We have a litter of Russell puppies. I wonder if they’re already close to 7 weeks old – I’m incredibly bad at remembering the age of dogs.
I’m not exactly a beginner in breeding. I’ve had quite a few litters and then some. So, not many things manage to surprise me anymore. Still, these little ones are somewhat exceptional.
I have never had such an easy litter. They are little rascals as terriers can be, but in a positive sense. We decided to try using cat litter – it’s not real cat litter, but wood pellets. We got a couple of those plastic trays from Ikea, which are apparently meant for shoes, and put one in the puppy pen and another in front of it, so they have to walk over it.
They’re not house-trained, but they quickly started to head to the litter box. I don’t know, maybe it helps a bit that our puppies spend a lot of time outside. The front door is open, so they come and go as they please. They do wander quite a bit, from time to time.
The biggest difference from greyhounds is in their movement. A greyhound learns to be agile and fast quickly. They are capable of controlled movement already at a stage when other breeds are still figuring out how their front legs work. But speed and relatively long legs mean that a greyhound is also particular about surfaces. A Russell is not.
Nowadays, they run across the porch, jump between the railing-like boards (can you call them railing boards if they’re on the wall?), onto a small pile of firewood, and then slide down partly protected by a tarp to the ground. It doesn’t faze them, and only the timid ones take the stairs.
If breeding greyhounds has made running the thing, for these little ones, any hole, pit, or tunnel – the tighter, the better.
Initially, I was a bit worried about the mother. A first-timer, a bit of a terrier-like fuss. But it was unnecessary. She’s one of the best mothers we’ve had. Sure, the first few days she had to be forced out of the whelping box, but most first-timers are like that. After that, she became sensible.
She weans her puppies neatly but determinedly. She teaches them to play and behave – but doesn’t hang around them all the time, instead spending her own time strongly as well.
Teaching has been an interesting trait.
- this is how you bite and shake
- this is how you dig
- you play with a cloth differently than with a chew toy
- this is how you eat a bone
Setting an example and then stepping aside for the puppy is really fascinating to watch. Greyhounds weren’t really good at that. Some of the Beaucerons were similar.
What else can we add to make this introduction more substantial?
The puppies now eat 2.5 times a day. The idea of eating 4 times a day is not genuinely based on anything other than a calculated amount of energy-required food to match the amount of nursing.
