Wally, Greta’s son from this last litter passed away today. We were so saddened to hear of this. I sat down looking at his baby pictures and put together this montage. Rest well in God’s arms, dear Wally! You were greatly loved and will be sorely missed.

I woke to absolute quietness, which in turn made me think that something was amiss. After all, the puppies are never this quiet unless they are getting into to something they shouldn’t, like the night they escaped the puppy room.

Sleepily, I pulled on my robe and slippers and headed out to check, and there I saw it…an empty puppy room!

Consciously I knew they were gone, but in those first moments of wakefulness, I had totally forgotten. I smiled a sad smile, and turned and made the coffee.

Later, as I poured my first cup, I looked over at the vacant room, and in my minds eye, I could see those beautiful brown eyed babies watching me.

It’s always like this, the first few days after all the puppies have gone. Hubby and I were growing dangerously close to Curt, and we both admit to missing him quite a bit today.

Meanwhile, I have scrubbed the room, repainted a few spots and late this afternoon returned the table and bench to their rightful places, and rehung our jackets on the wall pegs. I have pretty much erased all the signs of puppies in there.

All of this made me feel tired, so after I finished putting things away, I made some tea and then sat down to relax.

Yes, this granny can relax until next summer when I do it all over again with Anneliese!

It was the end of Greta’s litter today, as Curt left us to go to his new home. Gail and Faye came to pick her up and bring him home to his new family. There are several dogs and a teenage boy to keep him company there.

Curt liked them both right away. He was adorable and we lay a track outside so I could show them how he tracks the blood to find the deer hide. The little bugger did pretty well, but once he got the hide in his teeth I could not get him to let it go! Oh that Curt is a stubborn one!

I completely forgot to take pictures, but Gail sent me these two beautiful ones of her with her new boy! Thank you so much Gail! I look forward to many, many more!

So the puppy room has been cleaned, and tomorrow I will move the furniture back in, as well as our coats, and life will return to normal. Whatever normal is when you have 4 dogs of your own!

Greta is an amazing little dog. Curt is nearly 12 weeks old and as Curt was playing today, Greta came by and began mothering him. She even allowed him to start to nurse her, but with those sharp puppy teeth it was all of about 2 seconds before she bolted.

However, she cleaned him, straddled him and rolled him around. It was truly the cutest thing ever and I loved just watching her.

Once again I find it truly remarkable that my little Greta, my fierce little girl, is such a tender and loving mother, and here Curt is with us for just a few more days and then her life as a Mommy is over.

Ah, is that beautiful? Mother and son.

My birthday was a really nice day. I received good wishes from all around the world and I felt everyone’s love. Thank you all!
We also spent a lot of time today playing with our last puppy, Curt. He is such a sweetheart.

He was crawling all over me this morning and I was trying to capture a good picture. I did get two. Although this second one shows him staring at the camera with a great deal of suspicion!

Then I introduced him to a little toy. I’ll explain it in the film.

The day dawned gray and cloudy and I despaired that we would see any sun at all. Then about 10 AM bright sunshine burned through the fog and the day was a beauty.

This lovely day was the day that our little girl, Peppermint Schnapps (aka Dackel Princess Christel) was leaving to go to her new home. When I woke and checked on the two puppies Schnapps and Curt, they were curled up sleeping and snuggled so closely.

My heart sort of broke then as I realized that it really is over and the last of Greta’s puppies will leave in six days, but today Schnapps would be going home.

She picked up her head and looked at me and I smiled at her. I swear she smiled back, letting me know that I’d done a good job.

One things for sure, I have loved each and every pup that I have had in my home. Perhaps that is why, I shed a tear or two when they leave. On the other hand, and this is why I do this, when I see the new owners with their babies, well, it’s all worth it!!!

So we met Abigail for a wonderful lunch at a local restaurant (Thank you again Abigail!) before coming back to the house and doing the paperwork and getting everything ready.

I held the pups close and kissed them both.

And then I passed Peppermint Schnapps to her new Mom,  who is so happy to finally have the baby pup of her dreams! It was a match made in Heaven!

Makenna arrived in time to say good-bye to Schnapps.

And then I kissed her one last time,

and then they were gone. However, it won’t be forever, as Schnapps will be living in the southern part of our state.

The house is very quiet tonight with just one lone pup in the puppy room. We decided to work on his house training so we can have him with us as much as possible. He is bright and going wee-wee when I take him out, so I’ve had him playing in my lap and sitting with me. Arnie, however is very jealous! This is a surprise, but apparently he likes being Mama’s only dackel boy!

