happiness is a warm puppy (and a handful of them is even better)

Newer Older

Just moving this image to the front of my stream, as I'm proud to announce that it's been included in the most recent issue of JPG magazine (Issue #17). I received my copy of the magazine yesterday; apparently they had over 7,000 submissions for the "Creatures" theme! And while the editors wanted more exotic animals for that particular theme, they received so many pet/domestic animal images that they featured a few pages of those, too, to promote a shelter project that they're doing. Cool stuff.

---

Original post:

It's been tough at work lately. For the last couple of days I've been dealing with a particularly difficult and mysterious case of puppies dying (not the ones pictured above, by the way.) Puppies should not die. It's just not right. Young animals, like young human beings, have their whole lives stretched ahead of them. It's been extremely difficult to lose, one by one, nearly all of the puppies in a litter... especially when they're fat, healthy two-week old pups who are just starting to open their eyes. Though I'm fairly certain of what's going on with the puppies (viral), and that's there's nothing more we can do that we're not already doing, we've sent one off to OSU for a hopefully definitive diagnosis. In the meantime, as of last night, there was one puppy of eight still surviving. I am not optimistic that he'll make it through the next day, though.

The dam is a pregnant stray dog that is being fostered by a caring family, so it's been very difficult for that family, with three kids, to deal with the loss. And it's been difficult for me as well.

This image is of a different litter - 3-day old Standard Poodle puppies that were brought in to the clinic a few weeks ago to be checked out. They had the cutest swirly (soon to be curly) fur! And I just love their little toes.

Taken with my Nikon FM.

_.Kristian._, Brest 29, jenny murray, Blue Mitchell, and 919 other people added this photo to their favorites.

View 20 more comments

  1. LaTerra_9 [deleted] 43 months ago | reply

    Awww they're so cute ! this is killing me ! I can't wait to get one or a handful of them perhaps :D

  2. Nany pamp 43 months ago | reply

    Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!

  3. ilovejordan4eva 42 months ago | reply

    ahhhh!!!!! so cute!!!!!

  4. all_smiles2010 39 months ago | reply

    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Rescue Me:), and we'd love to have this added to the group!

  5. Zebrani 39 months ago | reply

    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Pooch Pictures, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

  6. irjag sig 38 months ago | reply

    Very nice photo!
    The puppies are so pretty

  7. Gaizymai 37 months ago | reply

    AWWW...Wonderful standard poodle pups

  8. Ben Kimball 37 months ago | reply

    this is still pretty much one of the top ten most powerful images on flickr.

  9. Foxxy & Baldr 36 months ago | reply

    I was just reading a great article by Patricia McConnell called Well Bred in the latest issue of Bark, and I recognized your pic. It has been a few years since I commented on it, but it is such a fantastic image that I remembered it instantly.

  10. manyfires 36 months ago | reply

    Thank you! I just saw the issue myself yesterday for the first time, and was tickled pink to see these puppies on the front page of the article.

  11. Anton_KicKer 35 months ago | reply

    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Photo shots which will not leave you indifferent, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

  12. Art ' us 35 months ago | reply

    superbes bébés !! très jolie photo !

  13. zsazsabear 33 months ago | reply

    So Precious!!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. rose.pose. 32 months ago | reply

    is it possoble to have a puppy so small!

  15. Solar.E 30 months ago | reply

    such a sweet shot!

  16. KatkaK8 27 months ago | reply

    What an adorable picture! I want to be a foster parent for these cuties when I move in fall. Can't wait!

  17. Gichu Tom 26 months ago | reply

    poetic.. beautiful capture...

keyboard shortcuts: previous photo next photo L view in light box F favorite < scroll film strip left > scroll film strip right ? show all shortcuts