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
Our Newborn Puppy Huddle
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.
Fun in the Snow
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!
L.A. Doodles is please to announce that both Ellie and Willow are expecting. Puppies will arrive Mid-March
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.
Image blue merle taken from clicker.com website
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
Willow is a Standard Brown Merle Parti Poodle measuring 22 ” at the shoulder and weighing 43 pounds. She is a beautiful dog with stunning Blue-Brown marble eyes. Willow is such a sweet girl, super smart and full of life! She loves playing outside in our yard with our other dogs and spending time inside by my side. Her tail never tires of wagging, and it looks like she always has a smile on her face. This will be Willow’s first litter. She has had nanny experience this year helping raise Ellie and Ruska’s puppies. Willow will be a great mama!
ELLIE
Ellie is our beautiful Café au Lait Standard Poodle. She measures 23 inches at the shoulder and weights 50 pounds. Ellie is always up for a game of fetch. She enjoys running in the yard playing with our other dogs as they search for squirrels. Ellie is a smart, loving, gentle dog with so much love to give. She is an amazing mother, and her puppies are gentle and loving. Many of her puppies have inherited her beautiful grey-green eyes.
Our Daddy’s
Brinkley is our handsome 85-pound Red Flat Coat F2B Standard Goldendoodle from Ruska and Tulo’s litter. He was born and raised in our home. As can happen in a F2 breeding, he has obtained an abundance of the Retriever Genes. Soon after he was born, I was impressed at how calm and gentle he was, and Brinkley continues to impress me as he has matured. He is very smart and always willing to please. Brinkley has passed on his wonderful disposition to his puppies!
Tulo is a proven stud and has produced beautiful, calm puppies in the past.Tulo lives with our son’s family. He is a Cream Standard Goldendoodle measuring 25 inches at the shoulder and weighing 67 pounds. Tulo is a calm obedient dog, who loves to please. He is very affectionate and loves spending time with his family, whether going for walks, watching the kids play soccer and baseball, camping or just hanging around at home. Tulo has produced many wonderful calm loving puppies in the past.
We have welcomed two new puppies into our breeding program!
This summer has been different than our previous few. Why? – no litters of puppies to raise. We decided to take the summer “off” and planned winter and spring litters instead. This gave me more free time to spend with our family and concentrate on expanding our breeding program. We needed a new blood line to continue to produce healthy, gentle puppies.
We picked up our new puppies on Monday – Two Standard Poodle Littermates. The male puppy will add a new bloodline to our program. He is laidback and gentle – qualities that we look for to produce gentle loving puppies. The female puppy is outgoing and just as loving.
When my daughter and I brought the puppies home, our four dogs Ruska, Ellie, Willow, and Brinkley were not too sure what was happening. I’m sure they were wondering “Are these puppies here permanently?” The answer is NO, four dogs living in my house permanently is enough. Besides my husband Tom will not allow any more permanent dogs LOL. We are looking for two loving families to be guardian homes for our new puppies. If you know of a family that would be interested in one of our puppies, please feel free to pass our information along.
Our new puppies
Guardian Home Opportunity
Our search now begins to find guardian homes for our sweet puppies
What is a Guardian?:
A Guardianis a person (or family) who agree to raise and care for a Breeder’s Dog as a loved family pet for the duration of its breeding career.
L.A. Doodles is the legal owner of the dog for the duration of its breeding career.
The Guardian Home provides loving care to the dog for its entire life.
L.A. Doodles pays for all breeding related veterinary expenses, health testing & exams and all costs involved in the whelping process. When the dog retires, the breeding dog is spayed/neutered at L.A. Doodles’ expense, and the guardian becomes the legal owner of the dog.
How much does the Guardian puppy cost?
FREE – There is no adoption fee for the Guardian Family in recognition of the fact that this requires a significant commitment on your part to fulfill the breeding commitment for several years.
To find out more about our guardian program, click on the link below
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.
Puppy Room with Whelping Box
Puppy Room With Crate and Puppies
Puppy Room transformed back to our Breakfast Room
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!
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……….
Three Girls Freshly Groomed
…….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.
Taking Ruska Home
Eight Weeks Old
Twelve Weeks Old
Eighteen Weeks Old
Nine Months Old
One Year Old
Two Years Old
Three Years Old
Four Years Old
Five Years Old
Six Years Old
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.
Happy Birthday to our Sweet Ruska…You are so loved ❤️
For me, the best job in the world is being a mom. God blessed me with five children and the job of being their mom which I wouldn’t change for any other job. I knew God gave me the responsibility to love, care, teach and raise them and then let them go into the world and trust them into His care.
Next best job I could wish for is raising my puppies. Much like my children but only for a short two months, I love, care, teach and raise them – then let them go into the care of our forever families.
I know I have said it many times before but, going home time is bittersweet. Raising my puppies is a full time job for two months. When the puppies are in my bedroom, they are right beside me to care for if needed in the middle of the night. When the puppies are moved to the main floor, I have a night time routine. Before I go to bed I spend time in the puppy enclosure to hold and cuddle puppies. The night before they start leaving, I shed a few tears and hold them a little tighter. Lucky I am very busy preparing them for their forever families – no more time for tears; just the joy I share with the forever families when they come to pickup their sweet puppies.
