Are You Up for More?

Lousy photos is what I'm talking about. THIS weekend, to mark their 4 weeks birthday, I'm going to try getting shots of individual pups. Now here's the thing, I can use the same "background" as last week (green for boys, orange for darker girls, yellow for lighter girls) but the next time I take pictures, I won't be able to tell which is which (except for gender.) Haven't microchipped them yet. Soon.


Another first prize... for escaping from the CLOSED puppy pen... first prize goes to the (currently) darkest of the males. He squeezed out and was wandering around the bedroom, totally unperturbed by the other dogs who were following behind him. I swear he gave me a big grim when I picked him up and put him back in the pen. (Then fixed the gate with TWO clips so he couldn't get out again.)

Peri
Just the little girl surviving now and she seems to be doing ok. She is being hatched by her mom who keeps her so close to her belly, I have to move her legs to see the pup. And whenever Peri gets up to change position, she scoops the pup up in her mouth and carries her around. This is VERY annoying for me because it makes the otherwise quiet pup cry which makes the dogs in the room rush over to the corner where Peri's "nest" is, whining and barking. (All the other dogs except Emy whose attitude is "it ain't one of MINE!") I wouldn't mind so much except Peri holds her for a while before putting her down... sometimes until I go take the pup OUT of her mouth. In all the years I've been breeding, I've never had a dog do this. Several breeders have suggested Peri is nervous and insecure and being over protective, which IS a possibility... except she doesn't act nervous otherwise. AND when she gets up to go outside, she doesn't pick the pup up. By the way, I've already nicknamed her Esther, short for polyester because Peri and Emy are full sisters and Sparky is the father of Peri's girl and Emy's missing girl, Cotton.

Preakness
Saturday is the second race in the Triple Crown. It is for 1-3/8 miles and the field is down from a possible 20-21 to 11, thank goodness. Six of the 11 ran in the KY Derby 2 weeks ago,including the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th place finishers. Mostly because I really REALLY want to see another Triple Crown winner, I'm rooting for I'll have Another who won the first race. Then I'd like to see Bodemeister and Creative Cause and a newby, Teeth of the Dog (for obvious reasons) in the next 3 slots, not necessarily in that order. As a bit of trivia, Dog's half-brother, Tiger Walk, is also running in the race.