Effie cleaning the troops – its a bit like painting the forth bridge
Effie is so tired
Its a bit hot in here!
Spot, Bismarck(upside down), the two girls Fushia and Miss Green
Spot (male)
Spot
Mr Orange, Spot (male)
Bismarck showing off – no paws needed!
Mr Orange (male) Miss Light Blue
Miss Fushia (AKA Big Bertha – second biggest pup in the litter)
Spot leaning on Big Bertha
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Baby Girl – relaxed over Mum’s leg
Big Bertha – the largest girl
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The pups are continuing to grow. We still have two camps of pups, the monster bunch and the tinyweenies . In the photo above you will see monster girl (purple) who we call Big Bertha, Spot is a male and is going to be a dark golden, light blue (girl) is going to be cream, Teenyweeny (boy) beige – who is the smallest of the litter.
Some of the boys. Orange, Beige (we call spot), Black (The Bismark) and Red.
Orange and Red are light coloured, Spot is the darkest followed by the giant. Bismark. Tinyweeny beige is taking advantage and gets to suckle without his brothers.
Green girl – light in colour
Big Betha (purple) and Light Blue – both girls. Purple is darker than Green and Light Blue
1We have a new little dutch girl we call her Poppy, but her real name is Peaches of the Morning Valley.
Poppy
She is 9 weeks old and just lovely, very sweet and calm. She is a confident little girl. Until recently, Effie has been a little stand-offish with her, not unfriendly, but not friendly either. Jasper thought that an alien had landed and has been hiding in his bed. He has even gone as far as to take his food in there with him to escape her.
But she is persistent, and she has appealed to his inner child ( not that far from the surface in any Red Setter) and now they are playing, mainly her chasing him around the house and garden. Jasper has been a real sweetie and a gentle loon with her, he has been so careful not to hurt her. Even, Effie has softened and has been playing with her, albeit on her own terms – she’s got a good excuse for taking it easy – she will have her own puppies to deal with by the end of the week.
Effie playing with Poppy
Poppy, Effie and Jasper
Poppy
1Effie (Beauchasseur Evening Star) has popped out this week, she has an under-hang thats she’s not sure what to do with. Evie (Beauchasseur Evening Shadow) her sister, is looking svelte in comparison. We have another 15 days to go, and at this rate Effie might just pop. I think this might be a big litter, we will find out next Friday – yikes! Well done Blue – she is certainly pregnant 
Here are some photos from today of the two sisters and you will see The Jazzman lurking in the background somewhere. Try and see if you can guess which one is pregnant.
0Today I was asked quite a difficult question, in that, I could not accurately answer it. Logically it seems simple, what shade are the puppies going to be. Effie is a medium gold and Blue a light gold colour, - so normally one would assume they will be somewhat in the middle.
Blue Dream – his mature colours
Effie, her mature colours
Well, so far, so logical, but looking at Effie’s parents Jussi and Cosi, you would have thought that litter would have produced puppies the same colour as Effie.
Cosi – Efie’s mum. A very golden golden
Jussi, Effie’d dad – a very blonde/cream
Well if you thought that, you would have been wrong, of the five puppies born, three were cream coloured and 2 were clearly going to be golden. Three boys were light coloured and the two girls were darker. So in that case, the boys took after their father Jussi and the girls took after their mother Cosi.
Effie having her toes nibbled by her brother Mr Blue – note the colour difference between the two
Mr Blue – cream coloured product of a Cosi and Jussi mating
With Effie she carries the Swedish cream Dewmist genes, Cosi’s old English golden genes and thrown into the mix are Blue’s cheek to cheek genes as well.
So to pose the question again, what colour will they be?
I can only say with any certainty that they will be cream to golden, because the genetics will decide. The battle on the colour domination won’t be known until the puppies are born, and can’t really be confirmed until the dog has reached maturity. A puppy starts life with a relatively light coloured coat, getting progressively darker. So the clues I look to, are the parents, the grand parents and also the shades of their ears. For me the ears, give a hint of what is to come.
0Effie has recovered from her lack of appetite and is now eating anything she can find. I decided to measure her waist 4 days ago – its expanded 2cm in 4 days. These puppies are growing at a very quick rate.
It doesn’t stop her playing with Jasper (aka: The Jazzman, my husband’s Red Setter, and as mad as a box of frogs) and they spend most of their time play fighting, stealing each others toys and chasing the birds in the garden.
Jasper and Effie are inseparable, they totally adore each other. Poor Jasper has been trailing after Effie since she arrived as a pup. She is usually the one who instigates mischief and he’s always the one getting caught. Jasper has forgiven her for her recent infidelity with Blue, it will be interesting to see his reaction to the pups. He won’t know what to do with him self!
Effie has stolen the chicken from him again – and isn’t she pleased with herself.
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Effie posing
We have been trying to get Effie to pose for some pictures – not always an easy exercise, she just likes to boogie………..but she usually likes to eat as well.
Well she did like to eat, she seems to have changed her eating habits – all you can eat unmentionables used to be her mantra, but now she’s only a gourmet guzzler and is very picky about the time and type of food she will condescend to eat. Mr B is not amused and I have been forbidden to pander to her newly discovered gastronomic demands….:-(
We have taken this as a sign that her recent marriage to Blue (Cheek to Cheek Blue Dream) was a little more than a dream and she is now suffering from morning sickness, that and her changing physique. We are expecting a wriggling litter of mini Effie Blue’s at the end of February 
Mr B won’t get me some decent food!
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