Tuesday, October 19, 2010

We Now Interrupt Your Regular Alfie Programming

...to present to you:  Poppy's puppies! 

looking down into the whelping box, you can see Poppy, a light yellow lab with darker ears and very dark eyes, surrounded by several of her 8 tiny puppies

This is the very first GDTx-bred litter.  Pretty historic!  Poppy comes from excellent guide dog lines and was imported from the UK.  She had a bit of a rough start, as her plane was delayed by the Iceland volcano, then when she finally did arrive it took her a while to adjust to our way of talking here in Texas (not kidding about that -- even dogs notice the difference between a British accent and a Southern drawl, y'all!)  But she has settled in beautifully, has a lovely temperament, and is the picture of everything you could want her puppies to be.
Poppy nursing her brood; they're in all shades of yellow from dark reddish to light whitish yellow
I also love the fact that the puppies' dad, Fire, is a brother to our 1st GDTx pup, Willie!  Well, okay, so they're half brothers, but still it's pretty cool.  Willie's now a working guide and we are so proud of him...if these puppies inherit that same drive, intelligence and work ethic they'll be amazing. 

Gratuitous Willie picture below for your enjoyment!  That's me in the blindfold, probing forward with my foot to investigate the GIANT curb he's indicating for me.  Doesn't he look pleased with himself?  Yes I AM prejudiced, but you must agree, this guide dog is terrific!

Willie in harness with me in blindfold; his front toes are on the edge of a curb that's at least 12 inches high and he is waiting, looking up at me with a happy face

The kids and I got to visit Poppy's brood this past Saturday, when they were 10 days old.  We got to snuggle them...

Charissa in yellow hospital gown and gloves holding an adorable little yellow lab puppy whose eyes are tightly shut; his face is roundish and wrinkly

...help weigh them...

rear view of a pup with red collar sort of lurching around on a white scale

...and just enjoy them! 

Katharine's all smiles as she holds one of the babies!


The puppies are in a window of vulnerability to some doggie virus or other that Mama doesn't have immunity for.  So that's why we suited up like we were in an ICU: better safe than sorry.  Don't worry, they won't have to live in a bubble forever!

I saved the best pic for last:  right before we left we were sitting around a table cuddling puppies and chatting with Tracy (who really deserves a MEDAL for all her round the clock effort!!)  I looked over at Charissa's puppy and...
Closeup of adorable light yellow puppy in Charissa's arms; there is darker pigment accenting his facial features; his right eye has just come open, his pink tongue is out, and he's got these tiny perfect paws and toenails.

...its eye just opened!  So precious!
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3 comments:

Natalie said...

Oh! They're so big now!!! :( I need to go visit them again before they grow up too much! Please tell me the one that opened its eye is Light Blue Boy Buffalo (a.k.a. Alamo :)

October 19, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Beth and Alfie said...

Haha! Yeah, they are changing so fast! Actually, it was the smallest puppy who opened her eye first, the green-collar one. I bet all the puppies have their eyes open by now though! ;-)

October 19, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Lisa and pups said...

Oh my goodness - I just used the same phrase on a blog update about Ellie - great minds think alike.

Those pups look so adorable and BIG - I got to see Hos for the first time at 14 days and he had just hit 2lbs!

It's fun to watch those pups grow and kudos to GDTx on their milestone!

October 20, 2010 at 6:25 AM

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