The Jelly Belly Litter: Six Week Evaluations: Coconut

Coconut at Six Weeks

Abigail (Abba) Zabba and Rocketdog Rockford (Rocky) Rhoades got together for the very first time and gave us nine wonderful Basset Hound Puppies. As we have done in all previous litters we evaluate the puppies at six weeks. There are a few good reasons for this, the first being that the pups develop some personality traits by six weeks of age, the second being that the pups display some key physical characteristics which they are likely to carry through life. Each puppy in this litter will be evaluated as an individual using a quasi-objective standard. It is a good idea to read about it by clicking here. It's a good idea to understand how we look the pups over as individuals. There are some things worthy of stating about this litter in a more general sense.

The Jelly Belly litter has been an easy one for us. All of the puppies came into the world in an effortless fashion. We had no still-born pups and none needed any sort of help at birth. Each and every puppy was naturally inclined towards feeding and none needed to be shown the way. They all were healthy at birth and only one had anything at all to report in their veterinarian checkup last week. All of the Jellies were up and walking with their eyes open and ears attentive -right on schedule. And since we have been able to take them outside, once the weather turned nice, we now know something about their outdoor personalities. The whole group are winners.

At the time of this article we still have two male puppies available for new families. Just send us a note using the Email widget to the left of this and we'll get you all the information you need.

When Coconut arrived at whelping we both agreed that this would probably be the golden child of the litter. And it has been a toss-up as to which puppy was the prettiest since then. But there can be no doubt that She is a very pretty Basset baby girl. She came to us among the smallest of the litter, weighing only around ten ounces. Since then she has had her fill and now weighs a healthy seven and one-half pounds. Coconut will be the newest member of the Townsend family who live in Gresham. 

Structurally there is nothing even slightly out of form with Coconut. Her highly domed head, well placed and very long ears, jaw set, and facial fews are all great and according to form. She carries herself well with a strong hip stance and superb bone size.  Coconut is perhaps the best of the litter for body shape and flawless in how her whole body works together. She is physically everything we expect in an American styled Basset baby. But we have to keep in mind that her Sire and Dame are not entirely the same in respect to form. Coconut will likely develop into the wonderful American Basset we see now, but some of  her Mother's Normande styling may come to the fore as she grows. 

Coconuts on Day one

As to beauty there is nothing at all about Coconut which is not exactly as good as is gets. Her fur is wonderfully white with large black spots. Eventually I believe there will be some emergence of brown in her coloring, but for now all seems perfection. Her head is almost entirely covered in black fur with very symmetrical red-brown accents. She is lovely to look at and wonderful to hold.

Coconut is not a team player. She rarely engages in the puppy panic playtimes where her to play with the adult Bassets here on our Farm. For the most part she likes to watch the others as the rip and tear at each other. She is never a whiner.  And Coconut is cautious without being a bit timid. She likes to explore dark spaces once she has seen others come and go from them.  

Of the six point in out evaluation system Coconut gets all five of the AKC derived points and the full point for beauty. Though we doubt she would win at show due to her lineage, she might be in the running if she develops as good as she appears today. She is the best of the litter when taken all at once and the Townsend family picked a winner. We believe she might be bred to a good male once she has proven herself to be what she appears to be today and rights are secured. There is simply nothing wrong about this puppy and we hope it stays that way as she grows into adulthood.