Preparing Puppies To Go To Their Forever Homes
Mama Ellie in her blanket coat
Ellie wears the “take home blanket” to put her scent on it. This will be a comfort to the puppy in their new home as they have something that smells familiar. Ellie is over due for a trip to the groomer! We will book her for a much deserved Spa Day when all her babies have gone to their forever homes.
First, Puppies get their nails trimmed; they have become accustom to this because we trim their nails every two weeks.
Next the puppies are bathed. I was very surprised at how well behaved the puppies were. We only had a couple puppies try to make their escape.
After their bath, I towel dry our puppies. The less time spent blow drying our puppies the better – I don’t want to stress them out!
Ears cleaned, brushed and then the dreaded blow dry. Some puppies will let me spend a longer time with the dryer than others.
Willow keeping puppies company while they wait for their forever families
Puppies Go Home Photos
Kaia – Orange Girl
Sky – Black Boy
Iris – Purple Girl
Charlie – Dark Blue Boy
Remy – Light Blue Boy
Sally – Light Green Girl
Charlie – Red Boy
March 16, 2021
Toby – Dark Green Boy
Cleo – Dark Pink Girl
Tokyo – Light Pink Girl
Grayson – Grey Boy
I have spent the past two months loving, caring and teaching our puppies. I am so thankful that our puppies have joined such amazing families and know each will be loved! My wish for all my puppies is that they will be loved, bring much joy, and have a long and happy life!
Forever Families, continue to provide new experiences each day, always include play, and never stop training your puppy. It won’t be easy because they are still young but, with patience and consistency on your part, they will grow to become well-behaved adult dogs that you will enjoy for their lifetime.
It brings joy to know I have started each puppy on the road to be a happy, calm, confident, well adjusted dog. It is now up to their forever families to continue teaching and loving these sweet puppies.
Keep in touch ….. it always makes my day when I receive an e-mail from one of our puppies families! I love hearing how they are doing and seeing pictures! When I started breeding, I came across this poem which describes just how I feel!
The remaining five puppies spend their last day together playing inside and outside enjoying our beautiful weather. All that fresh air can make a puppy tired. They enjoyed a afternoon nap on the deck. Sweat dreams puppies!
Saying Good-Bye to our puppies one by one is bittersweet. We have now said good-bye to six of our puppies.
Today it was Dark Green Collar Boy’s turn. After breakfast the puppies spent their morning together in the yard playing and exploring. They came inside for a little nap and then ate their lunch. Next came time to get Dark Green Boy ready for his forever family. I tied the “take home blanket” on Ellie to put her scent on it (she wears it like a coat). It was then time to prepare our sweet puppy. I gave him a bath, cleaned his ears, trimmed his nails, brushed him and gave him a quick blow dry. I say quick because Dark Green Boy was not impressed in the least with the blow dryer! I didn’t want to stress him out too much so I decided to let him finish drying outside in the sun. I took the blanket that Ellie had been “wearing” outside for Dark Green Boy to lay on. All the puppies wanted to lay on it too. Now he will have many familiar smells to help him feel comfortable in his forever home.
Good-Bye Sweet Dark Green Collar Boy. I wish for you as I do for all of our puppies, a long and happy life with your forever family!
Ready for our forever homes – It’s hard to get 11 puppies to look at the camera together LOL!
LOOKING BACK
Eight weeks have passed since Ellie’s tiny babies came into the world. Remember how tiny they were…..We could hold them on the palm of my hand. They have learned so much over these past eight weeks. I have enjoyed raising them to the point where they are ready to join their forever families. The puppies have spent their time outdoors, running, and exploring in our yard. Ellie has done an amazing job raising and teaching her puppies. This past week we have worked on what is acceptable behaviour – mainly the difference between nipping and kisses. Puppies are not alway consistent but, have made great progress in this area. I just love puppy kisses!!!
Puppies work on “recall”
We have been working with our puppies on recall. They have been learning quickly and have a base for their forever families to continue at their forever homes.
LOOKING AHEAD
Puppies are leaving this week for their forever homes. You have a lot of work ahead of you correcting, training and caring for your new puppy but be patient, they are still learning. The time and work you put in to training your puppy pays off when you have a loving well behaved dog that will love you as only a dog can – unconditionally. You will be the most important person in the world to them.
It’s is always bittersweet saying goodbye to our puppies. I have enjoyed every minute of their care and they have a piece of my heart. It is with sadness I say goodbye to my puppies, but it brings me joy to see the excited families smiles and to know that our puppies are joining such wonderful loving forever families.
We have enjoyed some lovely sunny days this weekend and the puppies have been able to run and play in the yard exploring. They grow bigger and faster each day and are gaining confidence. Mama Ellie and Daddy Brinkley along with Ruska and Willow watch over the puppies as they play and work with each puppy individually, teaching them to submit.
The puppies all love to cuddle and race to sit in our laps. The puppies fight for attention and we like to now give puppies their individual cuddles. It is very apparent puppies are ready for their forever families who will provide them with all the love and attention they desire.
Look for Willow teaching one puppy to submit. What a good puppy lying on it’s back and waiting to be released! (Note: light pink collar is wearing a “rusty red collar” – her pink collar was damaged so I had to replace it.)
