Cold Enough for You?

I took this picture outside my front door. Gorgeous, eh? It's a wonder no power or phone lines went down! Luckily, the temperature has climbed above freezing. Now everything is soggy! Hope to get off the hill tomorrow or at least by Saturday. Not that I need anything, I'm just going stir crazy!

More puppies check in
Murphy and Zoe Teague are ready for Christmas. Both are Emy kids, different dads.

Look, mom, it's raining outside! Tucker and Seamus Perry, a Cotton son and an Emy son.

Rain, More Rain, Snow

So a couple days ago we were about 6 inches over in the rain department for the year. Didn't see last night's total, but if I judge by my road, aka the Rapids, we're close to doubling that today. It just has NOT stopped. I live on a hill which gets VERY steep right above me and the road is a combination of dirt and gravel. When the weather is like this, the gravel gets washed away and the dirt turns into mud, DEEPLY rutted mud. In an emergency, I can get DOWN, but coming back up is impossible. Thanks goodness, our local weather predicters are very good at their jobs and give enough advanced notice that I can get out and stock up on dogfood, newspaper, etc. To make things interesting, the temperature is dropping from the 40s to below freezing and the rain is turning into snow. Depending on which tv station I get my weather report from (none are actually local,) I'm going to get anywhere from a trace to 6 inches. The 3-6 inch forecast most likely is for elevations higher than where I am. And often, because of the configuration of the hills in the area, much of the really bad weather goes by on either side of me. I hate to tell you how many times I've gone out and been surprised at how bad things are just a couple miles away when I have nothing alarming going on at home. Like me, the dogs will be glad when the rain stops later today. They've had to run out, do their business and run back inside. The dogs miss the exercise they normally get but THEY don't seem to mind getting soaked. For me, there's nothing like the smell of wet dog(s) in the morning to get my juices flowing! And I don't mean that in a good way.

Christmas is coming...
Tucker is ready to take part in the festivities. Bring on the eggnog!

Peri's in the Dog House

Perhaps I have been a little too lenient with Ms Peri since she's gotten home, but those days are over. She has forgotten any boundaries she once had. I cannot put ANYTHING on top of the dresser next to my bed... it's all fair game for her. Long ago, I learned to pick up and stash anything I didn't want a pup putting teeth to. My house shoes ALWAYS go on top of the dresser when they're not on my feet. Peri has eaten them. My old dollar-store alarm clock gave up the ghost (after about 6-7 years... not bad for two bucks!) and I bought a new one... which set me back FIVE. It lasted one, count them, ONE day on the dresser. I have a small open bookcase on the other side of the room where I store myriad paperback books after I finish reading them. Now these are not books that I am adding to my permanent collection (like anything by Dick Francis,) but ones I'll eventually box up and truck over to the library. Peri started removing... and chewing on... all those she could easily get to on the bottom shelves. SO I threw out the ones that were too bad and removed to safety the ones she had just tossed around. As I always say, the trick to living with a dog is to be smarter than IT is. In this case, Peri has it all over me... I left the books on the higher shelves, perhaps forgetting that standing on her back legs was something she learned in the nest, and as soon as she was alone in the room, the rest of the books met the same fate as the previous ones. And last night, Peri was lying next to me on the bed while I was watching tv and reading the newspaper. She calmly reached over and started chewing on the paper IN MY HANDS! Well, the final straw happened this morning. It's raining, hard enough for all the dogs to sleep in. Which meant I slept in. At 11:45, the phone rang, waking me from a really pleasant dream which I can't remember clearly now... I think George Clooney was asking me a personal question (but he might have just needed to know the time)... anyway, I woke up, answered the phone and then rushed to start letting (forcing) dogs outside for a potty break. A few minutes later, I went back to the bedroom... and Peri had chewed up the phone! So she has now moved in with her mom, Di, and sister, Emy. Case closed!

TV story
On one of those faux news programs, I just saw a story that isn't so faux. It was about people stealing litters of puppies from breeders' homes. I personally know people that has happened to. It's on the list of why I allow no visitation. Case closed on that, too.

Sad News

Maggie's smallest little girl died during the night. She was not doing well yesterday... sitting off by herself, not playing or eating, most of the day. She did not have an elevated temperature and she refused rice cereal and just plain milk when offered. Maggie ignored her which is a bad sign. Canine moms always seem to know when a puppy has a problem that cannot be fixed. If the pups are very young... under 2-1/2 weeks... moms will often shove the pup aside, away from the rest of the litter. Over the years, I have learned when that happens, there is NOTHING I, or a vet, can do to change the outcome. With pups a little bit older, moms will let them go off by themselves but they will force healthy or minorly ill pups to stay close. The cause of deaths like this is usually something like a liver shunt or heart problem and with a large litter, it is not unusual to lose a pup or two as they start getting more active and the malfunctioning organs cannot handle the increased exertion.

