Statistics!

If there’s one thing I (Jared) like, it’s data and statistics. One of the rules of thumb we have as Basenji breeders is that the puppies should double in weight by the end of their first week. To know that, we need to measure their weight when they’re born, and at least at the end of their first week. If we’re measuring at all, we might as well measure fairly often, and compare that against a projected “double in one week” guideline.

This chart shows the individual puppy weight measurements over time. The initial weight points appear “staggered” because they are: their position on the x-axis represents that puppy’s specific birth time. The subsequent points share a single moment in time, because it takes only a few seconds to weigh and record each puppy.

The puppies’ weights are shown in ounces, since most viewers are in the United States. We actually measure in grams, though, because our scale can measure to either one-gram-level accuracy or to eighth-of-an-ounce accuracy. Since 1 gram is about 1/28th of an ounce, using grams is waaaaay more accurate. We convert these measurement to ounces purely for display.

The analogous data for Disa’s first litter was recorded in an Excel file, and was only for us. Since this site is an excuse to play with some technology, I’m playing with some data-visualization tools purely for the sake of building a pretty chart from the raw data.

Have an idea for something else to chart? Drop me a line and let me know! (For the record, I’m already thinking about adding historical “puppy weather” data, since that information is/can-be available through the same mechanism that yields the “current” weather.)