October 25, 2011--Our newest addition

Ok, I'll admit, when I first heard the news that Sophie "might" be pregnant, I was hardly excited. Of course, she's only a puppy but for some reason, it felt let we had let her down because it's our job to "protect her". The last week of August, C had taken her and Sam and some friends on a weekend getaway and left the dogs to their own demise at night. Well, dogs will be dogs. So C told me the next week, "Uh, there's a chance Sophie may be pregnant." Sure enough, the next nine weeks, we watched her expand and restlessly find positions to rest that would relieve her discomfort.

Not to mention, she is a crazy dog with her habits of wearing down her fur because she runs in circles on her shoulder in the middle of our family room rug every time she enters the house. Needless to say, I was a little concerned of how she may be as a mother.

All that said, it's been a miracle to watch the process. She calmly gave birth to 9 puppies within 3 hours. For the one that died, she kept licking it to try to revive it. She licked each one clean as it came out and bit off each umbilical cord. She continues to be a constant diaper for each of them, licking them and cleaning up any mess they make. Hey, it makes my job easier!

In fact, even now, as I'm viewing a video of their birth, she's going nuts trying to find them because she can hear their yelping in the video.

Good girl, Sophie!