At two to three months of age, pigment must be black on both the nose and eye rims. Some blonde ones darken later, but you can’t count on it. At two months the legs will still be rubbery, so the gait and straightness of the legs cannot be determined. Indications are there, though, and by three months you can consider the gait. Look for the stylish puppy. Our top winners have style.

The show puppy should have a distinct stop with a short muzzle. The teeth should not be even slightly undershot. The ears should be very tiny, carried for­ward, and set high on the head. A show prospect should have a level back, thick coat, high set tail, and barrel chest.

Color in a Pomeranian cannot be determined until six months of age or older, when the adult coat comes in. The registration papers of a Pom are likely to be faulty in regard to color if they were sent to the American Kennel Club too early in the Pom’s life. Dark coats tend to come in lighter, even to a clear orange. Blonde ones seem to darken. Reds, oranges, and blacks may stay the same. Red-sable often changes to solid red. I have had blue change to cream or black. Silver can change to black, or a good black can change to silver or an off-black. I had one cream puppy change to an Irish-Setter-red. The breeder may tell you what is likely to happen but none with experience will guarantee an adult color. I often delay registering a puppy for this reason. Weight of the adult Porn also is hard to predict. I like my show male to weigh no more than four and a half pounds, so I believe for a puppy, the smaller the better, as long as the puppy is sturdy and healthy. Preferably, a male show prospect will be no more than two pounds at two months. I like my show females to weigh about five pounds as adults, so a female with a lit­tle more weight as a puppy is all right. It took our Pomeranian breeders seventy years to reduce the weight to a lovely, sturdy, four pound Toy. In the last few years we are beginning to see larger ones winning in the ring. To this I object. If five to seven pound dogs are to be bred together, then within a few generations we will see our Poms weighing well over our present limit of seven pounds. Survival of the fittest (often largest) is a proven fact. There is now a demand for large Poms, so we should bring back the show category of classes over seven pounds, or designate the large Poms as a Variety. Many of the overweight Poms are beautiful, and surely more sturdy as family pets.

Selection for Breeding

If you are buying a puppy to be used eventually for breeding, then the bloodlines must be of primary impor­tance. Next comes health, disposition, and intelligence. Geneticists will say that your chances for producing quality offspring are better when breeding from a poor dog of good ancestry than from a gorgeous dog 0 nondescript parents.

See as many of the immediate ancestors as possible Your future puppies will look like them. Are they of the type you wish to breed? A top producing stud or dam is an excellent choice for one of the parents of your puppy, and for both, even better. Inbreeding and line breeding are used to produce a saturation of good factors in a kennel of dogs. Excellent specimens should be used for foundation stock whenever possible. Uniformity will then be seen in the quality of the following generations.

No dog is perfect, but we can strive for perfection by learning to recognize faults and trying to eliminate them by careful breeding. No two animals should be bred together if they have the same defect. Neither should two animals be bred together if the same defect is found in the immediate ancestors.

Faults especially hard to eliminate in our breed are long back, rangy frame, slab sides, big ears, low set tall, poor head or body coat, and nervousness. Be sure they are not present in the stock you select.

Intelligence is needed as well as friendly disposition are two qualities that will go a long way toward creating a demand for your future puppies. Shop around and ask questions before you buy your breeding stock.

Pick a bitch puppy from a dam that gave more than two puppies in a litter and had a history of easy whelping. Try to find out as much as possible about the dams in the immediate background. What was their history in regard to fertility, season regularity, and absence of Cesarean sections? It would be more to your advantage to put your money into a few good bitches and breed to outstanding sires. You will achieve success sooner. If breeding out is impractical, buy an older champion male that has produced show puppies. Some kennels will sell such a male to make room for a younger one from the same line.

If you wish to buy a puppy for future use as a stud, pick a puppy from the smallest and best show stock available. Be sure the sire and both grandsires had both testicles descended. Often the testicles can be located on a puppy at birth, but sometimes they descend as late as a year of age. Only one may descend, or neither. Dogs with only one testicle are called “monorchids,” and they can sire puppies. In the past, many Porn champions were monorchids, so the abnormality became widespread. Apparently the fault is carried recessively, but with multiple factors involved. It can express itself when least expected. Sometimes injury causes faulty descent of the testicles in which case the condition will not be transmitted genetically. When neither testicle is descended, the dog is termed a “cryptorchid.” Such a dog is sterile and cannot produce offspring.

The Trip Home

The trip to a new home often is a frightening ex­perience for a puppy. There are many new sounds, sights, and smells, so the trip should be made as short as possible. Have a towel with you, or other means to pro­tect your clothing in case the puppy becomes carsick. Keep calm, and reassure the puppy from time to time with kind words and comforting pats.

