Fading puppies

Ashes' puppies are starting to fade, one by one. They have never been as big as Mera's pup at the correlating age. Now some of them are losing weight. Lester was the largest at birth and is now about half the size as the rest. He is a baggie of bones. Ellie, the chocolate one, is not as small as Lester, but is smaller than the others. She has taken a turn for the worse this evening. I'm not sure she is going to make it through the night. If there is something seriously wrong with these guys that is going to be a life long problem, I'm not sure I should interfere with nature. I keep thinking of the original Ellie and of Baby Junior. Should I save them, should I not. I wrapped Ellie in a blankie to keep her warm and gave her to Bryony to hold while I cleaned the pup areas. Bry called me over. Ellie was dying, no question about it. Aaagghhhh! I couldn't stand it and sprang in to action. She responded as if by magic to the corn syrup, fluids, and syringe fed formula. That means she was having nothing more than a hypoglycemic reaction (her blood sugar level was dropping too low - she was too dehydrated and starving). She was up walking around within minutes. I'll take her to the vet in the morning.

The Retirement Party

Whoo hoo! Aren't you glad your retirement party isn't like Mera's and Polly's? They got spayed today. No more babies for them. One of Mera's babies got spayed today. There was such a huge difference in how they acted this evening. The puppy, as usual for puppies, was playing and was only a little slower and quieter than usual. Mera and Polly both just were lying around and trying not to move. Mera's family picked her up this evening. I gave them all her paperwork and now she is their forever. Mera is our first puppy who completed her original guardian dog contract by having three litters of puppies. *sniff

Still sick

I was still sick and in bed most of the day today too. My sister took and picked up Jill from school. Somebody came to clean and take care of the pups. I did manage to go get the puppies from the vet's. I about collapsed by the time I got home. Someday I'll get new pictures, but not today.

Mack Truck

Three more of Mera's puppies were spayed/neutered today. I dropped them
off in the morning and told them I'd be back in the afternoon. Shortly
after I got home, oh man, a ton of bricks fell on me or something. I
got really sick really quick. So didBryony . My neck and throat hurt
and everything hurt. Even the air hurt my skin. I had to go to bed I
was miserable. My new helper came over to clean and play with pups,
thank goodness. I managed to crawl out of bed long enough to call the
vet and arrange to pick up the pups tomorrow, and called my sister for
her to pick up Jill from school. I remember taking a few calls but only
vaguely remember what they were about. A couple were puppy inquiries. I
hope I didn't sound stupid or drugged. I'm only taking Ibuprofen, nothing potent.

Accountant

Yeah we've found an accountant. We have just not had good luck with accountants. Hopefully this one will work out. They have dogs too.

I heard from Liuda today. She has returned from Moldova and is back in town. She wants to come visit and see the puppies, but I bet she won't be working for me. I heard through the grapevine that for some reason her new husband doesn't want his beautiful well educated wife cleaning poo for a living. Huh, go figure.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day for Mera and Polly. They get to officially retire.

Velvet and the girls

Look at these pictures I too last evening.
That is Velvet and three of her daughters from three different litters. Chamois is on the left, Ashes in the middle, and Mera is on the right. I love these girls. They are so sweet and have so many of the same mannerisms.

Our big doodle romp

We had a doodle romp today. Bryony and I have been working the past couple of days a little at a time on digging out the van. We finally got it done this morning. Quite a few people called/emailed saying they are not able to make the romp due to the snow. Honestly, I wouldn't have gone if I weren't the hostess.
Bryony and two of her friends went with me to man the desk and check people in. We also took Velvet, Mera, and Mera's puppies.
Here is a video clip that attendees Cat and Chris did. They said I could put the link here. Thank you Cat and Chris. Here is a little disclaimer. I don't know for how long this link will work. So, if the video doesn't start with "Indianapolis Doodle Romp..." then it isn't the correct video. Indy Doodle Romp
I was amazed at all the people that showed up. I really thought maybe only two or three of my guardian families would be there and we would spend the time getting good pictures and grooming our doods. No so. It was busy. I felt badly that I didn't get to talk with everybody that I wanted to. Sorry Ally and Liz, didn't mean to ignore you.
Somehow, as usual, the doods managed to get all wet. When will I learn to take pictures first thing and not last thing.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
Steve is a North American Retriever from Rosie's second litter. He is such a good boy.
This is Francie and Tucker. They are littermates from Rosie's first litter.
Chevy and Tucker, two of our working stud boys. They get along splendidly, even though Tucker is in the middle of a job.
Remind me next time to assign someone the job of taking pictures for me during the romp.

More Snow

The bad news is we are still snowed in at our house. We live at the end of a dead in road. The good news is Chamois' guardian family is not snowed in. I made some last minute arrangements and Chamois went to Tucker's guardian for a honeymoon. Thank goodness for wonderful Guardian families. 20 minutes after Chamois' human mom dropped her off, Tucker's human mom called me to report they were doing it. This was the first time for both of them. They didn't waste a bit of time. She must have been ripe and ready. I'm excited about have Tucker babies. Oh, yes, and of course excited about Chamois babies. I can't wait to see her. I haven't seen her in forever.
Chamois is a Velvet/Koby girl. She is one of the smallest we've had from those two. She weighs only 43 pounds.

