Musings of new mom and some pictures from today

Above you see me on a typical day. I'm trying to sleep and keep an eye out for the cat (she is very curious about the contents of the whelping box) while the puppies crawl on me to nurse or sleep. Nursing the puppies can be quite the experience as there are only 10 bar stools here at Cheers, and 10 puppies. If one falls off or decides to take a different seat, a process we call 'resource reallocation' takes place and it takes 5-10 minutes for everyone to be reseated to their satisfaction. Or sometimes I shift my position and someone invariably gets left out or pointed in the wrong direction. But my staff is always there to take inventory. (I can't do it, I don't have enough front toes to count to ten!) But I wonder about the staff too. I have heard initial counts ranging from 8-12 puppies (note to staff-my feet are NOT puppies) but they always end up with final count of 10. And they have gotten good at searching my nooks and crannies (I didn't even know I had nooks and crannies til yesterday) and finding all the pups. Among other things, pups have been found hiding under my shoulders, and one likes to hide underneath my tail between my back legs. But like I said, staff always finds them.

While we are the subject of my staff, it reminds me that I should tell them that are now all members of "Team Cheers" and I will try to refer to them as such from now on. It was either that or give them a raise. Hey, even I am not immune from the effects of the economic downturn. But I am not going to give them titles, no matter what!

Below are some pictures of the puppies doing what they do best. They may look like they are sleeping quietly, but I can assure you that at least half of them are making noise. I had no idea that this was going to happen, but they make the most wonderful sounds. Most of the noise is squeaking with an odd whimper and the occasional wail of someone who is far from their bar stool. But I would swear that this morning I heard someone try out a new sound that sounded like a practice bark.

Thanks for reading and looking!

Cheers

Please tune in for our next post tentatively titled "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"