Day 3: Well, That was Traumatic!

Today was D-Day.

Dewclaws 😬

I only do the rears and this time I was thinking of leaving them on. Unfortunately, seven of the eight rear dewclaws were D for Double, and those are too big to leave on.

And so I packed everyone up and off we went to the clinic. Some breeders remove their own dewclaws 😱 but I am not in favor of practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Anyway, it was fast and they got to nurse right before and right after so that helped. Bottom line — we all survived.

I have collars for the puppies but there are only four puppies and they are so distinctive that I decided to skip the collars. Today’s post is all about how to tell them apart (and processing my trauma — see above).

Jasper is easy — he has the extra white on his neck. Plus, he is a baby moose. “Chunky Monkey” the tech called him at the clinic, and that is not fat shaming for at least two reasons. First, it is accurate and second, we love our plump puppies!

Anyway, you will know Jasper by his extra white, his almost perfectly symmetrical muzzle markings, and his heavyweight crown 👑

Topaz is easy for the exact opposite reasons — he is small (for now — that won’t last), and darkly marked on his face.

Sapphire and Star Garnet are interesting. Each has one side of the face that has slightly less white than their other side — but it is the opposite, and that makes them easy to tell apart (plus they have different plumbing).

This is Star Garnet — the left side of her muzzle has lots of white. The right side of her muzzle has white but it is less.