Curt is asleep in his bed now and hopefully will do okay in the night. 3 dackels in bed with me is enough! There is not room for another! Really. There isn’t. No, no, no……..well……

Today we woke with four squirming puppies in the puppy room. Of course this was after they broke out last night, requiring me to design a new blockade to keep them in. Thankfully it kept them contained through the night.

Anyway, when I woke I found the pups looking like this.

They woke quickly and I shooed them outside while I cleaned up their room. The day passed rather quickly for me with a trip to the Post Office, and a Greek Christmas Festival, and due to heavy rain the pups all decided to play minimally and sleep a lot.

Just after I finished watching a TLC Disc on The Wild West Bad Guys, like Jess James and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tony arrived to pick up his new babies. He, and his wife Cheryl are now the new Mommy and Daddy of Fenway and Wally.

I went over all the paper work with him and then it was time. I picked up and kissed each boy and then placed them inside the carrier, zipping it closed. We helped Tony down to his car, waved good-bye and closed the door.

I went down to change my laundry and sat in front of the washing machine on the floor and cried. Oh dopey me. I didn’t think saying good-bye would be so hard, but I love these little guys so much and I will miss them, but I know they will have a great life. Greta never shed a tear.

After dinner I looked into the puppy room and this is what I saw.

With Schnapps on the left and Curt on the right.

At the end of the day… there were just two.

Today I brought the crew into the Vets for their last check and Health Certificates. It was bittersweet. The time has flown, the pups have grown and as we checked each pup, we all felt sad that it was over. They took their first breaths of life in that office and now they leave to go on to their new homes.

Here is Fenway awaiting his exam.

And Schnapps.

And Wally

We came home and shortly after lunch I had to scoop up Calvin and send him on his way. Oh how hard it is. I didn’t think it would be, but I cried when I held him for the last time.

Calvin loved his new Daddy and I think the feeling was entirely mutual.

After they headed out, Hubby began raking leaves and Makenna and her pal came over to play with the pups. Immediately, Curt ran up to play with the leaves and Hubby.

And lastly, I was asked what a tattoo looks like on a pup. It is done on the inside of their right ear and in my pups case they are all done in green.

I decided today to work the pups for one last time on a track. They’ve all shown they have good noses, and I wanted to give them a real go today. Wow! They blew me away!

I took Calvin first and I kid you not, this dog has the very best nose. His natural ability is an amazing thing.
I put him down and let him find the track and then stood back while he kept his nose down and followed it to the end where I had buried a deer hide under the leaves. Then I let his shake it and play with it.

Next up was Schnapps. She bounded out, sniffed around a little before merrily making her way along.

Her attitude is lighter than Calvin, who is quite serious in his quest, but she was just as successful.

Both Wally and Fenway did just fine with this, but I have not worked them as hard, knowing that they are going to a pet home. I use this time mostly as a game time for them.

They do have great noses, and like Schnapps, they are full of fun.

Curt was last and he got right over to the track and followed it along.

Nose down he sniffed and sniffed and when he got to the end he grabbed the deer hide and shook as if it were a play toy!

I repeated this one more time for each puppy later in the day. It’s a fun thing to do with them and they loved the game .

Friday the pups go to get their Health Certificates and then over the week end one by one they leave me. Only Curt will be hanging out until the 21st.

I was awoken in the night by Greta. Yes, Greta enjoys tormenting me, by waking me up at 3 AM. I was so groggy and cold and I couldn’t find my robe. I did find a jacket that barely covered my bottom. So out I went into the frost in my underwear socks, slippers and jacket. Oh thank you dear Lord that there were no Paparazzi outside to capture that on film!

I came inside and Greta decided that she did not want to go back to bed. After an argument with her, I gave up and went back to bed. I pulled the warm blankets over my body and pulled Arnie closer…and “bark, bark, bark!”

So I got up and this time told Greta to get into the bedroom and stop all this silliness and go to sleep! I managed another couple of hours before it was time to start the day.

I put the puppies outside in their pen and spent half an hour washing up their room. I cleaned everything, washed the floor and fed them. All that before drinking my first cup of coffee!

Hubby had a meeting this morning and so I fed him and sent him off with Fritz for a working meeting in the woods. Meanwhile I stayed home alternately cleaning the puppy room, walking them and then cleaning the puppy room again!

Later in the day our friends came by for a puppy visit and then later on Makenna arrived to run the pups for us.

Tonight, the pups and I are all exhausted. I think we will all get a good night sleep. At least I hope so. I do know one thing. Greta will be walked two seconds before we go to sleep.