Greyhound Puppies

Despite being involved with greyhounds for several years, I had never actually seen a greyhound puppy until yesterday. It is one of those situations like baby pigeons—you know they must exist but never seem to see one.

Finally a friend of mine (who owns both racers and retired greyhounds) decided to breed her first litter of pups, and after a long 62 days of waiting, the pups arrived right on time on the 21st November 2002.

Below are a few pictures of Ranger (brindle male) and Midnight (black female) with their proud mum Magic.

22 November 2002, 1 day old
29 November 2002, 8 days old

Today the puppies are 2 weeks and four days old. Even in this short time Ranger (brindle male) and Midnight (black female) have developed very definite personalities. Both now have their eyes open, although Midnight opened hers several days before Ranger (hence the lack of good pictures of Ranger today, as we have to be careful using a flash). Both puppies wag their tails a lot. They are also of similar weight (5lb), but that is where the similarity ends.

Midnight has a very alert expression, and is continually moving and exploring her environment. She is actually walking (albeit a little unsteadily), and when you put her on the floor she is off. She sits, makes noise constantly (even when eating) and is rather pushy with her big brother.

On the other hand, Ranger can move, but at this stage it is mostly backwards and altogether seems too much like hard work! He is generally much calmer (lazier), and spends more time sleeping and eating than his sister. When you pick him up for a cuddle he will quite happily settle in your arms and nod off, whereas Midnight wants to crawl all over you, chew your clothes, and just generally explore.

I am amazed at how representative this is of the differences in the behaviour of my older male and female greyhounds.

9 December 2002, 18 days old

The pups are now 1 month old. It's getting harder to get good pictures of them as they are so active now! Ranger is easier to capture than Midnight, as he tends to eat, play for a while, then settle for a snooze. Midnight, on the other hand, tends to eat, play, explore, settle for a few seconds, leap up and explore some more, use mum as a slide, bite Ranger's tail, eat a bit more, etc. You get the idea!

They are both now eating solid food as well as still taking the odd drink from mum. They are similar in size, but Midnight is more co-ordinated and developed than Ranger, and definitely the more agile and active of the two. They both play with each other and mum, and have sharp little teeth which they use to bite anything new.

20 December 2002, 1 month old

The puppies are now five and a half weeks old. They are still similar in size, but developmentally there is less of a gap between them now. They have started to play with toys, and are very active playing with each other and also with mum. On occasion they also play with the other adult greyhounds in the house.

Ranger is still the calmer and more laid back of the two, and Midnight can be very determined and aggressive when trying to convince her brother to play! They both love to run, and can get up quite a speed. They now have free range of the living room and kitchen, and are both reliably paper trained (only going to the toilet on newspaper in a small section of the kitchen). Midnight clearly still has a very strong bond with her mum, whereas Ranger appears more independent and rarely even suckles anymore.

30 December 2002, 5½ weeks old

Information contained herein is provided 'as is'. No warranty is given or implied. It is based on my personal experience, and that of others to which I can personally attest. However, dogs are individuals, and what works for one may not work for another.

© 2000-2008, Fiona Moore. Please feel free to copy and distribute for personal and non-profit use, but please acknowledge the authorship and source. If this information is to be published on a web site, please include a link to this site. Thank you.

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The original location of this page was http://www.truffy.com/fastdogs/puppies/index.php