it appears

clockwise from top, vera, mike mulligan, moline, roxy

that the pups might be a bull mastiff mix!  i was looking for some refresher info on starting their potty training.  found a very helpful site where i was reading along and whoa!  all those puppies that the writer, a breeder of american bull mastiffs, was using to illustrate her technique looked just like little vera.  you haven't seen a good picture of vera yet cause she's usually at the bottom of the pile, asleep.   a google search of the breed turned up look-alikes for each of molly's litter.  square headed, wrinkle faced tubbies, just like these, though mike mulligan's coloring and silky coat are not typical.

see how silky Mike Mulligan is?

so i'm excited.  after the delicate little dolls in the last foster group, these will be very different.  clumpy, galumphy, muscular slobber machines.  yay!  

not to say i prefer big wrinkled, slobbery, square headed dogs over dainty, bouncy, perky ones...though there's some evidence to suggest that people are drawn to the dogs most like them.  it's just that i'm a fan, in general, of nature's infinite variety.  i like that these chunky babies are going to teach me to appreciate puppies in a newer, less petite way.  i won't be comparing them to the elfin little Watson or his sibs.  i'll be watching their particular mysteries unfold.

seriously, how lucky am i.  (imagine a smiley face here.)

then again, check back with me in a few days, after i've started feeding them solid foods and cleaning up gallons of big dog puppy poo.  i might be asking you to imagine a very different kind of face.