saying goodbye...

The puppies are seven weeks today. Tonight in the garage I only have three pups left. We said goodbye to the first two little girls more than a week ago. Ron drove from California and took two home with him. He sat at my vet down the street until they opened Saturday morning so the pups could get their first shots.

Cooper and Mercedes took home the first little boy right after shots last week. They spent the most time with all of the pups together....I think they both had naps in my backyard with three pups each snuggled up to them.

Cooper, Mercedes and Diesel

Rich came Friday afternoon excited to spend the whole weekend with his new hunting buddy. He said it was the first weekend of hunting that he's missed, but he was excited to hang out with his dog.

Rich and Tator

Pam and Bill came Saturday to pick up Zoey. I think Zoey was my favorite little girl....she lives up in beautiful Heber with lots of dog friends and horses too. I told Pam and Bill that Sage grew up with a Zoe (Millie and Casey's dog).

Rob came today to pick up his cute little Stormy. He has a son that returns from Afghanistan in the summer who has been looking at the puppies online for all these weeks. Rob held his little puppy up this afternoon and told her "You are going to have the funnest life".

The Jeffers are coming first thing in the morning to take their puppy home...Happy Thanksgiving!! They are the last ones who will pick pups up here in Farmington because the last two little brothers will get on a plane next week and fly to a hunt club in South Dakota. They will hunt with one of Sage's litter mates, Rocksie, who is responsible for selling four of my pups! They love her there and are hoping the pups will hunt like her. Sooooo, we will probably get a little attached to these two that will be around for one more week together. Maybe we'll even let them run around the house sometimes!! I am thrilled that every single one of these pups has gone to a home that will love them forever. We loved raising them for seven short weeks.....wow...

If you love puppies...raise your hand!

Oh sweet Elise....she is just what I imagine I was like when I was little....as far as wanting to just "be a puppy". The past couple days she as been a little frustrated by not being able to grab the puppy that she wants fast enough. They run away from her now and then jump on her when she is not watching. They have brought her to tears plenty of times over the past six weeks, but now it is crying because she is worried they are going to clobber her instead of me worried that she is going to smother them. I am glad that I have been able to get lots of pictures. I want to put some in her room so we can look at them together and remember this fun experience.

picture perfect

My sweet neighbor came over to catch some cute shots of the puppies.

SIX WEEKS

What crazy little puppies we have!! These little black stinkers are starting to be a little wild. They wrestle with each other nonstop, bite each other, bite us, dig around in the dirt, bark and whine....but they are still so cute to cuddle with. We took them to the vet yesterday when they were six weeks and had all their shots done. I had the vet write all their weights down so I could have that info for the people that are picking them up. The red collared little pup weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and I told Kenton "that is how much you weighed when you were born." Hopefully I can get more pictures on here. We had a little photo shoot with the pups before the first two sisters left last Saturday.

Grateful for puppies!!

Kenton's friends Madison and Kinley



Elise making sure the puppy has a turn on the slide

Still small enough for Elise to carry around

Sage has fun playing with her pups

week #5

This week I have noticed that I have pretty grown up little puppies. When they were three and four weeks there were so many times that I would come and check on them and they would be sleeping. Now when I come into the garage I peek over the edge of the plywood and every puppy eye is on me and they are sitting perfectly still waiting to see what I am going to do. Will I let them out? Did I come out to say hi? am I going to play? or do they get to nurse from their mom? (I usually have to go tell Sage to jump in there and "feed your pups" ). I have got to get a picture of them first thing in the morning when I go out there. Every time I think "oh, I need my camera.." and then they all start moving around so fast- the perfect picture is gone. They all have really sharp little puppy teeth that they are using all over the place. They crowd around your feet and start goin' at your pants or your shoe laces. Elise is starting to get bugged every once in a while that the puppies want to play with her....but they want to bite and nip and tease her. They have been waiting for five weeks to finally be able to nip at her if they don't want to be picked up. They still are so sweet to her though. When she does pick one up they just go limp and let her carry them around. Kenton's little preschool friends came over after school on Thursday and had so much fun with the puppies. We have so much enjoyed the beautiful weather. The puppies have been lucky that it has not been too cold. The garage stays so nice and warm for them. I told my mom tonight that nine puppies aren't as hard to take care of as my two crazy kids. They sure eat more than my kids though. I am going through puppy food like crazy this week. I think I bought a $40 bag just last week and it is almost gone!! That means I will go through at least two more before these puppies start going to their homes. It will be interesting to add up all the money we have spent on this cute litter. There are lots of things to pay for: food, dew claws, shots, supplies to build a good little home for them, registration.... the time and effort it has taken to make sure they are happy and healthy and growing. The experience has been amazing though. I could sit out in the garage all night....if I didn't have to get up in the morning and take care of kids....and just snuggle with them and love them. They are all so cute. Five are spoken for- three girls and two boys. I am still looking for four more good homes. Spread the word and come and see them!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Here is a cute little puppy dog!!

puppies eating a meal...three puppies each around three different dishes

Sage- still being patient and nursing her pups every once in a while