Puppy Videos

The puppies are spending a lot more time outside. Sunny really enjoys playing with them now. They got to play in snow for the first time this morning, but weren't too fond of it. They played for a few minutes then they were all at the door whining to come back in.

Hawk

John was watching his beloved Eagles lose their chance at the Superbowl on Sunday when he noticed some feathers flying out on the deck. Thinking that our young roosters were fighting, he got up to shoo them and found this instead:

A hawk, probably the one that came to visit our meaties this fall, had caught a robin and was preparing to feast on it just five feet from our back door! No, it is not chained up. The puppies were dragging that chain around earlier and the hawk just happened to land on it. John started to open the door and the hawk flew off with the robin. Sadly, this was not an omen for the football game. He had hoped it represented the birds of prey(Eagles) killing the helpless little songbirds(Cardinals). If he hadn't taken the pictures, I would have thought this was all a beer-induced dream.

Little Buddy

In an effort to convince Big Buddy's parents to let Little Buddy come live with them, John has been taking many pictures of him and asked me to post them. He also wanted me to tell them that Little Buddy wants to go live with his daddy and learn to be a good dog just like him. I do not condone puppy pushing. Ok, maybe I do but only if someone really wants said puppy and just doesn't know it yet. ; )

Don't you love me, Lesley?

Woodrow Contest Winner

Ok. That didn't go as planned. I guess it was a harder question than I thought. YoMama (my mama) was correct. He was named after Captain Woodrow Call from Lonesome Dove. I can't say it's undoubtedly my favorite book (it's in the top three), but it does have my favorite character ever, Augustus McCrae, who is Call's business partner and lifelong friend. That's where our Cocker Spaniel got his name. Hopefully our Gus and Woodrow will be lifelong friends too.

Puppies' Outdoor Adventure

The puppies got to spend some time out in the backyard this week. Do you see a pattern?

Sunshine chose to monitor the situation from the washtub flower bed, where the pups couldn't reach her. She loves to play with them, but she is done feeding them.They had been out for over half an hour and not even noticed the giant birds across the yard. They suddenly realized they weren't alone when one of the girls laid an egg and made the usual noisy fuss about it. They stood perfectly still like this for about ten seconds then went running for the back door to escape the monster that made that big noise!Then they did this all night!

What's Your Favorite Book? (Contest too!)

Just because he's so darn cute, here are a few more shots of our Woodrow. Shana wanted to know what book I got his name from. I was just going to answer her, but then I thought it might be fun to make you guess! To make it worth your time, I'll pick a name from the correct answers and send the winner a box of Girl Scout Cookies! Ok, it's a shameless plug to help Tori sell the darn cookies, but it will be fun and tasty! While you're at it, tell me your favorite book/books/series too. You can enter through January 19th.

The Puppy Palace

This is the puppies' new home. They have plenty of room to run around and wrestle now without destroying the house. They are even getting the house training down pretty well. They have all figured out that the fenced off area with the newspapers is the bathroom and the other side is for sleeping, eating and playing. If we could just get them to stop tearing the newspapers apart, I'd be happy.

We have already added a second story to the perimeter because they've gotten big enough to do this:

Sunny is really done with puppies, but still indulges them occassionally. Six is a fairly small litter for a lab. I can't imagine how she could feed more!

This is the one we've chosen to keep. His name is Woodrow, named after a character in one of my favorite books. He had just had a bath and was shivering, so I put him on the blanket on top of the stove and he went right to sleep. (This is a pellet stove, not a wood stove. The
top is warm, but not hot enough to burn you.)