More cute puppy pictures... a lot of firsts for Darwin at three months.
Nothing like the love between a brother and sister.
I got in trouble from our friend, Aileen, on this one. I was eating ribs, and I thought, dog + bone = happy dog. So I gave Darwin her first bone to gnaw on. I now know that cooked rib bones are not safe as they can splinter. Oops. (She never gnawed a piece off, just to point that out!)
Darwin modelling her wonky ear phase at her first official play date at her brother Boo's house.
Our first visit to Marymoor and meeting the Great Dane group.
Darwn also got her first bath experience at the Spot Wash at Marymoor.
We hope you enjoyed another edition of Flashback Friday!
Oh yes!
ReplyDeleteFurry furry much!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Oh Darwin..even in your wonky ear phase..you were one gorgoeus girl!
ReplyDeleteWe are so enjoying your flashbacks.
Big Nose Pokes
The Thugletsx
Hi Darwin, you sure were a beautiful pup. Brings back memories for me too. Thanks for the flashbacks. No worries, Carol.
ReplyDeleteWe love the flashback Fridays!
ReplyDeleteLove the hat ears! Over a lifetime filled with dozens and dozens of Dane puppies, Mama had never seen those hat ears before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Q&A session a couple of posts ago. So glad Misty has a good forever home. And that all the puppies found good homes. Especially Darwin.
Mama's observations on the number of puppies in a litter: it is a function of lots of things, including the number of times bred [lifetime & this pregnancy]; the age & health of the mother; the size/breed of the mother. Dachshunds don't commonly [ever?] have litters of 12: there's just no room inside the mother. Because Dane puppies are so small relative to the size of the mother [most Danes weigh around 1 lb. at birth, mother is probably in the 120 -150 lb range] there's a lot of room inside a large breed mother for more puppies. Miniature poodle puppies may only weigh 4 - 6 oz. when they're born, but the mother probably weighs only 15 - 20 lbs.
Regarding size difference between puppies in the same litter, mama's experience was that the bigger puppies seemed to be the ones born first and in the middle, where they presumably had a lot of growing room inside the womb. The smaller puppies tended to be born last, and perhaps were smaller because they were squeezed into the "front" of the womb where space was tighter because the mother's ribs & organs keep the womb from expanding as much as it can towards the rear of the mother's body. But the largest litter in mama's personal experience was 13 puppies; average size was 10. Maybe it's different with super-sized litters like Misty's where every puppy is crowded.
Clarification: when mama was talking about size difference at birth, that is not an indication of the future size of the puppy. It's possible for the smaller puppies to catch up and even surpass the bigger puppies in the first week or two. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. If they haven't caught up by 2 to 2-1/2 weeks, though, they probably won't.
ReplyDeleteThis is all hearsay, you understand. We heard mama say it. So we disavow any liability if she has a screw loose or a memory failure due to her advanced decrepitude.
Jed & Abby
Ooh - I just never get tired of Darwin's puppy pictures!!
ReplyDeleteThat was very interesting stuff about puppy litters & sizes, including Jed & Abby's comment! I have to say - Honey was one of the smallest pups in her litter - smaller than the only other girl (who was quite a 'butch' thing!) - but she's grown up to be a REALLY big girl and has outgrown her 'bigger' sister, both in height and weight!
I wonder if Dane litter sizes are related to size or line? I often hear of blue or harle Danes having large litters - whereas Honey's breeders (fawns) only ever seem to have about 5 - 8 pups per litter. Honey was from a litter of 7.
Hsin-Yi
Oh - and I forgot to say that her mother & father lived together so presumably had plenty of opportunity to remate? She was from their "repeat" mating.
ReplyDelete