How quickly time passes and how quickly puppies grow! Ellie and Willow’s sweet puppies are now five weeks old. The puppies have developed from helpless newborns to “mini dogs”. They have learned so much over the past five weeks. This past week we have been working hard on training the puppies to use the potty box. They still have a long way to go and some of the puppies are more consistent than others, but all are making great progress! The puppies are now awake for longer periods and enjoy playing in the exercise area. Nursing time from mama has decreased and the puppies continue to enjoy eating puppy mush and drinking from their water dish.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK SIX
Awake will continue to increase
Food will become much thicker progressing toward the goal of eating dry kibble
Puppies will continue learning to use potty area
Puppies will continue to socialize with each other through play
Puppies balance will continue to improve.
Puppies will begin short outdoor playtime 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.
The puppies had a great adventure today in their new puppy exercise area. It is in our front hall. There is an activity centre in the middle, a potty box in the corner and lots of toys to discover and play with. The puppies were also introduced to a different floor surface. Our front hall is ceramic which is a little more slippery. This is beneficial to the puppies as they need to learn to walk on many surfaces.
1st Willow’s litter
After I set up the new area it was time to add puppies. Ellie was feeding her litter, so Willows litter were the first puppies in the exercise area. I started by putting each puppy into the potty box first to show them where to go potty. Then I stood back and watch them explore. It is so exciting to watch these little ones discover new things!
17 puppies – both litters combined
After a while I decided to add Ellie’s litter to the mix. This worked out very well as all the puppies seem to get along. With 17 puppies to care for being able to combine the litters will make my life a little easier! This also gives me the opportunity to clean out the puppies’ sleeping area which are still separate.
Maui the Nanny
Maui our 1-1/2 year-old-poodle is very agile and can jump our fences with ease. She decided to hop the fence and joined the puppies. She has had prior experience other litters and makes a great puppy nanny! Maui is gentle and loving. It is always a bonus when you have other dogs to socialize with the puppies. After the puppies realize that every dog doesn’t have milk, they had a great time playing with Maui.
The puppies soon tired out and one by one started dropping off to sleep. The end of the video shows “last puppy standing” Magenta Collar Girl from Willow’s litter had all the toys to herself and took advantage of it – 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.
Wow, four weeks old already – this week our singleton puppy has progressed so much. Echo continues to be an amazing mama, loving and caring for her baby. This past week has been a busy one. Echo’s puppy moved to the main floor, her milk teeth erupted, and she is beginning to learn to use the potty area. Echo’s puppy’s hind legs have become much stronger, and her walking has greatly improved. The puppy is vocalizing more and can now bark and growl . Although the puppy still sleeps much of her time, she spends longer periods awake socializing with her mama Echo, our dog nanny Maui, and her many stuffies through play. She also has lots of attention from our family – both canine and humans including my grandchildren who love to play with the puppy.
Critical Socialization Period
Echo’s puppy is now in the Critical Socialization Period. We raise our puppies using Puppy Culture protocols. 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 and is one of the goals of the Puppy Culture Program. (For more details, see Puppy Culture Page )
Moving To The Main Floor
Since birth the puppy has only know the cozy quiet space inside the whelping box in my bedroom. The main floor is very different so, I like to expose our puppies gradually for a few days before the big move. On Friday we took the puppy for a short period of time to the main floor for some exercise.
Basket Challenge
Just as physical exercise builds strong muscles, challenging puppies works on building the brain. This basket challenged the puppy to get out of the basket to get to her mama Echo. The puppy was a little timid at first, but she finally made it out to her mama.
Having the puppy area on the main floor exposes the puppy to many different household sounds. Not only is Echo’s puppy exposed to the normal sounds of a busy household, because we are in the middle of a basement renovation means a bonus of lots of different building noises for the puppy to become accustomed to.
On Monday we moved the puppy to the main floor of our house. This is when Potty Training begins. We have started with a potty pad at the far end of the enclosure. Teaching a singleton puppy will defiantly be less work than potty training a normal size litter. I corrected the puppy one time and showed her where to go potty. Many times, throughout the day, I observed her going over to the potty area on her own when she needed to go – what a smart girl! I’m sure she will have her “accidents”, but we are off to a great start!!!
Main Floor Puppy Enclosure
Stuffie Wrestling
The puppy loves her stuffies. Without littermates to interact with we use the stuffies for our singleton puppy to wrestle with.
Puppy At Play
This video shows how much more mobile the puppy has become. Watch how gentle she is giving my grandson kisses.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK FIVE
Puppy’s awake time will increase
Puppy will continue to socialize with both human and canines
Puppy’s balance will continue to improve progressing towards running
Puppy will continue learning to use potty area
Puppy will start on solid foods as weaning gradually begins
Mama will now add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.
Three weeks old already – how quickly time passes! Look at our beautiful Singleton Puppy. Now that she can sit upright, you can see her lovely markings. She is jet-black with an adorable white patch on her chest and a touch of white on her feet and chin. Her eyes are fully opened now, vision is slowly improving and her ears have started to open. Echo’s puppy is becoming more aware of her surroundings, beginning to play and starting to vocalize.
