Temperatures are dropping

The weather outside is sort of cold and dreary, the Fall temperatures arrived this week and with a vengeance. There never was much for Summer heat this year, which is bad for farming but good for most everything else. But this post isn't about farming, it is about puppies.

There are definite signs of a girl getting ready for delivery. Colostrum show up about ten days before, milk about five days, but it is body temperature dropping below the usual 101 degrees which signals impending labor. Today, Laffee Taffee's temp is around 99 degrees so the babies might come at any time.

Our Farm is not the optimal place to have puppies right now. We are homesteading and it took three years to get the permits (which happened last week). We built a tiny home to live in temporarily while we built the house and, while it is both spacious and comfortable, there's not a whole lot of extra room for extras. Puppies are an extra. So we have added a back porch to the house and moved things around to allow Taffee to deliver in the Laundry room where it is warm and safe. The back porch will serve as play area for the pups until at least six weeks so they will be safe.

Taffee and ClarkeBar have been sleeping together in the Laundry room for the past few nights. He is a comfort to her and doesn't mind being in the house. The two new girls are occupying the back porch until they get a bit bigger. We'll move Clarke out as soon as the babies come, the new girls out once the pups reach three weeks and need room to wander during the days.

Taffee's coming teen-aged litter is not a good thing and certainly wasn't expected or desired, but we're making the best we can of it and things ought to go quite normally (even in the reduced spaces available).

We still have openings on the wait list for those interested in a Christmas puppy. Our experience is that the slots are taken up very quickly as soon as the babies arrive. We expect five or six pups, though it might go higher, or lower. So consider taking the risk.