4-3-13

Puppy picture day!

Today was the first puppy picture day at the farm for Holly’s litter.  Aleu’s will follow soon.  Many times we are asked, “How do you tell them apart, and know which one I picked?”  It is a VERY valid question.  Some litters are very easy, and others are very difficult.  An example of an easy one was Rose’s recent litter.  There were 6 puppies in all.  Two were all-white, one male, one female.  No problems there!  One of the remaining four was red and white.  Of the three gray and white females that remained, their markings were clearly defined.  They were easy to distinguish from one another.

There are times however, when it’s not very easy.  An example in the past is Daisie’s litter from January 2012.  There were seven ALL WHITE puppies!  Five of them were males! 

Holly’s current litter poses the same issue.  She had a very large litter (10).  The two females, no problem.  One black and white, the other gray and white.  But Holly had 8 males!!  Three of them were gray and white, 5 were black and white.  And to top that off, they had very similar markings.  Over time, the masks and other markings tend to change just a little, so if the differences are subtle, confusion can set in.

So…What to do??

We’ve heard suggestions of what others have done.  Such as:

·         Chosen puppies wear different color collars.

·         Chosen puppies wear different color ankle bracelets

·         Chosen puppies get toenail polish of different colors

The problem:  Mama doesn’t like any of them.  The mother will have them removed by the next morning.  We’ve tried them all.  Same result every time!

We have finally come up with a method that is very reliable.  The paw pads.  In the pictures below, you see examples of different combinations of paw pad colors.  Generally speaking, paws are all pink.  Almost invariably, they all have splotches of black in various locations.  These paw markings are almost like a fingerprint.  We have never seen two identical.  We have had paws with no black whatsoever, but it’s rare and we’ve never had two from the same litter.  Hopefully it never comes to that!