10 Weeks - An Empty Nest

They are all gone now. After weeks of planning, socializing, training, cleaning up, there is only one puppy left to join the pack. Relative calm has replaced the continuous activity of the puppy group. Having one puppy seems like a vacation with time to sit back and reflect, and make plans for the future of the next one. This picture may seem strange to someone else, but it is what struck me as the combined character of my puppies when they were all here together. It is an old dog bed that had access to the outdoors. It is loaded with all the puppy treasures my little group could find as they played in the rec room and outside: toys, rags, cottage cheese carton, garden trowel, chewed up pine cone. They brought all of their treasures to this place and played with them and each other here. All of the puppies had the instinct to pick up things and carry them around- good signs of future performance and working dogs, and dogs that will interact well with their owners. It was what we were breeding for. Now the nest is empty, but my puppies have good homes and I am very content with that.