Puppy Tales

It's been quite a while since I wrote about our puppies. Leah and Red gave us six beautiful, healthy puppies, born on January 8.

Just a few minutes old.

Now they're over four months old!

Tug-o-war is their favorite game.

They've done a lot of growing and changing since my last post about them. Three have gone to their forever homes.

Remember Chunky Monkey? For a while he was the biggest puppy, and round and roly poly.

Now he's known as Jeb and has a wonderful home on a dairy farm. Just before he left us, he looked like this. That's his forever mama, Cindy, holding him.

This little guy was the smallest of the boys. We called him Little Buddy.

Now his name is Ruger and he, too, has a wonderful farm home, where's he's living the high life. His forever mama, Donna, is spoiling him rotten. I'm glad.

This little girl was really a big girl! She was the largest puppy at birth. She and Chunky Monkey (Jeb) continually took turns as the biggest one of the litter. We called her Ginger because of her brown nose, which makes her a true red Kelpie.

Ginger is now Hou (short for Houdini) and she's also on a farm, learning to work beef cattle like her mama and papa. I'm wondering if the Houdini name is indicative of her talents...good ones, or bad ones???

This is Ernie. He's always been Ernie, and he'll stay Ernie because he's not going anywhere. The main reason we wanted to raise puppies was to hopefully get another dog as good as Red. I don't think we'll ever get one any more like his papa than Ernie.

He looks just like Red and has the same loving, easy-going personality. He's some dog!

We call this little girl Kate. She was the first puppy to learn to climb out of the puppy yard in the basement. She''s always been the adventuresome type.

She's headed for her forever home in another week or so. She'll be on a beef farm, too. Along with working cattle, she'll also be a companion for an elderly man and his elderly dog.

And then there's Gracie. She was known as Trouble for a long time. Even though she has always been the smallest puppy, she was the instigator of the litter.

Gracie is still waiting for her forever home. She's turning into quite a loving little girl, but she can be a bit hard-headed at times (like her mama). She's smart as a whip, though, and learns fast. She's a real beauty, too.

Since they're still with us, Ernie, Kate, and Gracie have been learning to ride in the truck and to leave the horses alone. They have gotten used to collars now, and we've even worked on walking on a leash a little. They've also made several trips to the vet for all their shots and such. Thank goodness they're all done with that for a year. As you can see in the photo above, they're in the chewing stage, and nothing is safe outside. Our yard looks pretty trashy with all their "toys" scattered around, but the hope is that having them readily available will keep the pups from chewing more important things, like the rhododendron bushes.

When I look at all the photos of the puppies when they were so small, it makes me want to do this again. But they have been a lot of work and worry, not to mention expense. Finding good homes for all of them is still a challenge. It's been fun, though, to watch them grow and learn. There's nothing any sweeter than a little puppy to cuddle and love, and we had six! They brought us a whole boatload of that pure, unadulterated joy we were longing for. Regardless of whether or not we do it again, it's been a good thing.