Took the Energizers out for a farm run with my trusty Canon camera ready to capture all the lovely little moments. But it was overcast. And it was cold. And although the seven little Energizers were having a blast the photographer was chilled. And annoyed with the clouds. Because no setting in the world makes up for bright glorious sunshine! So, what did we actually accomplish? Well, we met the five steps leading down from the deck for the first time. Usually a GREAT photo opportunity as they all stop, pause, look down and, SNAP, a lovely group photo is born. But not the Energizers. Nope. The Energizers, bold and confident as ever, slid down the steps like their own private ski slope and were at my ankles before I made it down the stairs! Then they enthusiastically bounced around in the leaves in happy circles! lol As I've said many times with this litter, their theme is dangerously close to being changed to "the tripping hazards." But, if I gotta go, tripping over a puppy, snapping my neck, and being licked to oblivion isn't so bad! lol So we cautiously made our way up to the large (mostly) puppy safe fenced pasture. Well, okay, they ran head long like crazy loons bouncing off one another, me, and tripping over nothing. But I was careful not to step on any of my little pals as they enthusiastically followed me to the pasture. Hubby is kind enough to mow a path up to the barn which usually helps direct the flow of puppy traffic. But not the Energizers. lol They took one look at the over grown grass and pounced into the untamed jungle! I tried to catch photos of their boundless happy weed attacking joy. But the second I would bend down to frame the photo, I was engulfed with happy little licking, tail wagging baby puppies! Super adorable, super impossible to photograph! lol It's difficult enough with the four Fates, but with the small litter it doesn't take long for them to all be distracted enough to photograph before they realize I'm squatted down in perfect tackle position. Not with the Energizers. Just having seven pups makes it more difficult to find a good moment to snap a photo when they are all distracted. Plus they seem to always be watching me out of the corner of their sparkling little eyes and the moment my knees start to bend they come flying towards me so they can all vie to see who gets to kiss my face first! lol They take their face smooching competition VERY seriously! lol So one or two would wonder off, I'd squat, and attempt to photograph as the pups bounced off my arms, face, camera, and one another. lol Then I'd stand, wait for them to get distracted, and repeat the process all over again. All was going well, until they discovered cockleburrs. If you don't happen to live in a place with cockleburrs, if you have never encountered them, consider your self lucky. The Energizers were happily playing, bounced into one, found the prickly seeds annoying....and the battle was underway. I've never had a litter so annoyed with a weed and had to physically move them away from the plants to get them to stop tackling them! lol So, after that, all seven little puppers were sporting a few deeply embedded cockleburrs in their thick inky black little coats. So with the nippy wind, the gray skies, and cockleburr laden pups, I decided to call it a day and head inside. But the fun wasn't over. lol I had to get the cockleburrs out of the little darlings. So we all poured into the house, pups running every where teasing the adults with their freedom. lol Practically making Button lose her mind. I wasn't exactly looking forward to picking cockleburrs out of puppies. It's an unpleasant task on the best behaved adult dog. The seeds roll into the hair, stick hard and fast, and have to be gently individually untangled from the hair. Wrestling wiggly pups while the horrid little seeds poked my fingers was not something I wanted to do. At all. Ever. But they had cockleburrs in their hair, they needed them out, it had to be done. So I picked up Carrie, sat her on the grooming table, grabbed my comb and ever so gently picked out burrs while she sat stoically watching me while her siblings played in the grooming room floor. Soon she was burr free and back in the floor playing with her siblings as they barked and played with the adults through their crate fronts. The bold little gang doesn't back down, even with Norman bouncing on his crate door in his excitement to play with the tiny pups! (he's way too big to safely play with 7 week old pups! lol) So one by one, Mean Bean, Lilac, Petal, Elton John, John Deere, and Aqua Man all sat patiently through their de-burring session. Not jumping when the big dogs barked, not pulling away as they watched their litter mates play. They all waited with me in the groom room as I tended each sibling. According to research attentive mothers make for confident pups (and children btw). My hats off to Crushy Bear! Couldn't ask for more confident and well behaved baby puppies. So I can't be disappointed that I didn't get lots of nice photos like anticipated. I enjoyed the day with my super well behaved, bold, gregarious, loving little Magic Hour puppers. Click this link for my FB photo album of the pups adventure! Pups Big Adventure