Just so everyone knows, the photos of the pups on the website are mislabeled. The FEMALE puppy who died is the little sleepy "guy." The blond pup with the white spot on the forehead that I claim is a girl, is not... which means the other pup in that photo is a boy as well. And the other blond pup with the.... Well, we'll get it straightened out once they get here and are microchipped.

Diamond

Boon has "covered" Diamond five times as of this evening and today both of them seemed to be just going through the motions. Di's headache will probably be back tomorrow IF Boon shows any interest in her at all which is doubtful. Her ultrasound will be scheduled for the very end of December/first of January (4-5 weeks into gestation) and if positive, the reservation list will open immediately.


In The Netherlands

Two White Shepherds romping in the surf. The puppy (on the left) is just 5 months old. These two dogs belong to a forum friend of mine who also has Schapendoes (or Dutch Shepherd) which are shaggy and look amazingly like Whoodles. In Europe, the White Shepherd is a separate breed from the German Shepherd (just as the Biewer Terrier [pronounced Beaver] and the Yorkie are separate breeds.) Conny has raised and shown both breeds for a number of years. Her dogs are delicious!

Cisco's Kids Update

The pups are chowing down on puppy kibble. Penny was going to go through what many breeders consider "the normal weaning process" and had started feeding them rice pablum. Which they, of course, LOVED. They waded into the bowls, coating themselves... and the entire kitchen... in it. Baths for 10 puppies 4-5 times a day gets time consuming. I told her the easiest, cleanest and REALLY natural way to wean pups is to put a bowl of dry kibble in the puppy pen as soon as they start trying to stand and let the pups find it on their own. (I start feeding my moms puppy chow... for the additional protein and fat content... a number of weeks before they give birth. And there is always a bowl for them in the puppy pen so they don't have to go very far to eat when the pups are brand new.) I've had pups between 2 and 3 weeks sucking on the kibble and they are always chomping on it before they get teeth. They will eat more kibble and drink less mom's milk as they grow. And no baths are necessary.

This morning, Penny got up and came downstairs to find... all the pups having a field day in the living room. Maggie was sitting in the doorway between the two rooms, looking a little guilty (since she was the one who had opened the pen gate.)

And this afternoon, Penny realized she might have a racist dog. Maggie was lying in the nest with some of the pups, her back turned to and blocking the others from coming in. All the light colored ones were in the nest with her while all the black ones were on the outside looking in. (To be fair, I often see moms separate pups into groups and sometimes it is seemingly by color. Which some dog experts have claimed dogs can't see.)

A Couple Things

Ms Sheana left this morning for her new home in California. Over the last two weeks, this little girl and I got close, something I try not to do when I'm not keeping a pup. But when I get down to just one... well, it's not easy to stay aloof! She was really brave at the airport. I did something with her I've never done before... I put her down on the ground and let her walk around. She never got more than 3 feet from me, but she explored in all directions. She was interested in the people standing in line and walking passed us, although the ones dragging suitcases on wheels were a little scary for her. I was really proud of her. Before I had to put her in the crate, she actually walked up to a lady who came up to the counter next to us. And she did the 12 hours in the crate with just a little protest. I don't think I mentioned before that the pups all learned to howl so they could take part in the daily sings around here. The only problem was... are you ready for this... she was put on an earlier than scheduled connecting flight out of Atlanta and the dummies in San Francisco didn't bother to read the airbill. So they didn't call her people to tell them she was there 3 hours before expected. Luckily, Francene called the airport to check on the scheduled flight and found out she was already there. So now Emy's pups are all gone.

Which brings me to Diamond
who is in standing heat and as of right now this minute has been bred twice by Boon. For a young, inexperienced stud, he does very well at maintaining his cool. Two days ago, Diamond had a headache and attacked him every time he even looked in her direction. However, the hormones have a way of changing a young lady's attitude toward a little lovin'. Since she is now receptive, I'll keep putting them together every evening until she tells me (and Boon) she's over it. So, if she "settles," the pups will be due at the very end of January... the same week Maggie's pups will be ready to go. Gonna be busy. Again.