Just a short post – I know that I already posted on our Blog today but, I spent the last couple hours taking pictures and wanted to show off our beautiful puppy singles. As you can see, the puppies are getting more adorable with each passing week.
Taking pics of puppies is not an easy task and having to get 17 puppies to sit still and look at the camera is almost impossible but, if I do say so myself they look great!
Ellie’s Litter
Ellie and Brinkley’s genetics produce both Teddy Bear Goldendoodle and Flat Coat Goldendoodles (Retriever like – open face – no facial furnishings). The probability says they should produce 50% of each type in their litter. But probability does not always hold true though.
All Goldendoodle puppies look similar at birth and it is difficult to determine what type of goldendoodle they will be. I have had lots of experience through my years of breeding and look for tells. When we have a litter that produce both types, my daughter Kendra and I like to try to predict early which puppy will be what.
I am still unsure with the puppies in this litter. Once their facial hair is defiantly growing and by selection day at six weeks of age, we will know for sure which will be Flat Coats and which will be Teddy Bear. (NOTE: My daughter and I both think that Purple Collar Girl is a Flat Coat. Don’t hold us to that though because we still get a surprise every now and then LOL)
Four weeks old already – WOW, time passes by so quickly! I am a couple days late getting our four-week post out. This is because we have been busy with preparations for our daughters upcoming wedding in January, wedding invitations, and bridal showers. All these things and a little under the weather as well. Even though we have had these things added to our plate, our puppies care has not suffered, and they have had lots of love and attention.
It is hard to believe that our puppies are already four weeks old and have progressed so much. A lot has happened this past week. Such as, milk teeth have erupted, moving to the main floor, hind leg becoming stronger, better balance while walking, awake time increased, and more socializing with their littermates through play. Also, our puppies have been practicing their vocalizing and can now growl and bark as you will hear in the videos.
Weaning Under Way
Weaning is well under way. This process is achieved by reducing milk from mama, drinking water from their bowl, and getting most of their nutrition from their puppy food. The puppies are doing well on their food and are always excited for another meal!
Weaning Under Way
Potty Training Under Way
Potty training is also under way and the puppies are making great progress. Although we still have a lot of work to do in this area, I am pleased with their progress so far. This is because there have been less accidents in their whelping box and lots of success in the potty box. Because the puppies are doing so well with their potty training, yesterday we decided to give them more room by removing their whelping box and expanding their puppy area.
Socialization
As I have mentioned before, socialization is important when raising puppies. We have achieved this by introducing our puppies to different people young and old. This helps the puppies to be calm and seek out humans for companionship. The puppies love spending time with us, and it is very apparent when they all run to sit on our laps for a cuddle.
Socialization not only involves interaction with different people but includes many things. Some of these things are new noises, different walking surfaces, and the introduction of different toys as well as challenges. We will achieve these things throughout the coming weeks as we challenge the puppies with as many new experiences. It is through these new experiences that will help strengthen the puppies’ body and brain.
Listen for puppies growls and bark
Watch puppies play with littermate and new toy
Notice that the whelping boxes are gone in the puppy area. We still have the two litters separated .
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK FIVE
Awake time will increase
Continued to socialize with each other through play
Balance will continue to improve and they will begin to run
Puppies will continue learning to use potty area
Daily visits to the Puppy Exercise Area where they will play and explore
Mama will now add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.
Today, we decided to introduce solids to the puppies. I made this decision because both Ellie and Willow have started to feed their puppies in the standing position. When mama’s begin weaning, they still nurse their puppies. As they continue to nurse, they shorten the length. They also nurse less frequent.
Willow has a mind of her own
Willow knows her own mind and once made up, there is no changing it. On Tuesday she made up her mind that it was time to start weaning her puppies. I tried to encourage her to lay down but, she didn’t comply.
Firstly, Willow started to nurse in the standing position. Secondly, Willow began to regurgitated her food for the puppies to eat. This is something wild dogs do to wean their babies. They do this by first eating their food. Then, after a short period of time, they regurgitate the partly digested food. This process makes it easier for their young to eat.
Willow’s puppies eat solids
Willow continued this on Wednesday so, I decided mama knows best. Following mamas lead, on Thursday we started the puppies on solids. This is only a couple days earlier than my usual time.
The” first solids” is made from cooled boiled water, puppy formula, and puppy kibble. I place these ingredients in the blender to make our “puppy smoothie”. As the days pass, we gradually make it thicker. The next step is softened kibble and finally by seven weeks the puppies progress to dry kibble.