Puppies need lots of sleep. Introduce your new puppy to his own box or sleeping quarters as soon as you get home, and avoid excitement until he has accepted you and his new environment. The trip to the vet can be delayed a day or so if the puppy is nervous. However, it is important to take the puppy in for a health check as soon as possible, and if he has had no shots, it is important to get them without delay.

The area set aside for the puppy should be permanent enough that the puppy can consider it his own. He should be confined most of the time until he is housebroken. A metal pen about two feet wide by four feet long and about twenty-four to thirty inches high is well worth the investment. You will find the pen to be extremely convenient not only to use at home but also when traveling or when visiting friends.

Also practical is a small carrying crate to be used for the puppy’s bed. If you decide to use a crate for a bed, take off the door and place a blanket inside. Cover the rest of the penned area with newspaper. Select a spot for the water dish, and you will have your Pom under control at all times.

Never reward a bark or whine by picking the puppy up immediately. A sharp rap on the side of the pen with a folded newspaper, accompanied by a firm “no,” will soon teach the puppy that you are in charge. After he is quiet a while, then praise him and pet him.

The first few days are critical ones. The puppy misses his home, his dam, and his littermates. I hope you brought something from his previous home, such as a toy or a dish. Something else that might ease his loneliness is a plastic bottle filled with warm water and covered with a wool sock. He can snuggle up to that.

If possible, place the pen by your bed the first few nights, and give the puppy reassuring pats from time to time. Move the pen a little farther away each night until you have it where you plan to keep it permanently. A sharp “no” after each night bark should soon teach him that barking is not permitted.

First Visit to the Vet

As noted earlier, it is important to take the puppy to the veterinarian as soon as possible particularly if the breeder did not give the puppy immunization shots. It takes about two weeks after the shots are given before the puppy’s resistance is built up, so be sure he does not sniff noses with other dogs in the meantime, or play on surfaces where other animals have been.

Hold the puppy in your arms and avoid unnecessary contacts while the puppy is in the vet’s office. Give your veterinarian a copy of the puppy’s medical history and ask for a complete checkup. If the breeder gave the shots, he may have given you the empty bottles, and if that is the case, you should take them with you on this first visit to the vet. (I always give the empty bottles to the new owner so he has the correct information.)

Shots will not provide one hundred percent immunity even after the two weeks, so avoid direct exposure to disease at all costs. Your friend’s dog may be a carrier for a virus to which the dog himself is not susceptible, but your puppy may be.

After your vet has given you his report, you might phone the breeder and tell him of the findings. If there is a problem, the breeder usually is glad to know so he can correct it. If all is well, the breeder will appreciate know­ing that, also. The sale is now complete.

Feeding the New Puppy

At the time you took your puppy home, the breeder should have given you a copy of the puppy’s feeding schedule and a few days’ supply of the food he was giving the puppy. At least in the beginning, continue with the food used by the breeder. Any changes should be gradual enough to keep the puppy from having any digestive upset or diarrhea.

Almost all commercial dog foods are balanced to provide adequate nutrition for a dog. Those designated as puppy foods are formulated especially for the young. As puppies, Pomeranians are so small that it may be advisable to mash up the kibble unless you choose a kind that is very small. Whatever commercial food you select should be used as the basic diet, and other foods added for variety, for treats, or to increase vitamin content. I add such things as cottage cheese; meat; bits of liver, heart, or fish; egg yolk; and, later, vegetables. Oil is hard to incorporate with the meal or kibble, so I use hamburger to increase fat content—rather than ground round steak. Bacon fat is good in small amounts, I sometimes pour some over the store bought dog food. Cod liver oil or a multi-vitamin supplement could be added to the puppy's food while it is growing. Wheat germ is another product that may be used.    

Pregnant bitches and puppies under ten months have two meals a day, but the others have only one. In the morning all are given a snack in the form of a dog biscuit or dry kibble. (This is beneficial for the teeth.) Each Pom has an individual dish for the main meal, so I have an indication of any impending problems, for the first sign of illness usually is refusing to eat. (With a pregnant bitch it may be a warning that she will whelp the following day.) Dry food such as kibble, biscuits, and meal can be safely left down for self-feeding. Many breeders resort to self-feeding to save time, but I feel the personal touch is important. I take up the moist food after about five minutes. Moisture is needed for bacteria to grow. Dry food can be available safely at all times. Small puppies can then easily be weaned to two meals a day.

I leave puppies with the dam as long as she wishes. She teaches the puppies the ways of a dog and responses to people. As a result, most of the puppies are better adjusted. When the bitch seems reluctant to allow the puppies to nurse or tends to growl at them, then it is soon enough to separate them. Afterwards, most bitches enjoy a daily playtime with their pups.

The colostrum in the bitch’s milk is said to provide the best protection against disease that a puppy can have, so I wait at least ten days after the puppies have stopped nursing before giving immunization shots. Then I allow them two weeks to build up their own defenses against diseases. In the interim I do not let the puppies go near other dogs or let people who have come directly from other kennels hold them.