Faces and features

A few of the pups have outgrown their initial puppy collars so it's time to learn to distinguish them by their features. Everyone has their eyes opened now, so today we did close up photos of each puppy individually and have noted distinguishing features.

Adina was the first to lose her collar, so that served as her distinguishing feature for a couple of days until another blond pup lost hers as well. Adina has a solid black nose, black toes, and no obvious white stripe on her head.

Camilla is the only pup that got Holly's coloring, which makes her very easy to spot. She has been the smallest since birth and I expect always will be. Camilla has a small white strip just above her nose and she's got adorable white feet.

Peggy was the second to lose her collar, which necessitated this alternate form of identification. Peggy is fairly distinctive though. She has longer, wavy fur, and a pronounced white stripe that runs from the top of her head down the center of her face to her nose. She also has a white spot on her back, just below the neck. Peggy is the largest of the girls right now, having recently overtaken Adina. Oh, and Peggy's nose is mostly dark, but not solid black, that's an important distinguishing feature from the next pup, Dizzy.

Dizzy and Peggy look pretty similar. They both have that stripe down the center of their heads, but Dizzy's nose is entirely pink

Yukon is always easy to pick out of the pack. He's the only black pup, but he's not solid black. In addition to some white markings, he's got brindle legs as well as some brown spots on his face. Yukon lived up to the reputation of his adventurer namesake today by being the first to scale the heights of the whelping pool wall and make it over to the other side. Clay found him wandering in the 8'x8' wilderness when we got up this morning. Holly was with him but didn't seem concerned, or at least made no effort to put him back with the others.

Boomerang (I've taken to just calling him Boomer) can always be picked out of a lineup because he's significantly bigger than the rest. He has a mostly black nose and the widest white stripe of anyone in the litter. The white extends over much of his muzzle too.

Last but not least is Charlie. Charlie's white markings are not as extensive or well defined as those on Boomer. But the easiest way to distinguish Charlie from Boomer is his little pink nose.

Since Yukon escaped the whelping pool, we knew that the others would soon follow, it was time for a new arrangement. I dispensed with the pool and just made a defined 4' x 4' sleeping area with 2x4s. It's time they started to learn to move off their bed to the pads to poop and pee because it's becoming too much for Holly to keep clean by herself.