I had a chocolate lab that lived to be 14, he passed three and a half years ago on his birthday. He had a small white mark on his chest, a spot under his chin, and a few faint spots on the toes of one foot his whole life but was a registered chocolate from registered parents. We are about to bring home an 8-week old chocolate lab puppy (picking him up on the 21st), we will be adding Packer into the family AND introducing him slowly to our four backyard chickens which will be a learning experience for us all. I hope to have some pup pics up soon and will create a thread for the "Adventures of Packer the Pup and His Four Hens" to update everyone of our newest addition. Stay tuned!
many people use "runt" to simply mean the smallest puppy in the litter. Yes, those pups will frequently catch up in size to the others once the pups are separated and in their new homes.
As breeders, a runt is actually a medical term to describe a puppy that is grossly undersized, usually due to some abnormality. True runts stay undersized and often young or never reach adult hood.
Congrats on your new lab, man I have yet to see a better hen protection dog. Mine hates the hawks that come around, and has learned, after extensive education, chicken are to be protected and not hunted. It was really hard to get the bird dog out of our bird dog.