Puppy Paradise

Hey I gave birth to a litter of nine puppies in July and thought I would be blogging about it every week, but being a new mom was totally exhausting and so I disappeared from cyberspace for awhile. You can see some videos of the puppy birth and the little darlings when they were tiny tots at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/video.html.

Now that the puppies are all in good homes and I’ve had a vacation, I’m feeling a little more normal and can say it was a lot of fun having those little guys around! Four of the pups were born at home, but then I had to go to the vet to have the rest because one was stuck upside down – little (well, big) Dougie. I was a real good mom, too. I licked the puppies and kept them all clean and fed them for 4-5 weeks. Then they got sharp little teeth and learned to eat mush and that was a huge relief.

I had 5 boys and 4 girls and named them Dougie, Ziggy, Dot, Ava, Meyers, Lilly, Spock, Oliver, and Katybeth. There are lots of cute pictures of them at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/puppyphotos.html. They were a hoot, those little rascals! At first they ‘swam’ around like fish because they couldn’t walk or see anything, but in only a couple of weeks they opened their eyes and started walking around, then soon they were running in all different directions. You can only imagine the chaos, I guarantee! They loved to play with each other and wrestle and nip at each other and then slept in a big dog pile until they got a little older. I was really happy they all went to live with great people, and guess what? We got to keep one!

Little Dot stayed to live with us. (She's the one looking like a clown in the picture). She was named that because she has a big spot on her tummy. And she has funny little dots here and there, just to back up her name. She's getting pretty big already, geez she was only born 5 months ago!  She’s a sassy little gal, but we like having her in the pack and she’s learning how to behave pretty well, although she chewed up Mom’s golf shoe last night.

Mom is going to write a new book about those puppies, which should come out in the spring. But in the meantime, you can still get the last two books and stuffed toys that look just like those puppies at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/store.html - you know, if some young reader needs one for a holiday gift!

Peace, Motherhood, and Happy Holidays!
xo
Hannah

Oh Henry! And Hannah Stole a Sconi…

Mom’s shipping me off to the farm next week to meet Henry. I’m not sure what that means, but she says I’ll have fun playing with Henry and then maybe I’ll have puppies this summer. Mothers Day is coming up this weekend and so maybe some of you can lend words of advice. I don’t know much about any of this maternal urge stuff.

Mom went and bought me this silly outfit at Goodwill so that I could be a bride first with Henry. (Grandma taught her to do strange stuff like this when Mom was a kid.) But guess what, when Mom got this little ‘bridal’ outfit home she saw on the tag that it was really from Fredericks of Hollywood - yee hee! (She got a big laugh out of that.)

Maybe we’ll write a book about these puppies when they arrive. That would be a fun one, although Mom really hopes she doesn’t have to start explaining birds and bees to kids. I think I’ll be a good mom, but Lucy might get a little jealous of all this and so we’ll all have to be really nice to her this summer.

Grandma thought there should be a royal wedding with Henry the 9th. As long as it’s not the Henry the 8th I’m cool – that guy was a scoundral and lots of heads rolled ‘cause of him! I’m sensing I may really need a Pre-pup agreement…

Now this crazy great aunt of mine has sent me some booties and another lady wants to know what to wear to the royal wedding. My relatives are nuts!

We had a fun reading at Barnes and Noble on Colorado Blvd last month on a snowy day. The people from Reading Partners Colorado invited us. The lady at Barnes and Noble was super nice and said we could come back in the Fall again, because people liked us so much.

However, when Dad, the dog handler, was looking the other way and we were standing right next to a table of fabulous pastries, I finagled my way out of my harness and stole a scone and snarfed it down with Lucy. Everyone was a little startled, but it was over in an instant and we cleaned up all the crumbs…we are chow hounds after all! Will work for food!

We've also been reading at a bunch of schools this winter - the kids are all great and I love hanging out with them on snowy mornings. And Mom's going to the Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty Show which is in Loveland, CO this year to sign books on Friday May 17 & Sat May 18 (but I can't go 'cuz I'm going to be hanging out with Henry - tee hee).

Happy Mothers Day!
Love Hannah

Slip Sliding Away...

We're not "Working Class Dogs" for nut'in - Mom finally made us do a job. Lucy and I argued about it for awhile, but then we got the hang of the whole sled dog concept and toted the kids up and down the driveway on a sled until everyone was tired. It was a blast and the kiddos loved it the most. There was a lot of laughing going on, which makes us dogs wag our tails faster.

We're having a fabulous time with Beth, the amazing dog sitter, this week while Mom is hanging out with all those great kids in New England. She's been to Rye, Greenwich, New Canaan, Wilton, and Wayne PA. Those children are going crazy over our videos - oh yeah, and the books, too. Lucy and I like to watch those videos and bark at them and dance around doing beach blanket bingo moves like Annette Funicello. (Ok, I'll admit it - we like stardom on the silver screen, just as much as Lassie and Rin Tin Tin did I bet.)

"A Snow Day For Hannah" made it onto The Bookworm's top 100 books for 2012 - about 1/2 way down, below some cookbooks but above some national bestsellers - and so that was a fun thing that happened.

I missed wishing you a Happy New Year - so how about having a Happy MLK Day!

Love and lots of schussboom sled runs!
Hannah