Puppy blog is kinda wrapping up . . .

Well, it's been fun, hasn't it? Okay, not always been fun, but real. If I continue regularly posting, it's just going to be "Life with Fury and Rippa and Yishai" and that's not what I want to do with this. I'll post photos and videos and puppy owner updates when they're awesome, but beyond that, I think it's time to say goodbye to the blog for a bit. Daca seems to be settling in with her owners quite well, they're taking her to a behavior consultant next week but I think all has happened for the greater good.

Took Rippa to a dog show and got dumped royally but not all that surprised. I need to train her to gait, she moves fine when she runs away from the action, but coming back to the judge, she's not so down and pulls to the side and looks like she's wide in front when I am pretty sure she's not. I'll probably post photos from that show. Then I got strep throat, so that will teach me. I don't know what, but it will.

I will give you something interesting I know, but have been reading lately so it has reminded me: dog neoteny. I am reading Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation right now and there's a long section on how domesticated animals are really just baby versions of their wild selves. She states that dogs are really the equivalent of 30 day-old wolves. In the wild, baby wolves have floppy ears and blunt noses and they bark. But they don't when they get older. And I have always believed this to be so - and have read it before.

And there is some serious variety in temperament in this litter, but I wonder if "degree" of wild can be that drastic based on physiognomy. When I got the Fury, I got a real sense that she was a lot more wild than my past dogs, especially her immediate predecessor. Behavior and looks-wise, she's a lot more so.

And let's look at the litter:

From reports, the two most friendly are Emma and Moto - both puppies with snub noses, lower energy, and drop ears. The middle puppies are Reid and Rippa - again, a little more narrow in the nose, a little more energy but still pretty mellow, and drop ears. Reserved, but mostly friendly. And then there's Hyper Piper and Daca - both of them have the Fury's high-half ear. Daca's got a bit snubbier nose, though (as Yishai likes to call her - she's a "short snout"). Both are higher energy. Reserved, and take work to make friendlier.

I dunno. Just something I think about. I'm always looking to learn something. I don't know what the next few years will bring. I have people on a wait list now for a repeat, but I also just found out that Fury's sister may have produced epilepsy, but it was with a totally different sire (one out of California working lines). I am not that worried, but we'll see. I may be living out of a cardboard box for all I know. Or like, pregnant and too smart not to start this up again. Yishai is worried that it really was hard on me and I am not sure he's eager to see me do the emotional damage I inflicted on myself again. But we get older and wiser. I like to think that feeling bad keeps me honest and looking for the lesson.

We'll see. Time will tell if this was a success and worthy of doing again, either with Fury or the Rippa bear (though that will take convincing of Yishai, on paper she is co owned, but I told him in no uncertain terms that in real life, she is his should that need to be decided).