We have “progressed” into our 5th week with the group and haven’t we just hit a good stride with this batch of pups (well haven’t we?). It is either the mark of having a good female and making good matches every time or simply that our memories are short and what we see right in front of us tends to become the latest and greatest but we LOVE this litter that is currently taking over our life just now.
To be honest we don’t love them any more or less than the others but we are having a good time with this group and it is allowing their standing in the “best all time litter” category to creep steadily northward. Some of this has to do with the circumstances surrounding the litter itself. We thought we missed the breeding altogether and then Stella grants us a litter from heaven…5 puppies and 4 of them females. The size, though disappointing by most breeder standards, is just fine with us. Because we raise them up inside (and out) of the home we live in here in the mountains, we are able to give the best attention to a smaller more compact litter and 5 seems a very good number for that.
With 5 we find that Stella is better able to meet their needs without completely being sucked (pun intended) into the world of worn out and when are these pups leaving for goodness sake. As it is she is looking a bit ragged but still locked into the program of nursing and has begun trying to play with the pups on their level. This, to our amateur eyes, is an indication that she “likes” these pups. Who really knows but it is cute to see her trying to engage the little suckers when all they want to do is latch onto her dangling participles.
Beyond this, the four females give ample opportunity to tease out any super (Stella replacer) puppy that may exist within the current mass of fur in our living room. And lastly, the fact that we are raising here in May and June and placing in homes by early July provides great weather and calendar logistics for the crazy upcoming weeks. We can have the pups in an outdoor area for many hours of many days as we move from cute to “can I get a witness to help me clean up all this puppy poop” stage.
We've begun to socialize the pups in earnest. Stay tuned to find out what Michael has been doing in his free time and what our living room looks like...
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