Belle’s Puppies; hello 5th Week…

This week we played! This is some of the most important work that of socialization. We had our neighbor’s girl over to visit with our Australian Labradoodle puppies as well as have some romper room time.  Jeff extended the height of the puppy play pen this week. We went from 1 meal to 2 to begin the weaning process. They also had their nails clipped and were brushed out so they could get use to grooming. We have a kennel with no door in their puppy play pen so they can be comfortable with the crate. We took more pictures and have them up on Flickr website. The webcam continues to stream which you can view at LibertyLabradoodles.Com.

 

Mocha man and Cinnamon have the most interesting colors; they are mismarks and their chest is tan, almost a khaki color; with the top of their heads, ears and back being a reddish brown.

 Silky continues to catch up, but is more demure in personality; her base color is white with light brown; cute coloring. Her nose is spotted as is her belly.

 

Kona is black as night, with white mismarks on her chest, chin, and one side of her nose. She has a little pinch of white on her back paw.  We hopefully will get the reports sometime this week on the DNA testing and then register the litter and announce puppy availability.  We will have microchip numbers reserved from the vet as well.

Liberty’s 1 Week Old update…

This to me is amazing; they both have “heart shaped” mismarks on their heads. Muse is very small, but Chase you can really see!!

Liberty’s 2 puppies continue to flourish. They were dew clawed earlier in the week and should be opening their eyes sometime this week. They eat and sleep and grow. The boy, who we call Liberty’s Chase white mismark looks so much like a heart!

Silky Shadow Play; 4 Weeks Old

Cinnamon..

Can we come out and play?

Here is Kona and Mocha Man telling me with their eyes that it is time to hold a doodle romp!!!  Click on the picture to enlarge.

A doodle owner email…

Vicky~We loved the way you spoke with us on the phone to better answer our questions. The fact that you have so many pictures on your website was wonderful. We would rush out at eight in the morning to see if you had put up anything new before you went to work and again at about seven in the evening to see if you had anything new then. We wanted a girl,as you know, but you thought Teddy was the one for us and he was. He’s perfect and fits into our little family like a glove.The pictures made us fall in love with him even more than we were already, because you know we loved them all and couldn’t wait to find out which would be ours. …it was so hard waiting…to even find out if we got one of them…I think you have great instincts and a huge amount of integrity. We love the fact you are protecting the breed so well. And the puppy cam will only enhance what you do already. 

….I had waited over a year to get my “perfect dog”.  I could love almost any little dog, however, I had had my heart broken when I lost my lab to hip dysplasia and my little poodle to cancer.  I first heard about labradoodles on 20-20 and was blown away when I learned of their personality, loyalty and intelligence.  I read everything I could find about labradoodles.  Everything I read about these wonderful creatures reassured me that  I was making the right choice with this breed.  I needed a dog that was going to be healthy.  You were the third breeder I talked with.  You were so willing to answer any questions I had.  I found out all about Libby’s lineage.  She and all who came before her as well as Maestro, had been screened for all of the genetic diseases you would not want in your puppies’ DNA history. You are such a responsible breeder and you are wonderful.  You knew so much about “doodles” and were so protective of Libbie and her babies.  You made sure their environment did not get contaminated, keeping them safe from parvo.  I loved when you asked us to sleep with a little soft blanket or toy and mail it to you so the new puppy would be familiar with our smell!  You are so thoughtful.  Even though we could not get him until he was 8 weeks old  I loved how you helped us to bond with our baby before he was even born.  You had pictures of the ultra-sound, his birthday, first bark, first meal,being loved by you and Jeff. You even made him a baby book with photos documenting every day of his new life!  I love how you love the “doodle guys”!  Thank you so much, Vicky and Jeff.  Teddy is so secure and loving.  I’m sure it’s because of all the love and caring he received before he came home with us.  One last thing….after being a nurse for 30 years, I can honestly say I have never seen a pediatric patient get any better care than Teddy got from you. 

Very sincerely,

Connie xxxxx and Mary xxxxx

(last name left out to protect them).

~**Vicky replies: Thanks Connie and Mary! Your great parents!!

Week 5 Begins for Belle’s Litter

Belle’s Whelp started Week 4 with introduction to a new larger whelp box. In part as Libby, who had her puppies on Friday prefers the whelp box with the puppy rails. They were introduced a mixture of puppy formula, chicken and rice for their first solid food venture. We also introduced a crate (with door removed) for the mini labradoodles beginning crate training. At the end of the fourth week we introduced a puppy paper tray and placed it where they “go”. For the puppies fourth week, we saw their legs attempt to run, leap, and hop. I do love this stage! They are also cutting teeth and mouthing, growling, and attempting to bark. I love when they bark by accident and look around wondering who made that sound? We headed to the vet for their 4 week blood draw and should have all the testing complete by the end of the 6th week where we can then announce who is available and who is allocated.

