Juliet's expecting ten or eleven pups!

The x-ray was today and our vet thinks she has ten or eleven pups. We're asking for ideas for litter themes ... let us know what you think in the comments. A few suggestions we have heard so far:

• Gemstones
  
  
• Trees
  
  
• Flowers
  
  
• Disney characters
  
  
• Care Bears
  
  
• Triple Crown Winners

Remember these are just litter names -- the new families have no obligation to keep these names once they go home.

Thanks in advance for your comments! We'll post a poll on our website in the next couple of days to find out what is the most popular theme idea.

-Johannah.

Update on Upcoming Litter

Juliet is widening daily. She certainly is happy though. Every morning she grabs her toy (favorite today is a big floppy white bunny) and runs around the house showing everyone her "new" toy. When Walt gets up, the whole routine starts again. She has her favorite comfort zones in every room: in the kitchen, it's a bed under the counter by Walt's feet; in the living room, it's Nathan's cuddle bed or my chair, when she can get it; in the "nursery" it's the giant smushy bed Johannah sent Ivy for Christmas. Juliet certainly seems to feel good for looking like a walrus!

We took down the whelping box yesterday for scrubbing and re-varnishing (should have been done after the last litter left it, but you know how those things go....I cleaned it and got it ready to take down and that was the end of it till yesterday.) Walt pressure-washed it and because it has been raining every day and night lately, took it to the basement to dry -- there is a dehumidifier down there. Probably tomorrow he will get the new varnish on and we'll reassemble it Monday or so.

I'll make an appointment for an xray for Juliet on Thursday or Friday. We always like to know how many puppies are there -- if she stops delivering them before they are all accounted for, we'll have to get her to the vet pronto. She looks veeeeery big, and considering that and the fact that she had a litter of 11 last time, I expect at least eight and possibly more.

I'm so glad she's happy -- we have had one or two who seemed simply miserable the last week or so, and I hate watching them try to get comfortable. Juliet just wags and smiles and flops down wherever there is a soft bed. She even still runs when I take her out for a walk, but not for very long!

I was a little concerned she might be upset about Henry and Simone, who came to stay with us for a couple of weeks while their owner Joy is in England, but she's completely unconcerned. We've had so many "boarders" this year that I don't think my dogs think twice about a new kid any more. She just waddled up, checked them out, and plopped back down, as if to say, "You'll pardon me if I'm not a very good hostess right now..." She didn't even mind when Simone took over the cuddle bed in the living room. She just made room for herself on the sofa next to Henry.

These puppies should have wonderful dispositions. Juliet is just Miss Congeniality around here and Blue, their daddy, is the most laid-back whippet we have. He just goes along to get along.

I had thought we would not have brindles -- from my reading, I thought you had to have one brindle parent to get brindles, but yesterday I talked to a woman in Illinois who bred a black to a fawn and got three brindles. Back to the genetics books... We have one on color genetics, so maybe I'll try it. I'd been using the web, but maybe I need to get more basic. It's been a long time since high school biology and the fruit flies.

We'll get the webcam up for a test run Sunday or Monday (I will be gone all day tomorrow) so we'll be ready to go when the action starts, More news as it develops!

Sharyn