Willows’ Puppies

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March 15, 2022 -1 WEEK OLD

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LOOKING BACK 

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Willows’ precious puppies are one week old today. We have had a busy week! For the first few weeks of life, a puppy cannot regulate their own body temperature. They need a warm space, their mother, and littermates to help keep them warm. This is a winter litter and it makes it more of a challenge than our summer litters to keep our room warm. We have added an electric heater to our room to help keep the temperature at a warm 27 degrees C and a heating pad to our whelping box under our vet bed.

Willow is a great first time mama. For the first three days of the puppies lives she spent all her time in the whelping box with the babies, keeping them warm, clean and making sure they nursed often. She had a good appetite and drank plenty of water from the start which is important for making good milk for her puppies. For the last few days Willow has been spending short periods of time away from her puppies, getting fresh air and exercise in the yard. But as soon as she comes in the house again, Willow runs back upstairs to check on her babies. The puppies are now experts at nursing; they can smell when Willow returns to the whelping box and quickly crawl to find her and begin their next meal.

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LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO

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• Much the same as week one – Eat, Sleep, Repeat!
• Puppies will continue growing 
• Puppies still crawl; hind legs will become stronger
• Eyes should begin to open towards the end the week – so exciting !!!

Ellies’ Puppies

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DAY ONE

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Ellie is an experienced mama with a great love for her babies. She spends all her time in her whelping box protecting, feeding, cleaning, and keeping her puppies warm. Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut; they cannot see or hear. They must rely on “smell” and “touch” to crawl and find their mother.

Puppies are born with a natural instinct to nurse and Ellies’ puppies are doing great . In the first 24 hours, newborn puppies may lose up to ten percent of their birth weight. Ellies’ puppies are doing so well; they all gained weight at their first weigh-in this morning. Great job Ellie!!!

L.A. Doodles is excited to announce the arrival of Ellies’ puppies. Ellies’ labour started Sunday morning and she spent most of the time lying on my bed. As midnight approached, she became very unsettled, and I knew it wouldn’t be long. Her first puppy, a handsome boy arrived at 2:37 am and her whelping was completed three hours later at 5:36 am when puppy number eight arrived.

Introducing Ellies’ Litter

March 14, 2022

7 Beautiful Girls and 1 Handsome Boy

Ellie is a wonderful loving mama and adores her babies. We look forward to helping her raise her puppies! She now has a 24 hour job caring for her little ones. Great Job Ellie!

Our days have fallen into a routine with caring for Willows’ puppies. The puppies continue to do well at weigh-in and are on track to double their birth weight by the 10-day mark (some maybe even sooner). After weighing the puppies and cleaning the whelping box on Saturday, we took a video while returning them to the whelping box. The video shows the lovely white markings on the underside of the puppies!

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Puppy Socialization

Puppy Socialization is an important part of raising calm puppies. This is why we handle puppies right from birth.

Saturday evening my son’s family came over for a puppy visit. My grandchildren are always so excited to see the new puppies. Socializing the puppies soon after birth by a variety of people is a bonus. It is important for puppies to be handled – even by my two year old grandson who is a little rough. My older grandchildren have learnt to be gentle with small puppies but as my 2 year old grandson is still learning, we watch him very carefully!

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Day Four – March 12

Our Day Four video shows Willow being Willow. She loves to sleep on her back (even nursing LOL) and wants to make the whelping box her own by digging up the VetBed lining. Every time I see her start to rearrange it, I tell her NO but if I’m out of the room and return I can see she had been digging. I think she likes the cooler bottom without the VetBed. It is important for the puppies to keep warm but also very important that they have the traction that the VetBed provides.

Ellie

Willow and Ellie are the best of friends and have kept each other company throughout their pregnancies but, since Willow had her puppies, she became a protective mama and wouldn’t let any of our dogs in her room. But today Willow let Ellie come into our bedroom to see her puppies. Ellie happily spent the day relaxing on my bed and getting lots of rest. Ellies’ due date is March 13th (Day 63) – Just two days away! The puppies can arrive a few days early or a few days late. Either way, Ellie will soon have a whelping box full of her own babies to care for.

Listening for Puppy Heartbeats with the Doppler

Ellies’ tummy continues to expand with each passing day. Her babies are now crowded, and it is very easy to feel and see the puppies moving. In the video below, listen for puppy heartbeats and watch Ellies’ tummy closely – you can see the puppies moving.

Willows’ Puppies Are Doing Amazing!

