Saving the best for last

Yes, the month of puppy pictures is coming to a close with the grand finale from la belle mademoiselle--me! I graciously let all the other dog members of my pack go first (and I equally graciously spared you the long-drawn out procession of puppy pictures from the people and the kitties!). I knew you would keep coming to the blog to see if *my* puppy pics had shown up yet. Well, dogmates, today is the day.

I had a very hard time deciding on the right pictures because I did an excavation of the Pippin puppy archive about a year ago right here on my blog, and I'm sure that those pictures are still quite fresh in everyone's mind. I wouldn't want to bore you with repeats--but luckily, my puppy archive is vast and expansive. So, without any further ado, here I am in all my young splendor:

First day home, first Kong. Very tiny me after a long trip home from Canada. Though I didn't get sick like Hamish, I did squawk like a seagull the entire way home. Little did my people know what they had signed on for....
Despite being a bit of a diva, I've never been one for soft, cushy beds. Even as a puppy, I would always push them aside
As the first puppy my people had raised, they had a pretty steep learning curve. They let me up on the couch pretty early, but I was too little to get down safely and kind of landed on my head the first time. Boy, did I make noise. None of the subsequent puppies have been allowed on the couch until they could make it up there all on their own. Didn't I look cute up there, though?
Love of snow came early for me. Border Collies have a double coat, so we rarely get too hot or cold--it insulates us in the winter and helps keep us cool in the summer.
This is one of my person's favorite pictures of me.
When my people didn't keep me entertained, I didn't have much trouble finding my own fun
Even if it meant snuffling Fritz
My signature ear stood up when I was 3 mos. old.
And by the time I was 6 mos old, I had my basic "Pippin" structure and look
And Border Collie-esque intensity
The only real difference from now was that my coat hadn't grown in yet. It was in place by about 10 mos.
Finally, just before I turned 1, my people had a professional shot taken of me and Renzo. We sent it into Bark magazine for their smiling dog pictures, but for some unimaginable reason, we weren't chosen, so here it is--an exclusive for my fans. Have you ever seen two happier looking pup-a-dups?