And they call it...puppy loooove

As promised quite some time ago, here is *finally* a puppy update. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Andrew, Sophie and I all made a sunny morning roadtrip to Nancy Smith's farm in Yelm, Sophie's birthplace. Andrew had visited a few weeks ago with our friends Richard and Sarah who somehow managed to pick out a puppy among quite a large litter. The below picture only includes eight out of the twelve total pups at about 6 weeks old--what a tough decision!
Despite the seemingly never-ending rain, we had some nice views of Mt Rainier and sunshine on our drive. When we finally arrived at Nancy's; she was inbetween rushing her girls into school for activities so we took a brief trip to Stewart's Meat Market which was just a few miles away from her home. It was predictably busy as only a genuine country meat market can be during a holiday week. We salivated over the aromas of yummy cheeses and freshly baked pies. We oohed over tasty looking cuts of fresh meat, and eagerly sampled some of the thick-cut beef jerky. Of course a few of those items managed to be whisked into our car and our wallets became noticeably lighter. =)

In the parking lot, we met a friendly guy on crutches who remarked on Sophie's cute fuzzy face and mentioned that he had an Airedale at home which was about the same age. After a bit of conversation it turned out that his dog was one of Sophie's littermates--a 72 lb male named Oscar. It was such an odd thing that we happened to chance upon him; especially since he was also from outside the area (Gig Harbor, to be exact) and just happened to come to Stewart's for the fresh meat packages. Unfortunately, Oscar was at home so we didn't get to a chance to meet him; but it made a fun story to share with Nancy and her girls later on that day.

This little girl likes to strut her stuff!

We returned to Nancy's to visit for a few hours to finalize boarding plans for Sophie; but mostly just to chat and enjoy the puppies. At 8 weeks old, they're all ready to go to homes and (acccording to Andrew) much more lively than they were at 6 weeks. They had unique puppy smells and sounds; and a cuteness no picture can adequately convey.

Since we took Sophie home at about 12 weeks of age, we never had to chance to see what a really young puppy is all about. We didn't have to try and 'choose' her out of a litter. Airedales are born all black and the hair on their legs, upper torso, and face slowly changes to tan--you can see the contrast in coat coloration between Sophie and the pupppy at the left. As young as the pups were, after watching them for a while you could observe some minor differences in play, approaches towards people and other pups. I was suprised that even though I enjoyed the pups, I didn't really have a desire to take another one home (which I thought I would definitely feel, I'm a sucker for little wiggly animals). Andrew was briefly taken with the idea; after all, having a second puppy has got to be a little easier, right? =) Even Sophie had a little puppy inspection time...


It was a relaxing and entertaining day, over all. I'm thankful there are people like Nancy and her girls who lovingly raise these little pups so that we have such a well-adjusted dog like Sophie. Here's a few more pics to ooh and ahh over...

Cameras and bright lites are kinda scaarrrie, you know!

Just a one-eared hello!This is Nancy's daughter Valerie holding up a snuggly male I nicknamed Mr Cuddles.

Off to dreamland...Off to dreamland after removing ALL the stuffing from a toy
Hi! What's that you got there?

This is Georgia, our friend's pup. Isn't she a cutie? She posed for quite a few pics.
1, 2, 3, 4....I declare a tug-o-war!
I might be little..but I'm smart enough to know you have TREATS!