On December 16th, amidst the holiday fun and events, Suki was brought inside and prepared to welcome her newest litter. She got a spa day experience complete with a hair cut and bath.

Now I’m going to go off on a bit of a tangent….I always think it’s funny that people refer to their dog’s grooming as “spa days" (I know I just did it….mostly as an attempt at good PR, because it’s what other people say). The fact is, most dogs hate baths and grooming. Most dogs (especially Suki) are happiest when they’ve spent time frolicking outside, found something dead to roll in, and had a snack of cow poop. Cleanliness is purely a human trait and rarely replicated in nature. And, this is just one more reason to respect the fact that dogs are animals and not humans, nor can they replace humans. We can love our dogs immensely, but I always get concerned when people start replacing human relationships with dogs.

Ok. Tangent over……where was I?

Ah, yes! Suki tolerated having a bath and grooming so she could be clean and prepared for giving birth and raising puppies. As her due date approached, we all felt quite calm about it. Suki is an experienced mom and does an amazing job!

On the morning of the 16th, my baby woke me up at 3:00 am. While caring for him, I could hear Suki panting downstairs which is a telltale sign of labor. Upon checking on her, I could tell she was in the early stages and I had a bit of time. My mom recently gave us a cot which I was excited to use for instances like this during whelping. I set the cot up right next to Suki’s whelping box and dozed off to sleep for about an hour. I woke up hearing the squeaks of a newborn puppy and Suki’s furious licking of it.

The puppy was a stunning tri-color! Suki hasn’t had a tri-color puppy in the last three litters, so this was special. He was a healthy, hungry little guy!

Minutes later she was pushing again. Another tri-color! Now I was beginning to suspect that she got in with Conley, our Bernese Mountain Dog stud, but as the next few puppies arrived looking very much like Winston babies, I stopped worrying.

The puppies came fast, which was great because we had a Christmas program rehearsal to go to that afternoon. Suki delivered 10 puppies in 6 hours! A record time and a record litter for her! Honestly, I think the bigger litters are easier for them to deliver because the puppies push each other out. I’d much rather this experience than a singleton.

Of the 10 puppies, we have an even split for gender: 5 males and 5 females. Their coloring is all stunning, but more importantly, they are healthy and thriving!

Brian and the girls wanted to name this litter after trees. Technically, we’ve already had a tree litter, but that was Akira’s singleton named Maple back in 2020, so we felt ok with using the theme again.

As for availability, we have four people on the waiting list who will need to make their selections before we can open up reservations from the general public. Picks are typically completed by four weeks old, but may happen sooner. If you want to join the waiting list and grab the fifth spot in line, you can do so by paying the deposit below. This would be a good idea if you are set on a specific gender or coloring.

Normally, I wait until the puppies are a full week old to start posting pictures, but, I was anxious to share them with the world and next week is Christmas, so I set up a cute Christmas backdrop and had a fun photo session with the new babies. You can see each of the puppies below. I also encourage you to visit the litter page, where you can learn more about how they will be raised and how to adopt one.