96 Tiny Toenails

...that is how many our friend Jessie clipped when she came for dinner last night. Poor Stoker's tummy was getting red and chapped from nursing puppies kneading on her with their sharp little toenails. Jessie did the honors on many of the toenail trims when Stoker and her siblings were babies, so I invited her over for the dinner of her choice if she would oblige with canine pedicures.

In between home-made Macaroni and Cheese and Apple Pie, Jess trimmed toenails on all six puppies, Stoker, Decker and Tabasco (our African Grey Parrot). I'm pleased to announce that all the canines were reasonably cooperative, with Tabasco being the only one that growled and tried to bite for her nail trim and wing clipping.

Except for Angel, the pups are all sporting colored rick-rack to help identify them.
Angel (parti-colored girl) no rick-rack
Mako - yellow
Hammerhead - lime green
Blue - light blue
Tiger - hot pink
Reef - rainbow

The pups color and markings will change a lot over the next 6 weeks and beyond. Blue and Tiger already have signs that much of their white will be ticking in. Blue's markings remind me a bit of how Stoker looked as a pup. Check out the progression from lots of white to lots of ticking when Stoker was a pup: