Day 7 - Same same

Not much news to report. The puppies are definitely getting bigger. Fury is getting a little more lonely for my attention and will come up to me while I'm at my computer if they are asleep. I think that's why she wouldn't let me sleep last night - just lonely.

Speaking of lonely, I don't put a ton of stock into New Year's Eve (Fourth of July happens to be my favorite holiday because there simply isn't pressure to do anything for anyone or by anyone, it's just a day off to have fun how you see fit), but I do make atonement for the year behind and set goals for the year ahead. I even write myself a letter - and FutureMe.org sent me one this morning. I talked about the breeding in it: "You're planning on breeding the Fury. She's probably due in a week or two if it worked. I hope that it did and that you know that even when you waver, you're doing it for the right reasons and screw those other people who don't believe in you. You have a great support system and remember to ask for help."

I think I'm doing okay there, and my support system *is* great.

So no new puppy photos to post just yet, but there will be some soon. Last night my pal Chris came over and he is a drink aficianado so he made sparkling wine cocktails while we watched some Dexter and Murderball. But most importantly, he brought over all kinds of photo equipment and did fancy photography with the puppies. I warned him that despite their size, it would be difficult. He did not believe.

He believes now. And I will post them when he's done processing them - he's very meticulous about his photos.

So far, Fury tolerates visitation by people she knows just fine. She had no problem with him being in the whelping box and picking up puppies (well, 'no problem' being relative - she shakes a bit and gets up and asks for her puppy back if they make too much noise), and I am pretty happy with that. Some other folks have come by periodically and she was NOT so happy.

My advertisement for puppies is going well. In theory all of them have homes now, but I am still just keeping folks on a list and will decide more when they get older. So if you are thinking about one, better to tell me now rather than later - I'm going to prioritize homes based on best fit for the puppy as well as my goals. I am thinking by four weeks of age, we'll be solid about who is getting what. I am pretty excited about some of the people who have inquired, and I take it as a sign I did something right. As one person said, I did my homework, of course I did something right.

So far, and I guess I don't find this surprising, most of my homes are out of state. That's kind of too bad, I think. Part of the reason why I got Fury's lines was that I knew that California only had a few lines represented here and I thought it made sense to bring in new blood. Of course, I'm not the most popular Californian, and neither is Fury, so whatever. It is a problem in the working lines, though. There's a finite set of them. Terry Martin told me that if the breeding wasn't so close to what she has now (as she too has a Skip progeny), she'd be wanting one of mine. But that's just the rub . . . too close. And my breeding is a pretty tight linebreeding on the Slash V end as I wanted some type uniformity to work with. It's just interesting, pretty much everyone who wants a puppy already has Slash V lines. I guess you have your favorites and you work within that normally. ::shrug::

And as to the concept of what I'll do about immunity, I've been convinced not to be a dirty hippie about it, so the puppies will get vaccinated before they go home. I just have to decide when. It takes ten days for it to work, so that would be in the middle of the sixth week if I place them by eight weeks.

My next dilemma is how to handle the weaning. But I do think this may be handled naturally for me as Fury, who is the best dog mamma in the whole world, is slowly trying to get time away from her pups - so she'll probably be happy to get them weaned and work with me to see that done.

And to end this, I'll share a photo of my roommate's dog, who the Fury is managing to tolerate, but when he approaches the whelping box, he shakes like a leaf. He knows his place. :)