What I've Learnt About Myself (and Life) by Raising Seven Puppies

And some of the cliches that turn out to be true

Back in July I decided to breed from my Fox Red Labrador, Tilki. Well, I say back in July but actually this was a plan two and a half years in the making as I had chosen a bitch specifically because I wanted the opportunity to do this. Why? For the life experience, yet as the time came closer, I became more unsure. There are risks involved of course, what if something happened to this dog that I had come to love so dearly? There are costs too, more of that further down, but in brief anyone who thinks you go into dog breeding to make a quick buck couldn’t be more wrong. And there are other costs, physically, emotionally, mentally, especially when you are doing it all alone.

But, I enjoy a challenge, I will rest when I’m dead, and all those other clichés, and as Tilki loved her boyfriend of two years, Charlie, I decided to leave it to nature and well, as you know that tends to take its own course.

On one long sleepless night that spanned across the sixth and seventh of September, seven …