No News about Cotton

Sunday will mark 4 weeks since Cotton (and Peri) got lost. By now, Cotton would have had the pups... they were due around the 12th. The weather was nice up until Tuesday and then it got rainy with downpours yesterday. I have had visions of Cotton in a mudhole, trying to keep those little blond babies warm and dry. Sometimes I imagine her inside a barn or shed, at least out of the weather. Of course, my HOPE is someone has managed to entice her into a house where she is warm and getting food on a regular basis. I try not to think that she is lying dead alongside a road or in the woods somewhere... but that, of course, is a real (maybe the only real) possibility. I don't know how else to explain her and Peri being separated and Cotton not being seen by anyone again. I want the pups, of course, but my tears are for Cotton. Every day it is harder to believe... even think I'll ever see her again.

7 weeks old today
Emy's pups are starting to grow up. They are beginning to whine to get out of their pen. The other dogs are of great interest to them and they will try to paw them, touch noses, etc through the wire. Tomorrow I am definitely moving them to the tv room. They'll have more space... and new dogs to meet. And pretty soon, they'll be allowed out to roam first THAT room and then the bigger "living room" it opens off of. Have to get in there and hide cords first! Emy is willing to spend a couple hours away from them at a time... outside or loose in the bedroom... but she still spends most of her time WITH them. Every litter, when I get to this stage... the age so many breeders are permanently removing moms from their babies... I wonder how often that would happen if they just once left them there longer and watched the interaction between them. It can't be just MY dogs who love their youngens after they get teeth!