Pup-Pup and Hanno at Upper Pond Picnic Area
Today I got a new puppy! This has been in the works for a long time. I wanted to get a new female to join our pack as a breeder to keep our genetics from bottlenecking. She arrived today. I’ll let you try and guess her breed history… Leave answers in comments and we’ll see who comes closest.
She doesn’t have an official name yet. Pup-Pup is just her baby name. I need to get to know her and think about how her new genetics line fits into our pack lines to pick an appropriate name which will then carry forward. I have a system to the naming of the dogs. Then the next question will be what will they name her. They have their own naming system too.
Update: The puppy’s name is Pika which references her whiteness being similar to Tika’s line, her likely large size similar to Kita and her new line, the ‘P’ in Pika.
Outdoors: 78°F/53°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 70°F/61°F
Daily Spark:
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath day
Is fair and wise and good in every way.
There are several versions. The one I learned is above.
–Old English Poem
So what day were you born on? Try here.
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
I’m happy she’s gone to a great home, really enjoyed watching her first few months of life on FB. She is my favorite of Daves pups.
The back legs look like they might come from a German Shepherd Dog, the wavy hair could come from… a Kuvasz?
Congratulations! She looks like she has an open-minded, sharing personality and will be lots of fun! I also think it will be the absolutely perrrrrrrrfect opportunity for you to make short videos of how you train her…. especially how does she learn sign language. Just say’n ;o)
Ah, if I had the time in the day for all the projects I would love to do… :) I have a petition in to the White House to change Day Light Savings Time to make it so we have 36 hour days. Please do go sign it!
Mission accomplished!
German Shepherd and Great Pyrenees mix
Husky/Kuvasz? You didn’t mention how old so the fur’s a little hard to figure
The high set ears, slightly tipped over and the eye would suggest collie, with Maremma and GSD in there somewhere? :)
Jul
Great Pyrenees mix ?
In previous posts you talk bout how only the alpha pair in your pack breeds. Will this be the first time to arrange a breeding for the dogs that doesn’t take rank into account?
No, by becoming a breeder she’ll elevate to alpha. Currently there is no alpha female since Lili died. If Kimsa were still here she would be alpha bitch but she now lives on another farm with my brother and his family. We’ve tried to bring her back for breeding but it has not worked since she isn’t able to attain the alpha status quickly because her smaller sister Romula both wants that position yet is also omega. Pika, the new name for the puppy, will likely be about 100 lbs or so making her twice the other females’s size which will give her an advantage in the ranking. Then it is a matter of personality.
She looks to be part Rough Collie, an excellent and intelligent herding breed.
Walter,
I have a question unrelated to dogs but completely related to pigs. We have a sow which is about 18 months old and had her first litter this year in February. 8 weeks ago the piglets and the sow were separated for weaning. Since then her udder has diminished and her milk seemed to be dried up. I say “seemed” because 4 days ago I let the 3 month old weaned piglets back in with her. Yesterday I noticed A LOT of commotion in the pig area and when I went to investigate, the piglets were loudly nudging the sow fairly aggressively at her udder while she was laying down, just like they did when they were nursing. Now, and this could be my imagination, it looks like her udder might be changing. Could she be beginning to produce milk again at the insistence of her big WEANED piglets?
Thanks for your help. There are few folks out there who are experienced enough to answer my questions but even fewer who don’t mind helping a small time farmer like me. :)
Elizabeth
Nursing can restart lactation. Nursing can even cause lactation in a virgin gilt. Name her Mary.
She is a wolf hound cross.
The hair and face make me think Irish Wolfhound. The coloration makes me think Husky.
But she’s a puppy, so I’m almost certainly wrong.
Rough collie or English Shepherd crossed with Marema, Anatolian or G. Pyrenese. It’s hard without seeing litter mates or exact size or face, but guessing is fun
Seems like some Komondor, Pyrenees and Collie in there somewhere.
She looks like a collie/alpaca cross to me :). Loving your site!
Still no answer? C’mon, Walter, what is her breeding? :D
Pika is 7/16 Alaskan malamute, 3/8 Irish wolfhound and 3/16 Other like the Other in our established pack.
3/8 is an interesting fraction, requires at least two in crosses of in this case Irish Wolfhound to the bloodline . Suggests a breeding program, but for what?
Here’s hoping for you and the pack to have better bitch luck this time around!
The 3/8th number is from the previous owner. I don’t know the details.
We’ve long had good “bitch luck”. Our pack is six generations old.
Of course! (smacks head). So true.
I was thinking rather narrow-mindedly of certain potential reproductive opportunities that didn’t end up becoming reality, mainly wrt Kita, Katya, Molly, then Kimsa. Of course also not all success is reproductive, although I do like the quote “All true wealth is biological.” (LMBujold)