest black guy.
(And he's done it not once or twice, but several times. Here we have an Edmond Dantes, folks!)