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Another new experience for Ellie’s babies. Yesterday the puppies had their first car ride and a visit to the vet. We put the puppies’ crate into our SUV and then, two by two brought the puppies out and packed them in. At the start there was a little whining from some of the puppies. It can be a little frightening for them but, soon all the puppies settled and laid down quietly for our short twelve-minute car ride trip to the vets. All in all, they did very well. Maybe the puppies were wondering what was happening or perhaps they just wanted more space.

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We arrived at Stouffville Veterinary Clinic and I check in at reception. It’s always an exciting time when we bring a litter of puppies and they were ready and waiting for us. Tom and I have finally got this process down to a tee. Tom stays at the car with the crate full of puppies, and I shuttle them back and forth two puppies at a time. The weather was a little chilly so it was good that Tom wore his winter jacket. He is never lonely waiting; he always has people passing by that come to chat and have a peek at our adorable puppies.

Dr. Westermann is a fountain of knowledge and I have learned so much from him over the years. He is kind and gentle and the puppies always feel at ease with him. Each puppy was given a wellness exam, their first set of vaccinations and their microchip. The boys were a little more “vocal” than the girls when they received their microchip. LOL

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Examining eleven puppies takes time and by the time our appointment was finished, ninety minutes had passed by. All the puppies were well behaved and passed their Wellness Exam “with flying colours!” Dr. Westermann commented on how clean and well behaved our puppies were. Good job Ellie! All the time she spends making sure her babies are clean was noticed.

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All that work deserved a treat

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The puppies are always tired after receiving their vaccinations. After we returned home, they all took a nap. When it was time for dinner the puppies headed outside. The vaccinations didn’t slow the puppies down at all – when we opened the door for the puppies, they made their usual “puppy dash” to eat their dinner of dry kibble puppy food. No, the video was not sped up for their “puppy dash”. LOL!

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LOOKING BACK

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Ellies babies are now seven weeks old. The puppies continue to grow bigger and more adorable each day. They are full of energy and curious about everything. The puppies had an exciting week experiencing more firsts. Saturday they met their forever families who will soon be their world. The puppies also experienced running in the yard for the first time. They love outdoor play time where they get lots of exercise running and playing with everyone!

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Ellie’s Babies Exploring Something New – The Yard

On Sunday I looked at the weather for the coming week. It forecasted rain again and for the next few days. Which meant, if I wait for my yard to dry up, the puppies may never get to run free. So on Sunday afternoon I thought I would take advantage of a break in the rain and introduce the puppies to our yard. Ellie, Brinkley, Ruska and Willow were so excited to have the puppies join them. The puppies had a great time running, smelling new smells, and exploring everywhere. When play time was over and we brought the puppies back inside, we had very dirty puppies but, it was totally worth it!

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LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK EIGHT

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• Puppies will start eating dry kibble this week.
• Puppies will continue exploring and playing together inside and outdoor as weather permits
• We will continue to work on Recall with “The Puppy Call”
• Puppies will continue learning from their their mama Ellie and daddy Brinkley along with Ruska and Willow
• We will continue to encourage puppies to use potty area 
• Puppies head to the Vet on Wednesday for their wellness check, first set of shots and their microchip
• Puppies will continue to get lots of cuddle time

One of the highlights of raising our puppies is Selection Day. We love the excitement in the air as we introduce the puppies to their forever families. Even with Covid restrictions in place and limited time for selection, it was still a great day. As I was looking back at our weather the last couple weeks and the strong winds on Friday, I am thankful that God blessed us with a sunny warm day to welcome our forever families! Ellie, Brinkley Tom and I along with our other dogs, enjoyed meeting everyone and getting to know the forever families a little better!

The puppies had a long exciting day meeting their forever families and by the end, they were so tired they just wanted to sleep LOL. Before dinner I put the puppies outside for a little exercise. I went in to make their dinner and when I came out to feed them, I found them all asleep on the mat.

After dinner I put the puppies back into their Puppy Enclosure and they quickly settled down for a good sleep.😴

Watching the puppies grow and trying to determined if they would be flat coat golden doodles (retriever style) or have facial furnishings took patience. Early on I knew what six of the puppies coat type would be but, the other five I had to wait until I could or couldn’t see facial furnishings growing. I am impatient so waiting is not easy but, finally I was able to determine the coat type of four of the last five puppies in question. 

The mathematical estimate from genetics was that at least fifty percent would be flat coats. This prediction  was correct for Ellie’s and Brinkley’s litter – four puppies have facial furnishings and six puppies are flat coats. One puppy I’m still undecided.

No matter the coat type, all of Ellie’s puppies are beautiful, confident, calm, gentle, loving puppies that love to cuddle. They will make wonderful additions to our forever families!

Flat Coats (retriever style)

Wavy/Curly (with facial furnishings)

I am undecided if our dark blue boy will be a flat coat goldendoodle or not (time will tell)

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This morning the puppies ate their breakfast and had playtime out side but, because it was damp, I brought them in to sleep. This afternoon has been raining so the puppies ate their lunch and had indoor recess LOL. I feel sorry for them when they can’t play outside. I open our sliding door to let our adult dogs out and the puppies start to whine – they want to go outside too. So sad 😞

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Ellie is a kind and gentle loving mama taking wonderful care of her babies. Yesterday I gave a special treat to our adult dogs – a “WHIMZEES DENTAL STICK” (I usually give our dogs the more economical Pedigree DENTASTIX.) Our dogs love these special treats and yesterday after they got their Whimzee, they disperse to find a secluded spot to eat this special treat. They didn’t want to take a chance of one of the other dogs stealing their Whimzee. I went outside to sit with the puppies and soon Ellie was at the door asking to come outside too. She had brought her Whimzee with her and gave it to her puppies. The puppies spent the next little while taking turns chewing on Ellie’s special treat. I thought it was so sweet – mama wanted to share with her babies. After the puppies had all had a turn chewing, Ellie picked it up and ate it.

