Shown here with mom Caia, baby girl Gus is often called baby Buddha, as she so loves to sleep on her back. Formally named Porto Novo's Gustava GObama, she was born shortly after the election was called for President-elect Barack Obama!
As in Portugal, we name our puppies alphabetically, according to the litter they are born to. We just had our 7th, or "G" litter, born right after Election Day 2008. It is a litter of one -- one big girl named Gus. This is short for Gustava, as she was conceived on the day of Hurricane Gustav. We call this a singleton puppy, they tend to grow faster and mature more quickly, probably due to not having to share mother's milk with littermates.
Podengo Pequeno puppies usually range from 4-6 ounces at birth. Most of ours have been 5-7 ounces. This "G" litter girl was 7 ounces and now, at 18 days, is verging on 2 lb. Our experience is that this weight stabilizes at some point in the early weeks and her adult weight will be about 11-12 lb. Of course, Podengos have such big personalities that they probably think of themselves as giants!
Here is a video of Gus at exactly 3 weeks old, quite a girl!
