Saturday, September 30, 2006

Liuda's big day

Look what Liuda did this evening!!!




I am sooo excited and happy for her!

Friday, September 29, 2006

Bryony's make over

Today I had a near catastrophe and thought I lost all the data I had in
my Breeders Assistant program. It had all my contact information and
all the information about all our breeding dogs and pups we have had.
That would have been devastating. Thank goodness my husband fixed it
when he got home this evening.

I ended up taking the day off
from Doodle work and spent the day giving my daughter a make over. I do
tend to get too busy and wrapped up in the doodle business. It was
really nice spending the day with her.

Bry got her braces off last week. Here she is before:


Yesterday
I cut her hair for her. I don't know what in the world made me think
that just because I can groom Doodles then I can cut a 14 year old
girl's hair. She hated it


I
felt really badly about messing up her hair. So this morning when she
came up to me while I was desperately trying to figure out how to
recover all my lost breeding computer data, and asked if she could dye
her hair purple, I said "sure". It was the least I could do. Besides,
it is only hair and it will grow back. We went to the beauty supply
store and got some semi permanent dye, some brush in hair color so she
can have green streaks in her purple hair, and a self piercingthingie .
We came home, I dyed her hair and straightened it for her and pierced
her upper ear for her. She loves it. Her hair doesn't look purple. It
just looks darker. When she is outside the ends look blue. I took her
outside and took some picture of her. She had to work at not smiling,
that wouldn't be cool.


This is the photo she is going to use on her Deviant Art space.


It took her no time at all to go from conservative homeschooler to blending in with public schoolers.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Holly's big news

I'm such a big fat meanie. I had a trade all worked out with another
breeder. She got one of our pups and we were getting one of her pups. I
had the guardian family waiting and everything. They were so excited.
The new pup was coming in a few days. Well,the deal fell through. I had
to call the guardian mom and tell her she wasn't getting the puppy. It
turned out to be her birthday so I said "Happy birthday Rachel, you
can't have your puppy". She may be the guardian mom for New Sally
instead.

Somebody came over today to see Josie's puppies. This
was the first time all the puppies were out running around in the
living room at the same time. Of course one of thempood. Of course we both stepped in it and tracked it.

Holly's
guardian mom just called on their way home from the vet's office. Holly
is pregnant! The vet only saw 2 or 3 pups, so it will be a small
litter. Still, I'm so relieved that she is pregnant. I had psyched
myself up for knowing she wasn't pregnant. I don't know why but I
really didn't think she would get pregnant this time. I had even
started this diary entry this morning by talking about Holly not being
pregnant. Good thing I had saved it as a draft so I could change it.
The guardian contract is up in Feb '07 and she was going to have to be
spayed by then. That means that if she didn't get pregnant this time
that she would have only had one litter. I really don't think I want to
keep a pup from this litter. I want to breedMera with Holly's son, Meeko, and keep a girl from that litter. That will give a Holly girl. I don't know though...we'll just have to wait and see.

New Sally's eyes just now started opening. She is early with that.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The New Sally is doing very well.
New Sally.
All the puppies are doing well. Rosie's pups are all gaining
weight and seem content. They are actually getting darker in color, not
lighter. Even the white boy is no longer white. He is more of an
apricot color. The ones that were apricot are now getting more of a red
color. Still, non are as deep dark red as the one boy. What is his
name? Robbie, I think. I keep forgetting these guys have names already.

We had another poopless
day today. As long as we keep the bedroom doors shut, Rosie and Josie
don't poop inside. If we leave one of the doors open, they go in there
to poo on the carpet. There is just something so inviting about pooing
on the carpet for the guardian girls.

Lewis white toe boy.

Leon
the smallest chocolate morsel.

Leland the curliest boy.


Sister Teri is goofy. She won't sit on my couch anymore, not since I called it the Luuuuve couch.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Liudaless

Today was Liuda's last day working here. Her work visa is expiring. I have so enjoyed having her here helping me. She really loves the puppies and dogs and they love her too. For awhile today we worked together putting the privacy slats in the fence. We just chatted. It is fascinating hearing about her country. Hearing her talk is like listening to an episode of Law and Order, only without the murder and without the lawyers and without the violence and without the arrests and without the police.

