Which girl to keep?

We are still in the process of deciding which of the three female puppies we will keep for our breeding program. While we think Corona Borealis is a very cute puppy, with her white paws, beard and "tie," and with her sociable and slightly impish pesonality, we have learned that she does not carry the gene for chocolate (though she does for cream), so she would only be able to produce black and cream puppies.

At this point, therefore, the main contenders are:

Cassiopeia: carries for both chocolate and cream 

or

Lyra: carries for cream (obviously!); 

chocolate-gene status not yet known

Which of them (if any) carry for phantom will also be a factor, and we hope to get those results in the next week or so (along with Lyra's chocolate gene results).

While we wait for those results, we are continuing to assess their personalizites - which, after all, is more important than colour genetics in the overal scheme of things.

Corona is obviously outgoing and social. She loves to be where the people are, and has discovered that she is still small enough to squeeze under the gate that separates the puppy nook from the rest of the house so she can get where she wants to. She's not quite the impish escape artist that Sapphire was, but is definitely pretty smart! (Though whether she's smart enough not to get stuck once she eventually grows too large to fit under the gate remains to be seen!)

Lyra is more reserved than Corona. During the visit to the kindergarten class she was more reticent to go greet all the chattering 7- and 8-year olds than Antares Gatsby and Cassiopeia, but she didn't exhibit fear, just uncertainty. In other situations where she's had to confront new things, she's been calm, confident, and curious. She is definitely playful and very cuddly, but less noisy than the other pups. She will likely be similar in size to Amore once she has matured.

Cassiopeia is somewhat in between Corona and Lyra. She is outgoing and confident in most situations, not afraid to meet new people or dogs, but not as eager to be out where the action is as Corona. She likes to play with Grandma Momo and is very huggable, like Lyra, but doesn't call attention to herself like Corona does.