Sugar has proven to be an excellent mother. Honey is all business and works hard with them while they are tiny, then helps clean both litters, and as they get bigger, wrestles and plays with them.
Sugar just snuggles and lays with them all and seems very loving with the babies. When they were newborns, she would carefully wrap her body around them, and Honey would plop right down on hers. I lost many nights of sleep from checking on Honey's litter and saving puppies she had laid on.
Sugar has also dug a puppy sized hole for them to curl up in.
But this is a bit much. She carefully carried a vole that she'd dug up back to give to the pups.
With her golden retriever heritage, she was able to carry it gently without hurting it, to give to the pups as a toy to chase.
But we caught her in time, and I have to say that I was not as gentle as she was. I reached in her mouth and pulled the gross little varmit out and flung it over the fence.
It kinda looks happy there, doesn't it? Like it is cozy and enjoys being carried around? I doubt if it found the flight over the fence quite as much fun.