Puppy

Rocco/Libby Litter 1: Week 4 Summary for 2026/08/04

All weights are in pounds.

Puppy (Collar)Week 3 (2026/07/28)Week 4 (2026/08/04)% Change
1 – Ms. Ruby (Red)3.404.3227.19%
2 – Mr. Emerald (Green)3.114.0530.38%
3 – Mr. Sapphire (Blue)2.983.6522.50%
4 – Mr. Onyx (Black)2.893.6425.95%
5 – Ms. Pearl (White)2.813.2916.99%
6 – Mr. Amethyst (Purple)3.694.6125.06%
7 – Mr. Gold (Yellow)2.914.0037.56%
8 – Ms. Topaz (Pink)2.352.8722.24%
Average (This Litter)3.023.8125.98%

Weight Summary:

Mister Gold wins the week at 38%. His female counterpart is Miss Ruby at 27%. Mister Amethyst leads the overall and is beginning to pull away from the rest of the field. The overall female leader is Miss Ruby and she is likely to hang on to the female title all the way through to week nine. Miss Ruby is still second in the overall but we think she is likely to be caught by both Mister Emerald and Mister Gold over the next several weeks. There comes a time when it happens that most of the boys overtake the lead female and for those particular two boys, that time is likely soon. We will see if Ruby puts up a fight.

The weight gain typically slows down for a week or two during early weening. We have observed this in most litters, if not all litters, where the puppies have to adjust a bit and they might eat a little bit less.

A note on Topaz:

Historically in our data for the other breeds, being the smallest puppy in the litter hasn’t meant much, if anything at all. We’ve had the so-called “runt” of the litter eventually become the biggest dog. Here is an example of one of our Goldens who was the “runt” by the name of Sonny (Coswald’s You are My Sunshine).:

Sonny grew up to be a very large golden and is a working service dog today.

We’ve had the smallest up in our Laekenois litters be the litter boss several times and grow up to be quite large if not the largest.

That being said, a puppy the size of Topaz will be passed over by the guide dog evaluators and most other service dog organizations so we are going to make her available to the public. More on her and that happening later.

Puppy Development:

We have started the weening process with bowls of milk as we mentioned we would do last week. Here’s what that looks like:

Upcoming:

Real food and the separation process begins.

Have a good week and God bless.

Rocco/Libby Litter 1: Week 3 Summary for 2026/07/28

All weights are in pounds from here onward.

Puppy (Collar)Week 2 (2026/07/21)Week 3 (2026/07/28)% Change
1 – Ms. Ruby (Red)2.713.4025.54%
2 – Mr. Emerald (Green)2.533.1122.90%
3 – Mr. Sapphire (Blue)2.092.9842.49%
4 – Mr. Onyx (Black)2.262.8927.95%
5 – Ms. Pearl (White)2.042.8137.57%
6 – Mr. Amethyst (Purple)2.643.6939.66%
7 – Mr. Gold (Yellow)2.322.9125.54%
8 – Ms. Topaz (Pink)1.782.3531.94%
Average (This Litter)2.303.0231.70%

Weight Summary:

Mr. Sapphire wins the week with a nice 42% gain. His female counterpart is Ms. Pearl at 38%. We have a new leader in the overall and it’s no surprise that it is Mr. Amethyst who blew past Ms. Ruby this week reaching 3.7 pounds. Ms. Ruby hates artificial nipples and tends to not take as much as the others from the supplementing we’ve been doing. Her lead over the other females is probably safe. The litter is maintaining an overall average weight of above a pound a week which is nice.

Mama’s Health:

Mama is still doing very well. She is very active and playing with other dogs, playing in water, and is more energetic since we started supplementing by feeding the puppies directly ourselves.

Puppy Development:

  • They are playing well with each other and are talking at each other
  • They are drinking water from a bowl
  • They are able to escape from the whelping box if the door is left out
  • They are becoming curious about new things placed in the whelping box
  • They can differentiate between people and… they have favorites that they talk to

Upcoming:

We are planning on starting the weening process with bowls of milk in week four. This in no way removes Libby from her role as of yet and she will decide when she is finished.

Have a good week and God bless.