Ellie started to wean her puppies at four weeks when we introduced solids. In the wild, dogs nurse their babies and when it is time to wean them, they “regurgitate” their food for them to eat, until they are old enough to eat “adult food”. Many of the domestic dog mama’s today have stopped this natural instinct but not Ellie. Many times, I have seen her feed her babies this way. I caught it on video today and thought that I would share (you can’t actually see the regurgitated food because the puppies were busy eating.) Watch closely: at the beginning of the video puppies are nursing and soon you see Ellie regurgitate the food on the grey carpet in front of her, then the puppies pile in to eat. 

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Puppies grow so quickly and need to be stimulated and challenged daily. Every couple of days I try to introduce the puppies to something new. Today it was a new toy – a water bottle covered with one of the many odd socks I had laying around. Every time I introduce a water bottle to a new litter it’s always a big hit – they just love the “crinkle sound”. Watch them having fun playing with the water bottle in the video below:

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LOOKING BACK

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Six weeks old today. We have had another busy week caring for Ellie’s babies. They have been introduced to so many new things including the outdoors. This week we have had multiple weather conditions including snow and rain, both warm and cold temperatures, and sunshine – the puppies have experienced them all. We have continued to expose the puppies to different household sounds such as vacuums, pots and pans, stove fan, dishwasher, music etc. The puppies have been exposed to new outdoor sounds including planes/helicopters, lawn mower tractor, outdoor building sounds i.e., hammering, saws, etc. The puppies have been introduced to many different walking surfaces both inside and out i.e., tiled and smooth flooring, carpet, and outside decking when dry, wet from the rain and snow covered. We are also teaching the puppies to maneuver up and down steps.

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The puppies have grown bigger, and you can see each unique personality developing as they play and interact. They have now progressed to eating softened kibble. They enjoy spending the days playing with their littermates. Mama continues to wean them as she teaches them to submit. Ruska, Willow and Daddy Brinkley are also helping out teaching Ellie’s babies!

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LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK SEVEN

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• Puppies time spent awake will continue to increase
• Puppies will progress to dry kibble by the end of week seven
• We will continue to encourage puppies to use potty area
• Puppies will continue to socialize and learn from each other through play
• Puppies will continue exploring and playing together outdoor as weather permits
• Puppies will continue learning from their mama as she disciplines them and teaches them to behave 
• As always, puppies will continue to get lots of cuddle time
• Puppies will meet their forever families

Today after the puppies had their lunch, Tom and I tackled the task of taking Ellie’s babies singles. Ellie was cleaning the puppies faces after they had eaten their lunch and some of puppies have a bit of a wet face in their photos. LOL! Some puppies were better at “Posing” and some puppies needed more “Takes” than others, but we were eventually successful in capturing Ellie’s adorable babies!

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The Girls

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Saturday was a beautiful warm sunny day, and our dogs and puppies spent the day outside. In the morning, we spent some time grooming the puppies. It is surprising how much time it takes to groom eleven puppies – they all had their nails trimmed and were brushed. Then all the puppies all got a new “Big Puppy Collar.” They are really growing up! After a morning of grooming, play and a good meal, the puppies enjoyed a lazy afternoon. We have a couple cardboard boxes with a vet bed mat in the bottom set on the deck – the puppies love to go into them for a nap!

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Ellie’s puppies are growing bigger and more active by the day. Even though this morning was a cold one, after their breakfast Ellie wanted her puppies outside. I opened the gate of their enclosure and the sliding door and called for them to “come”. This is how we begin teaching our puppies recall. Some puppies are more adventurous than others and came out the door on their own while others waited inside their enclosure looking on and whining – LOL. Soon all Ellie’s puppies will make the “mad dash” and head outside on their own.

The puppies had a great time running and playing in the snow but before long, the were cold and came back inside to warm up and of course, a nap. Later when the puppies had recharged, they enjoyed their playtime inside. We have a play area set up in our front hall which gives them more room to play. There is an activity centre in the middle, and some boxes and a little tunnel for them to explore. They had a great time exploring and playing. One of their favourites toys on the activity centre was the “stuffed crab” So many of the puppies loved playing a game of tug-of-war. After a while the puppies started to tire and, one by one, they again dropped off for another nap to recharge.

The calendar say April 21st – spring, but we woke up to a winter wonderland of snow. The puppies turned five weeks old and get to go outside. Today was an exciting day for Ellie, the rest of our dog gang and us – Even though it snowed we were going to introduce the puppies to the outdoors! It was a little cool in the morning, so I waited until the afternoon when the sun was shining on our back deck to take the puppies outside. We packed them into a basket and headed out. When we got the puppies outside, Ellie wanted to nurse them right away. I have noticed that our mama dogs always nurse their babies whenever we move them to a new area. It is their way of reassuring the puppies that they are safe.

Even though the puppies were a little timid at first, they enjoyed their time outside. After the puppies ate their lunch, they started to explore and play together. I knew they had enough when they gathered together on the blanket in their puppy huddle and fell asleep. All that fresh air and exercise is tiring for a five-week-old puppy! I returned them inside and they settled in for a long nap!