Today the puppies are three days old. It is amazing how much they grow each day. Willow continues to be an amazing mama as she feed, cleans and keeps her babies warm. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature and depend on their littermates and mama to keep them warm.

Daily Weight In

In the first 24 hours of a puppy’s life, it is not uncommon for puppies to loose weight. Willows’ puppies are doing amazing. They all gained weight their first 24 hours and continue to gain daily.

We weigh our puppies daily and track their weight. Sometimes it is hard to keep the puppies still during weigh in time. Watch for Chocolate Boy in the video below – he didn’t want to be on the cold scale but just wanted to stay in the warm whelping box and sleep!

The past few days have been busy ones caring for Willow and helping her care for her babies. She is a first-time mama and doing an amazing job caring for her little ones. The puppies are gaining weight daily – Good Job Willow!!!

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DAY TWO – Puppy Photo Shoot

If puppies just eat and sleep, it should be a breeze, right? —- NOT!

To take the pics, we set up on our bed which is right beside the Whelping Box. At first Willow was concerned that her babies were leaving the whelping box so, she jumped up onto the bed to check things out. This is not helpful at all – If the puppies smell their mama, they don’t settle. After Willow was satisfied that it was okay, she went back in the whelping box with the rest of her puppies, and we proceeded with our photo shoot. It takes a lot of time because the puppies don’t cooperate. They kept moving around, trying to get settled into sleep but the problem was it was not towards the camera – LOL. We were finally successful and got some great singles!

Willow’s Puppies Singles

Introducing ………..The Boys

Introducing ………..The Girls

After we finished the photoshoot and returned the last puppy to the whelping box, Willow gathered her babies close to her and they all settled in for a nap.

L.A. Doodles is excited to announce the arrival of Willow’s puppies. It was a long night of labour and no sleep but it was worth it when the first puppy arrived at 5:47 am

This is our first merle litter

• 1 Gold
• 1 Chocolate
• 1 Chocolate Merle
• 3 Blue Merle

All Willow’s puppies are Abstract; meaning the all have lovely white markings

March 8, 2022

4 Handsome Boys and 2 Little Princesses

Willow is a loving and caring mama. She is tired after her long night. Willow spent the day caring for her new babies and getting some well-deserved rest! Great job Willow!!!

I have heard it said, “The only thing goldendoodles like better than water is SNOW”. This is true for my goldendoodles as well as my poodles. One afternoon in January, Tom went in our yard with the dogs and took pics and videos of them playing in the snow. The snow was so deep!!!  It is funny to watch as they hop though it trying to run.

Will we have a Spring Litter?

 After breeding, I intently watch for the signs that my dogs are expecting. I look for things such as, a decreased appetite, morning sickness, and sleeping more. Ellie and Willow showed all of these signs. Yes, it looked very promising that puppies were on their way, but I am never completely confident of pregnancy until l use my doppler and hear those tiny heartbeats.   

There are various ways to confirm pregnancy in dogs – abdominal palpation, an ultrasound performed early in pregnancy around 28 days or my chose – waiting patiently for five weeks and using a Doppler Ultrasound to confirm if they are actually expecting puppies.

Yesterday was day 35 and the long wait was finally here. I got the doppler out and nervously began. Ellie has experienced this before and just laid patiently while I search for a puppy heartbeat but, Willow was a different story. This is her first experience, and she didn’t enjoy the process at all. At this point the puppies are very small making it difficult to pick up their heartbeats. The doppler kept picking up Willow’s heartbeat (125 bpm) but, while trying to keep Willow calm, I persevered. After a couple minutes of searching the doppler finally picked up that quick tiny heartbeat (210 bpm). It is always exciting when I finally find it!

YES, we will have two spring litters – both our girls are expecting!

At day 35, puppies have completed the development of all their major organs and have reached approximately 20% of their size at birth. Today – Day 36 – ends the period of slow growth and tomorrow – Day 37 – the puppies enter the rapid growth stage. It is important for our mamas to get regular exercise, rest, and, lots of TLC. We will continue to feed our expectant mamas high quality food and treats. Over the next weeks they will begin to increase their food intake.

Happy New Year! 2021 has been another long and trying year due to Covid. Like me, I’m sure everyone is longing for the day when Covid is a thing of the past and we can visit with family and friends without restrictions!