This evening I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I walked in to the utility room to find Josie in Rosie's area checking out Rosie's puppies. Rosie was just standing there letting her. I was paralyzed with fear that they were going to get in to a female dog fight. Nope, they were just fine, like old friends. I could just hear them. Rosie: would you like to see my babies? Josie: Oh, yes, you have some very lovely puppies.

Doesn't this puppy look like he is whistling?

Monday, September 25, 2006

The new Sally

Rosie has 5 boys and only one survivng girl. Her temporary name was Katie. That is fine for a temp name. However, if we keep her, I don't want her name to be Katie. That is my friend Connie's daughter's name. It would be awkward having a dog with that name. So...I'm changing her name to Sally. That seems a little strange right now, but within a week or two it ought to seem natural. The new Sally isn't thriving very well. I bottle fed her this morning. In a way that was a pain and seemed like it would be easier to just shove a tube down her throat and tube feed her. That isn't really necessary though. She isn't doing that poorly. She just needs a little help. I only did that once today. Several more times I just helped her hang on to the nipple and made sure the others didn't push her off. I think that is better for her than bottle feeding her.

Josie's puppies are starting to eat solid food. They are also playing and wrestling and growling at each other. I had to do a double take today as I was walking by them. One of them was standing in the food dish peeing. It seemed very deliberate. As soon as he was finished he climbed out of the dish. I think he got the food dish confused with the litter box. ick

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Office Space

Josie's puppies are just the cutest ever. Maybe I say that with about every litter, but really, there isn't an ugly one in the bunch. We have a guardian family waiting for the girl we are keeping back.Lily knows she is pretty. The boys are looking especially nice too. I'm sure they would make great studs. As much as I really need a chocolate stud (I don't have one), I really can't afford to keep two out of this litter. Three of Rosie's puppies died. I have committed to donating three of Rosie's pups to be trained to be service dogs. I also committed to donate another pup to The Children's Bureau. I was planning on keeping a male and a female from Rosie's litter to place in guardian. Plus we are keeping one of Josie's females for breeding. Not including the pups that died, that makes 7 puppies we are not getting paid for. We only have 14 puppies now. This is not going to work. What am I going to do? I simply can't donate all those puppies. I will only be able to donate 2 pups and keep back only one of Rosie's for breeding. Maybe I can figure out a way to make it work. No, I just can't. I feel badly about this, but I just can't help it.

Today I collected the DNA samples of Rosie and her puppies. I'm doing a parentage test just to be 100% certain that Meeko didn't sneak in there and sire that white puppy (or any of the others). I'm pretty sure Pepper is the sire of all of them, but just being pretty sure isn't good enough.

I have been watching Rosie's pups like a hawk and freaking out every time one of them so much as twitches in their sleep. I'm just so afraid they are going to die off one by one.

I finally finished ripping up all the living room carpet and painting the floor. I spent the entire morning this morning on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor. It is finally finished. We rearranged the furniture when we moved it back. There are a few minor changes I'd like to make, but for the most part it is finally finished. I'm so excited. We divided the room and I have my own little office space. (I love the movie "Office Space") I'm having fun fixing it up.

Now I see the floor needs another coat of paint....later.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Sally died

The doctor at the veterinary hospital just now called. Sally is dying. She is probably dead by now. Dangit! I got my hopes all up. I just knew she was going to make it. the doctor said it looks like her cord was chewed a bit too close and got infected.

That makes three girls in this litter that have died. There is one girl left and she all of a sudden seems smaller than the others. The others have fat bellies, hers isn't so fat. I just sat back there with her guarding to make sure she didn't get pushed off the nipple. I talked to the doctor and she said to check their temperatures rectally with an electronic thermometer. There is no way. They are too tiny. I just got out the thermometer and it would do damage. She doesn't feel like she has a fever. I will just keep a very close eye on her.

Now what am I going to do? I was planning on donating four of these puppies and keeping two for breeding. I will have to think about this.

Right now I'm going to go watch the end of House.

