For weeks now I have been trying to get together with the three girls who helped bring Daisy into our family: Jessica, Lori and Alicia. Jessica owns Daisy's mother, Stella and recently moved here from (Viva!) Las Vegas, one of my favorite places in the whole world. Initially I thought it would be good to let Jessica and her family settle in. Then came the holidays. Then school started back up. With the date of my brother in law and his wife arriving as well as my son's second birthday looming, I put the pedal to the metal and had them over for a Dog Party. If I hadn't we probably wouldn't get together until next year as we are all fairly busy. Alicia couldn't make it as she lives some distance away and has young twins (being the mother of two dissimilarly aged children, I have no idea how she showers or goes to the grocery store with two, let alone schlep out to the shore to go to Dog Parties! God bless her!). I was fairly bummed Alicia couldn't make it as it was her post on Facebook that brought us all together and put Daisy into our family.
I did have some conerns about how the two puppies, Daisy and her brother Cody would interact. Being five months old, they are on the cusp of sexual development. If Cody was already matured enough to "bust a move" on his sister she would attempt either to throw him off and "correct*" him or she would go for it herself and do nothing. When Jessica asked if I thought they would be OK together, I made a bad joke about Cody being at the "Jersey Shore." Stella had been under a year old when she had her litter of six and Jessica suspects that is why her original owner was so determined to re-home her. It is possible (nay- probable) that Stella mated with her original owner's poodle-bichon male shortly before she was given to Jessica's family. You decide from the pictures. We all think it is pretty obvious without Maury Povich getting involved. But I guess it holds true: what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!
FYI it is not advisable for any dog to have a litter until after they are a minimum of one year old, ideally over two years. Stella came through her pregnancy and delivery fine, but Jessica provided her with excellent veterinary care, including an ultrasound for a "head count." Though procreation is the most natural thing in the world, small dogs and large head-ed breeds (ie. bulldogs and the like) often have more complications with an unstructured breeding and can develop pups that are too large for a natural birth. Also, unstructured breedings can result in an extremely large litter. Female dogs can be fertile from 1-3 days. Eggs continue to drop and can be fertilized by several different males over this period.
Cody did try to mount his sister, as well as his Mom (can't blame a dog for trying!), but in general they were all more interested in playing, running, barking and trying to get food from all the shorter humans in the house. I was very pleased at how well they all got along. No fights at this reunion!
Oddly enough, though they are all different in appearance I was surprised by how much their behaviors were common. Even their bark patterns and triggers were the same. I really wish I took some video and posted it here, but alas, I can't get the videos to load on the blog so I've been lax about taping Daisy. Eventually I'll figure that out but in the mean time, here are some still of the party. Mind you, they are all fairly fast moving dogs and I did my best to capture the moment!
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