denali – May 15, 2008 12:00 AM

Pup #1 has been temporarily nicknamed Redpaw and is 18 days old today. We look forward to the name the pup contest and hope people are following the logs to get a sense of the pup’s behaviors and personality. We nicknamed pup # 1 Redpaw since we used red finger nail polish on his front left paw to help ID him. It is critical that there are no misidentifications when it comes to food consumption, so we try to distinguish the pups in some way to be certain that we record data accurately, especially when staff are tired and have been on a long shift. Redpaw is the largest pup as you can see by his growth rate, he is a robust healthy pup. He is also extremely calm, and while he had some anxiety and avoidance of people in the first few days of socialization, he now is comfortable with approaching people and seeking interaction. He is most know for resting on his back and enjoying the comforts of staff blankets and pillows. Since we brought the logs and branches in, he likes to burrow under them and sleep. He’s also very determined, if something is in his way, rather than go around it, he plows right through it. We brought him a tuff of Shadow’s hair today, and he was very stimulated when he smelled it. As far as pup management, we are still struggling with the right flow of the formula from the bottle. We have tried several brands, even the models that were preferred by the 2004 litter don’t seem to be favored by these pups. If the pups struggle with the flow of the nipple, they expend a lot of energy that should be going into growing, get worn out and don’t feed. A flow to fast can result in pups aspirating formula, too slow and they give up. There were some issues with the shifts last night, but with perseverance and patience, Redpaw did consume nearly 25 ounces of formula in 24 hours. This compares with 13 ounces when he was 13 days old. The pups had their first outdoor session in the sun today while the pen was being cleaned.