eeny meeny miny mo

As soon as puppies are born I always feel the need to remind everyone who is having one of them not to get their heart set on any one particular puppy.  For one thing, I am always the one who makes the decision about which puppy will go where.  I base those decisions on many factors, including the personality of the puppy.  And those decisions are never made until the puppies are 5 or 6 weeks old.  By then we know (ok, we can have a guess) at which ones will be suitable for showing and by then the personalities are developing.

I find that puppies swap characters over the weeks as they grow.  One week one puppy is the quiet one while another is the brave one and the following week it's two different puppies.  Lots of puppies change once they get to their new homes and get their paws under the table, so the one I thought was dominant in the safety and security of the maternal home amongst littermates becomes a mild pussycat and the one who was biddable and quiet becomes a little tearaway.  But I do my best.

Getting people not to grow attached to one puppy or another is very difficult when they are all different colours.  It's almost impossible not to have a preference when there are 3 or 4 different colours and patterns to choose from.  When they are all black, it's much easier.  I can tell someone that they will get a black boy.  Or they will get a black girl.  Or they will get either a male or a female, but he or she will certainly be black.  Since all puppies are beautiful, I am finding that this is working fabulously well.

Being so accustomed to rainbow litters of puppies recently with the Persikka and especially the Riemu puppies, I was feeling a bit visually bored by the sea of black and the lack of variety, but now I'm warming up to it.  I am definitely being wooed by not having to worry about someone falling for the 'wrong' puppy.  If you are having one of this litter, then rest assured you will be getting a very beautiful black puppy.  Of one sex or the other.  See?  Easy-peasy.

Mum and babies are tired today.  Or at least mum is tired.  Not tired to the extent that she falls asleep sitting up as Keksi used to do, but she's been snoring her head off while the puppies nurse.

Clever Tuuli lies on the cooler paper while rucking up the

vet bed to make a comfy pillow

And, by the way, if you are wondering how to pronounce 'pippuri', it's with the accent on the first syllable.  So it sounds rather like 'peppery' but with an 'i'.  Sounds obvious now, right?