We are so excited to announce the arrival of 8 squishy little marshmallow babies at Tower Ranch.

After 4 days of hovering in and around the barn Mia finally got down to business. All 8 are beautiful, healthy and very hungry. We have 5 girls and 3 boys, which is the same division as last years litter.

This year I’m trying to mark the pups with food coloring since Mia won’t let them have collars or ribbons. She starts removing them before I can even get all of them put on, and the stains don’t last long either. Mia keeps her pups so clean that even the food coloring gets washed off so our only option is to reapply as needed.

The pups ranged in weight from 1lb 3oz to 1lb 8oz. and some are already strong enough to climb out of the swimming pool that is their bedroom. At this age they are small enough to wiggle through the chain link that separates the puppy pen from the rest of the barn so we try to keep them in the swimming pool until they get a little bigger. It only takes a few days until they are too big to wiggle through the fencing and then we remove the pool to give momma more room to stretch out. Until then we continue to hover so that if any babies wiggle out of the pool we can set them back in before the cold cement floor gives them a chill.

Al has become persona non grata around the barn and it’s attached dog run. Mia is so protective of her pups that she will not let even him get near them. This phase will pass once she gets tired, like all moms there comes a time where she hands them off to dad and says “They are yours, you take them”. Until then Al is very careful to stay out of her sight so as not to rile her. ‘You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ pretty much defines her for the first couple weeks.

Until then, Al watches his sheep and waits patiently for the time when her can meet his pups.