I wasn't going to post these pics.....mainly because the shots are much less than desirable.....translation: they're not very flattering to either Joel or I. But, hey, in the tradition of keeping it honest here on the farm, I'm gonna show them to you anyway.
Yup, that's a puppy in Joel's arms. A very cute puppy. A "soon to be ours" puppy. First let me tell you how acquiring a new puppy came about. Joel has been reading (isn't that how we have learned to do almost everything here on the farm?) about livestock guardian dogs. We have gone back and forth about whether or not we wanted to add more dogs to the list of animals we currently feed and need to keep updated with vaccinations, etc. But since we have bred our alpacas twice this last month we are hoping to have baby cria next summer....and they will need guarding from the coyotes that troll our area.
Several months ago we met some new neighbors......neighbors who live about 4 miles away....but here in the country that's still considered a neighbor. We've visited each other's farms back and forth and helped each other do some chores. For example, I helped to shear their 11 alpacas several weeks ago. And Craig drove his tractor here to dig a huge hole to bury one of our alpaca after she died....saving Joel from doing it by hand.
While I was there shearing with them, Craig happened to mention that Bella, their sweet Pyrenees dog was about due to have her first litter of puppies. When I told Joel about that we decided this would be a great way for us to jump into the guard dogs we had been thinking about acquiring. Bella is probably the most docile, sweetest dog I have ever encountered, so, we are hoping her pups will also have that trait.
Wouldn't you know, the very day we were driving back home with Buttercup in our trailer we got a text message from Craig that Bella had just had her puppies an hour ago. And she had 11 of them! We went to see the puppies a few days later and picked out a black female and a grayish tan male. Several weeks went by and late last Saturday I called Craig and Kristi on a whim to see if we could take another peek at the puppies. That's when these photos were taken after Joel and I had put in a long hard day of outside work.
Here we are, holding the puppies we had originally chosen.....after being smothered in puppy kisses. They are just the sweetest pups! Aren't they cute, too?
Ok, there's a bit more to the story. Originally Joel had picked out the puppies and I was okay with our choices. But after seeing them last Saturday, I inquired about whether or not the all white ones had been spoken for by others who are getting a puppy. Kristi showed me two males that were still unspoken for. Because I have an affection for Bella, I think I am drawn to one of her look-alikes.
As soon as I held this little fella in my arms it was love at first sight. He kept making eye contact with me and I was smitten. And so, we will soon be bringing home a smokey tan colored little guy and his white brother. Let the training begin. Oh, you thought I was referring to the puppies. Ha! I was talking about the training of Joel and Debbie......yup, now we have to read about how to train puppies to be guardians of our critters.
Just call it "puppy love",
Debbie
