The PuppyCam throws away each picture when the next one comes in two minutes later. Victor showed me how to save one to the computer when I see something I like. I've saved about forty. These are the two the families asked for most.

Monday, August 16, 1999, 7:42 a.m.

One day old. That's Bonnie on her side in a half circle with all six lined up along her tummy. You can just about make out the rickrack on them: I tied it on as each one was born so I'd know who was who from the very first weigh-in. They were about the size of a stick of butter. Bonnie had been up most of the night and still lifted her head to look at the shelf every time the laundry room door opened, as if to say, don't even think about it.

Thursday, August 19, 1999, 11:52 p.m.

Four days old, nearly midnight. With the room light off, the heat lamp is the only light, which is why everything is orange. Bonnie had stepped out for a drink of water and the puppies did what puppies do when Mom leaves: piled up in one warm heap in the corner. Debra Crabtree saw this one live from Twin Falls and called me the next morning to ask if they were all right. They were fine. They were asleep.

Newborn puppies can't keep themselves warm for the first couple of weeks, so the lamp hangs over one corner only. That way they can crawl toward it or away from it as they need. When they started sleeping away from it on their own, around the end of the second week, I knew they didn't need it any more.

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Last updated Sunday, September 26, 1999