The pups are a couple of weeks old. There are 6 of them. I thought the snake got one of them soon after they were born. But Duchess has been very protective of them. She's killed two snakes already. She won't eat them. So I end up giving the dead snakes to Stormie, Duchess's dam.
Today, I was able to check 4 of the 6. Of those 4, one is female and 3 are males. There are two - Black on white, One - White on Brown, one - Brown on White, and the two pure blacks that I couldn't get to. The Brown on White has a more chocolate color on him. From their sizes, the female Black on White is the runt. The Brown on White is one of the more aggressive pups. The pure Blacks are also the same size as the male Brown on White.
I haven't picked out names yet. I'll have to wait. I need replacement dogs for the ones, I've lost last year and previous years. So far they've stayed in the makeshift den underneath the back porch. They are getting used to my voice and whistle. The big male Brown and White starts growling when I do that. When he came close to me. I picked him up. He didn't squirm or yelp.
They are 100% Boonie pups. Although, I can pretty much trace the dam's line. I don't know who the stud is. We just noticed Duchess pregnant one day. On the dam's line, the pups have Rottweiler, Pit Bull, Alaskan, and German Shepard mix. Their Dam, Duchess, is a really good ranch dog. So I'm hoping that those traits are also with this litter of pups.
As soon as they're able to, I'm going to start feeding them snake. That's how I got their dam and granddam started as good snake dogs. Duchess and Stormie can smell those Brown Tree snakes a good distance off. The two of them alone have killed more 9 footer snakes than any dog I know of. The snake Duchess killed a couple of days ago was 3 feet long.
They're ready for their first training later this week. I'm going to have to catch and pen a hen with her chicks. One by one, the puppies will be placed in the pen with the hen and her chicks. This training will insure that these pups don't go after any of my poultry.
Anyway, I'll post some pics tomorrow.
ESTA...
