Though this last March was the worst month of the winter, it's only a memory now and so far, April is looking more normal. The snow's melting steadily bit by bit and temperatures of plus 8 or 10 Celsius are predicted for midweek which will really accelerate the spring thaw.
Pia's last litter of three pups went outside two days ago and, though they are complaining at the change, they are in no danger at all -- every time I pick one up it's hot as a two-dollar pistol. They already weigh seven and a half pounds at only four weeks of age, so Pia has really given them a grand start. Pity it has to be her last litter, but we simply started this business too late with poor Pia. She's given us a few very fine pups before her poor uterus just about gave out. Now she's without it, and we hope to have Pia around for another five to seven years or so -- as she's a dear companion, friendly, laid-back, intelligent, and agreeable. I don't know where she learned her behaviour, having spent her first six or seven years of life as a kennel dog; she's just one of nature's miracles I guess.
We have growing pups of every size now, with hopefully another litter by old Zaki on the way (though it isn't yet certain whether Chooch conceived) and Little Lizzy Lineout soon to be bred to another of Shakal's sons. We look forward to a happy summer in the exercise yard playing with our puppies. It all started yesterday with a romp of the F-litter and the two I-litter "princes", led by 8 1/2-month-old Chinook puppy "Janis" while girlfriends Lizzy and Tonya mostly just watched from the sidelines. Janis has a deep, abiding love for little puppies and she never gets enough of them. She was all worn out after forty-five minutes of non-stop running and playing, as the whole mob of seven pups (mostly now weighing around 20-25 pounds) were after her or on top of her most of the time. I think the object-lesson wasn't lost on Liz and Tonner; maybe they'll treat Janis with a little more respect now. I could see Queen Bee Tonya thinking, "if SHE wasn't out there I just bet they'd all be after ME"!
The real prize of the winter's breeding was Kolyma and Queequeg's puppy ORLOV OF SEPPALA, who looks at this point like a real page out of Seppala history, a good old-fashioned Harry Wheeler long-coat with a dark face. He's friendly and cheerful, too, a real temptation to me. I'd like to take him down to live in the shack compound for awhile, and may well do so a little later on when the snow is gone -- there's a spare doghouse there. He reminds me of dear old SNOW RIDGE CHIEFSON whom I co-owned in 1969 with Bob Reiber of Kamenka Kennels near Kitchener, Ontario. "Son" was a big old Canadian long-coat of a kind that's hardly ever seen these days -- Canada's first Best-in-Show Siberian Husky, would you believe. He was a very shy dog, but sweet when you got to know him.
Breeding dogs -- especially breeding Seppalas -- is a never-ending fascination for me, as I'm never certain just what we'll get this time, and the results are very rarely disappointing.
