Late last week we received the DNA profile and paternity results back from UC Davis for the litter. To our great surprise, the entire litter has been sired by Jestan, although all of the breedings happened within a 36-hour span of time, both by live-cover. But that's nature, I suppose! I do hope that in the future we will have another opportunity to try again with Remus as our interest in his pedigree still stands. And we would definitely still consider dual-siring in the future, we don't regret one thing at all.
So our A-litter now have all their formal names, as we were waiting on the paternity results to assign either A- or B- names. You can see the litter details now on the page 'Our litters'. We have sent out for UKC and FCI-recognized registrations, as well as put in our request for test kits for both Degenerative Myelopathy and Pituitary Dwarfism for the entire litter. The parents of this litter have been selected such that only clear and carrier puppies can result, not affected, but nevertheless we would like to have the information on their carrier status.
We've been crazy busy with the puppies, from their weekly socialization parties to their Puppy Culture exercises including clicker loading and manding training. Several of their new owners have visited us during these socialization parties, and some more on their own. The puppies have time daily out on the patio in a puppy pen, since they're still small enough to fall through our regular fence, but spend the majority of their days indoors with us. Their indoors puppy pen has been strategically laid out so the pups have largely litter-trained themselves, so clean up is really a breeze. They have been so good, it's really tempting to just keep them all to myself!
Morrow has been gradually weaning the puppies now as they approach Week 6. We just let the moms do it at their leisure, and make sure to support her and her puppies as best as we can. Little puppies sure can go through mounds and mounds of food..
In just a short few weeks the puppies will all be heading to their new homes when they turn 8 weeks old. Although the puppies are very sweet and have been so enjoyable for us, all the owners have been duly warned (if they are not existing CsV owners) that the road ahead will be trying, challenging, and difficult, but we hope that we can make it through together in one piece.
Because the question is asked a lot, at this time, we provisionally plan a couple of litters for 2018. Although we do not take formal waitlists, we do appreciate owners who get to know us, let us get to know them, and keep in contact with us especially as plans become finalized. We always prioritize potential owners who put an emphasis on training, showing, or otherwise being very active with dogs.