splitting hairs

You will be pleased to hear we have reverted to the puppy-photos portion of this broadcast.  At least for now.

On a recent photo, Jane asked me if the cream puppy was Andy.  I had to admit I had no idea whatsoever.  That's not to say that I can't tell the cream boys apart in general - I can.  But only in comparison to each other.  Take one in isolation, and I'm completely in the dark.  So, little cutie-pie with paw on mum's muzzle there?  No idea at all.

In photos it often looks like the creams are slightly different shades, and they certainly were at birth.  Novak was lighter and the other two were a darker, richer cream.  They are changing a bit now and are more or less all the same shade.

When they were born I admit I was concerned about being able to tell them apart.  There are little elastic collars made just for that reason.  After all, what do you suppose a breeder of 8 or 10 black Labradors or a bunch of white Samoyed puppies do?   But I've never had any of those little collars.  I've always figured I would be able to distinguish my puppies if necessary.  I've had 2 creams before and it was easy to tell them apart.  I've even had a litter of NINE black puppies and I managed to tell them apart.  But the 3 cream boys, a little trickier. 

So I acquired some elastic stuff from a friend and adorned Roger with one colour (black) and Andy with another (silver) on the basis that Novak is considerably smaller and is therefore easier to spot compared to his more beefy brothers.  So if you are wondering what the collars were that you might have spotted in earlier photos, now you know.  I think the collars lasted about 20 hours.  Maybe even less.  I think Emmi took exception to them.

I've heard of people using nail polish on puppies to tell them apart - a little dab on their tails or backs.  But I really don't like the idea of putting that kind of poison on them.  Or on fur that Emmi licks.  But I thought, maybe a little spot of permanent marker just on Roger.  That lasted about an hour before Emmi had cleaned it off.

So I'm back to trusting my eyes.  So far so good.  I'm thinking it will get easier a they get older.

Pile of puppies - that's Roger looking whiter in this photo.  I think.

Today's video:  more nursing puppies.  To be fair, at this stage they don't do much more than eat and sleep, so that's what you're getting.  But it's not bad, really.  As you can see, we have abandoned all pretense of lying on the soft, fluffy vet bed, and the puppies have been launched into the harsh reality of the Lappy world of scratchy, hard and cold surfaces on which to sleep.  Ahhhh, bliss!