One of my puppy buyers contacted me recently to ask if there were any books I could recommend about caring for a puppy.  One of my favorites is The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete.  The authors raise German Shepherd dogs which are very different from Otterhounds but the basis puppy care and training and confidence building are the same.  Though Bruce and I don't have a whole monastery of people to interact and help bring up the puppies we try hard to follow the same premise of caring and interacting with the puppies.  Near the back of the book is Puppy aptitude test developed by Joachim and Wendy Volhard.  I had the pleasure of having one of my previous litters tested by members of the Badger Kennel Club using these items and a few more at the age of 7 weeks which is considered the prime time to give this test.  What this test does is give an indication of the temperament of each puppy.  This is not given by a familiar person but one that is unknown to the puppy in an environment the puppy has not been in before.  Next Friday our puppies will be seven weeks old and on Saturday I have a friend that will administer this test for the Twelve!  I'm looking forward to the insights this test may give as we consider the placements for the puppies with their new owners.  If you are interested in seeing what the test entails, http://www.volhard.com/uploads/choosing-your-puppy-pdf.pdf you can read for yourself the items included as well as how the test is interpreted.  This is also why I try to find out as much as I can about each family getting a puppy as well as knowing of other animals in the household. 

The weather has been cold and windy here in Door County this week.  Though in summer we would have the puppies outside for the good part of each day, in winter we have to watch for a warmer day.  It has not been appropriate this week.  Temps have hovered near zero and even those nice warm coats on our adult dogs have not seemed warm enough for long periods of time in that temperature.  Thus I have been looking for other opportunities for the puppies to have some different experiences.  Pictured above, Stonewall had the opportunity to mingle with Allie one afternoon this week.  After unsuccessfully trying to nurse her, he began following her around the dog room to see what she was up to.  He even followed her into her crate.

Like children, each puppy has a unique personality affected by the experience he has as well as the heredity he gains from his parents.  It is amazing to me that 12 puppies all with the same parents born at about the same time can be such individuals.  One way this is shown is their approach to eating.  Some puppies are ravenous and try to consume as much as possible in the shortest time available.  Others seem to savor and enjoy their food taking their time.  As a breeder, it is my responsibility to see to it that each puppy has an opportunity to eat all their food at whatever pace best suits their nature.  Looking at the photo above, you can see each puppy has an equal amount of food in the beginning which each one is enjoying very much.  We have served them 2 meals so far in this manner and so far there has been no food left behind by any individual.  Guess this means we need to offer more food tomorrow!