The Pups Have Arrived!!

Hello everyone! :)

Yesterday Kyrie had her pups over the course of a 14-hour extravaganza, from first serious contractions to getting home from the ER vet (since our normal vet was not open for the post-whelping exam and shot) and settling everyone in to sleep. Due to sleep deprivation, I was unable to get this update to you earlier (LOL) but from now on you can expect an update at least once per week (during the "supercute" stages I might even get two in!). ;)

The count ended at two girls and four boys, all possessed of very different colors and attitudes! We have lots of variety (I like this--makes it easy to tell the pups apart! ;) ).

Following is a rundown of the pups and their "pet names" and colors so you can identify them in photos (though I will almost always caption them). In the time-honored tradition of some of the classic German shepherd kennels, Sparta names our litters with a letter (this, being our second litter, is the "B" litter) and all pup call names start with that. :)

I will admit that I had to submit to many firearms-related names, as I denied my husband the opportunity to name any of the pups from the A litter (and he does target and cowboy action shooting). So don't look at me funny when you see these names! It's Zak's fault! :D

From left to right as they are pictured in the photos above:

1. Red Boy, "Boomer" - born 1 lb 2.5 oz. - color: either a dark dual or bi-color with grey paws (they may lighten to silver, we'll see). Quite the little fireball! Vocal and energetic. It's Shiloh tradition that the red collars tend to be Trouble...

2. Brown Boy (no collar), "Browning" or "Brownie" - born 1 lb 4.1 oz. - color: dark brown sable. Brownie's pretty quiet compared to Boomer and likes to snuggle in a big pile of his siblings.

3. Green Boy, "Blaze" - born 1 lb 3.4 oz. - color: We thought he was a lighter brown sable when he was born, but he's looking to be a big grey sable boy now. He has little white toes on three out of four paws. :) He is a loud complainer when picked up out of the puppy pile!

4. Yellow Girl, "Bess" - born 1 lb .8 oz. - color: We thought she was grey when she was born but, opposite to Green Boy, she appears to be a lighter brown sable now! She has white tips on her two front paws and a little spot of white on her chest. :) Bess is a very quiet girl, almost never complaining. She eats without a lot of fuss and likes to be picked up. She fell asleep on my leg while I was putting her collar on (you can see the pic on my Facebook). :)

5. Blue Boy, "Baker" - the biggest pup, born at 1 lb and 4.7 oz. - color: We thought he was a bi-color at birth because he looked almost all black, but it turns out that he is just a VERY dark sable--we think a dark grey sable. Blue Boy was the first pup to wag his tail--he started doing so at only half a day old! Our friend Jarrad jokes that once started, he just discovered he couldn't stop!

6. Pink/Purple Girl, "Belli" - born the smallest at 15.6 oz but oh boy does she make up for it! Personality plus for sure! color: either a dark dual or bi-color with (we think) tan paws. All the pups' color will become more evident as they grow...Belli was actually christened "Benelli" but she is now The Ravenous Belli, Destroyer of Food. I have never seen a pup eat like this. Seriously. We are a little afraid. We wonder if we need to hook her up to a milk IV...The Ravenous Belli also enjoys mountain climbing, and below you can see her in the warming box, atop Mount Towelmore. :D

Take care and I hope you'll look forward to further updates! In a day or two we will get some individual photos of each pup for the blog. :)