Puppy News!
 

Puddle, or a small pool of calm water, is confident, sweet and carefree. She is from the UK and was the third Northern Inuit added to the Mountain Myst pack. Her father is Champion Mahlek Olakhota Inukashuk.

Puddle is taller and larger than your average Northern Inuit female, and although she is very athletic and has on the odd occasion even beaten Nero playing fetch the ball, she does not have a very competitive spirit (unless it's for a raw meat bone treat). She prefers instead to just mosey around outdoors enjoying the scenery by sniffing the fragrance of wild nature most of the time. Puddle has bright amber yellow eyes and is the most recognizable dog in the Mountain Myst pack due to having one soft ear which may have been the result of an injury she had sustained as a 12 week old puppy, when she was savagely attacked, believe it or not, by an adult Golden Retriever without provocation. Poor Puddle took quite a while to overcome the traumatic experience from which she suffered injury to her neck, ear and shoulder and never held the one ear fully up again.

(Northern Inuits can and do occasionally have one or both 'ears that they  choose to hold down which is often called a 'soft' or 'lazy ear' and usually occurs in the larger sized puppies of a litter.The larger pups appear to have larger, heavier ears than that of their siblings, who may find that holding their ears down an easier option. Northern Inuit puppies, like German Shepherd puppies, do not have very good control or coordination of their ear muscles as young puppies, this control develops further over the coming weeks and months of puppy's first year and some have better control of their ear's coordination and muscles than others even within the same litter.

New owners will notice that their puppy's large ears will go up and down, tilt or even be held lopsided on and off for several months until the cartilage becomes hardened or sets at around 9-12 months of age.

 Allowing your puppy to chew on big beef knuckle bones or something similar on a regular basis will help the puppy to exercise and strengthen both their jaws and connected ear muscles and tendons; ultimately though it is the puppy that chooses to hold it's ears the way they feel the most comfortable.

Northern Inuit's ears are not cropped to make them stand erect like a Doberman Pinchers are and can take anywhere from a few weeks old  until 12 months before both ears become consistently held erect. 

 We love our Puddle just the way she is though, she did hold both ears up before she was injured and then chose to hold only one ear fully erect after the attack. 

Puddle is a wonderful mother and has even fostered puppies that are not her own.She has a close mutual friendship with Feather.