Polly is ravenous.... she has always been a bit of a beggar and I will take total ownership of that. She generally will sit nicely at the table when we are eating and very carefully touch you with her paw. Once she has your attention she will look at the thing that she wants so there is no mistaking and she gets the thing she is requesting. I will admit to hating people who feed their dogs at the table - Yet here I am.
As most of you know, Polly is definitely having puppies. The ultrasound saw 6 but that is what they saw last time and it is notoriously hard to get a count on an ultrasound. There is often someone hiding in there. I would be very happy with 6 or 7 but we shall see. We are doing an xray on May 9th, and that is when we will get a really good count. I will post the picture once I get it and you can see how many puppies you can find. There is a lot of controversy regarding xraying mothers to get a puppy count. I do feel that having an idea of what we are expecting is important. It is important for natural whelping and it is important for our coming c-section. Yes we are having a planned c-section at our reproductive vet. Again a controversial issue; Yes I can whelp my own litters. I have whelped litters for myself and for a former friend who got queasy when her girl was whelping (that's another story for another day). The issue is that I live a good, solid half an hour from our local emergency clinic. The last place I want to be is at a mediocre emergency clinic with a litter of new puppies if something goes south. The emergency clinics in this area don't even triage you, it is a strict first come first serve. Yeah.... ain't no way we are playing that game. I have a wonderful reproductive clinic. They have done a great job with previous litters and everyone including and most importantly Polly comes home safe and sound. THAT is the only thing that matters.
So, here is one of the kids, yes dogs get ultrasounds. I think this little one is probably a best in show winner, or maybe a High in Trial. Who knows, but I can't wait to meet them.
We are still looking for a few great homes. The website is corrected so it no longer says we are expecting a litter in 2013 (proofreading is a good thing). This is going to be a great litter.
On another note...... our Montana boy Amos - Milbrose One Smart Cookie can now add an RN to the end of his name as he finished his Rally Novice title this past weekend. He also picked up some legs to his scentwork title.
I also have news about Wilson now that I have a place to brag about my grandpuppies. Over the last year Wilson has been very busy. He has his star Puppy, CGC, CGCA, CGCU, Farm Dog and Scentwork Advanced titles. He spends his spare time hanging out at home with his brother and sister and volunteering at the hospital where he has his very own badge.
So of course this being my blog, and this upcoming litter being the Native Plants of Northern New England litter I feel like I should talk about a plant. I think perhaps today it will be Little Blue Stem aka Schizachyrium Scoparium - This is a lovely little grass with a purple/blue tinge to it thus the name of Little Blue Stem. It only reaches about 18" to 24" in height which makes it a perfect size grass for the average garden. Not only does it have a lovely color but it sends up fronds in the fall which make lovely habitat for nesting insects and a great natural bird feeder. This grass is the host plant for a number of skipper butterflies and is considered critically important for our native nesting bees. While everyone believes that honeybees are our most important pollinator, that is far from the truth. Our most important pollinators are actually our native bees (European honeybees are not native) and our native bees are in big trouble. Little Blue Stem is a great grass to consider for your gardens. It can provide the habitat necessary and add a great cohesiveness to a native plant garden.
So that's enough for today. It's raining here today, Beltane is this weekend and I have a ton to do but for now.
In the forest
Steph
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