Puppies, puppies, puppies!

Oh the sheer thrill of new life and little wiggly puppies to enjoy!  The only "pup" I remember having was Buster, a black lab, that we received after someone had thrown him and his litter in the garbage.  Mom and Dad were checking cows when our neighbour popped by with 5 little puppies.  We 3 kids decided that Mom and Dad wouldn't want them to die and we needed a dog right?  So we picked out the strongest looking male (umbilical cord still on) and proceeded to try to feed him milk with an eyedropper.  Well, how could Mom or Dad say "no" then?  Buster lived to be 14 years old and was a great friend and protector of us children.  He grew up rolly polly fat and cute and practical too!  He looked much like this...

We often said he was "buster brown, cutest dog around!"

Well, now our children get to experience little pups again this spring.  My Mom's dog, Duchess (yellow lab) was bred to Hunter (black lab) and after a miraclous delivery, she has 9 big rolly polly pups to love up!  So far we think 6 are spoken for, but each girl has 2 puppies that they focus their attention on.  There are 5 black and 4 yellow...6 females, 3 males.

Looking in...

Kate adds some humor to the waiting stage..

Oh she so loves her babies!

looking like little piggies at first

noses are starting to turn black.  This is a little male.

Making an Oreo sandwich

...and don't we love her babies too!

a few different colors

May 11th, 2 weeks old

In Mei's care "Chance"

So bored, he's sticking out his tongue at us!  We marked some of them with nail polish to tell them apart.

Our little shih-tzu/poodle "Cocoa" has his nose out-of-joint as Duchess has little time for him anymore.  He does like the puppies though, but not when they start getting hungry...he's out of there pretty fast!  ha ha

May 14th, all dressed up and no where to go! Their eyes are open now and they are getting out of their box and moving about a little.  Soon the real fun starts!

Safety first...carseat safety...for when they ride in a car?  hummm

Chance is yawning

Joy is getting undressed.  If you didn't know the story ~ Kate was alone with Duchess when Joy was born and not breathing.  She removed the sac, rubbed her and then did mouth-mouth.  So she is pretty attached.

At the moment they have the puppies in a basket in a stroller...ahhh the life on a ranch!  Priceless!