Diamond & Pacifico
April 10th was quite a day. Diamond started into labor in mid-morning. Restless, panting and pacing she kept Storey on the watch. By 4 p.m. she had settled into delivery with the first of 10 puppies -- a big blue boy -- hitting the ground and ready to eat. Diamond delivered nine more puppies in the next six hours. Two of the ten were homozygous merles and did not survive. The remaining four boys and four girls were all active and strong from the start. Two of the boys were natural bobtails. There was only one tri in the litter, a particularly nice girl, named Gaza, who was immediately claimed by Storey's 15 year old son, Robby. He had been waiting for a pick of the litter Aussie bitch for more than two years. Look's like the wait was worthwhile.
Justifiably pleased with herself, Diamond naps with three of her two-day old litter
Sijon, the pick blue boy is already after a herd of sheep in his dreams. His tongue is out and his feet were kicking into a full, motionless, trot. 6 days old.
Above, two days after tail docking, the gang has recovered and are once again focused only on eating and sleeping. Except for Gaza, the black tri, she has to climb to the top of mom -- her favorite snooze-spot.
Left, the partial puppy pile after a particularly full meal. Sijon is the boy with the spot on top of his head, The smallest pup in the litter is the girl at the top of the picture. Between Sijon and Gaza is another boy.