The puppies loved their food and ate two helpings. As you can see, things get very messy! So, when Willow’s puppies were finished eating, we cleaned out their whelping box. They then enjoyed play-time before taking a nap.
Breakfast
Play time
After play -time ,the puppies take a napPerfecting the Classic DoodleSleep Position
Ellie’s puppies
Ellie’s puppies
Ellie’s puppies loved their first taste of solids. As you can see from the video, they also ate two helpings. Before I could change out their vet bed fleece, all Ellie’s puppies fell asleep. Sweet dreams sweet puppies!
to the warm quiet space that the puppies have occupied since birth.
HELLO
to the main floor, many noises of a busy household and many life lessons.
Puppies packed up and ready for the big move!
THE PUPPIES ARE ON THE MOVE!
It was a busy morning preparing the new puppy area before the actual move began. Why you ask, because preparing the puppy area is a big job!
The main floor puppy enclosure is set up just off my kitchen located at the centre of our house. The reason I choose this area is because it is by the door outside and the puppies will experience the most interactions in this spot.
Atfirst, the puppies only have access to a small area – the whelping box and potty area only. The puppies will sleep and play in their whelping box and have access to their potty box just outside the entrance. The mama’s elevated beds are next to the whelping box which they can sleep on. Also, the beds help when she jumps into the whelping box to care her puppies.
We have fencing enclosing the whole puppy area, with a fence in the middle dividing the two whelping boxes to keep the litters separate. The fence gates will be left open so our mamas are able to come and go as they please to care for her puppies.
First we moved Willow’s litter. After that, it was Ellie’s litter’s turn to make the big move.
Willow’s puppies’ areaEllie’s puppies’ areaSide by Side with fenching separating the two litters
Puppies on the move
Next – potty training begins.
The puppies are now going potty without the help of their mother. Therefore it is important to begin “potty training” at this age. The reason for this is because puppies have a natural instinct to move away from their sleeping area when they need to go.
I want the puppies to begin learning “where to go” before they start on solids. So, for the next few days I will spend my time moving the puppies to the potty area when they wake and after they eat.
It is important that puppies start learning that they cannot go potty anywhere. So we teach them “there is an acceptable place to go potty” at young age. The reason for this is to stop them from developing bad habits that later need to be broken. This effort on our part will benefit forever families by making housebreaking easier for them when they go to their forever homes.
Three weeks old already – how quickly time passes! This week the puppies have been progressing rapidly. They continue to gain weight and grow bigger with each passing day. Their eyes are fully opened, and vision is improving. Their ears are open, and they can now hear. Some of our puppies’ milk teeth have started to erupt. Their hind legs have become much stronger as they have been practicing walking on all fours. The puppies are much more aware of their surroundings and have begun to play with each other. They have become quite noisy as they practice their vocalizing. It is so cute in the daytime but not so much in the middle of the night 😴LOL.
Daily Cuddles
The puppies continue to receive lots of cuddles daily. My grandchildren are great helpers with this. I love to share this learning experience with them; teaching them to love and respect animals and to be gentle. The older ones have learned this already but my one- year-old granddaughter is still learning and has to be reminded! Our puppies already love human interaction – when I enter the whelping box, it isn’t long before I have a lap full of puppies🐾😊🐾.
Nothing cuter than little boys and puppies!
Remember GENTLE!
Critical Socialization Period
Now that the puppies can hear and react to noise, they are entering the Critical Socialization Period. Socializing puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possible while the puppy is young is only part of the process of Socialization. Our goal is to raise dogs that have the emotional intelligence to connect with you. Emotional intelligence can be taught to young puppies. We will work with the puppies over the next five weeks on the Puppy Culture Protocols.
There are 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy:
Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Manding and attention/distraction protocols
Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
Habituation – familiarity with the maximum number of things (Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises , meeting different people, dogs etc.)
Enrichment – teach that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided (Ongoing introduction of new novelty items, Activity Centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.)
Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way (daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
Skills – learned behaviors which teach the puppy to function in human society i.e. recall, manding, simple commands, potty box training, crate introduction, resource guarding, bite inhibition etc.
Love – teach puppies to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences: i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and puppy’s mom.
Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses)
Look at these cuties
This morning (Saturday 19th), we took videos of the puppies when we returned them to their clean whelping boxes. Have a look at the videos to see our adorable three-week-old puppies.