Sally is in the hospital

Right before I went to bed at midnight this morning I tube fed Sally, put a puppy warmer in the whelping box with Rosie and situated Sally between Rosie and the warmer. I thought if she were pushed away at least the warmer would keep her warm. When I got up at 2:30 a.m. she was way on the other side of the box. She was pretty cool (but not in a groovy kind of way). I tube fed her, wrapped her up in her little fuzzy blankie, put my sports bra back on, and put her next to my heart under my warm fuzzy jammies. Then I went back to bed with Sally with me. I had to be careful not to hug my body pillow or I might smother her. So it is official now, I'm going to have to Kangaroo her, raise her myself, and keep her forever. She is my puppy, hope you won't get sick of hearing about her.

I got a flat tire this morning when I was taking Bryony and Jill to school. Man I hate that. Good thing I was still in my driveway. I used Rick's truck to take them. When I got back home I tried to change it. One lesson my mother really tried to instill in me is to be able to be self sufficient. I kept hearing her say "Don't be a helpless female" "You don't have to have a man save you" "You can do this yourself". I tried and tried. I got the spare out from under the van, jacked up the van, and got the lug nuts off the tire. I just couldn't get the tire off. I even went online to see if there was something else I needed to do to get it off. I ended up calling the tire place to ask them. He said to give it a few kicks. I did, it didn't budge, and the jack slipped out. sigh I gave up, called my auto insurance company who sent someone right to change it for free. Man that is the way to go. They had someone out within 45 minutes, he was really friendly and encouraging. Best of all, his pants were pulled up all the way and it wasn't obscene when he bent over to change the tire. I messed around with the tire so long it was afternoon before it was all taken care of. Sister Teri is going to take my van to the tire place where they will fix it for free.

I had been in and out checking on Sally. I had fixed up a tiny box with a warmer in it and left her in Luida's care (man I'm going to miss Luida when she leaves next week - anybody want to came take her place?). When I was cleaned up from the tire fiasco I got Rosie and offered Sally to her. She cleaned her bottom, seemed only mildly interested in her and walked away. She just left her there on the cold hard floor all alone. DaVinci was interested in Sally but he was busy babysitting his own puppies. I put Sally back in her box after feeding her. About 1/2 hour later Luida noticed white froth around Sally's mouth. I took her and looked her over. She was burning up then she started having what appeared to be a big seizure. It kept going on and on, then she started turning blue. Her lung sounded just fine. I gave her some honey just in case her blood sugar level is low. I doubted that was the case since she had recently eaten. Still, that is just standard practice when in doubt. She kept seizing and she didn't look good. I picked up the phone and started to call the hospital. Then I put the phone down. I started talking to Luida (she probably didn't understand half of what I was saying, but it helped having her there, I'm gonna miss her...have I said that lately?) Did I really want to go above and beyond to save her? Remember Baby Junior and Ellie and their ongoing problems? Is it really a good idea? Is nature just trying to do what is best and take her? I have been promising I wouldn't knock myself saving another puppy. ooooooo Then we noticed a zit like pustule on her belly and another one on her head. Hmmmm, she has an infection...that would cause the fever and the seizure....if that was the only problem then yesssss we'll try to save her. Luida drove us to the hospital. I had to give a very brief report of what was going on, hand her over, then go sit in the waiting area. Hmf I've never had to do that before. This hospital is so different from my usual vet. Before too long the veterinarian came out to talk to us. They had x-rayed Sally's lungs to make sure she didn't have pneumonia, she doesn't. Her blood sugar was dangerously low, good thing I had given her the honey or she might have died before getting there. It turns out her umbilical cord is infected and she likely has sepsis. That caused the fever and the seizure. They put an IV in her neck and will be giving her IV antibiotics and IV glucose. They will also tube feed her. The estimated cost will be $300-$350 for the first day. This is MY puppy baby. Sally is the one on the right.

Forgot to mention we removed dew claws earlier today. I just did quick snip snips and didn't use the clotting stuff. They barely cried at all. This wasnt' traumatic.

