fun at the beach

We had a lovely week at the beach recently. I needed some holiday time to recover from motherhood.

It was also a great opportunity to introduce young Gracie/Widget to the joys of running on the beach and digging endless holes in the sand.

She sure has short legs... can't keep up with me at all. And she can't even swim!

But she seems to be pretty good at the digging. See us digging mother and daughter holes.

my puppy pal

Well, it has been a nearly a week since the other puppies went to their homes. I wanted to play with Red, but she's been asleep most of the time. She slept for 14 hours straight one day!

When she finally woke up, she had grown about 2 inches - so I guess that was what she was doing all that time.

We are starting to have some good games, but I can beat her everytime.

Throw a ball? I'll run her down to make sure I get it first. Put some bones out? I can eat them all before she gets a chance... or bury them to hide them from her.

Here we are having a game of tug. Ha! She's so little I can just pull her around.

We still haven't come up with a name for her. Neil and Kay are calling her Widget at the moment, but I don't know if that will stick. I guess she'll always be Red to me.

and then there were three

Gosh, life is a lot calmer with only three of the little terrors around! They are still full of energy, but just not so much as six puppies.

They're so fast these days, that the camera can't keep up - they are just a blur of Airedale. And it seems that chewing on the tunnel Neil made them is as much fun as playing IN it.

Green and Purple are off to their new homes tomorrow and then it will be down to one puppy... the little, curly girl.

She is registered as 'Doubledaire Trump the Lot' - but we haven't been able to come up with a call name that we all like. So she's still Red for the moment (altho Kay's been calling her Gracie).


She is very fluffy and she doesn't look much like an Airedale. She had her face trimmed a tiny bit to square it up, as she was looking a bit like a pomeranian or spaniel puppy. Now she just looks a bit funny.

last afternoon all together

Well, we had our last day all together today. Three of the puppies are off to their new homes tomorrow and the other two on Saturday. One of them is staying though... the only little girl, Red.

We love them all dearly, but it is time for them to head out to their new lives.

You can see how active they are - they're mad! Our backyard is way too small for all these guys to scoot around. The big world beckons and they're ready to go.

what's that

Look at these little terrors. Neil was using a compressed air nozzle and as soon as the pups heard it, they were straight over to see what it was. No shyness here!

See them checking out the funny new toy.

wobble board

Gosh, the pups are seven weeks old now. One more week and they will be off to their own homes. Life will return to normal!

But it's hard to think that they will be gone so soon - they've been so wonderful and quite dear.

Neil made them some educational play equipment recently. One was a wobble board to help them develop their balance. It inspired a long romp where they all tried to get on it as much as possible. None of them was fazed by the wobbly board - it just seemed to make everything more fun!

Apologies to those who are tired of endless puppy videos... but there is an audience of new owners, grandparents and Marieke, the puppy nurse (who is back in China) who are hanging out to see more of their puppies.

puppies in the garden

The puppies are really getting into the fine art of landscaping these days. Here they are doing some trimming (and squashing). This is only a small part of how Kay's garden has been remodeled.

She's delighted, of course. It's Spring, I tell her - it will all regrow...eventually.

tug-of-war

We have been having all sorts of fun around here now that the pups are so big and playful. Kay got out all MY toys for them to play with today.
I had to try and get them all back, but it wasn't easy.
These guys don't give up when they have their teeth into something

You will notice that I am wearing a t-shirt - not my normal garb, but this works wonders to keep the pups from suckling every moment. I'm fast recovering my pre-pup sporting figure.

Here's another tug-of-war between two of the pupsters.