Below...Crockett getting nose pigment.......
Mr. Mismark tucked himself in cute here. I refuse to name him Tub...sorry! I have a Toller in my agility class (well ok SADIE'S agility class) named Tub or Tubbers and he kind of wrecked the name for me :)
Blue faced girl sleeping (perhaps doing the Macarena here?)
I can't believe the pups are already a week old! The sassy alpha pup (half mask blue girl) is the hog at the milk bar, and has grown the most. she has gained 13 ounces, doubling her size in a week! OINK! The other three are growing between 1-2 ounces a day, so most have gained 10 ounces, giver or take. Is there any correlation between fastest growning puppy and being the first to mature or largest dog at maturing? Since this is the first litter I've whelped (contrary to some people's accusations) I have not had any data to follow through with from any litter previous. Call me a man of numbers and data but things like birth weight, average daily gain, weaning weight etc are all very telling traits in my sheep and cattle. I would find it interesting to see if dogs have any correlation between those things in the future, i.e. if they also pass these fast growing/gaining, or birth weight sizes to their pups, and if its as genetic with them, as with livestock.
ok ok more photos....
This one is family photo at day 8
A very cute photo of Zoe-Momma and the blue faced girl.
12 comments:
They are growing nicely. Big puppies.
We've found no correlation between size and later alpha-ness. Little feisty girls usually turn out to be alpha (right, Molly?).
Cute pups Garrett.
*puppy envy*
So adorable!! I can almost smell the puppy breath!
Babies are BEAUTIFUL. Zoe is an "AWESOME" mom. They are growing quickly be sure not to miss any days. Before you know it they will be all grown up. And "NO" I have not found weight, size, growth patterns in my litters. BUT....once an alpha always an alpha. Your pushy girl will always be pushy. But those are always the fun ones to show.
The babies are adorable, Garrett. In terms of size -- Chase was the smallest in his litter at a whopping 6 oz. He's now a whopping 38 pounds. He was always an active, investigative baby which has not diminished an iota.
Yup...Cristal (or Krissy, as Bekka calls her) was the largest puppy in the litter, and is still the largest of the Wine litter. She was also the Alpha from Day 1, and still tries to boss everyone around, even though she's FINALLY realized that she's the youngest, and not to push around a certain Alpha Pem Bitch, she still tries to get her way the majority of the time. Thank goodness for Phantom, who runs the Cardigans, when Duchess lets him. But, she does get along with all her pack, so no problems there. I so agree with Wanda..the Alpha are the most fun to show, they have that "IT" attitude we love.
Looks like they are growing quickly...enjoy! It goes by MUCH too quickly! Now I'm excited for Dreamy to come in season. She's taking TOO long!! LOL
Cute babies! So glad they are doing well and growing. My poor baby preemie boys, they are not too much bigger than your bigger girl! But I guess "age adjusted' they'd be about a week old too. haa.
I can't believe you do anything other than sit and watch puppies. Really, what else can be that important? ;-)
SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! SQUISHY SQUISH! I want to cuddle them and smell puppy breath.
Very nice litter!!!
Congrats...
My experience has been with yellow Labs Garrett but I cannot imagine that there would be that big a difference. Given the average litter size (12) it is possible there are some variables between breeds but yes, in my experience birth wt, daily gain and growth curve are just as relevant for dogs as livestock.
My partner and I worked for years to develop taller, whiter SAR Labs and thus everything was monitored - right down to coat structure and density (SAR dogs must be able to handle harsh climate situations).
If you observe all the details you are, eventually you will begin to see traits you weren't expecting to see. One of my favorites with the Labs was a puppy behavior we observed and then bred for that turned out to be early signs of desirable adult SAR behavior.
Lab litters most always are greater in number than teats and thus scramble mode nursing is the norm. We noticed some pups would fight for the teat but really wait for true battle until everyone had already had a brief hit. Remember that foremilk is less fatty, less calorie than hindmilk so pups who tend to switch-hit along all teats often get lots of foremilk and do not gain as quickly as those who can nurse unlimited at one teat or swing in for the hindmilk on several. We realized that some bitches seemed to produce a good percentage of pups in every litter that were calmer about nursing and seemed to chill initially. Intentionally breeding for this trait produced very calm pups (probably fuller, more Turkey day tummies) that were calmer, more focused adults. It didn't take long to realize that this behavior was an aspect of problem solving and that those pups that exhibited this trait at the bar grew into adults that learned quicker and problem solved on their own with greater agility. It was also interesting to note that over dozens of litters, most of the pups with this behavior tended toward a slight lead in early growth but then leveled out to a better, steady growth during adolescence.
I think that your willingness to remain open to observation and the nuances of data correlation is to be applauded. You just never know what sort of journey your data can take you on.
Gorgeous, goofy pups kiddo. Where's the puppy cam, huh?
Ok, since you won't go with Tubs, how about Johnny Appleseed or Daniel Boone (you could call him Boone) since you have Davey Crockett?
Calamity Jane could be a good girl one.
These are way to cute... I am dogless right now, and your blog is a nice puppy fix!
Post a Comment