The Fed Ex man was here. I'm so excited. I am now the proud owner of 100 incontinent pads. They are the blue backed washable kind and in like-new condition. I was really hoping to get them before Rosie had her puppies. I plan on using these for the bottom of the whelping box, for the bottom of the crates, for during deliveries, and for anything else I can think of.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Sally is fading in an out

Sally is the little Rosie puppy I am watching as a potential breeding girl. I had been planning on keeping a puppy from one of these litters to live here with us all the time, not be a guardian pup. As soon as sally was born I knew she was the one. Here she is Sally at only a few hours old. She is the one that had to go to the hospital right after she was born. She did o.k. Monday evening and part of Tuesday. She seemed to be getting pushed aside so I tube fed her a couple of times tuesday and a few times yesterday. This morning when I went to check on them, Sally was to the side, away from everyone else. She was cold and had a weak cry. She was fading fast. I quickly gave her some honey and tube fed her. I wrapped her up in a little soft blankie and put her in my shirt to warm her up. She did come around just fine. Several times today I put her back with Rosie and the littermates, help her get attached and made sure she was nursing well before leaving her there. Each time when I came back she was pushed to the side and cold. Even the inside of her mouth was cold. That was not good. I kept tube feeding her and kept her in my shirt.

There is such a world of difference between having a litter with no problems pups, and a litter with a high needs pup. This is exhausting and I'm getting behind in my emails.

Rosie's family came to visit her and the pups this evening. I feel like such a big meanie keeping people's beloved pet dogs and not letting them have them for almost 2 months. Rosie is sad, Josie is sad, both their families are sad. It gets me wondering if the guardian program is such a good thing. Well, the alternative would be to keep a dozen dogs out in a kennel. Yes, it is hard for these three litters, but the guardian program is good. I have to keep telling myself that.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Micro chip and naming day for all the puppies

Today all the puppies, even the newest ones, had micro chips inserted. This is also the day they got their temporary names. We have to call them something while they are here and I don't like referring to them by a number or a color. The names I give them are only temporary until they find a family. The families get to pick the official name. I like giving the litters a theme. Jill has difficulty correctly pronouncing the letter "L" and needs to practice. Josie's puppies all got an "L" name: Luke, Lewis, Lonnie, Leon, Leland, Lilly. Two of the pups, Louis and Mira have families that already chose their names. Lily is going to breed for us. She already has a guardian family waiting for her. See if you can guess the theme of Rosie's litter (feel free to leave a comment): Steve, (Uncle) Charley, Mike, Robbie, Ernie, Katie, Sally. For the bonus points: Who were Katie and Sally?

After their micro chips and naming, they each had their picture taken. After the first two pups, Luke and Leon, I accidently pushed something on the camera and I wasn't able to get it to focus it after that. That means they were the only two to get a decent photo. The others are a bit out of focus. Man, I hate that.
Luke is Liuda's favorite puppy. He has a cute liver nose.
Leon is such a handsome fellow. I'm wondering if he is going to have a fleece coat when he grows up.

Oh hey, I forgot to tell you something really important yesterday. DaVinci and Tinkerbelle got married. Have you met Tink yet? Parkside Tinkerbelle is a multigen Goldendoodle. Wait a minute, yes, I told you about her on the 10th, just didn't show you her picture. Tinkerbelle (Tink) is 20 pounds and 17 inches tall. See how little Tink is? She makes Jill look big. Tink came over this morning for a few hours to hang out with DaVinci. She was shy at first and missed her mom. After a couple of hours she and DaVinci got to "know" each other in the biblical sense. Since DaV is bigger than Tink, they didn't even need the Luuuuv Couch.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Look! A bonus puppy!

I napped with Rosie last night. She is doing just fine. I cleaned up the area where she is and all is calm now. My sister Teri took Bryony and Jill to school for me this morning. I was so glad, because I was icky and needed to bathe after sleeping in the box with Rosie but didn't have time before they needed to leave.

8:10 a.m. Female born...what?! That is right. Rosie just lifted her tail and pushed out another puppy. O.k., so she pushed several times. This girl seems to have a light red fleece coat. She weighs 11.4 ounces. Happy happy joy joy.

Did you notice that when saying what color the newborns are I say something like "appears to have..."? That is because puppies come out covered in birthing goo so it is difficult to know for sure what shade they are.

The girls, the one on the left is the one born this morning.


Two of the boys.


The other three boys. Don't worry, they will get long beautiful coats.


Hey, where did that white one come from? hmmm.....meeeeekooooooooo

Monday, September 18, 2006

Rosie has her puppies

Rosie spent the night with us in our bedroom. I woke up with a start at 6:00 a.m. to the sound of a dog doing the doggie labor panting. My first thought was "oh my gosh, Rosie's having her puppies". Well, no, she wasn't. She wasn't nesting, wasn't licking herself, wasn't having discharge, her temp wasn't down. This has happened before when I thought a girl was going to have her puppies just because she was panting, but she panted like that for a week. Rosie is just loaded with puppies, so of course she was panting.

