Happy Christmas!!!

Thanks James for this lovely image!!

Snow Dog

Did I mention that Wheatens just ADORE THE SNOW!!!!!!!

Fun in the run

You could just imagine how lively and energetic nine puppies are so every day, they escape to the Chicken run for some safe and well-earned 'play time'!

Mum Luna stays with them for a while to play and let them have a little drink (not that she has a say in the matter!!!) then she demands to be let out, where she then keeps a close eye on her offspring from the other side of the fence.

The hens, who are free-ranging all day, only seem to have an interest in their run when they see the little hairy invaders tearing around in it. I transplant their food and water outside the fence so they won't be too put out.

The cats, on the other hand, are completely miffed. Tiger, the big ginger tom cat, stood for ages staring in at the strange new four-legged chickens.....

the last pups to go

Finally, I managed to snap some photos of the last five pups - two of them actually have owners (you're one Jane, and another is Marion) but no one has picked the ones they want yet because of the terrible snow that has me stranded in the hills for the last 11 days!!! These photos are not perfect, it's next to impossible to get puppies to stay still! I must have taken a hundred photos and most of them were a blur :-)
There's one girl back on the market - Alpha - her breeding was too close to the dog that the 'earmarked' owner wanted to mate her with, so she's still up for grabs.

Here's Alpha - she's confident and very affectionate, even a wee bit of a bully (in the nicest possible play-fighting sort of way) which is a great quality for a show dog! She's definitely an alpha female!

alpha - female

alpha

alpha

alpha

alpha

(Mister White has been selected and is no longer available) Next up (or below) is Mister White. He's one of the darkest pups and has a nice thick coat. Great dark muzzle. He's easy going but when it comes to play fighting he like to be the one on top doing the domineering. He loves sleeping and eating and licking :-)

Mr White

Mr White

Mr White

Mr White

And next, introducing Mr Pink (yep, bit of a Reservoir Dogs thing going on!). He strikes me as the strong silent type. He's another confident pup. He really enjoys human contact too, can get quite snuggly. Another play-fighter who likes to be on top. 

Mr Pink

Mr Pink

Mr Pink

BANDIT HAS BEEN SELECTED AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. This next little chap is called Bandit (he had one of one most pronounced 'masks' on his face, right over his eyes). He's a lovely plump little pup, usually first to the dinner bowl. He's very affectionate, I think of all of them, he loves human contact the most. He's usually the first to greet me (along with Alpha). His coat is very soft and redish coloured

Bandit

Bandit

Bandit

Finally, here's Smokey Joe. This little lad was the smallest pup born. And by far the blackest when he was born. He has made up for it - first to find the nipple, last to let go of it, always cleans his dinner bowl - and is now every bit as big as his siblings. He has a lovely coat, he's very affectionate, loves licking. Needs to be held and loved. He can be tough when he wants to be but prefers to just lick!

Smokey Joe

Smokey Joe

Smokey Joe

Smokey Joe

one for Jane

I've been snowed under with work and snowed in with ...well, snow, all week. So today I'm going to take photos of the little guys and girls, in daylight, individually, so you can get a good idea of their colour and form. But before that, here's a photo of Iseult holding one of the little boys (we call him Mr Pink) for Jane to have a look at. He has buckets of character, is really playful and not as demanding as some of the other little mites.

I also have another photo or two of Eabha holding one of the girls - I think it's Alpha. She a tough cookie this one, and has a wonderful coat (nice redish undercoat) with black muzzle. Her coat is darker along the back and tail, but that will be clearer in the photos I'll take today. She has nice square body.
She may be back on the market as the gentleman who was thinking of buying her may have a problem with his dog being too close genetically to breed with her.

Too cute

I really need to take some proper individual photographs in daylight (not under this red heat lamp)...but while I get my act together, here are a couple of cute ones I took this morning (making up an ad for the vet's office)

Feeding time at the zoo

This week I've started the boys and girls on some soggy solids. Softened kibble and puppy food mashed up together, yum yum! They didn't need any encouragement. First sniff and they dived in head first. The first couple of pups to realise there was grub abeggin' got stuck in. Their siblings were obviously curious and ventured over to investigate. Pretty soon all nine were stuck in, and I mean that, I was constantly lifting them out of the container. Their little paws skidding across the mush as they spotted tastier clumps of grub on the other side of the bowl. The state of their little faces afterwards was so funny. I had to carefully wipe their little muzzles clean. You can see their happy stuffed little bods lower down....

utterly stuffed!

I love the way they all started to lick each other faces after din dins...

angels with dirty faces

this it Little Gray - probably the most Zen like puppy in existence. See how calm she is with all others around her are manic. Her new mum-to-be, Zenia, called yesterday and picked her out of the crowd immediately. Well spotted! 

This is Smokey Joe - one of the kids' favourites. He's so soft and calm. Little sweetie.

Got to love a mother's devotion!

I'm in awe of Luna. This is her first litter and she's just brilliant. I waited until she was a good age (3 years) before putting her in pup and I am delighted I did. She was mature enough to have those motherly instincts readily at hand and I'm delighted with how she has taken to being a mum. Believe me, I get tired just looking at how much hard work nine pups are!!! See what I mean....

Mum steps into the puppy box and all hell breaks loose!!

Making room for nine hungry youngsters

She's so calm and they're totally bonkers!

Settling down - at last

And there she lies with nine pups feeding away. Good job mum!!