The puppy is now at the stage that she is beginning to play. At times I feel bad thinking she is lonely without littermates to play with but, my daughter and husband reminded me that she doesn’t know any different – it has always been just her.
Play Time With Mama, Maui, and Stuffies
Play Time With Mama
With no littermates, the puppy also needs interaction from other dogs to be taught dog social skills. Echo is such a great mother and is willing to spend extra time with her baby to play. The puppy loves to mouth Echo and pull on her beard, ears and tail. During these play sessions, Milk Bar is closed – I cover Echo tummy with a blanket or a tee-shirt. Our Chunky Monkey definitely doesn’t need extra milk!!!
Nanny Maui
This week Maui, our one year old poodle, spent a little time in the whelping box for a few play sessions – she is a great puppy nanny! With no littermates to teach doggie social skills, Maui will take on this important role.
Our Sweet Puppy Has Visitors
My granddaughter and our other dogs also visited to check out the puppy. Echo was willing to show off her puppy but stands by to make sure her baby is safe! The puppy is curious of all her many visitors. Watch the video as she interact
Playing with Stuffie
Puppy plays with stuffie – listen for her little bark
Exercise Time
Echo’s sweet puppy is a big girl – our Chunky Monkey. As I have said in my previous blogs, when raising a singleton puppy, it is important to try to slow the puppy’s weight gain. This past week I again spent much of my time by the whelping box limiting feeding time. Lots of exercise combined with limiting the puppy’s food intake has helped strengthen the puppy’s hind leg muscles. She is making great progress with walking on all fours!
Exercising
This video shows the progress the puppy has made this week.
Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
At this age, puppies still sleep much of their day/night. After her short play times, our puppy walks around the whelping box looking for one of her stuffies to snuggles with.
Sweet Dreams Sweet Baby! 😴
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK FOUR
Puppy will still sleep much of the day/night as she continues to grow rapidly
Puppy will play with her mama and our other dogs developing important social skills
Puppy’s hind legs will continue to become stronger as she practices walking on all fours
Hearing will improve
Puppy milk teeth will erupt
Potty Training will begin toward the end of the week
Our adorable puppies are now three weeks old and oh how they have grown! This week the puppies have been progressing rapidly. Their eyes are fully opened, and vision is improving. Their ears have opened, and they have now entered the “Critical Socialization Period. The puppies’ hind legs have become much stronger and they have been practicing walking on all fours. They are much more aware of their surroundings and have begun to play with each other. The puppies continue to sleep much of the time as they develop.
Willow ‘s a great first-time mama. She is doing a wonderful job feeding her babies, protecting, and keeping them clean. Willow now spends much of her time away from the whelping box and comes back to check on her puppies throughout the day. Willow insists on cleaning her puppies’ in-between feedings. She goes into the whelping box to clean sleeping puppies. The puppies wake and think it is time to eat. After Willow finishes cleaning, she heads back out and the puppies are left whining their protest. Willow’s puppies are always ready to eat but, now that they are bigger, they are fed with less frequency and their milk intake at each feeding is much greater! Not to worry, the pups are getting more than enough of mama’s milk; they are growing like weeds!
The puppies cuddle with Willow after nursing.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK FOUR
Puppies will still sleep most of their day as they continue to grow rapidly
Puppies will play with each other and begin developing important social skills
Puppies hind legs will continue to become stronger as they walk more
Hearing will improve
Puppy milk teeth will begin to erupt
Puppies will be moving to the main floor sometime during the week
Ellie’s Puppies – Day 15
Ellie’s puppies are becoming more mobile with that cute wobbly puppy walk as they practice walking on all fours. They have also learned to climb. We have found a couple puppies climbing our of the whelping box so, time to add a door panel to out entrance to keep Ellie’s precious babies safe.
Magenta Girl……Going…….
Going……..
Gone!
Watch the puppies walking and listen to them vocalizing
Ellie’s puppies are doing well and steadily gaining weight. They are in the Neonatal Period and spend all their time eating and sleeping. Ellie fed the puppies and then I removed them from the whelping box. When I returned them, I took a video of them. Some puppies went to sleep as soon as I transferred them…..others took a little while to settle. 🐾
Ten days old puppies still just eat and sleep.
Willow’s Puppies
All Willow’s puppies now have their eyes open, and they look adorable. They cannot see well yet, but their vision will steadily improve. Their ears will soon be opened. Willow’s babies are growing up! She is doing a great job feeding them and the puppies have been steadily gaining weight. We will now weigh them weekly.
Black Collar BoyBlue Collar BoyOrange Collar BoyRed Collar BoyMagenta Collar GirlGreen Collar GirlWillow’s Puppies Two Week Singles
The puppies are in the “Transitional Period” which lasts up to seven days. They are transitioning – Leaving Neonatal Period but not yet in the Critical Socialization Period. The puppies’ ears open during this period – the first sign of the puppies startling at sound is when the next period begins.
Willow’s puppies have started to vocalize, are now more aware of their littermates, and have begun to play. They still sleep most of the time but this morning I was able to catch them awake and interacting with each other – too cute! 💕
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
