Moonshadows & Placement Thoughts

Mary-Ann Sontag March 8, 2021

It is quite the endeavor to photograph ten plus ten busy and squirmy puppies who would happily leap off the counter if given the chance. I am grateful to Suzanne for helping — it would be impossible to get these photos without her.

Here are the Moonshadows at six or so weeks old — some wearing the remnants of their breakfast and at least one who clearly used breakfast as a hair gel…

A photo is necessarily a snapshot in time, and cannot be used to understand a puppy (or human). Rather, it is a chance to watch them grow and observe things about them — their markings, the dark eyes, the emerging fluff, the pretty heads.

Personalities are emerging. Structure is becoming more obvious. Potential is being offered.

I want to say this again: My priority is the puppies. There may well be last minute changes and adjustments, and this is why I do not take deposits. Placements are not guaranteed.

My job, which I take very seriously, is to place these babies in the most optimal home for them, and how can I know what that is until I know more about who and what the puppies are?

As I have said before — a puppy is not one-size-fits-all.

I like to consider myself a pretty kind-hearted person; sometimes that can get mistaken for being easy and soft. One would only need five minutes with one of my kids, students, or Dear Husband to know I cannot be pressured, bullied, guilted, or otherwise persuaded to do something if I have decided it is not the best plan.

Add in a puppy I intentionally created and owe the best life possible, and my sense of purpose and resolve is supercharged. It hurts and upsets me when I have to disappoint humans — but those tough emotions and experiences do not control my choices. What I consider the Right Thing for a puppy will always be what I do.

I have confidence that humans can and will recover from disappointments — and they can have other options.

A puppy cannot ask me for a do-over. I have to get it right — or as right as an imperfect human possibly can.

Sunday at Puppy Grand Central

Mary-Ann Sontag March 7, 2021

Another busy morning here as we get ready for the day, which includes visitors and official photos for all ten plus ten puppies. Therefore, just a couple of photos from this morning starting with Moonshadow Portia…

This is Lyra with the ball and Sirius…

More later — in the meantime, have a fun day.

The Bright Stars at Six (or so) Weeks

Puppy Grand Central Report

Mary-Ann Sontag March 6, 2021

My son has renamed Titan — he calls him Tiny Tim. Poor Titan/Tiny Tim (Big T/TT) — and God bless us, Everyone.

Yesterday I did some calculations to see if our little guy was gaining weight at the same rate as his siblings, and he is. Big T/TT is about 4.5 times his birth weight and the couple of his siblings that I checked are in the same range.

Big T/TT has enjoyed some special visits to the high end Milk Bar (aka Claire) to help him grow, and he is eating two private meals a day. In all ways, Big T/TT behaves like a normal puppy — he is just small right now.

Will he stay on the small side? No way to know for sure but probably not. He sure is charming — I love him!

This is Moonshadow Portia…

Two sleeping Moonshadows…

Capella — a very photogenic puppy…

Two Bright Stars sharing a bully stick…

Puppies have visitors today, which is wonderful — and complicated since we need to visit outside (pandemic) and I need to manage the other dogs (shhhh — daytime sleeper Dear Husband) and manage the puppy eating schedule and make sure to feed Claire and Daisy about every 90 minutes and the house is chaos and so on.

Therefore, I shall end now and get back to being busy on that and will post more pics tonight.

Evening Report and Photos

The visiting went so well. How wonderful it is to see humans!

First up was Sandhano, and the Bright Stars.

It was great to see how happy and friendly they were to make a new friend.

They played and visited for close to an hour and then drifted off to sleep right as more visitors arrived…

I trekked the Bright Stars back inside to nap and brought out the Moonshadows…

In the middle of all the fun, another friend arrived. The last time I saw Chris was when we took a walk at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC where she was living. Dog Peeps can join something called Cemetery Dogs and do walks in that historic cemetery — it was amazing. Now living back in Montana, Chris came from Helena for Puppy Immersion Therapy.

A good time was had by all!