Good news and adorable puppies

A few weeks back I announced the arrival of Lucy and Vuk's puppies.
In that blog I mentioned that the timing was a little off.
She whelped sooner than I had expected.

I have counted back on the calendar numerous times and still the dates did not quite match up.
In the aftermath of the fire Lucy came into season, I was not quite sure what day she was on when I confirmed that she was indeed in heat.
Up until then she had being hanging out with our male Beli.

I separated her from Beli and placed her in with Vuk.
 I only ever did see one mating with Vuk on day 17.

So, when the pups where born a little sooner than I had expected,
and the fact that the whole pregnancy was a little strange,
I started having my doubts as to whether or not Vuk was actually the sire of these pups.

Perhaps, Beli had snuck in breeding her sooner,
 and that would account for the earlier born pups?

I pondered this for a while and decided I needed clarity on this situation for myself,
and, for potential buyers!

So, I decided to do a DNA parentage test to verify who indeed  the sire of this litter was.

 I did the forensics: DNA cheek swabbing of mom, both males and all the pups, in order to remove all doubt.
It was painstaking to swab each pup and ensure no DNA transfer between pups and, any of the other dogs.
Vuk is not the easiest dog to to swab as he moves and wriggles about, he broke off at least two q-tips, and the pups,
all they wanted to do was  suck on the tips.

Everyone is  microchipped for ID and safety purposes.
 It all got done, mailed off and the waiting game started.
The  results came back today, nine days sooner than expected!

Vuk is the only sire of all the pups!
Beli did not get any sneaky sex in. 

The reason why this is good news is that I wanted a Vuk x Lucy litter and,

 because
Beli x Lucy would be a father/daughter breeding.

 Now that I know,  and am 100% sure that the pups are from who they are supposed to be,
I can confidently advertise the pups, 

up until now I have held back, as I wanted to be sure.

So, to celebrate, here are some totally awesome pictures of the Vuklets:

Jess has followers..

Hello

The Boys

The girls

Visiting the the 4-H sheep

The sheep  are so nosy..

Helping out with tagging.

Puppy and lamb cuddles

As our coverall is not "puppy proof", they have made the entire coverall their spot. We do always have to look for them under the feed bags, behind the sheep pens, snoozing in the hay, cooling off at the water troughs. In fact,  it is puppy mayhem in the coverall.

Have a great Monday!