Cinders 8 Weeks Pregnant and Porsche Starts Tracking Again

Well, Cinders is due to whelp Tuesday March 16.  This is a picture I took last night.  She still seems rather hyper so I don't think the pups will come early.  Tomorrow we go to the vet to get X-rays and check up on the puppies and see how many there are.  Its amazing to me to see the x-rays of the unborn puppies.  you can see their little skeletons suspended inside the mama.  Cinders has settled down on her complaining some.  She still gets grouchy when the pups are moving around a lot.  Porsche and her still play a lot, but I try not to let them get too rough.  The weather has warmed up, so I have started taking Porsche to the lake to train after work.  Her obedience is beautiful.  I really think that she could be ready for her BH in a couple weeks.  We still need a little more work on her stays (but she is better than her mom was) and I need to reintroduce her to a formal schutzhund field.  I will likely start looking for a trial as soon as the new pups are in their new homes.  Tracking is one area that I have severely neglected with Porsche.  I have shown her a short track a few times, but she always has so much energy that I kept putting it of in hopes that she would calm down some.  Well she is still very energetic.  I decided today to track her more like I do her mom - tired.  I worked her in obedience first with the ball and took some of the edge off of her then introduced her to a short track.  I had to point out the first couple of footsteps, but then she started tracking in a more calm manner.  She went footstep to footstep and did not pull so much.  I think it might work!  She is SO smart.  She learns so quickly.  I always thought that Cinders learned quickly, but Ruggy (aka Porsche) is amazing!  If exercising her before tracking works, then I expect her to be tracking at a Sch1 level by fall.  Once she figures out what I want she will be amazing!  (at least I hope this works:)