New Litter of Positive Alaskan Sled Dog Puppies

[Swanny1790]

I wanted to get face pix of all the puppies today, but Chetan just wasn't up for it. I had already weighed the puppies and done their daily exercises, and she'd had about all the "fun" she could handle. Here are a few you might like, though.

Frazil (our little white boy) was the biggest gainer of weight. Today he's 19.5 oz (553 g), having gained 7.1 ounces over the past 4 days.
The agouti colored female weighed in at 22.8 oz (646 g)m for a gain of 6.1 oz.
Glacier (the silver gray colored male) weighs 21.5 oz (609 g), gaining 6.6 oz.
His buff colored brother now weighs 22.2 oz (629 g), having gained 5.1 oz.
The buff colored female with the white patch on her neck and shoulder weighs 20.3 oz (575 g), for a gain of 6.2 oz.
The agouti colored male is now the smallest of the litter at 19.2 oz (544 g), having gained only 5.5 ounces over the past 4 days.









...and of course the obligatory puppy pile

[Nettle]

Oh gorgeous gorgeous little creatures.

All credit to you that you are so sensitive to Chetan's feelings too. That last pic she really is telling you 'enough now', isn't she? But so politely. You've got my puppies all untidy and I have to pile them up now and sort them out.

[JudyN]

You've got my puppies all untidy and I have to pile them up now and sort them out.

[mansbestfriend]

[MPbandmom]

What adorable little faces. Chetan looks like quite a sweetheart too, even when saying give back my puppies.

[Swanny1790]

I'm at work, but on Sunday a friend came by the house and shot some photos of the babies so I could get my puppy fix.

The puppies were 12 days old. Eyes are starting to open, they are becoming more mobile and more vocal.

[Nettle]

Cute overload

Lovely chunky juicy puppies. Thanks for sharing the puppy fix.

[katej215]

Those little puppy feet....sooooo cuuute!

[MPbandmom]

Oooooo such cuties! Thanks for sharing the puppy fix.

[DianeLDL]

Swanny,

I am a bit late to the party.
I want to extend my Congratulations on the birth of the puppies.
May they turn out to be happy, healthy, and great sled dogs!

And the photos are great. What cute little pups.
Good fix for me, too!

Diane

[ScarletSci]

I'm very late to the party because I haven't had the internet for weeks, but as soon as I could get on I came here specifically to look, knowing Chetan would have whelped by now! So happy to see them looking so well and adorable! Congrats to you, Trish and Chetan, Swanny!

Loving hearing all about what you're doing with them as well, and the other dogs in the yard. It's not only a chance to hear about a slice of life I will likely never get to experience, and written so beautifully (you really do have talent - have you considered a book? You're such a natural, and have fascinating material to work with), but it's great to hear a step by step by someone so dedicated to doing the absolute best by his dogs.

Are you going to be keeping any of them? I'm placing my money on Frazil! Love the name, beautiful colouring, a fine addition to your kennels

[WufWuf]

Is there going to be a Floe? It's such a cute name for a little girly dog

As always I love hearing about your world (and of course PUPPIES )

[Sanna]

Omg waaaay too much cute! those little puppy feet are sending me loopy they're beautiful Swanny, look forward to reading more about them soon!

[Swanny1790]

We will be keeping two of the puppies (a male and female). Two others will be going to the owner of their sire in Minnesota (Linda Newman's Points Unknown kennel) and one for sure is spoken for by Nita Fowler (our friend who has been so helpful). The sixth is kind of in the wind at the moment - he could stay with us though several suitable mushers have indicated an interest.

As I'm currently at work, Trish and I haven't really had an opportunity to discuss additional names, though it's looking more and more like Frazil and Glacier will be joined by Nilas (pronounced NEE-lus) for the buff girl with the white neck and shoulder patch. I'm told that she and Frazil are the most active of the litter thus far, and nilas ice is also very active, bending and moving with wind and wave action. Floe might be a really nice name for the agouti girl. I'll have to cogitate on it.

I think it much harder to choose puppy names than grown-up dog names. I'm not sure why, as our first litter was actually pretty easy to name, sticking with the Stardancer theme (Orion, Capella, Cassiopeia, Midnight's Son, Polaris and One Star)

Of course once they are moving about and exploring their new, wide world their personalities become more apparent, and it's easier to select a name that seems consistent. Puppy names tend to be replaced by more permanent names as dogs and owners develop their own relationships.

I think naming dogs is really important. Whether it's important to the dog is questionable, but I know it's important to the humans.
Some of the 'rescues' in our kennel were renamed as soon as they came to me. If I knew the dog's ogs for whom I knew history was (relatively) benign I kept the dog's original name. For example, when a musher suffered a catastrophic medical emergency that forced him to liquidate his team I adopted Daisy and Sheenjek (both now deceased), and they remained Daisy and Sheenjek forever as they never been in an abusive situation.

For those I'm was less certain of and definitely those I knew came from a neglectful or abusive situation, I gave them new names to reflect a new life - Amazing Grace and Trish's lovely little Maggie are examples. I actually named Chetan and Animosh weeks before they were ready to come to Alaska. Friday was Friday's puppy name, and I kept it because it's unique just as he is unique. He's named after Friday Creek in Denali National Park (originally intended to go to the park's kennel, but something or another prevented that adoption).

[JudyN]

Yay, we'll get to see at least two of them grow up then!

Do you do any normal 'pet dog' training, like sit, stay, come, drop, etc.? Or do they learn everything more or less on the job and by watching your other dogs? How much time will the pups spend indoors, as presumably you need to housetrain them even if they spend most of their lives outside? Also... if someone wanted one of these pups just as a pet, never to pull a sled, would they be totally unsuitable because of the way they've been bred, or would they be fine as long as the person understood their nature?

What a shame you can't spend much time with them - I hope that changes soon!