She Chose Me

~This is Beatrix. She was one of 11 puppies born to our dog Sienna.She is the granddaughter to our beloved Saxon, and great-granddaughter to our dog, Thor.The last litter of AKC registered Labrador Retriever puppies I intended to raise. After more than 15 years of raising Labrador puppies it was time to quit and enjoy the 5 dogs we had. I already had a full sister to Beatrix, Willow, from Siennas' first litter.I did not, repeat, DID NOT want another puppy to raise. Sometimes though, I am outsmarted by my critters.Outsmarted with love. ~My puppies were born in the kitchen and kept in a children's swimming pool on the floor near my kitchen sink. This allowed me to keep an eye on them all the time and attend to their momma's needs as well. In every litter of puppies, even if all 11 of them are rust-gold yellow and look alike, they very soon distinguish themselves as individuals with their own unique personalities. Well in this litter there was one little female pup who as soon as her eyes opened, would just sit herself up and watch me. Her brothers and sisters would be playing and snuffling the pool, but she would just sit there as close to me as possible and watch me. ~The puppies were always moved outside into enclosed shelters with heat lamps if needed when they were about 3 weeks old. Every time I would be outside attending to the puppies, there was the little female following me, and carefully observing me, just me.When the puppies were put up for sale, they sold quickly. But every time a family would come out to choose their pup, this particular little female would be clinging to the shade and corners of the puppy house. What was going on? She had never before exhibited shy or timid behavior. But the families that came and went were sure she was one of those timid dogs all the books said to avoid. As soon as the families left with another puppy, there she would be,out of the puppy house, happy and content to just gaze at me. ~Finally, there was just her left. I had spent a lot of money on ads and as the last ad ran out, and the last calls for puppies ceased....there was just her. We had to take her on our Thanksgiving trip to our son's home over the mountains ( we couldn't leave a puppy in the kennel alone) and she traveled with her 2 years older sister Willow. We discovered this little puppy was a perfect traveling dog. She got along well with our son and his wife's 5 dogs and she got along well with children and she house broke herself.It dawned on me she was, and is a smart dog. I think she planned this all out and knew what she was doing. I ended up keeping her, but did not settle on a name for her for awhile because maybe I should sell her...we don't need 6 dogs. But she is now 4 years old. You can see we still have her. ( or she still has us) ~She lives for me. I don't know why. Her whole being seems dedicated to being by my side. She does not jump up on me, or pester me with her tongue and pushing against me. She simply follows and watches me. When I sit down or stand still, she sits and gazes at me. When all the other dogs are vying for my attention by leaping around me, pushing each other out of my way, she sits...and gazes.When I call to her for petting, she is at my side, head in my lap, and her sigh tells me that to her, this is more than enough reward for her. When I have had to chastise her for misbehavior ( rare for her ) she doesn't flee, she lowers her head and leans close as she thinks proper, and watches me for approval again.She will ignore food if she thinks I might give her attention instead. How can I have ever thought I did not need or want another dog, especially when she chose me in the first place? "I don't like people who don't like dogs-I just don't , declares Brooke Astor, the doyenne of New York society.....A negative view of anything does not come naturally to this warm hearted nonagenarian...but do not cross her on the subject of dogs. " I simply cannot live without them," she says." from LIVING WITH DOGS by Laurence Sheehan I have no problem with people who care not for dogs, or cats, or animals, but I personally do not want to live without them either and am so blessed to be able to have so many sharing my life.

Spot on Snow Dogs

~A glimmer of sunshine through the cedar trees around the pond.~

~The dogs play on the ice. Being retrievers, they retrieve, and each one tries to out retrieve the other. This is fun to watch them do on ice!~

~Whoossh......here comes Mabel! Slippy slide, .....there she goes !~

~Sienna, the older girl on ice, the mother of the red puppies, slips on the ice trying to out-retrieve her two older daughters, Willow and Beatrix.~

~Sienna and Beatrix grab the stick at the same time.~

~Mama wins every time. This old girl still has it , she can out- run, out- swim and out- retrieve her daughters and still raise a litter of puppies. Way to go Sienna!~

~The weather forecasters were ALL wrong about the effect of the storm on our area. Thank-you Lord ! We had snowfall, a very tiny breeze, and more snowfall. The news did show some bad times for other areas of our region, and it was not a good night to be on the road, but we were safe at home. We had a quiet and pleasant evening. Hubby and I ate well, he tried to teach me Cribbage. I wrapped presents and fell asleep on the sofa with Hubby.A very nice evening. Too bad it takes a snowstorm to cause us to slow down and just be. ~I am baking Christmas cookies with 3 of our grandchildren tomorrow, and we have some crafting to do...some special Christmas story books to read, maybe play some games . If the snow hangs on we'll go outside for some snow fun!

