Love-a-Lab puppy reunion!

Had a little puppy reunion at a boulder dog park today. It was SO great to see some of the pups from both litters!  Such a gorgeous group of doggies.  Pics are hard to get with the craziness of a dog park, but here are a couple!

Sorry that I (the unofficial photographer) arrived late and didn’t get photos of the early attendees. Some more photos will be added soon from a little earlier! 

Ginger–Sage–Bitsy–Copper–Trixie

  

Copper

 

Ginger watching the others run

 

       

Trixie, Copper, Bitsy, and Sage

  

   

Eyes are opening! Day 13

Tomorrow, the puppies are 2 weeks old!  A few of them are opening their eyes and are actually walking like little dogs:)

They are quite loud lately and have discovered how to chirp, growl and even bark!

Puppy Pillows

Seems like puppies enjoy sleeping with pillows too.  Their pillow of choice?  Each other:)

1 week old!

Pups are 1 week old tomorrow morning!  They are growing day by day and are quite popular.  Their eyes are not open yet, but some of them are beginning to use their legs and actually crawl! (rather than drag themselves).

As of this afternoon, we have deposits on 6/9 puppies!  Check the Spice Litter page for more information on which puppies are still available:)  

Day 3 mother-puppy pics

Some mother-puppy loving!  Bitsy is the BEST mom.  Last year, she was also a great mom, but a brand new one.  She had to learn how to situate herself in her box so she wouldn’t lay with her back to a puppy or even on a puppy (this happened a lot last year!)  This year, she seems to remember what she learned and is more comfortable and efficient.  She is very tired, but also comes to say hi to us and tells us when she is hungry (wagging her tail the whole time).

First field trip

All the pups went on their first field trip to the vet yesterday!  They all got their 1 day check up and dew claws removed.  All pups were checked out and are healthy!

And, of course, here are more puppy pics:)

2013 Litter!

Check our updated 2013 page for details about our newest litter:)

Genetics and Color probabilities

When you tell people that a black lab mother and a chocolate lab father can have yellow pups, you often get confused looks.  The lab genes are fascinating and hopefully if you are one of those confused ones, this post will help clear it up.  Last year I posted a similar genetics post, but we weren’t sure of what Bitsy’s genotype was (we were not sure if she got her mom’s yellow gene!).  This was all cleared up when we had 3 yellows in our last litter:)

The genes that control the labs coat color are the B and E locus.

B = black

b = chocolate

E = ability to express pigment/color

e = inability to express pigment/color

So, since we know the genes of Bitsy and Freedom, I put together a chart that shows the probability of Bitsy having a yellow, chocolate, or black.

6/16 = 37.5% Black

6/16 = 37.5% Chocolate

4/16 = 25% Yellow

So according to the genes, the probability of having a black and a chocolate are the same.  Which is quite interesting because in our last litter we had 3 yellows and only 1 chocolate!  Only time will tell what colors this litter holds (it happens sometime tonight!)  Stay tuned for more posts:)

7.5 month puppy reunion!

The “cereal litter” pups are about 7.5 months old and had a reunion in the dog park today!  (5/7 pups could make it, but we missed our two light yellow boys, Wheatie and Mingo/Kix) It was fun seeing how all the puppies that used to fit in the palm of a hand are now big playful teenagers!  Its so interesting how Copper (Cheerio), used to be the smallest pup, and is now definitely the biggest:)  Enjoy the pics!

If anyone would like a larger version of certain pictures, just let me know!

Copper plays with 2 non-labs

Blaze!

Copper, Blaze, and Trixie

Blaze

Copper

Trixie

Copper

3 generations! (Bitsy, Aspen, Blaze)

Ruby

Bitsy, Ruby, and Copper

Ruby

Copper spots ball…

Gets ball…

Brings ball!

Ruby and Copper eye to eye

Bitsy and Blaze

Ruby

3 colors!

Copper, Trixie, Ruby

Copper, Bitsy, Blaze

Copper, Blaze, Bitsy

Blaze, blazing

Blaze

Ruby

Ruby

Bitsy

Ruby

Ruby sits for a sec

Bitsy and Ruby

Blaze

Blaze

Copper

Copper and Bitsy collide

Blaze

Ruby and Bitsy

Copper and Bitsy

Ruby

Bitsy

Ruby

Ruby

Kashi is here!!! (with Blaze)

The 3 black pups (Trixie, Blaze, Kashi)

Ruby and Kashi duel it out

Trixie says hi to mom

Copper, Bitsy, and Kashi

3 blacks:) and Copper

Maybe someone has treat??

Kashi and Copper play (with 2 other blacks)

Copper and Bitsy

Pups with their families!

Trixie, Copper, and Kashi play

Bitsy and Copper play

Ruby

Blaze

Speedy doggies!

Trixie, maybe?

Ruby

Blaze

Copper

Copper

Day 54

Today, the pups begin going to their homes.  It will be very bittersweet for us!  We are so happy to have found great homes for all our pups, but after seeing them born, grow up, and develop their own special puppy personality, letting them go will be hard.  Hopefully we will keep in touch with the puppy owners (most are in Boulder county) and have puppy play dates every once in a while:)

PS.  If anyone is interested, there is a puppy calendar in the works:)  Email lovealabpup@gmail.com or ask about it when you come by to pick up your pup!  (Small size (8.5″x11) will be about $20, and the large (11.5″x14) will be about $30)

Here are probably the last pics of all the puppies together!  😦