All of the Classic Cookies are Spoken For

 I have been a bit behind on spending time writing about this little litter. The bigger truth is that I haven't written much on any subject surrounding our farm and breeding business for a bit over a year now.  For those interested in our puppies I appologize. 

We did find good homes for the three Classic Cookie puppies Lemonhead Lucy (AKC) and Rocketdog Rockford Rhodes (AKC) gave us. The only marketing effort we used was our American Kennel Club page and Ann spent some time updating it. Three puppies is a very small litter for us so it didn't take long to find people interested in a new baby Basset. 

There was never a six week evaluation written up for this litter. Again, I appologize. But had I taken the time it would have pointed out that, in our twenty years of breeding Bassets, this was perhaps one of our best litters so far. Something of a surprize to tell the truth. Lucy is a good Basset, Rocky is a very good Basset, and we are only interested in breeding pet quality, so good qualities are sufficient. But in this litter the sum of the parts exceeded the parts themselves by a bit.

All three pups had very good personalities. There were no sad puppies or unexpected trips to the Banks Vet. All three had wonderful form and there were no serious faults. All three did have slightly flanged first left side ribs, one had a slight tooth gap. Certainly nothing to worry over for any of them. None of them had trouble moving around and each gained an appropriate amount of weight as they developed. Head shape was very good and the ears were both plentiful and set back well on the neck. We had no jaw issues or other worrisome bone concerns. All three had very good rear leg stance so their hips should develop well providing they are given plenty of excersize. Each puppy had a distinct coloring pattern and all three were symetrical in facial fur coloring.

Had I done the evaluations, as I should have, each would have scored five and a half point of the six available (the only deduction being the slightly flanged rib). There was nothing wrong with any of them. Where this litter stood out was in personaly. This was a fun litter.

Spritz, the first puppy to leave us at eight weeks, was a border-line monster. She was always scrappy, always inquisitive, and always completely lovable. She has gone to the NWBrothers Basset kennel which produced our lovely girl Pixie Stix (AKC) and will have a good life there among her own kind. 

Moose (whose kennel name was Tollhouse) is a lovely boy with beautiful markings. He might be a contender in local dog shows if given the right training and grooming. He was smart, as Bassets go, and figured out the latch on the whelping pen so that he would let everyone out as he saw fit. We have a sense of humor about these things, but had to find a secondary means of keeping the gate closed.

Pina Colada (Lemon Zest) is still with us for another few days. She is as nice a Basset as we have ever had. Loving, audacious, and fleet of foot. She loves to follow her mother around the farm hunting squirrels and carrying sticks.  She will go to a home where another Rocketdog Basset lives, so there will be snarling, fighting, and lots of laughter in her future.

For those families who took a puppy home to love. . . Thanks. 

For those interested in perhaps looking later on . . . Pixie and Rocky are the scheduled next pairing and this should happen in mid-Winter or early Spring. 

The Cookies are Checked Out

 

We routinely take our litters to Banks Vet. They don't accept many new customers because they are small, but we've been using them for nearly ten years and have been very happy. The Doctors come and go a bit, but they are carfull to get good ones.

The Cookies are all in very good health. The only thing called out was a potentially cleft pallet in Tollhouse, but it never did develope into a problem. Humans get this same thing and we often call them "gapped tooth" because there is a small but noticable gap between front teeth. Some call the trait "cute". The defect is only about as wide as a pencil lead right now and not into the upper mouth at all. It will likely close up completely when the adult teeth make their appearance. Other than this minor thing, and a regrown dewclaw on Lemon Zest, the pups are perfect in every way.

Personalities are beginning to show up. Each puppy looks quite a bit different, but the way they act is hasn't been too different until this week. They have also had their ears grow in and often step on them when walking around with noses to the ground. We call this bear walking because it pulls the head left and right as they walk. 

It looks like two of the three have families, not that this was ever in question. We haven't spent much time marketing simply because there are just the three this time. Lots of interest in the third puppy right now and I assume they will all be spoken for by this weekend. Call Ann (503-351-0212) if you are interested in Tollhouse. He still needs a family to call his own. Expect a very active little boy.

The Classic Cookies Litter - Week Four Update

Click for a larger image.

The weeks seem to fly by so quickly. I find myself writing an update at four weeks and this is unusual for us. In past litters the updates were quite a bit closer together. More often than not, most litters are quite a bit larger and finding good homes takes quite a lot more time. So anyway . . .

The Cookies are doing wonderfully. They have developed very well and all three are showing superb Basset traits. I will write full evaluations in a few weeks, so this post will be a bit less complicated. Here are the highlights: All three had marvelous body shapes with no flanged ribs or swimmer backsides. All three are beginning to run more than walk when they move. All three have well developed head shaps without any bite issues or flat skulls. In truth, these are the sorts of troubles we might find, if there were any troubles at all. And there are none to speak of. 

At four weeks we expect they will begin taking water from mom's water dish, and also they will begin looking at solid foods as a possible alternative. I put a dog biscuit into the whelping pen with them yesterday and they were quite interested. Lucy left the biscuit for them for about an hour before eating it herself. She is a very good mother.

Today we will be worming the pups, because worms are definetly a thing puppies all seem to have. We also worm our entire tangle of hounds at the same time, just in case. Vaccines will happen around the fifth of September and people will be allowed to visit the litter after than. There are some nasty sicknesses in the world and we are careful to keep them safe. 

If you are considering bringing one of our pups into your family it is always a good idea to visit us prior to making a firm decision. Call Ann at 503-351-0212 to set up a time.

Spritz is a wonderfully happy little puppy, but a bit scrappy. Her tail wags constantly as she plays with her sisters. She is very well deloped and weighs four pounds, fourteen ounces, today. Her first nail clipping and worming were a snap, but getting good pictures was not so easy. She wants to explore and will charge the gate of their pen any-time the door is open.

Lemon Zest is a real snuggler. The largest of the group, at fiv pound, seven ounces, she would rather do lap sitting than go looking for trouble. She will eventually share roughly the same coloring scheme as her dame.

Tollhouse is everything we look for in a baby Basset boy. He is rubust and loves to play. His facial coloring is symetrical and lovely deep browns and blacks. He is good natured, but rough on his siblings. If I were to keep a puppy, this would be the one. He weighs five pounds, four ounces.