An hour later I saw some black-green gunk on the floor. Uh oh, that is not good. In the human obstetrics world that is a medical emergency. For humans that means the baby had a bowel movement while still inside and if the baby were to "breathe" it into his/her lungs it would be really bad. As a former L&D RN (Labor & Delivery Registered Nurse) my first thought was to rush Rosie in for a C/S (Ceserian Section). I had to keep reminding myself that it is different in the doggie world. Although this is not good, it is not necessarily bad. How is that for vague? If the calculations are correct, Rosie is only on day 57 and the puppies would likely not survive if born today. It would not be wise to take her in to have her babies.

I took Rosie with me when I took Bryony and Jill to school. I did not want her unsupervised while I was gone. Plus, I was planning on calling the vet while I was out. Jill's school is halfway to the vet and depending on what the vet said I might go there from her school. No sense coming all the back here first. While out, I called my vet who wasn't due in for another 45 minutes; then I called the vet who gave a talk at our breeders gathering. He specializes in doggie fertility and routinely does C/S. He is really the one I wanted to talk to. He was busy and they transferred me to his voice mail. He made it clear in his message that he may not check his messages until the afternoon, depending on how busy he is. Humf! I didn't feel comfortable waiting that long. I called the animal hospital that took care of Ellie our cleft palate puppy 2 years ago. They are a well known and respected surgery center and ER. That is also where I took Bobby the not decapitated puppy. They said it could be that she is just got stressed and that she might be just fine. They said I could bring her on in, or just watch her to see if it continues. While we were in the car she seemed just fine. We went on home. When we got back home she wouldn't get out of the van. She would not budge. That was odd. I picked her up (no easy task...I think she has 23 huge puppies in her) and carried her inside. I took her on in our bathroom. She didn't want to stay in there. She went in my bedroom and started digging in the carpet. Uh oh....Rosie's gonna have puppies today. I real quick like got everthing ready. I now have kits put together so I only have to grab a bag and some towels and we are ready for puppies.

At 10:45 a.m. a black bag of fluid was hanging out of her. Uh oh...I called the surgery center back and told them I need to bring her in for a C-Section. I'm taking her to the place Ellie used to go. I'm not taking her to my usual vet who did Velvet's C-Section. When Luida and I got Rosie back in the van, Rosie started pushing and the bag of black and green water broke but no puppy came out Uh oh...

I carried her in to the hospital and they took us right back to a room. The ER doc examined her and did an x-ray. She said since we didn't do the progesterone testing to know exactly when Rosie ovulated, it is possible she is due today. The x-ray showed the first puppy was just a little sideways. We had two options, either give her some Pitocin to help give her stronger contractions and possibly push the puppy out, or do a C-section. She said the first puppy the likely problem and once he/she was out the rest will hopefully come out without problems. I said I would like to try one dose of Pitocin and if it didn't work in 15 or 20 minutes (the time it would take for them to get everything ready for a c-section) then I wanted her to have the surgery. There was no need to put her through a surgery if it wasn't absolutely necessary and she just needed to get that first pup out.

11:25 a.m.- one shot of Pitocin (Oxytocin) given.

11:30 a.m.- Female born, cream, stillborn. Her tongue was sticking out a little bit and was green-white. It was obvious she was dead and no need to even try to revive her. The doctor did a quick exam and didn't find anything obviously wrong with her (except that she was dead). She didn't appear to be premature.

Noon - Everything is fine now. The doctor sent us on home to finish the delivery. I was going to carry Rosie out, but she seemed to not mind walking. She is such a good girl.

12:52 p.m.- Male born with no problems. He appears to be a carmel color with a faint white crest on his chest and a white line down his back. He weighs 11.4 ounces.

