After the puppies had nursed and had their solid food breakfast this morning and their box was cleaned up, I was surprised to hear the paper rustling. When I went to look, I found Korpur vising his nieces and nephew. (They are not related to him but we're all one family here so we use the honorifics.)
Now it's unusual for a mother to let other females near her pups at an early age unless she trusts them completely. Kata was there during delivery helping Totty out a bit but Kata is special; they all trust her.
However, I was surprised at Totty for letting a male near them at this tender age. Well, when Bear or Tryggur tried to get near we heard the territorial growl and they backed off. Good old Korpur, like Kata, very trustworthy and reliable. I know that. I'm still surprised that Totty allowed the visit. I had to grab the camera.
(Clicking on the photos enlarges them.)
I tell people when they get their new puppies home to change their food slowly, over a week or ten days, from puppy food to adult food. Scientifically controlled studies have shown that adult hip health scores are better when the diet is not too rich.
Think about it. Dogs are descended from wolves and still have virtually the same genes. (The next time you see some photos of wolves, take a really good look at them. Look at their ears, their tails, their legs and feet, their teeth, their eyes - especially their eyes, etc.)
When wolf pups are weaned, the adult wolves in the pack bring home food from their kills in their stomachs. The pups jump at the adults' mouths which causes the adults to regurgitate partially digested food which the pups then eat. (That's one reason why dog pups lunge at the faces of people and lick them around the mouth - something to be careful about. You want them watching your face; you just don't want them jumping at it with the inherent risks.)
The point is that wolf pups eat the same food as the adults. Dog pups should also. A lower protein diet allows for slower growth. A higher protein diet results in faster growth. Soft tissue, like muscles and organs, grows more rapidly than hard tissue like bones. If growth is too fast, that puts stress on the skeleton, perhaps resulting in compromised hips. The reasons may be speculation but the results of the studies are not. Giving puppies a rich diet results in poorer hip scores; an adult diet eventually produces the same sized dogs with better hip scores. Growth is not compromised, just slowed.
All of my dogs were switched to adult food soon after arriving here as puppies and their hips have good scores.
However, it's also necessary for the dogs to have good genes for hip health as well.
The best way to know what their possible genes are for good hips is to look at their ancestors, especially the recent ones. Breeding for a good looking dog is not enough, in my opinion. One must keep in mind a whole host of desirable and undesirable traits to be a good responsible breeder who breeds for the whole dog - looks, health, and temperament. The breeders I know breed for the whole dog.
Before people start out breeding, I suggest to them that they draw up a list of as many traits as possible using the breed standard and other sources that could be found in their dogs. Things like: temperament, tractability, intelligence, hip health (scores), eye test results, height, weight, fur color, tail structure, dew claws, fur texture, fur length, ear placement, and on and on.
Then I suggest to them that they can breed for ALL of those traits and, if they want to be a responsible breeder, they owe it to their future puppies to do so.
I also suggest that then they try to rank those traits in order of importance. That is not an easy job and each breeder may have slightly different orders of importance. What the process does though is force people to think about what their goals are for the breed and for what they want to do with their dogs.
A good friend who is an AKC judge and who has bred excellent all around Golden Retrievers has produced dogs that do well in the breed (conformation) ring and have become champions, has produced leader dogs for the blind, has produced performance and companion dogs that are all healthy. All of her dogs do well in all areas. She breeds good all around Goldens.
It's not easy to do but it is good stewardship for a breed to try and produce not just good breed standard dogs alone, but also dogs with good hips, eyes, hearts, bones, temperaments, weather resistant fur, intelligence, etc. Those things are not often specifically mentioned in a breed standard but they are important and responsible breeders know that.
Steve, Imelda - my emails are being returned.
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