Four More Puppies Leave the Fold

Friday, April 20th, was a big day for puppy adoption, because four families came to pick up their new puppies.

Each of the pups has an interesting story. One of them will be trained as a therapy dog in a nursing home; one of them will replace a beloved pet that passed away recently; and one of them will run wooded trails alongside her forest ranger owner. Most heart-warming of all was the story of the new owner who had wanted a puppy all his life, but was never able to have one due to severe allergies. How severe? If a dog brushed up against his skin, it would cause him to break out in a rash. This couple visited three times to see if our goldendoodles would trigger a reaction. When they realized that allergies would not be an issue, it brought them to tears. They were thrilled, and of course, we were thrilled for them.

Jerie and Craig with Tucker

Maggie with Dory

Rebecca and Cody with Lucy

Jeff and Hilary with Annie

The Puppies Start to Leave

Although it's ideal for us to keep the pups until they are 10 weeks old, that doesn't always work out for everyone's schedule. Last Tuesday, Shawn made a special trip up from Florida to pick up the large male with the blue collar, and then jumped on the plane with her special passenger a few hours later.

His name is now Bohdi, and he's really getting into the swing of things there, going to ball games, horse shows, shopping trips, chasing the chickens, the whole 9 yards.

Writes Shawn, "Poupee has had a big day!!! He was a major crowd stopper!!! Gave the blog address to 3 people!!! Everyone is in deep deep love with our new baby!!!

Bohdi on the way to the airport

With his proud new owner. The pups have English Golden Retriever in their bloodline, and it shows..

In the airport waiting area, tearing up the carpet

Chowing down with the new sibs

In training to be a barn dog

 Checking to see whether the chickens need any help

On Thursday Bob and Jo picked up little Joey, one of the chocolate males. It was sad to see him go but, being our neighbors, he will be close by during the summer months, so that's great. Love that little guy. He was the fastest runner in the litter.

Bob reports that Joey is almost housebroken, and has been a real joy to them. Makes us proud!

Bob and Jo with Joey

Believe it or not, this is the first dog they have owned!

Joey relaxing in his new home

First Visit to the Vet

On Monday, we packed up all twelve pups into the car and took them to the veterinarian. The ride over was a little dicey as several of them threw up in the car. Fortunately, they were confined to their crates at the time. Dodged a bullet there.

Here is how Nancy described the adventure to Tucker's new owner: "Things went really well! He doesn’t have a nerve in his body! We put a leash on him and walked to the front door of Boothbay Animal Hospital and he decided to put the brakes on! I had Blue on the other hand and he too decided they were not going inside! I tugged on the leashes and still they refused! The hospital has double doors so I picked them up and we waited on the bench inside. Blue was shaking like a leaf when he saw a big dog come in but Tucker sat right next to me and was not fazed in the least! Once we got into the examining room Blue was still shaking and Tucker just sat on the scale and was adorable! Not even a whimper when he got his shots! Dr. Peterson and the tech were smitten and I was so proud of him! He sat like a gentleman taking everything in! The microchip needle was bigger than I thought and they didn’t want to microchip without sedating him, but I said he would be fine and all did an amazing job! We had only two that fussed!"

All the puppies passed their examinations with flying colors, which is amazing for such a large litter! Dr. Peterson seemed to be very impressed, they were so well behaved when getting their shots and chips.

With that hurdle out of the way, it is time for the first two puppies to leave the nest.

Scenes from the First Car Ride and Trip to the Vet

The Running of the Doodles

 

 

When the door opens in the morning, it's time for all twelve 'Doodles to run for the door! Even at six weeks they were easy to train. They'll stay outside all day, then it's another run for their room in the evening. A little food goes a long way in the training.

The Fith and Sixth Week

         The pups continue to grow at a rapid pace. The biggest change, physically, is the emergence of their teeth, which seemed to appear almost overnight a couple of weeks ago.

With the emergence of their teeth came the ability to handle crunchy food. Whereas at three weeks the food had to be pre-soaked and then run through the blender, they no longer need it to be homogenized. They can also handle individual pieces of kibble, which we use as a treat to assist with their training.

The largest pups are near 8 pounds, where they were 14 ounces at birth. their personalities are also coming out, as well. Some are alpha dogs, some need more cuddling, some are very playful, and, yes, some like to dig. Some are beginning to have a distinctive bark, replacing the puppy yelp they had at birth. When they bark, Emme thinks it's a strange dog on the property, and it sets her off barking and looking for the interloper.

Having twelve puppies at once is fun, especially as they are taking some training, which makes them more manageable. We can waste all kinds of time watching their antics. We're going to miss these little guys when they are gone!

Between Two and Three Weeks

 

 

 

 The "Peloton" scrambling for position at feeding time:

 

 

 

 

 

     After the first two weeks, the pups became much more active, and their individual personalities started to come out. They have started to bark a little and roughhouse with each other, which is surprising. Except for being a little shaky and uncoordinated, they act just like a grown dog would, such as grabbing things and shaking them violently from side-to-side. We keep seeing more and more examples of how God equips His creatures with the instinct needed to survive in their environment.

     We are trying to get them used to handling, and they are responding. Their eyes started to open at about two weeks old, and every day they seem to focus better. It's now to the point that when they see us they start to move toward us. They are also getting the idea of doing their business "on the papers" instead of on the blanket where they sleep.

 

 

 First Feeding, Homogenized Puppy Kibble and Goat's Milk

     Right at three weeks we started to supplement their diet with a mixture of mushy puppy kibble and goat's milk. Naturally, they like to step in it and get it all over themselves, but they are also learning pretty quickly how to lap it up. It's a good time to start supplementing their diet, because Emme seems to be experiencing a lot of wear-and-tear from 12 hungry mouths, and she is reducing the amount of time she spends nursing her litter. One thing she is still good at, is cleaning up the pups, and cleaning up after them.

 

The pups do 3 things well; eat, sleep, and tussle with each other.

As you can see, their eyes are open now, and their ears are becoming unblocked, as well.

Here are the skills they have developed in less than 4 weeks of age.

Near Disaster

     We haven't had the chance to post lately because we had a near disaster with several of the dogs. Eight days ago, we woke up to find Emme licking one of the puppies repeatedly. Looking into it further, we found his body was rather cold and he was rather listless. It appeared that he had a small injury on one of his shoulders.

I rushed him to the vet to see what was wrong. It turns out this injury broke the skin and had gotten infected. The puppy was severely dehydrated, had lost 20% of his birth weight, and had a very low body temperature. It was going to be touch-and-go whether he would survive the day.

Back at home, we kept him on the heating pad and fed him Pet-lak by eyedropper, as he was too weak to nurse. We had to get up every two hours during the night to make sure he got the care and feeding he needed, including an oral anti-biotic. By the next morning, he had perked up, and it looked like he would make it. It has taken a week to get back to his original birth weight.

Checking the other puppies, we found three others that had severe skin abrasions. What caused them? We had bought small, color-coded Velcro collars to keep track of each dog for weighing purposes, which you can see in some of the pictures. As it turns out, the collars were rather stiff and had an abrasive edge on them, which chaffed against the tender skin of the puppies. Needless to say, we took them right off. After a week, the abrasions still have not healed completely, the hair has not grown back.

                                         The offending collar. Notice the "teeth" on the edge

     In other news, the word is getting around about the puppies, and we are having visitors almost every day. Most say they have never seen puppies so small, and they all get a kick out of holding them. The younger visitors were especially enthralled. One of the puppies barked yesterday, a first. They seem like they are on the verge of walking.