Can you guess which newborn is Mira?

Though I cannot be sure, I imagine that--even at less than 24hrs old--Mira would be one of the 3 pups trying to lie on top of their littermates.

There is something about the skull on the one whose butt is on the far left that reminds me of Mira. My husband, David, thinks Mira is the one with the wrinkly, visible face. Lori, who bred Mira and who owns littermate Abby, thinks that Mira and Abby are the 2 with their heads on each other: even at that age, the sisters were competing with each other for dominance ...

There is something about Lori's theory that rings true. Abby is darker than Mira and the lighter pup is the one David thinks is Mira. Aside from looks, here is why Lori's theory seems so plausible:

We were fortunate to have the wonderful girl Abby (we thought; Mira came to disagree) with us for 4 mths last year when her U.S. owner returned her to Lori for supposedly not being show quality (the fact that Abby became a Canadian Champion in only 3 weekends of conformation shows proved that this was not true--but that's another story!).

While Abby was with us, we discovered that both Abby and Mira are phenomenal, amazing, dream dogs with their people, but that the intense desire both had to be with us, in our laps, or the focus of our complete attention, led the girls to see each other as rivals. As you might imagine from reading this, Mira was utterly, completely, absolutely thrilled when we took Abby to Canada and actually left her there with Lori.

"Oh, joy!!," exclaimed Mira as we drove off without Abby.

So??? Which newborn is Mira????

Let's just say that David and Lori are correct and newborn Mira is the one with the most visible face (already trying to dominate her rival, Abby).

On another topic raised by the newborn Mira photo:

Do you notice how Schnauzers are born with full tails (& cute tails at that!)? Schnauzer tails in North America and some other parts of the world are docked at 2-3 days of age. Traditionally, Schnauzer tails were docked, but increasingly countries are banning docking and Schnauzers, like other traditionally docked breeds, are seen with their full, natural tails.

Mira especially loves having her belly rubbed.

We call it "presenting" the belly. Since she was a pup, Mira has "presented" her belly often. We think that she feels she deserves a lot of patting.

Mira has always been a great snuggler.

Poor, sad, baby Mira.

Oh, the misery! Why am I being forced to endure this ridiculous posing?, asks baby Mira.

It's hard to be cute when you're sad ...

7.5 Weeks of Sheer Cuteness

What a sweet white mustache!

What huge paws!

How adorable? How cute?

I know I'm biased, but I think she was pretty darn cute.

Here she is enjoying a hoof. She's 12 weeks old and her ears have been cropped.

Adorable baby Mira!

Here she is at 6.5 weeks enjoying her first snow adventure.

Year of the Dog? Year of the Puppies, says Mira!

Mira, who does not really have crazed red eyes (not sure what happened to this image in the uploading, but it's really yellow background, red lettering, and schnauzer colored ...), will be having her first litter this year. I am pretty excited because Mira was an unbelievably adorable pup (she agrees; one thing Mira is not is humble!).