Our goal at L.A. Doodles is “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies”.  Ethical Breeding starts out with a complete understanding and knowledge of the breed and the desire to better the breed for future generations with a willingness to constantly learn. As I continue to strive to be a responsible, ethical breeder, I am always on the look out for any new information that I think could improve our breeding program. We are excited to add the well-known Puppy Culture Program to our puppy raising process. Our previous litters have been raised with most of these protocols but we look forward to adding a few new ideas to our future puppies. To read more on the Program click on the icon below

Long term planning

Two year ago we decided to expand our breeding program with the introduction of colour coat patterns. It has been a two year wait but, I am excited to be introducing the merle gene into our breeding program through our beautiful Willow. When dealing with the merle gene, extra testing is needed to produce healthy puppies with merle markings.

What are Merle Markings?

Merle marking is a pattern of colouring in the coat of the dog and is characterized by patches of diluted pigment. The merle gene makes the solid colour of the dog lighter in areas resulting in a marbling effect. Below is an example of a Blue Merle Goldendoodle. The solid colour of the dog is black as you can observe in the dark patches, and the lightened colour is a grey. This is called Blue Merle.

Looking ahead to 2022 – L.A. Doodles is excited to announce that our breedings have taken place for our spring litters. Both Brinkley and Tulo have been bred to Ellie and Willow making both litters “Dual-Sire Litters”. Although it is possible for the puppies in both litters to have two fathers, it is also possible that the litters may have only one father.

I always wait anxiously for the day that I can listen with the doppler ultrasound for puppy heartbeats to know if our girls are in fact expecting. The pregnancies will be confirmed Mid-February. If all goes well, we should be expecting puppies mid-March.

Our Mamas

Willow

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ELLIE 

Our Daddy’s

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It is never easy after saying goodbye to our puppies and getting use to a quiet house again. When we are raising puppies, my days are full and then so quiet after they are gone. After the last puppy left the middle of May, I went through “puppy withdrawal”. I waited a week or so before I finally faced the task of packing up the gates, crates, and all the puppy gear until our next litter and transformed our puppy room back to our breakfast room.

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I am so thankful that all our puppies have joined wonderful forever families and are so loved. When I receive an email from their families, I am excited to read how they are making out in their new home and I’m always amazed at how quickly they grow. Thank you to all our forever families for the updates and pictures of your puppies. I have posted the pics on the past litter pages. It’s always fun to see the littermates growing up!

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Last Wednesday my dogs headed to the groomers for a Spa Day. When we returned home, I asked Tom to help me get a picture of our three beautiful girls together – freshly groomed. It is never easy taking a picture of a dog and three dogs together is even harder. Tom is not a patient man so I had to act quickly, or we wouldn’t have a picture and the opportunity would be lost because……….

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…….after we took a couple pictures, we let the girls into the yard and Ruska headed straight into the pond. I don’t dare tell her groomer that all the time she spent blow drying Ruska, making her so beautiful, was short lived – LOL!

Ruska is a sweet, loving, gentle dog that loves to please. She is very friendly and loves everyone she meets. This was accomplished with lots of work. Puppy days can be a challenge as I remember well. When Ruska was a puppy during her teething stage, she had many teething toys, bones etc. but her favourite thing to chew was leather shoes. I would constantly remind my family to put their shoes in the cupboard when they came home. However, this didn’t always happen, and Ruska took every opportunity to take advantage of my family’s forgetfulness. Ruska destroyed many leather shoes and boots before her teething stage ended and her adult teeth were, in.

Another challenge was “recall”. When Ruska was a puppy, we were having renovations done on our house. With workmen in and out, Ruska took every opportunity to escape out the front door when she saw her chance – then began her favourite game of “chase”. She had a mind of her own then and conveniently”forgot” her recall training. We had many people in the neighbourhood helping me out when Ruska made her many escapes. After many weeks of this, I took to my computer for help and began researching ideas to help with this problem. Let face it, I was never faster than Ruska and never would be, so I had to try to outsmart her. The next time she made her escape and wouldn’t come back when I called her, I got down on the ground, curled up into a ball and stayed still. It worked, Ruska wondered what happened, came running back to check on me and we headed home together. Yes, puppy days are a challenge. I guess that’s why puppies are so cute – you take one look into those beautiful eyes and your heart melts!

Ruska did mature into a wonderful dog and mother and has passed on her loving gentle nature to her puppies. This year Ruska had her fourth and final litter of puppies and is now retired from breeding, but her blood line is already continuing through Brinkley and soon will continue through Echo as well.

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Happy Sixth Birthday Ruska!

Ruska celebrated her sixth birthday with Ellie and Willow. Brinkley was at my son’s house for a little holiday. Ruska got a new toy – a KONG Squeaky Tug-Of-War toy and a special treat – three “Bully Sticks”. which she shared with Ellie and Willow.