Look what we got yesterday

Look what we got yesterday! This is a North American Retriever (1/2 Labradoodle 1/2 Goldendoodle) we are temporarily guardian home for Helene of Westwood Labradoodles.
getting ready for going in her crate at night.
she looks so much like her new sister and best bud, our Chihuahua puppy.


We can't decide on a name. I'm thinking about:
Harriet Tubman (Harri), or
Florance Nightingale (Florie), or
Margaret Chase Smith (Maggie or Peggie), or
???
What do you think?

Indy is on the mend

Indy's mom sent me this note today:

"Indy is doing great! We brought her home yesterday after 3 days in the doggy hospital. They had to remove her spleen in the operation..but my husband does not have a spleen...so I guess she does not need it much. She also had a heart arrthyrma..I guess due more to the removal of the spleen.

She is on heavy meds and is starting to eat again. So every thing looks good. We took her for a walk this afternoon and she actually pulled on her leash.

We just want you all to be aware of the symptoms...because she did not cry or whimper...the vet said she was in a great deal of pain...she is a tough dog!! So beware of the symptoms and take your dog to vet fast if you see anything out of the ordinary!"


Thank you Indy's mom for keeping us up to date and for the heads up.

From out of the woodwork

Some of my past puppies have been writing to me these last couple of weeks. It has been so nice. I feel like a grandma sitting here in the quiet house in the morning hours looking at pictures and smiling while the rest of the family is still asleep. This is who we have heard from:

This is Beau, from Tinker Belle and Da Vinci's 11-16-2006 litter .
Beau is a North American Retriever. Tinker Belle is a Goldendoodle and Da Vinci is a Labradoodle. (after seeing how well my north american retrievers turned out, other breeders around the country and canada are breeding them now)(oh, since i was first i got to choose the name)(i'm proud)

Next we have Oski from Velvet's first big litter with us. Oski is one of prettiest dogs ever.
Baby Oski
5 year old Oski. Man...can you believe my babies are 5 years old already? I can't. At 82 pounds, Oski is one of the largest Lincoln Manor puppies.

Do you remember Ashes and Meeko's litter with 2 of the puppies that got so sick? Lester was a Puppy Junior that the vet thought was going to die. Ellie also got really sick but is perfectly healthy now. Their mom sent pictures but I don't know how to convert that format so I can post it here. This is the update: Lester is nearly 60 pounds and has a tight curl coat. He is gentle and loves to bark at horses when riding in the car. He is a lazy-butt and won't get up in the morning. Ellie is 52 pounds. Her coat is much more wavy and soft. She has a TON of energy and loves to bark at mailboxes when riding in the car. They simply adore each other. They are both very bright and can occasionally out-smart us. Though the picture doesn't show it, Lester's eyes are pure black, Ellie's eyes are a lovely shade of light chocolate. We appreciate all the care you gave to them as babies. They continue to be loved and spoiled on a daily basis! What would we do without our dogs!!
Clancy is Ellie and Lester's littermate who moved to the desertHe is 77 pounds and doing well now. He did have a kinked colon, but it worked itself out.

Jake, aka The Professor, is from Mera and DaVinci's second litter. He went to school and is going to get a job as a part time job as a therapy dog. He was one of the last in the litter to be chosen...because...well don't tell or his family please...he wasn't one of the most beautiful pups in the litter. Well just look at him now

We have also heard from some of the pups in Lacey's most recent litter.

I do love the updates you send, keep 'em coming.

from breeder to guardian

I'm going to be a temporary guardian for another breeder. I'm really excited. I'm getting a female parti, brown/white/, North American Retriever puppy. She is so cute. I love the North American Retrievers. They are 1/2 Labradoodle and 1/2 Goldendoodle.

Happy terrible birthday Indy

Today is Andria and Koby's 4-15-2005 litter's birthday.
We heard from Josie She is doing very well.

We also heard from IndyShe didn't have such a great birthday. She had Canine Bloat. This is from her family: "Indy (Andria and Koby) 4/15/05 was taken to the hospital yesterday diagnosed with Canine Bloat. We caught it in time. She was operated on last night and they corrected the problem and also took out her spleen. The symptoms were dry heaves, constant pacing, lethargic, she would not sit or lay down and was disoriented. In case your want to contact her siblings or if any other dogs have these symptoms, please let them know to get them to the vet right away. We caught it in time but if we had waited a day she would have been gone." "That is the stomach flip. It seems like we caught it in time. Her symptoms were typical, and if you look up canine bloat on the internet, theres a lot of information. There is also a possibility that it could be common to siblings. According to a Purdue study, this will happen to one of every twenty five susceptible dogs, those being dogs with large chests. That includes retrievers and standard poodles.
The good thing is, shes improving. We'll keep you informed."

Wow that is scary. Please pass the word out.

What do I do?

