birthday puppies

No, I don't actually think that getting a puppy as a birthday present is a good idea.  In fact, I think it's a bad idea.  Puppies are not presents - they are carefully planned members of the family.  Would you adopt a child as a present?  Of course not.  So there you go.

But today, on the 8th birthday of Neka's first litter of puppies, I had confirmation that one of the daughters of one of the girls in that litter is in whelp and we have puppies on the way in about 5 weeks.  Little Neka great-grandkids, courtesy of Emmi.

Tuuli & Emmi in the car on the way to Surrey

A couple of months ago Emmi's season coincided with a sudden, unplanned trip to Surrey - such convenient timing!  But in this instance the timing was actually perfect as Emmi was on her way to meet her beau Ch Lecibsin Salo of TabanyaRuu JW ShCM. 

We were thrilled and very grateful when Liz gave us the opportunity to have puppies from her special boy and everything has been crossed since then.

It was pretty early in Emmi's season, but it was love at first sight and although I thought it should be too early for her to be mated, the two lovebirds were both convinced the time was right.  As usual, the dogs knew better than the humans.

Emmi meets Salo

And so without delay or kerfuffle, the deed was done.  And done again the following day.

The happy couple

Salo is exhausted after all that hard work

In addition to the quick visits for mating, there was also time for some old fashioned fun out walking.  And if you're wondering why Emmi was off lead at such a crucial point in her season, we were walking in an area where I could see far into the distance and we were quite alone.  And fortunately Emmi is never one for running off.

Emmi & Tuuli -- fun in the woods

Pretty Emmi chilling in the back of the car