Awwwwwww..., Puppies !

~What can I say, puppies ! The word 'puppies' makes my heart go mushy, and just plain leaves happy feelings in me. Although I did not want another litter of puppies..well, we have puppies. Since I fully intend this to be our last litter of puppies ( an appointment at the vet will take care of any future litters) I am taking the time to enjoy these little fuzz balls. Isn't she cute ?~Over the years of raising puppies I have noticed the mommy dog really does know her business. Sienna is a very good mama. She seems to have a very determined attitude to having and raising puppies. Sienna keeps her puppies very clean. They are well cared for by her. She nurses them faithfully, cleans their little bottoms and protects them. ~I noticed the other day that Sienna was leaving food in the kiddie pool the puppies were in. She buried a whole bread roll for them. Whenever I have had litters of puppies, there comes a time around 2 - 3 weeks that the mama dog will either leave and bury food in the puppy nest, or begin vomiting her own food for the pups. THAT is my cue to begin feeding the puppies, and supervising Mama. I have had Mama dogs regurgitate whole rabbits for their puppies. I am sure the puppies would be fine consuming what Mama would leave them, but I am not O.K. with facing jumbled animal parts in my puppies' beds. ~Anyway, the buried bread and the restless searching of previously sedate puppies was a very loud indicator that the puppies need to begin eating puppy food.My choice of puppy food. So here is their first feeding of puppy chow mixed with warm water.(below) They loved it ! ~Miss Marple looks on with interest. I have not allowed Miss Marple access to the puppies . Miss Marple takes down and consumes full grown wild rabbits, and as the puppies were smaller than the bunnies I was concerned she viewed them as an easy meal. Now that the puppies are a bit more active, and barking...I am a little more relaxed about her presence around them.

~I am not sure that if I were a puppy I would be comfortable with THIS peering at me through the NOT cat-proof barrier.~

~Here Miss Marple gets close, and she is very interested in the puppies and their first meal of Puppy Chow.She did not seem to find their food appealing to her. Let's just hope the puppies aren't too appetizing to her either. ~The puppies ate a lot of their first solid food, and true to puppy nature, full bellies led to naps. The kind of naps that leave puppies sprawled out or curled comfortably satiated. The kind of naps anyone who has puppies sighs with relief when she sees such satisfied puppies. Ohhhh...awww... puppies ! How can anyone resist puppies ?

Puppies, Playdough and Cupcakes !

~#5 Granddaughter's face just lights up at the sight of puppies. She positively glows when she gets to hold them ! Almost a good enough reason alone to have a puppy or two around .~~Here is Sienna with her six puppies. They are thriving. There are 3 boys and 3 girls.~

~When Sienna was not in the kiddie pool in the kitchen with her puppies, #5 Granddaughter was. #5 Granddaughter's favorite television show is Jon and Kate Plus 8, and we decided that since Sienna had 6 puppies, 3 girls and 3 boys, we would name them after the Gosselin sextuplets. #5 Granddaughter had fun turning the pups over and after figuring out if they were boys or girls, gave them a name of one of the sextuplets.I think if we want the names to stick I will need to put collars with name tags on the puppies.

~A yawning puppy being cuddled by a very happy granddaughter.~

~Another of #5 Granddaughter's favorite activities here at Grandma and Grandpa's is playing with playdough. When she comes over I leave the playdough stuff out on the table for the duration of her visit. Here she plays with it just before bedtime, ~And here she is the next morning, playing with playdough. She likes to make playdough cakes and pies, and all kinds of food. ~Granddaughter also very much likes to make real food. Her choice for us to bake together is chocolate cupcakes.Can you tell she likes to make and bake cupcakes?

~Can you tell I love to make and bake and frost cupcakes with her ? ~

~The cupcakes were delicious!~