This was Brooklyn's first litter of pups. There were 4 girls and 2
boys. One of the girls was very small and despite all our efforts she
was not meant to stay with us past the first week. Brooklyn has
been a perfect mother since the first day. She was protective and
cautious with strangers, but never aggressive towards them. She
still interacted and played with the other dogs as usual but would
not allow them into my bedroom where the pups were until they
were 4 weeks of age and she had begun the weening process. By
then she welcomed the babysitter. She was very attentive and
cautious with the pups, careful not to step on them or smother
anyone when she would lay down. We decided to keep 2 pups from
this litter and she still treats them as her pups sharing both
discipline and love just as she did when they were small.  Her habit
of "nursing" on her stuffed toys was only put on hold for 3 weeks
after the pups were born. Although we thought she would loose
this habit after having pups of her own we were not surprised
that she went back to it and still grabs toys to suck on them when
she is either excited or sleepy before bed. She never tires of
playing with her pups and enjoys wrestling  and playing with them
all day and snuggling up with them at night. It's hard to imaging a
better Mama Dogue, we can only hope that Bridget will pick up her
mothers perfect maternal instincts when she has her first litter.
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