Day 18 - Shadow

Today we thought it would be nice to feature Shadow who, after all, is the most important player in the health and happiness of the puppies. After having what was a rather traumatic whelping of the puppies and being quite worried about them in the first couple of weeks, Shadow has relaxed into motherhood and is being an exceedingly caring and loving mother. She feeds and toilets the puppies well and watches when people come to see them. She vies for attention as she doesn't really want to be forgotten and she will also get in between us and the puppies sometimes as if to say, "Don't touch them, they're mine." However, most of the time she is very patient with us and allows us as much play time with the puppies as we want. She doesn't stay with the puppies all the time now, sometimes spending 2 or 3 hours in the lounge with us or outside gnawing on a bone or increasing the size of the three holes that she has dug around the garden. We take her for a 10-15 minute walk on the park every day now and today Kula and Shadow raced across the park after a cat and Shadow was barking and yelping with excitement. Last week they put a black and white cat high up into a pine tree. I had dreams about that cat being stuck up there and so had to go back to the tree the next day to make sure that it had got down (which it had). We have also had to become sneaky as we take Phoenix and Kula for longer walks along the river and in the bush each day. We try and get out of the house before Shadow realises. But she knows. The other day Rob took her outside while I took Phoenix and Kula down to the garage and into the car. Rob waited until I had shut the internal door to the garage before he let Shadow in. The puppies were making a bit of noise which would normally send Shadow running to them. However, on this occasion she just went straight down the stairs to the garage door. So somehow she knew a walk was on. We are very sorry Shadow, but it won't be for much longer that we have to do this. We will take you further afield soon. In the meantime, continue being a great mum to your puppies. Shadow with her contented puppies (left). Shadow keeps an eye on her puppies even though she was being blocked! (right). Shadow resting after feeding the pups (left). Shadow gets a groom and manicure (right). Patient Shadow Check News for more stories about the puppies.