Rocket and Whidbey are visiting the farm, Welcome pups!

"I'm just about your size," the big pups encounter the ponies for the first time

Almost a year ago (on May6th) our farm mutt, Lucy, had a litter of puppies. Thinking it would be fun to raise some puppies, boy were we surprised when we ended up with 12! What a wonderful and crazy challenge that was. I don't think we'll be doing that again anytime soon though. We ended up finding homes for all of the puppies, and by the time they were 2 1/2 months old all the pups were gone to their new homes. Pretty impressive I do think! We even got paid for it, but really just enough to pay for the dog food and the extensive time it took to care for the litter & exercise them daily. Whew!

Over the past year we have cared for a few of Lucy's puppies from time to time. The first two puppies to leave their birth home (us) went together, Rocket and Whidbey. Checkout their departure here. They are happy and healthy city dogs in Seattle and we are taking care of them for a bit while their owners go on vacation. It is lots of fun! I have been taking them on walks in the morning and evening around the farm and letting them run in the big lower field. They are constantly wrestling with each other and playing chase-- still puppies! They are also loving the pond and even met the ponies (I think it's a first).

Contact has been made: the puppies are really curious about the pony, friend, food, foe?

You're not a dog if you don't sniff the front and the backsidesAll right, enough is enough! Caspian tells the pup to back off

The pup obliges!

And on to the next great adventure . . .

Above: Swimming in the pond is a great pleasure for the dogs! This was their first encounter since last summer.

Wrestling in the lower field

These pups just don't stop smiling

Gotta have the baby pictures: above pictured nursing, just days old

Above: nursing at 2 months old. A lot more work for Lucy than I could have imagined!

*Also checkout: Lucy's Puppy Blog for more pics of the puppies growing up and kittens on the farm last year.
*Checkout Rocket and Whidbey on their owner's blog: Three Dog House