1:20 pm - Female born. When Luida and I were at the hospital the tech kept telling us, in a nice way, to leave Rosie alone and not to hover. She said Rosie is a good mom, knows what to do, and will be fine. So when this one was born I kept repeating that to myself. When this pup came out I couldn't see anything from where I was sitting. I was trying to stay back. After about a minute I couln't stand it any longer and peered over to see. Uh oh...Rosie did a great job and got off the sack and chewed the cord...but the pup was face down in a puddle of fluids. She was moving around and trying to breathe. Ack! When will I ever learn? I am a hoverer and vow to remain a hoverer unless a mom tells me to go away. Luida worked on the pup for just a few minutes. She was gaspy and raspy. I sent Luida with the pup to the hospital and I stayed with Rosie. They were only gone about 1/2 hour. The pup started crying on the way over to the hospital. The vet did a quick exam and sent them on home. This puppy girl is a deep dark red with what looks like will be a thick F1B wool coat (no, she isn't an F1B but that is the type of coat she has). She is beautiful and I'm keeping her. She weighs 10.4 oz.Girl

3:30 pm - Male Rosie was pushing and pushing and I finally saw a foot sticking out. I reached in (no, not with my whole hand) and found the other foot and pulled and pulled. Out plopped a boy with what appeared to be a long gold-red coat.

4:15 pm - Female - still born and smelly. She came out in the sack that was all black-green. As soon as Rosie opened the sack...peeewwwww... I knew something was wrong. This girl had the very same appearance as the first. The green-white-yellow tongue was sticking out a litle bit and she had obviously been dead for some time.

5:45 p.m. - Male born without difficulty. His coat looks like it has a green hue to it. It also looks like an F1B wool coat. He weighs 13.3 oz.The green boy.

9:14 p.m.- Male born without difficulty. Although it has been several hours since the previous pup, Rosie has been sleeping. With each puppy she seemed to only have a few contractions right before having him/her. She has not been in hard labor much today. Guess that is easy for me to say...of course the labor wasn't hard for me, Rosie is the one in labor. This puppy boy has a straight deep dark red coat. He weighs 12.8 ounces.

10:10p.m.- Male born without problems. Rosie's favorite position to have puppies is standing up. With several of them, including this one, she pushed and he came plopping down right in my hands. This looks like a white puppy and he weighs 13.7 ounces.

Whew! So there you have it. Rosie had 6 beautiful healthy puppies today. She has one girl and 5 boys.

Rosie seems to be feeling pretty good.
Rosie's puppies.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Rosie comes home

Rosie's family was very sad today when they had to bring her back to have her puppies. They will miss her while she is here. She isn't due for a week, but just like with humans, there is a chance she will have them early. I like having them back early anyway to help give them a chance to settle in here and get comfortable here again. I will get her used to the area where she will have her puppies, will trim her belly, and just generally hang out with her.

Rick and Bryony came back from camping around noon today. They have been gone since Friday evening.

Rick and I moved the computer desk and everything out to the other side of the living room so I can finish that last little area of the floor. I am determined to finish tomorrow so we can have our house back.

I went ahead and checked Rosie's temperature. No puppies likely in the next 12 to 24 hours.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Buddy goes home

Bright and early at 7:00 a.m. Chloe came over. She is a little dood I
got from another breeder last year. She is just as sweet, friendly, and
smart as can be. However, she...well she got hit by the uuuugly stick.
Now I shouldn't say that. I take that back. She isn't ugly. She is
loaded with lots of personality. Her mommy loves her dearly. So anyway,
why am I saying all this? Chloe got spayed today. She just didn't make
the Lincoln Manor breeder cut. I think her guardian mom is secretly
glad. Now she gets to keep her pampered little girl and not have
to worry about that guardian or breeding stuff. So she was spayed
today (Chloe, not her mom), released from her guardian contract, and signed over to her
no-longer-a-guardian mom. She
really is cute, just not for a Doodle. She looks like a dachshund mix.
Her neighbor just loves her and wants a dog that looks and acts just
like her. I think I'm feeling guilty for calling her names.

Duchess
was spayed and released from her guardian contract today too. She did a
good job and gave us a litter of cute sweet little puppies. I'm sad
that I won't get to see her again except for at romps. She did not bark
one single bark while at our house this time. Rick and Bryony took
her back home on their way camping this evening. I was so relieved to
not have to make that drive again but sad to see her go.

