The Great 8 as we called them were born March 20, 1998. After starting labor on the 19th, Starry was waiting for Larry to come home on the 20th to deliver. She is definitely his dog. Not only did she wait, but insisted on our moving the whelping box into his walk in closet, and so with Larry at her side she delivered the first puppy, Miss Maxine, a duplicate of her father Max. Two and a half hours later she delivered number 8, another duplicate, Caesar Maximus. We were fortunate to have 8 easy quick births. No problems and all puppies were between 7 and 9 ounces. We had 2 female gold with white, 2 male gold with white, 3 female brindles with white, and 1 black with white female.
Our lives then really revolved around the puppies and the parents for the next several weeks. With excellent assistance from the entire family, six puppies were prepared for new adopted homes and two remained with us. It is wonderful to hear from everyone about the puppies and know that they are all in loving homes. It was especially hard to part with some of them, but knowing that the puppies are truly loved in their new homes helped.
We have now started a new path -- the training of the two girls we kept for the show ring and hopefully their eventual raise to champions.
THE SIX GIRLS (6-11 weeks)
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THE TWO BOYS (10-11 weeks)
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