Maremma Sheepdog Puppies at 4 Weeks Old!
Time is flying by, and before we know it we will be headed to Florida to pick up our new little Maremma Sheepdog puppy. I can’t wait!
I”m not sure yet which one will be mine. There are 4 girls and 2 boys. Since I want a girl, there are still 4 choices! Kerstin is going to give me some insight into their personalities as they develop, so hopefully that will help me choose.
Here they all are doing what little puppies do best… eating!
Looks like to me it’s starting to get crowded at the milk bar! Mama Maremma has her work cut out trying to feed this bunch. However, Kerstin did say they are starting to drink water and eat some mushy kind of dog food.
A Puppy Bindi
Okay, you need to be able to tell these pups apart if you’re going to start trying to match them to a personality. They all have the same coloration, so how do you tell 4 little furry white girl pups apart?
With a puppy bindi!!!
You may not have heard the term “bindi” before, but I bet you know what it is . . . It’s the red dot many Hindu women put on the middle of their forehead. Yeah, I know, sometimes a bindi is a different color, and sometimes other women besides Hindus wear them, but by and large, it’s red and it’s on Hindu women. We could get into a lengthy discussion about why women wear a bindi and how they make one, but that’s a little far off “farm talk.”
So anyway! When I saw the little pups with the “dots” in the middle of their foreheads, that’s what it reminded me of… therefore, it’s a puppy bindi for puppy ID!
Cool, huh?
A Trio of Cuties
The two little pups on the outside are both girls.
I think the one in the middle is a boy, because Kerstin said the boys have blue and green colored dots and that looks kind of green to me.
A Name, A Name, I Need A Name!
I”ve been trying to think of a name for a wonderful white guardian dog, but am having a hard time on that one. I like a name with some character. Neffie was named for Queen Nephele, who was the guardian of the ram with the golden fleece in the “Jason and the Argonauts” tale.
I’ve found some names with character, but they don’t shorten well. I’ve got to be able to holler for this dog when she’s far off in a field, and it’s can’t be something like, “Hey Queen Nephele!” That’s why she was Neffie, and sometimes even just Neff!
For instance, I like the meaning of Kermode (kerr-MO-dee). They are white black bears, and called Spirit Bears by Native tribes, paricularly in British Columbia, Canada.
They are fairly rare, as it takes some recessive genes to make a white black bear…. not an albino, but a black bear that is creamy white.
But I don’t see any good way of making a nickname out of that, and can’t see myself trying to holler, “Here Kermode!”
So the search for a good name continues. Any ideas?
