Squam River Piper Mountain (Piper)
Pedigree Name: Squam River Piper Mountain
Pet Name: Piper
DOB: 07/20/2025
Gender: Female
Out of: Mountain Myst Molly at Squam River (Willow) and Roundhill Laphroaig at True North (Summer)
Litter: Squam River Mountains of New Hampshire
Part of Northern Inuit Preservation Project: F2 (second-generation outcross)
Weight:
Height:
OFA Hip Score: (Will be tested at two years)
OFA Elbow Score (Will be tested at two years)
CAER Eyes Report (Will be tested at two years)
Gonioscopy: (Will be tested at two years)
DM: Clear
Breed: 75% Northern Inuit, 25% Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Samoyed, German Shepherd Dog Crossbreed
DNA Profiled: Embark
Squam River Piper Mountain (Piper) is out of Mountain Myst Molly at Squam River (Willow) and Roundhill Laphroaig at True North (Summer). She is part of the Squam River Mountains of New Hampshire litter.
Willow is a first-generation outcross (F1) and Summer a full Northern Inuit dog, which makes Piper and her siblings second-generation outcrosses, or F2’s.
Willow whelped seven puppies, one of whom didn’t make it, and one of whom was much smaller than the rest. I find I am something of a helicopter puppy mom. I tend to spend the first week sleeping in the whelping box to make sure the puppies all get nursing time, that they are warm enough, and that the dam doesn’t roll over onto any of them. This was especially important for the littlest one, whom we would eventually call Squam River Piper Mountain, or Piper.
On Day 4. the puppies were nursing well and generally sleeping the rest of the time. Piper is the smallest of them (far left).
From the beginning, Piper was adventurous. She was the first to try to explore past the bounds of the whelping box. (Hence the need for the added barrier.)
There is a reason why early puppy pictures so often show them sleeping!
A key part of a puppies first months is the socialization they get from their mother and their siblings. For example, they learn acceptable degrees of roughhousing and nipping. Watch how Willow coaches Piper in these behavioral norms (Piper is a month old here):
Piper navigates playing with a toy hedgehog:
After her littermates had gone to their new homes, we started taking Piper out to meet the neighbors:
One of the things that always strikes me with puppies is how each new experience is just that—the very first time they are actually experiencing something! Here it is Fall in New England, with all the fallen leaves.
All our dogs play together, but Piper (l) has a special relationship with her mother Willow (r). Here, we have taken them down to banks of the Squam River, where they check out an incoming paddling of mallard ducks. That’s Buck barking in the background.
Piper can’t wait to join the rest of the pack in the pen:
This was Piper’s first winter and first snow. Here she is four-and-a-half months. Like all of our dogs, she loves doing snow zoomies!