Buddy
flew home to the Denver area this evening. I used a different airline
this time because my favorites didn't have a direct flight but this one
did. I had to try really hard not to laugh when the cargo guy froze
when I handed him cash. He had to make a phone call to see if he could
take cash. Thank goodness I thought to grab my checkbook right before I
left the house just in case. Turns out he could accept cash. Just
thought that was kind of funny. I was so sad to leave Buddy there. He and
his sister Petula are so different. When I left her at the airport she
was just happy as a clam playing with the bully stick in her crate.
Poor Buddy, I could hear him complaining. He was neither happy, nor a
clam. Have you noticed that my airport entries are not long anymore? Nothing beats experience. I have learned so much the hard way that now I know the little things to do/not to do to avoid problems. Now that I said this, you know something is going to go wrong the next time.

Josie's puppies are growing up so quickly. Today I weighed them and gave them their first dose of deworming medicine. They average 2 pound 6 ounces. The smallest guy is 2 pounds 2 ounces, and the biggest guy is 2 pounds 10 ounces. They toddle around now and are starting to play. They are so cute. This is one of the best looking litters. They all have great coats. There is not an ugly one in the bunch.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Today I went up to Fort Wayne to get Duchess and bring her back here. It should
have only taken a little over an hour each way. There was so much
traffic that it took 2 1/2 hours just to get up there. Man, it was bad.

Shortly after we got back, Princessa's new family came to take her home. It was love at first site. DaVinci, Duchess, Buddy, and Princessa were all in the back yard. When the family went out there, they pretty much skimmed past the others and zeroed in on Princessa.
She could have been covered in diamonds and they couldn't have raved
any more about her. See, there is a perfect for every doodle and Princessa
found her perfect family. src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6d730b3127cce8ce9239d676e00000016108Qcs2jdw2ag>
What is not to love about this face? Her hair is getting longer every day. I
think she is going to have a nice full long wavy coat, can't wait to see.

Duchess and Buddy sure had fun playing together. This all
worked out perfectly. I was so worried about what was going to happen
when Princessa or Buddy would go home and leave the other all alone. As it is working out, Princessa
left this evening, and Buddy is leaving tomorrow. He only has one night
alone and it just so happens that Duchess is here for that night. I
ended up sleeping in the recliner in the living room with Duchess and
Buddy sleeping on top of me. Well, I should say I rested. I didn't get
much sleep. I took them out to potty at midnight before going to bed
(going to chair?). Shortly after that Josie barked so I took her out. A
bit later she barked so I figured she wanted in the living room with
us. Then she barked because she wanted up in the chair with us (sorry,
no room), then I took them all out again at 3:30. At one point Buddy
barked because I rolled over on him (oops, sorry Buddy). I ended up
getting up for the day at about 6:00 a.m.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Princessa found a family. She is moving a couple towns over.Princessa's family just loves how her hair sticks up.

Today was spent getting Buddy and Princessa ready to go home.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Today must have been "National Call or Email Jane To Inquire About a Pup" day. It was great but a little too busy. But it really was great being too busy like that.

Buddy went to the vet today for his final check up before flying home Friday. He checked out just fine, nothing wrong with this puppy.

Isn't this little guy too cute? He is a Josie/DaVinci puppy boy.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Busy busy as usual. The phone kept ringing and emails kept coming in from people interested in a puppy. A family was scheduled to drive all the way from Chicago today to see Josie's puppies. I was really kind of glad when they emailed to postpone. All the living room furniture is still shoved to one side while I'm redoing the floor. This is such a big long project and took most of my day (when I wasn't answering the phone or email).

I did manage to take a few pictures today.
A few from Josie/DaVinci's litter:
Louis, has a family waiting on him.
Mira has a family waiting on her.
bigger boy

The last two from Duchess/Rusty's litter:
Buddy was chosen today. He will fly to his new family in Denver on Friday.

Princessa says: Hey! What about me? Don't leave me here all alone.

Here, go read my Sister Teri's blog
entry for today. She has a couple links to pictures of her bruises from her accident. She also has pictures of the socks she is knitting.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

We worked on the living room floor much of today.
It's a Doodle Romp Day.

