Beautiful Saturday in Montana

I totally forgot that February was a short month... So, for the last couple of days I kept thinking to myself how fast 3 weeks has gone by. Then Scott reminded me that they are only 16 days old. I can't believe how much they have grown in that short amount of time. Some are already escaping the whelping box. Scott got home yesterday afternoon to find,"Arnie" who we actually call "Haas" because he is so large, down the hallway. This to me was no small feat. He was in hot pursuit of Fern, who was taking refuge in the office.
We wormed all the puppies on Friday as per recommended by our Vet. This weekend we are working on getting an area ready in the kitchen and the garage for when they are all mobile. Which is looking like will be the end of this coming week. I am excited for when they are big enough to start exploring the outside.

Just another day...

I caught them moving around!They are so funny. They randomly bark, twitch wildly while sleeping. I caught one actually trying to lick himself, I don't think he knew what he was doing. Lots of pictures coming this weekend.

Peekaboo EYE see you

As of Monday the clans eyes have started to open. Some are fully open, while others are still just cracked. They all weigh over 2 pounds now.

Here is Indy in search of the lost temple of doom.
He was roaming around while everyone else was asleep.

Life in the day of a week old WPG

This pretty much sums up what is going on here. Eat & sleep. I put them in that blue rubbermaid bin when I change the bedding. Their coats are starting to change a little. You can already tell the ones that will have more white and ones that will be a little darker. But only time can really tell how they will shape up.

Displaced Cat

Everyone is continuing to grow. I have been giving some of the little ones some individual feeding time with mom. The rest of the gang protests loudly "not fair" with their little cries but I have witnessed the little ones getting beat out for the boob to often. I am predicting their eyes will be open by Monday. They are attempting to walk, rather then just crawl.
Well I got my answer on how the cat would handle the house of puppies. She has decided to reside outside for the most part. She has checked out the puppies a little but senses that area to be a "danger zone." Fern has also decided to start blocking Clarkes from the kitchen where Fern's food and water is. Fern will cut in front of Clarkes to heard her away from the kitchen.

The rest of the flowers

Here is the rest of the gang. Scott is gone for work for the next 10 days. It just me, Fern, Clarkes, and the Montana Wildflower Gang.










Missoula Phlox "Phloxy"-Female











Monkeyflower "Monkey"-Male










Arrowleaf Balsamroot "Arrow"-male










Heartleaf Arnica "Arnie"-male

Montana Wildflowers

Last night we decided to get organized. We took pictures of all the puppies, weighed them with a food scale and assigned names. Assigning names was always my favorite part of raising puppies when I was growing up. Growing up there was a lot of "Mooses" and "Wallys" and I recall a Ken and Barbie. As I got older we started to go with themes. My favorite was the litter named after towns in Vermont. This go around I decided I wanted to name them after wildflowers in Montana. Working with Montana's plants is my career and I thought it would be fun to draw from that inspiration.
So, we got a little crazy last night with and even created a spreadsheet to keep track of the progress the litter makes. Super nerdy.


Indian Paintbrush "Indy" -Male

Larkspur "Lark" -Male


Rocky Mountain Iris "Iris" -Female










Sunflower "Sunny"-Female











Harebell "Belle" -Female