We didn’t get far yesterday before we got a message from our son that little miss Dakota decided to have her puppies in one of the outdoor kennels we’ve set up for whelping.

Surprise!

Not really too much of a surprise, since it was her due date. We just figured she’d wait until after midnight like our other girls tend to do. 😆

But she didn’t and since it’s her first litter, we wanted to be there with her, just in case.

So of course we immediately turned around and headed back, which didn’t seem to bother the other pups. They just like to load up and go for a ride in the truck, whether we run or not…

Of course by the time we got back she was done and curled up all cozy under her heat lamp with her new puppies. She didn’t want us messing with her or them too much so we left her alone and set up the camera to keep an eye on her from inside.

Juno is due to have hers in ten days so soon we’ll have a whole house full!

Or at least enough to fill a basket or two, like we had last Christmas…

The timing couldn’t be more perfect since each litter will be ready to rehome the same time the dog sled races are running in late January and mid February. And they are running them both this year as far as I can tell.

Yay!!

This is Juno’s last litter, so it’s a bit bittersweet. She’s been SUCH a great mom but after three she’s ready to just be a sled dog. We’ll let Dakota and Sassy take over mothering duties now that they’re old enough.

Since we were back home, I decided to get to work on the Christmas decorating. Every year my tree gets fuller and fuller and I was only able to get about a quarter of it done before I ran out of steam.

This year I added more ribbon and these cute, oversized jingle ball ornaments I am making.

I was playing with the idea of filling them with snow (well, fake snow), but I don’t think I like how that looks.

Plus it’s more work than I really want or need. 😆