Ellie’s Puppies
Willow’s Puppies
Looking Ahead To Week Four
Puppies will still sleep much of the day/night as they continue to grow rapidly
Puppies will play with each other developing important social skills
Puppies’ hind legs will continue to become stronger as they walk more
Hearing will improve
Puppy milk teeth will erupt
Puppies will be moving to the main floor mid-week and begin potty training
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) Exercises (day3 to day 16)
We have now finished our ENS exercises with both litters. While raising our puppies, I want to do everything possible to produce Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies. During the ENS exercise the puppies experience tiny struggles and stresses. These stresses in small doses are good for puppies and the benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This will help our puppies grow into strong, healthy, well-adjusted adults.
Transitional Period Day 14 – 21
Ellie and Willow continue to take wonderful care of their puppies and they continue to grow stronger with each passing day. The puppies are now in the Transitional Period. The transitional period begins when the puppy’s eyes open and ends when they first startle upon hearing sounds. The puppies are becoming more aware of their littermates but still sleep most of the time.
Although the puppies still spend most of their time eating and sleeping, they are now awake for short periods of time. During their awake time, they are now beginning to interact with their littermates. The puppies are also vocalizing. I was able to take the videos below during the puppies awake time. As you can hear, they are quite noisy – I was talking during the video but not loud enough (sorry) LOL!
I always say, when the puppies eyes open, they seem to come alive. Have a look at our puppies two week singles. Don’t you agree? Over the next few weeks, we are looking forward to seeing their personalities develop as we introduce them to so many new things!
I tried to get these singles for our “two week old” blog but, it is never an easy job taking puppy pictures. I had to take these pics over a two day period. Willow’s puppies wouldn’t co-operate the first day so, I tried again the next day. If you think Willow’s puppies don’t look very alert, you are correct. I thought I would have better luck if they had a full tummy and that always makes them sleepy! d
Ellie & Brinkleys Litter
Dark Blue Collar Boy 1245 gramsGreen Collar Boy 1085 gramsLight Blue Collar Boy 1150 gramsPurple Colar Girl 1000 gramsRed Collar Girl 1295 gramsOrange Collar Girl 1165 gramsMagenta Collar Girl 1180 gramsPink Collar Girl 1240 grams
Approximately half Ellie and Brinkley’s puppies will be Flat Coat Goldendoodles (retriever type – no beard). It is not until the puppies are six weeks of age that it is apparent which will be Flat Coats and which will be Teddy Bear. Whatever type they are, Ellie and Brinkley produce smart, loving, gentle puppies. We have had great feedback from their forever families. Some of their past puppies are emotional support dogs for a family member.
Willow and Brinkley’s Litter
Mocha Collar Girl 965 gramsGrey Collar Girl 985 gramsGreen Collar Girl 940 gramsYellow Collar Girl 1005 gramsMagenta Collar Girl 950 gramsBlack Collar Boy 995 gramsCamo Collar Boy 895 gramsBlue Collar Boy 1020 gramsCayenne Collar Boy 1070 grams
Willow and Brinkley have the genetics to produce a vast variety of colours and patterns. All of their puppies will be Teddy Bear Goldendoodles. We have received great feedback from the families of their first litter.
Willow’s puppies (left) and Ellie’sPuppies(right) two weeks old
Willow’s puppies (left) and Ellie’sPuppies(right) two weeks old
LOOKING BACK
We have had another busy week and the puppies have made so much progress. Our puppies are now two weeks old and growing more adorable with each passing day! We reached a couple milestones this week: (1) All our puppies have doubled their birth-weight and then some. (2) The puppies opened their eyes. Their sight will improve as the days and weeks pass.
Ellie and Willow continue to be loving attentive mamas who take wonderful care of their babies. The puppies are gaining weight daily and continue to do what healthy puppies do – Eat, Sleep, and Grow! Besides feeding and cuddling, it is important for our mamas to lick their puppies. The licking interactions between a mama and her pup have been shown to be essential to the physical and emotional health of both mama and baby. Newborn puppies need to be stimulated by their mother to eliminate. This is why the mama’s spend time cleaning each pup before and after feeding.
See How They Have Grown
NewbornTwo weeks old
Although their mama’s take care of cleaning the puppies, cleaning of the whelping boxes is my responsibility. Our whelping boxes are disinfected and a clean vet bed liner is replaced daily. We line the whelping box with a “vet bed fleece”. This is a financial investment on our part but, we feel it is well worth the money. It not only keeps our puppies warm and dry, it also provides excellent footing for the puppies as they learn to walk and stops their legs from slipping as they nurse. When it is time to clean the whelping boxes, I put the puppies into a laundry basket to keep them contained. I am going to have to find bigger containers because some of the puppies are starting to climb out. We have also had to add a panel to the whelping box entrance to keep them safe inside.