Tucker is from Rosie's first litter. He weighs 50 pounds and is a great boy. This isn't the best picture of him. He is all wet here. He finished his health testing just in time to snag this job. His PennHip scores are .41/.41. These two should have a litter with 1/2 black and 1/2 chocolate.

Polly was supposed to go the vet today for her rabies immunization. I had to cancel because I'm still snowed in. I did give Polly her regular vaccinations, plus de-worming, plus, intra nasal Bordetella, plus I micro chipped her. She is ready to go except for the rabies shot and being spayed.

Snow

We are still snowed in and still not going anywhere. All of us are home, even Rick. His work arranged for everybody to work at home for the next few days.

This means Chamois is still not getting bred. Do you think it would be a good idea for me to have the stud owner collect and ship the semen to Chamois' guardian home? Then I could talk them through doing Artificial Insemination to her. No, maybe not.

Let it snow let it snow

Now what? We are snowed in but this is when Chamois was supposed to go to Ohio to breed. She isn't going anywhere today.

We are just hanging out here will all our doods. Polly is going nuts wanting to see the puppies. She did manage to get in with Mera's pups and fed them once. She also pushed her way in to Ashes' area. Ashes didn't growl but she did nudge Polly out.

Polly the poor puppy mill breeding dog - IDOG to the rescue

I didn't realize it, but there are puppy mills near here. There is a
small rescue group in the next town over that has an arrangement with
one of the puppy mills. Instead of just shooting and killing the
breeding dogs when they are finished with them, they will call therescue
group who comes and takes the dog(s) and finds them a new home. Did you
catch that? The puppy mills around here usually kill their breeding
dogs when they are done with them. Nice huh? So, this mill called this
rescue group who went over and picked up this breeding dog.src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc33b3127cce81de13578f2500000015108Qcs2jdw2ag>Poor
thing is scared.
The chick that picked her up told me that as far as
puppy mills goes, this is one of the better ones. Keep in mind, that is
all relative. This place treats the dogs as live stock. They are well
fed, medicated, and the environment is kept clean. They are kept in
cages with part of the floor wire. That way when they "go" the urine
and feces falls through the wires and on the floor beneath. That way
they are not forced to live in their waste. She also said all the dogs
looked healthy. She got to see this dog's pups and said they appeared
to be around 9 weeks old and all looked healthy. That is all good news.
The bad news is that although the physical needs were met, the
emotional needs were ignored. This poor girl is scared. She is also 4
years old and has never had a name. Isn't that sad? I'm working with
IDOGto help rescue this girl. The rescue group who pulled this dog from the mill, called IDOG Rescue to see if we could find a home for her. So, Jo and Shannon, the IDOG
rescue heroines called me to see if I could help out. I talked with the
person who has the dog and we met someplace and I took the dog. This
poor dog needs a name so I thought Buttercup would be a good one for
her. The minute we walked through the door Jill started calling her
Polly. That name stuck and is what we are calling her now. She is afraidy
cat but doesn't act like she has been beat. I was really afraid of how
she and Ashes would get along. Nothing to fear, they are all getting
along very well. Polly is especially interested in all the puppies and
wants to get to see them so badly.
Here is another picture of
her.src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc33b3127cce81de13500e1200000016108Qcs2jdw2ag>Polly
came from an Amish puppy mill.src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc33b3127cce81de13518f2300000016108Qcs2jdw2ag>Her
inner Lab really shows.

A couple of families came to see the puppies today.
Ginger has a family now.

Sophie, formerly known as Smarties, still has a family waiting for her.

Guess the name theme

Today was a big day for Ashes' puppies. They got their first dose of de-worming, their intra nasal immunization, their micro chip, and they got named. You get 50 bonus points if you can guess the name theme.
Lester
Holloway
Mary
Sandra
Calvin, hanging around with gooder 'ole Auntie Mera
Brenda
Rose
Pearl
Ellie is not part of the name theme.

Need a hint?

Think TV Land

Robbie

Do you remember Robbie?src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6cc31b3127cce8ff437235de000000015108Qcs2jdw2ag>He
is from our very first litter of North American Retrievers. He is from
Rosie's 2nd litter.
...anyway, here he is nowsrc=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc32b3127cce81c44dc8d7bf00000016108Qcs2jdw2ag>src=http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc32b3127cce81c44dcd568a00000016108Qcs2jdw2ag>Can
you hear me kicking myself for not keeping him?

Chamois is Shabbi

Chamois is a Velvet/Koby daughter that is living in a guardian home. Her guardian family calls her Shabbi. She just started her cycle today. She has a shedding hair coat. She is going to marry Baby Grace's husband, Hoppi.

Sweet like Candy

This little girl is one of my favorites. She is the littlest in Mera's litter. Her name is Dots

This is Starburst.

There are eight puppies in this litter. Their names are: Dots, Twizzler, Licorice, Smarties, Clark, Skittles, Starburst, MikenIke. Hmmm, not difficult to figure out that theme. I'll have to make Ashes' theme a bit more difficult.