Week 5 we will continue with food supplements and play; err.. socialize the puppies. I do love my job!!! Puppy breath, playing, and all the perks. We have introduced children in the form of our neighbors kids as part of the training process.

We continue with the video streaming of the puppies 24/7. I even get phone calls if my computer has automatically downloaded something and done a reboot; turning off the cam! We will continue to broadcast Belle’s litter for the next couple of weeks before switching over to Libby’s litter. Right now, Libby’s litter eats and sleeps…

A watched dog never whelps…

Well, after staying up for two nights awaiting Libby’s whelp my husband spelled me and I went to bed. Sure enough, 2 hours later Libby’s water broke. I am now convinced that Libby waits for Jeff to whelp her.

Friday, July 20 Libby whelped a girl, who we dubbed Liberty’s Muse…a red with white slippers and a little white dot mismark on her head. A boy, dark red with a heart shaped white mismark followed. We dubbed him Liberty’s Chase. As the whelp gets settled we will be putting more pictures up on site. This is Libby’s next to last litter as we plan on retiring her. The sire of this litter is ALUSA Maestro of Springville Labradoodles. Maestro is from Rutland lines with Snuggles in his background. We have consistently thrown wonderful mismarks attached with the form, intelligence, behavior, health and colors from our Libby and Maestro whelps. Stay tuned for more pictures as we go.

Belle’s 3 Week Litter Update

Three weeks; where does the time go? Much is happening during this week! But first, an update on the last weeks.

The first week we had Kona, Cinnamon and Mocha dew claws removed and our vet gave the puppies a thorough check up.  He also checked Silk but I felt she was already “the runt” and did not want to take the dew claws. The industry standard has been not to take them but my husband had a Labrador who had problems with dew claws so he prefers to remove them.

The second week we started seeing the pups emerge from the sleep/eat mode to exploring their world with their mouths, paws, and voices.

And here we are at the third week. We finally got the parenting tests done on all the pups, Belle, and the sires; both from Rutland lines.  It is in the mail as of this Saturday. It takes 10 business days to determine the sire of each puppy. We enjoyed researching the DNA, health, and potential outcomes during this split litter and I am sorry it is holding your allocations up as we await the sire identification to finalize the allocations. The big plus for you is that every puppy will come with a DNA identification document worth $68.00 of additional testing. This is a “no doubt about it” thumbprint of your puppy.  

With Belle’s puppies we should see lots of movement as they go from toddler and trying out their legs to full on running near the end of the week. We will introduce water earlier this week and then later introduce puppy mush; a blend of goats milk and rice.  The 4^th week they go for another vet checkup; a worming and the plans of their immunization dates will begin. The following week we should have parentage information back and plan on the spay/neuter operation, microchipping and final vet clearances prior to their estimated delivery date.  We then finalize the flight/delivery dates with allocation  at the end of 6^th  week.

Tentatively the puppies should be ready for their forever home after August 11^th. We will begin planning the ship dates (shipping costs are covered in the puppy price at major airports within the USA). We expect that to be August 12, Sunday; August 15^th, Wednesday or August 18^th/19^th (Saturday or Sunday).

Other news; our 2 assistive pups continue to flourish; answering the phone and opening the fridge is on the current “newly learned” achievements on top of being wonderful companion pets as well!!!  We also have news of a future stud heading our way. But I shall save that for another time.

2 Week old update…

This is the foundation of the fun! The world and its shape are opening as their eyes become focused and they connect their nose with what they see. You can view the live video stream (Libertylabradoodles.com) and experience the pups trying out their legs and mouthing others as they transform from newborn whelp to exploring puppies and begin encountering the world.

I am always amazed at how fast they grow and develop! Even little Silky; the runt of the litter is accelerating and nature seems to help her catch up now. Mocha man is a rock-solid bundle and tends after his litter mates. He is a natural alpha and I watch the whelp to see the female pack order develop. Cinnamon has the bulk, Kona is the most talkative and has opinions about everything.  But Silk, small for her size seems to have some connection with the litter as they make way for her. Fun to watch it all unfold! Belle is a wonderful mother and her whelp is thriving under her care.

This Wednesday we plan on swabbing their checks to check for parentage. The results will take about 2 weeks if all goes well in coordinating the check swabs with the Sires. We should be able to name the fathers, register the litter, and start allocation. We will also x-ray Liberty as we get ready for her whelp around July 19th.