Laundry basket
Door Panel Added
A day in the whelping box consists of eating, sleeping, and cuddling with mama and grandchildren
Looking for a comfy spot to sleep
With Ellie locked out of the room, I took the opportunity to take a quick video to show the the puppies progress. Soon Ellie came back … She wasn’t too happy as you will hear in the video 😂 The below video shows the progress the puppies have made. Their hind legs have become stronger and they are moving more quickly around their whelping box. The puppies are starting to vocalize. Now that their eyes have opened they will start to interact with each other.
Things to look for: eyes opened, puppies using hind legs, puppies starting to vocalize
The excitement as mama returns and another meal
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK THREE
Puppies will still eat and sleep most of their day
Puppies will continue growing
Sight will slowly become clearer
Puppies Ears will start to open and they will begin to hear.
Puppies hind legs will become stronger and they will practice walking on all fours
Puppies will become more aware and start to play with their litter-mates.
It is always a day that we look forward to – Puppy’s Eyes Opening. It can happen anywhere from ten days to two weeks. Last night at weigh-in and ENS exercise time, I was excited to discover that Cayenne Collar Boy from Willow and Brinkley’s litter was the first puppy to open his eyes! I always feel the puppies start to feel more alive once their eyes open and look back at me. 😊 Over the next few days, all the puppies eyes will open.
Milestone Reached
Our mama’s are doing a wonderful job caring for their babies. We monitor our puppies progress, comparing them to our previous litters and observe them during their short awake times. All the puppies are doing well, gaining strength in their hind legs as they exercise moving to their mama’s for their next meal.
From our past experience, the puppies should double their birthweight somewhere between 8 – 12 days. Ellie’s litter all doubled their birth weight on day 8 and 9. Willow has an extra puppy to feed and therefore are gaining a little slower. Yesterday on day 9, two of her puppies doubled their birth-weight. Over the next few day, the rest of her litter will have reached this milestone. After all, at this stage in the puppies life, all they do is eat and sleep 💤
Ellie and Brinkley’s LitterWillow and Brinkley’s Litter
LOOKING BACK
Wow, our precious puppies are now one week old. We have had a busy week! For the first few weeks of life, a puppy cannot regulate their own body temperature. We have added an electric heater to our rooms to help keep the temperature at a warm 28 – 29 degrees C. We gradually reduce the temperature as the days pass.
First 72 Hours
Willow and Ellie are great mamas. For the first 24 hours, I had to force them away from their puppies for a potty break. Then they went right back inside to their babies. I even had to feed them inside the whelping box. The next 24 hours, they would willingly leave when I called them to go outside but, still went right back to the whelping box after their short break. After 72 hours, they spent a little time away from their puppies to run the yard for exercise and eat a meal. As the days pass, time away from their puppies will gradually increase. We place an evaluated bed just outside the whelping box for our mamas to rest on. This allows them their own space away from their puppies but they can keep a watchful eye on them.
Neonatal Period
The puppies are in the Neonatal Period which is from day 0 to day 14. During this period, puppies spend their time eating and sleeping. On day 3 we begin ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) which continues through day 16. We preform ENS daily during our weigh-in time. Research shows these tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are good for puppies. Benefits from ENS include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies during the 3 to 16-day window.
PUPPY TWITCHES – The above videos show sleeping puppies “twitch” This is a sign of a healthy puppy.
Puppy socialization
Puppy socialization starts at birth. We handle our puppies as soon as their mamas feel comfortable and give them all daily cuddles. My grandchildren love to help me cuddle puppies!
Feeding
Before puppies are born, they receive immunity and everything they need to grow from the placenta. After birth newborn puppies do not possess immunity. A mothers first milk called colostrum is a protein-rich, nutritious, balanced, and protective food. The special milk provides passive immunity which can last several weeks and protect them from various infections and diseases. For this reason, the first twelve hours after birth it is vital for the puppies to nurse frequently and build up their passive immunity. (Passive immunity is the short-term immunity which results from the introduction of antibodies from the puppy’s mother. Compare with active immunity – the immunity which results from the production of antibodies by the immune system in response to the presence of an antigen)
Weigh-in
We weight our puppies and keep daily records. In the first 24 hours, it is not uncommon for puppies to loose up to 10% of their birth weight. We were very pleased at our first 24 hour weight-in, all our puppies had gained weight. Our mama’s are doing an amazing job feeding their babies.
Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut; they cannot see or hear. They have to rely on “smell” and “touch” to find their mother. Puppies are born with a natural instinct to nurse but as the days pass, they have become more proficient at it. The puppies are now experts at nursing! As you watch the videos below, listen to the cute little sounds the puppies make as they nurse – so precious !
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO
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 !!!
