1 week weights

Every morning for the puppies' first week I weighed them to make sure each one is developing as it should. Here is the result (click the image for a bigger size that's easier to read).











If one puppy is smaller than the rest, or seems to be growing more slowly than everyone else, then I always try to make sure that is the puppy who gets first dibs on the milk bar. I put them into the box with Keksi first to give them a headstart. The teats near the back legs are the most productive, and they are always the ones the puppies go for first. And they are the ones that the stronger puppies claim for themselves by shoving their smaller siblings aside. For this reason, I also (and this is the bit that feels really mean when I do it) go into the room when the puppies are nursing contentedly and pull the big, strong, dominant, quickly-growing puppies off the back teats and replace them with the smaller puppies to give them a chance. Sometimes I have to do this more than once for the stronger ones to get the message and go suckle elsewhere (don't I, Honey & Budgie?).

I don't expect everyone to grow at the same rate or to be the same size. And puppies develop in different ways. For example, some gain a lot one day then not so much the next. So as long as everyone is gaining by more or less 10% per day, I'm not concerned. It's easy to see from the graph who has been muscling their way around the box. Click on the chart for a bigger size that's easier to read.
















So, does this weight difference mean that the bigger puppies will always be bigger and the smaller puppies will always be smaller? Nope.

There was no mistaking who the big puppies were in the last litter. Usko was so much bigger than everyone else, particularly his small brother Kallio, that I thought it was practically guaranteed that he would be the biggest as an adult as well. Things don't always turn out quite as expected, as you can see from the day they met up at the age of 6 months. The girls in that litter were full of surprises too. Minna was bigger than the other 2 girls by a long way, and Kesa was the smallest of all. Yet, who was the big, grownup puppy at the age of 8 months? Uh huh.

So from now on I'm basing nothing at all on puppy size. And speaking of size... look how big they're all getting!





I just love it when they sleep all in a row.

L-R: Vee, Kicker, Junior, Kuusi, Marilyn, Honey, Budgie










Another video later showing just how active sleeping puppies can be. And a new poll.