Picking the runt of the litter..?

ernie-money

We are in the process of getting a puppy, and I just wanted some advice regarding choosing the right one... We saw the litter for the first time when the puppies were just two days old, and then again yesterday when they were two weeks old. It's obviously at a very early stage and difficult to tell how they will turn out, and they are obviously all absolutely adorable, so we were struggling a little to pick one. As we were the first ones to put a deposit down, the owners very kindly agreed to keep the choice open for us and let us decide in the next couple of weeks, when they start opening their eyes. We were drawn to the smallest pup in the litter - she's got a cute little spot on her neck and white socks (and perhaps it's also instinct to want to look after the smallest and most vulnerable one..?). Anyway, I know we will love whichever one we get, so it doesn't really matter like that, but I was just a bit worried about possible health implications of being so little compared to her siblings. She was small the first time we saw her, but yesterday you could clearly tell that some of the other pups were between 1/3 bigger than her to almost twice the size. If she's just petite, that's absolutely fine, but we obviously want a healthy puppy, so I just wondered if anyone with breeding experience could tell me if the size as this early age would be an indication of their future health at all? Our last dog was a runt, and he lived happily to the age of 15, but I didn't know him when he was a puppy, so I don't know just how small he was, or perhaps the size doesn't even matter at all...
I've tried to insert a photo, but I can't seem to get it to work, but hopefully you can see it in the link, just to show the difference in size. To be honest I think she looks even scrawnier in the pic than in real life, but what do you think please..? http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w284/babyme-x/Mouse/Pup_zpsnnqjkgle.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

HappyMJ

Can't see the picture.

You wouldn't breed from the "runt" and therefore it has less "value" but as long as the puppy survives until it can leave there shouldn't be any major problems and live quite happily until 15 just like your last dog did.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

Go with your heart when picking your pup. Or let your pup pick you :-)

ernie-money

HappyMJ wrote: »

Can't see the picture.

You wouldn't breed from the "runt" and therefore it has less "value" but as long as the puppy survives until it can leave there shouldn't be any major problems and live quite happily until 15 just like your last dog did.

Ah, I see! I was worried that perhaps her inner organs wouldn't be as well developed and things like that... Also the owners seemed to really like the idea of us picking her, so I thought they might struggle to get rid of her otherwise!

ernie-money

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

Go with your heart when picking your pup. Or let your pup pick you :-)

That's what I was thinking, but it's hard when they are that little and their eyes aren't even open. They just blindly feel for anything around them, be it their mum, you, or one of the other pups...

System

My eldest Cavalier King Charles spaniel was the runt of the litter. She is now 10 and up to now has been the best of health.

She's not been bred from though.

ernie-money

Judi wrote: »

My eldest Cavalier King Charles spaniel was the runt of the litter. She is now 10 and up to now has been the best of health.

She's not been bred from though.

We have no plans to breed this one either, so I'm thinking we'll probably go for the little one!

HappyMJ

ernie-money wrote: »

That's what I was thinking, but it's hard when they are that little and their eyes aren't even open. They just blindly feel for anything around them, be it their mum, you, or one of the other pups...

She might end up being the most dominant by the time she's weaned. Certainly not vulnerable at all.

Person_one

If you're worried about health issues, what breed is the pup and what health tests have both parents had?

NewShadow

There should be some kind of warning when someone is posting links to adorableness!

More photos needed over the next 6 months/years


I think nowadays - given improvements to access to vet services/decent food/ puppy classes, it's not really an issue anymore.

It used to be the runt may be poorly socialised and/or suffer from malnutrition, and because of these two factors need more care - both time and to maintain health, and therefore be less useful/valuable as a working dog.

Now (assuming) the mother is being fed an adequate amount of good quality food to produce sufficient milk for everyone, the puppy is weaned on to a decent quality food, puppy is vet checked and vaccinated, and there are no obvious warning signs when you go to collect (sickness/undue fear/anxiety/visible issues with the parents) I think you should just pick the one you feel most inclined towards.

When baby is a touch bigger you might want take something that smells like your house (for my most recent 2 kittens I put kitten collars in my older cats bed for a month, then put them on the kittens at 10 weeks before bringing them home at 12).

A couple of weeks before you might ask the breeder to put a blanket in with mum that you can bring it home with baby - so she has something that smells 'safe' when she's getting used to you.

And (obviously) ask for some of the weening food, but also check how much she 'should' be eating for her age/breed/size/activity level - sometimes tiny dogs have health issues because owners try and 'feed them up' when they're just tiny built.

ernie-money

NewShadow wrote: »

There should be some kind of warning when someone is posting links to adorableness!

More photos needed over the next 6 months/years


I think nowadays - given improvements to access to vet services/decent food/ puppy classes, it's not really an issue anymore.

It used to be the runt may be poorly socialised and/or suffer from malnutrition, and because of these two factors need more care - both time and to maintain health, and therefore be less useful/valuable as a working dog.

Now (assuming) the mother is being fed an adequate amount of good quality food to produce sufficient milk for everyone, the puppy is weaned on to a decent quality food, puppy is vet checked and vaccinated, and there are no obvious warning signs when you go to collect (sickness/undue fear/anxiety/visible issues with the parents) I think you should just pick the one you feel most inclined towards.

When baby is a touch bigger you might want take something that smells like your house (for my most recent 2 kittens I put kitten collars in my older cats bed for a month, then put them on the kittens at 10 weeks before bringing them home at 12).

A couple of weeks before you might ask the breeder to put a blanket in with mum that you can bring it home with baby - so she has something that smells 'safe' when she's getting used to you.

And (obviously) ask for some of the weening food, but also check how much she 'should' be eating for her age/breed/size/activity level - sometimes tiny dogs have health issues because owners try and 'feed them up' when they're just tiny built.

That's great advice, thanks a lot! And you've definitely set my mind at rest
I've only ever had one puppy before, others have all been older dogs, and the other one was a Jack Russell, born in a shed by working parents, so not molly coddled in the same way... (until we got him home that is lol!)
This little lady's mum has was fed puppy food throughout her pregnancy, and still gets it now, to pass on as many nutrients as possible to the pups, so hopefully that has set them up well for life.
We have already seen her twice, and are planning to go over every 10 days or so until we can bring her home, so there will be plenty of time to see what her behaviour is like, but obviously we needed to decide which one to get before then.
We have already bought a blanket & we asked yesterday if we can leave it with them the last time we come to see them, so that she will have something familiar when we take her away from her mum, but I hadn't thought of bringing smells from our house - perhaps we should put her puppy collar on our little Jack before we go over and then let her wear it the last week..?