And There Was One

Adam went home this evening. He is the puppy I chose for the family who won the Auction for the Dave Thomas Foundation Celebrity Cook-Off children's bureau thingie. They have two young children. The dad came over before Christmas and took a video of the puppy, gave that along with puppy supplies to the children on Christmas morning. Once the kids realized what that all meant, they were soooo excited. They were equally excited this evening when they came to pick the puppy up. They were so cute.

Now there is poor Ruffi and Chrissy.

Kind of a crappy Christmas

The poor puppies, I didn't get to see much of them today. Last night I went in to work at 6:00 p.m. then got off at 6:30 this morning, ran home to let the doods out and grab the santa presents, ran to Rick's house and put the presents under the tree, then lay down to take a quick (and I do mean quick) nap. The girls were up soon and we did the Christmas thing. After that I went home, took a nap, then got up and did some house work before going back to spend the evening with Rick (only because of the girls) and the girls.

Christmas shopping

Wow, would you look at the date. It is Christmas Eve. I really need to log off the computer and go start/do my Christmas shopping. I'm working tonight so I need to get it done so I can have time to nap before going in.

My Lincoln Manor email is not working. I haven't received any emails through it for several weeks now. To send an email to me, please us one of my personal addresses: rstanger4@insightbb.com or millykimbrough@yahoo.com

Have I mentioned how much I hate the crowds at Christmas shopping? Man...maybe I should go do more back entries here...then I will do the shopping.

Getting another Dood

I'm getting another adult female F1 Labradoodle! I'm so excited! She is coming from another breeder (well, of course), is completely health tested with most excellent hips, house trained, a proven breeder/good mommy, and is sweet. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? She is coming after breeding with their mini Poodle boy, so she will be pregnant (hopefully). She is in heat now and will be coming after their Christmas embargo is lifted. They have mated these two before and got all chocolates and creams that grew to weigh between 25-30 pounds. Sounds perfect to me. You know the best part of all? This is one of those creative financing deals that is costing me nothing. I have something she wants and she has something I want. This is a perfect arrangement. After she gets here I'll tell you who she is, show pictures, and tell you from where she came.

Snow doods

The doods are having the best time playing out in the snow. Did you know Velvet loves the snow? She absolutely hates the rain and hates getting wet...but loves the snow. Just look at herShe is usually so prim and proper. Here she looks like a kid with white cake smeared all over her face.

Chrissy loves it so much I had a hard time getting a decent picture of her. Here she is just flying around Here though, here is a really cute picture

Let the potty training begin

It is time for Chrissy and the other two pups, Ponderosa (now named Ruffi by his new family) and Adam to start on potty training. They got to go out in the snow for the first time today. They were a little hesitant at first. Ruffi quickly got into it and loved it. Too bad, poor pup, he is going to move to San Francisco right after the first of the year. Here he is Ruffi is the darker one They are venturing out to where Velvet is
They all managed to pee/poo while they were out there. Yeah! That much less to clean out of their litter box.

This afternoon before I left for my *coff* friend's house, I put the pups in separate crates. I was gone for about 5 hours. When I got home, I took each out of their crate, picked them up and carried them outside. They all went right away. Adam and Ruffi had not messed at all in their crates, Chrissy had a bit of loose stool in hers and I'm sure she couldn't help it. She has had a lot of stress lately, leaving her mom and litter mates and home, flying to another country, eating new food, etc.... loose stool is to be expected. It does not mean anything is wrong. But anyway, I think these guys will get the potty training quickly.

Scary airport trip

That was one of the scariest airport trips I've ever had. This morning I took three pups to the airport so they could go home. Oh by the way, it has only taken me what...4 years now....to figure how to do the airport thing. I pick a day and time and let the families know when it is and I take the pups together for only one trip instead of seven separate trips. So anyway, I ended up staying up all night getting them ready. At 3:30 a.m. I fixed Jill up in a bed in the van, loaded the pups, and away we went. It didn't take too long until I started getting really tired. By the time I got to 465 (that is the main big bypass in Indianapolis with lots of merging and scary driving stuff that I hate)I had the radio on and was singing and talking to myself and trying all the tricks to stay awake. Several times I actually nodded off and snapped awake in a cold sweat. Man, that is scary. It is as bad as driving drunk. We made it to the airport safe, by the grace of God.
There was a family that showed up at the cargo department right after I did. They helped hold and play with the puppies while I was doing the paperwork. Two of the pups got to fly together in the same crate. They took the long way to New York...via Huston! At least they had each other for company. They didn't make one tiny peep when I put in the crate and left them. They are going to live right across the street from each other and will get to see and play with each other all the time. I love it when that happens. The other poor puppy though, I felt sorry for him being all alone. He is going to San Diego so I don't feel too terribly sorry for him. He has a bunch of kids anxiously awaiting his arrival.
By the time we were finished I was good and awake but afraid I'd get sleepy again. We went to the convenience store at the airport and I got one of those little bottles of 4 hour energy drinks. I drank that and lay (Mom-that doesn't look right. Is that the correct form of lay?) back and rested until I felt the effects kick in. The trip back was so much better. I was fine until the last 3 or so miles when I started getting really sleepy again. We did make it home in one piece. Now we just have Velvet, Chrissy, and the other Rosie pups at home.

