Some of the logistics first; I learned that you need to "shoot for the composite", or the fantasy image (see below).  I already had the image of the basket (there are hundreds of these available for sale on the Internet if you ever want to try this yourself) and knew I wanted the puppies lined up in a row and sleeping.  I then purchased a similarly colored fleece blanket to pose them on to ease the blending of the two images in post processing (all things I learned from Cyndi).  The breeder, Emily Hurt of EmDogs agility in Plano, TX set up a table for me about two feet away from the whelping box (where the mom gives birth to the puppies).  Just like human babies, puppies have low immunity when they're born, so every precaution was taken.  Only the breeder handled them and we used a brand new fleece blanket for the session.  A small space heater kept the room a toasty 80 degrees, so despite the cool temps outside, we were working up a sweat indoors!