Today was a very full and busy day. I got up early and cleaned both puppy areas. Then gave the Duchess' pups, Buddy and Princessa,
baths. I also had to do Jill's hair. I so did not have time for that.
It takes forever. Here, look at this seemingly simple 'do.Seems like no big deal, right? That took two hours to take the
braids out, wash and condition, comb out, then re braid. When you see
those cute little girls with all the braids sticking out all over, just
know it took a long time. Anyway, I just ended up taking the lazy way
out that I will regret later. I just took down the braids and left her
hair down. Her hair looks cute for a short time when it is down, but man, it
will takeforever to comb out and braid.
Let's see, where were we?
I bathed everybody including Jill and a couple of the new baby puppies,
did Jill's hair... oh yeah, I ran over to pick up Noodles (BrideGroom).Could not get a good picture of BrideGroom.
Mera's family brought
her over.Mera must be getting ready to start her cycle. The other dogs
(including Tucker the red boy) would not leave her bum alone.

I scurried around and made business cards, ironed some transfers on to
T-shirts and bandannas, loaded up the grooming table and some toys and other door prizes to give away.
We
left for Indianapolis for the romp at noon. This is a romp that we are
hosting so we had to be there on time. We got there in time to set up
the grooming table before the first romper, Quincey, arrived. He was
one other one there for about 15 minutes and I was so afraid nobody
else was going to show. I need not have worried. A whole bunch of
people all showed up at the same time. There were several families that
showed up then just to meet me and see our doodles and learn more about
them. I'm afraid I wasn't able to spend as much time with each of them
as I would have liked. The same goes with all the families. I would
have like to have chatted with each of thedood's families a little more.

One
of Holly's pups that we called Jackson and is now called Montana was
there. He is a really big boy. Here is was at the last romp,
before getting shaved down.
and now here he is today. Sometimes adood just needs a good
shave-down. Montana just loves playing with his friend Woody theGoldendoodle. At every romp those two seek each other out and play and wrestle and have a great time. Woody belongs to Carol, from the Zoo.

Do you remember my "decapitated" puppy? He was the one that had a band around his neck that went through the skin.
Bobby then

He is now beautiful and healthy and wonderful. His family named
him Pumpkin because their little boy, Jack, said he is like a 'lil piece of pumpkin pie. Isn't that so sweet?

Coco was there. She is the girl we kept from Zion (Leather) and Bridegroom (Noodles) litter. She lives in a guardian home.
Coco as a baby.

Coco today. She is the one on the left. Tucker (aka Mr Brady, aka
Shawnee) is the one on the right. He is our future stud puppy from
Rosie's litter, Pumpkin's brother.

"Mr Blue Bones" is from Velvet/Koby's 4-5-05 litter.
Here he is as a baby.

His name is Dexter. I have to admit that when he first walked in I
just knew he was a Velvet/Koby puppy, but I didn't recognize just who he was. He is one big beautiful boy.

Here
are three guardian mom, one new mom, plus one prospective mom.
It was great. There were about 25 doods and a bunch of people there. They weren't all there at the same time.
It
was great for me to be able to see the guardian dogs that I don't get
to see that often. I was able to make the sad decision to neuter one of
the boys. Rascal, a Zion/Bridegroom puppy, just doesn't have a great
coat. I love his shape and histemperament is wonderful. However, his
coat is a bit funky looking like Deni and Zion's. A girl can get away
with that, but a stud has to be to die for. The stud has to be able to
correct all the girl's flaws. A good stud will likely father many more
litters than what a single girl will have.

Just as we were
getting ready to leave, a car came zipping up. A family drove all the
way from Chicago to see us. They got stuck in traffic. They ended up
coming back to our house and putting a deposit on a Josie/DaVinci puppy.

After the family left I ran Noodles (BrideGroom) home, and Mera's family came to pick her up.

Oh hey, I almost forgot to mention Tinkerbelle. She is our mini Goldendoodle that lives in a guardian home. Way back a couple of years ago I got this little F4B mini Goldendoodle from Rockytop
in TN. Her name is Bella. I placed Bella in a guardian family, my
friend Connie. Well Connie and her husband decided they wanted to start
breedingGoldendoodles so we worked something out. They ended up getting an F4B mini (17 pound) Goldendoodle stud. They bred them together and I got Tinkerbelle, their puppy girl. Tink
is now a year old and had her health testing done last week. This
morning the vet's office called to let me know the results of thePennhip
. The results are good and that means she can breed next time she comes
in heat. Well, not even three minutes her guardian mom called to report
thatTink just now started her cycle. Wow!