*editors note* I'm going to work my way back on these late entries

The trip to get Chrissy

Chrissy, my new resident puppy, was born in Canada. Her mom, Deni, is co-owned with a breeder up there and that is where she lives. The only flight to get her from there to Indianapolis would involve Chrissy to be in the crate for 16+ hours. Yuck, that is not acceptable. So, she had to fly in to Columbus, OH. I worked the night before 6:00 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. and had to work again that night. There was no possible way I could work, then drive 7 hours, then work again with a clear head. Face it, who wants to be taken care of by a nurse who hasn't slept in days? Sister Teri to the rescue. My sister drove to Columbus, picked up the paperwork, drove an hour to the customs office to have done whatever needed done, drove back to the airport and got Chrissy, then brought her back to me. What a wonderful sister I have. She said Chrissy did not make one little peep and was a perfect puppy. Of course she was, she is Velvet's grandpup. I am so excited to have her.

Kendra's my new best friend!!

Look what I got today!!!

Introducing: Noble Vestal's Surprise Christmas Gift (Chrissy)
Isn't she so cute and cuddly and adorable? Yes of course she is. She is Velvet's granddaughter and I'm absolutely thrilled to have her. Remember Deni? She is Velvet's first puppy she had here, the litter with only one pup. Chrissy's parents are Deni and Koby (who also used to live here).

So what's going on? What is this all about? Well, I'm delighted to tell you all about it. First I need to confess, and I'm sure you never noticed this before, there has been a time or two *coff* or ten that I may have alluded to being not very happy with another breeder. Please notice I never have named or given any identifying information on who I've been peeved with (and there is more than one, by the way). I've written just enough that those involved knew who/what I was talking about. I've been very outspoken when I've been upset, now it is time to be very outspoken about being happy.

Way back many moons ago I gave Deni to Kendra. I was in over my head with the number of dogs I had in my home and was desperate for relief. Kendra just happened to come along just when I needed help the most. She had a genuine interest in the doods and asked really good questions. Deni might not win a beauty contest, but she has good genes behind her and has terrific test results. With lots of hard work, research, and networking, Kendra has built up a very success Australian Labradoodle breeding business with Deni as the foundation. Kendra's website I'm pretty proud of that. Anyway, as part of the deal I was supposed to get a puppy from one of Deni's litters. I had kept a female from the one litter of Deni's that I had. She ended up having a litter of 11, and I kept back one male and one female. When Kendra bred Deni, she used Koby as the stud. That is who I used with her too. Once when Kendra called me with a possible puppy to give me (it was definatly a puppy, the possiblity was I could have her), I declined saying I would not be able to use a Koby puppy in my program. I already had 2 Deni/Koby grandpups and didn't need another. I remember that conversation clear as a bell. She offered, I declined. We talked about it a couple more times, but I didn't need/want a Deni/Koby pup. Well then bad luck rolled around....I ended having to spay/neuter both of my pups from that line. The boy ended up with a less than ideal coat (the boys need to be to die for to use as studs), and the girl had only fair hips (I don't want to go down that road again). So....I lost the Deni line and was really upset about that. I was beating myself up over not having taken a pup, but I'm not a psychic so how could I have known? Although I never did get a pup, really Kendra did offer so what more was she supposed to have done? She offered, I said "no", and that could have been that. Contract completed. A month or two ago Kendra called to let me know the litter that Deni just had would be the last time she could give me a pup,and would I be interested in one? I tell you, I about jumped through the phone to kiss her. I was so excited to be able to get that line back. I think Kendra was a little bit surprised by my reaction, but she was very gracious. She offered and followed through. I got the puppy today.

For a brief recap: When Kendra offered a return pup in the past I flat out said "No, I have no use for a Deni/Koby puppy. I already have that." That did let her off the hook. She rose above that and continued to offer. When I did accept, she could have given me the last one, or the ugly one. She didn't. She went way above and beyond and gave the the pick of the litter. This puppy is perfect, the coat is perfect, the head is perfect, the temperament is to die for. This is definately a wonderful breeding quality Australian multigen Labradoodle puppy. I love this puppy.

I would like to publicly shout from the moutain tops my thanks to Kendra for giving me this wonderful puppy.

behind

Hey, where am I and what am I doing? Man, it has been so long since I've updated, I almost forgot my username and password. The puppies are cute and will start to go home next weekend. Bryony and Jill are doing well. Rick is getting serious with his new girlfriend (seriously, this is a good thing). I've been at my new (old) job for several weeks and love it. I'm having the time of my life dating. If life were any better I'd need to split in two. I'll go back and put in updates.