What do people with biPolar that are finally medicated and somewhat rational do? Do I go back and apologize to everyone and make ammends? Is there like a 12 step bipolar program? Do people with epilepsy apologize for having seizures? Do diabetics apologize when they are hypoglycemic? This isn't the same thing, or is it? No it is not the same. We have to be able to control ourselves from doing irritional and stupid things. Medication can do wonders for that. I supposed the trick is to know there is something wrong. If we don't know it is broken we won't fix it. I had no clue I was bipolar until Rick told me a couple of weeks ago. He called me a bipolar...ummm I don't remember what all he said. It hurt deeply, but also got me thinking. ...this doesn't have a thing to do with doodles so I will stop....

Peanut Butter started her period today. I would love to breed her to a tiny poodle for Poochies. Anybody want a Chihuahua in a few months? I have to say that I love me some Doodles...but chihuahua are ever so much easier to breed and raise.

BiPolar

I've been going to an intensive evening therapy program and have been diagnosed with Bi Polar. Hmmm...whodda thunk that? That makes 2 (out of 3) of my siblings and me that have it.

Bridge

This has been an extremely emotionally rough week for me. I thought about driving off a bridge on the way home today. Mom talked me in to making a phone call for help and Michelle took me to a psych crisis center.

Today is Bryony's 17th birthday. Happy birthday HunBun I love you!

Is this The End?

Now what do I do? Do I make an end of the diary entry? I've been thinking on this for a long time and decided not to. As long as I have Velvet it won't be the end. Plus, I do have more paperwork to complete. I need to make booklets for all the guardian dogs and officially sign over the dogs to the families. Plus...well writing in a diary is therapeutic for me. Since I stopped being controversial and stopped making regular entries not many people read it anymore. That means I don't have to be afraid of what I write.

The last Lincoln Manor Puppy goes home

This morning I got up bright and early before the dawn lights and took the puppies to the airport. We have a new airport that is farther away. The cargo is at the old one and I was happy knowing I wouldn't have to drive to the new one. Well, I was driving along listening to the radio and contemplating making a final diary entry when I found myself half way to the new airport. If I was a cursing kind of woman I would have said a curse word. There was no way of turning around and once I actually got to the new airport I still couldn't just turn around. I had to actually go all the way around the new airport and curve back to the highway and drive to the old one. I wanted to call the cargo area but didn't want to stop and take the time. I hurried...and made it. Of course they gave me a bit of a hard time and also almost didn't accept Harley's new crate. The puff of this head hair touched the top of the crate and they said he was a bit crowded. I was practically holding my breath, and they did accept him. Whew...bye bye Harley have a good life. He is going to a family with 3 children and the father is a youth pastor.
Now on to Bernie. Bernie is actually scheduled to come back at 3:00 pm today. I ran on over to another airline that accepts walk-ins and they were able to get him on a flight right away. It has a longer layover than I would like, but it is shorter total time than Harley's and is acceptable. Bye bye Bernie...have a good life. Oh man....that was the last puppy ever....that is truly sad. I'm sad. I almost cried. If I was a crying type of woman I would have cried. I wanted to go back and give Bernie extra hugs and pets and squeezes and let him lick my face, but I didn't.

We went to the pet supply store today to get the crates to ship Harley and Barnie home in. We also got a few other things. It cost almost $200, man! At this rate I'll be paying these people to take the puppies. That is how it goes. I know it at this point. I've been doing this for 6 years now.

Harley and Bernie went to the vet today for a thorough check up and to get a health certificate for their flights home. Harley weighs 23 pounds and Bernie weighs 25 pounds. They are big boys. It is funny how they are so much bigger than the pups from Lacey and DaVinci's 2nd litter. It cost over $100! Man, I was not a happy camper. I surely do miss my old vet in Chesterfield. Today's trip was mainly for the health certificates for the flights. They didn't give shots or anything like that. I already gave them. My old vet charges $10 for the certificates, this one charged $25 each, plus over $25 each for the check up. Oh, well, it is her business and she can charge whatever she wants. It is so nice because We can walk to it instead of a long drive. She is also the one that diagnosed Peanut and didn't charge nearly what she could have for that one. I guess it all evens out.

I spent quite a bit of time on the phone trying to get their flights organized so I would have to make only 1 trip to the airport, they would have direct flights, and it would involve no driving through rush hour for the families picking them up. The most important is direct flights, the other would just be bonus. No such luck. They were not able to get direct flights. Oh, I also tried to get them out for tomorrow. That didn't work either. They are going home wednesday.

Puppy swap

Ok, this is it. There is no changing my mind now. Lexie went to the guardian family. They are her forever family, not me. The other 2 boys came with me. Harley is going to move to California and Bernie is going to move to New Jersey. They are both going to families with 3 children and all 3 will have great spoiled lifes.

Lacey and DaVinci's guardian family does want Lexie. We are going to give her to them and they are going to give us Harley and Bernie.

When it rains it pours

Today a puppy goes home to Illinois. A family in California wants a puppy. Now there is yet another family who wants a puppy. They are in NJ. What is a breeder to do? Do we even have an available puppy? I told the guardians they could have Harley, their mom wants Bernie, and just offered Lexie to them. I will ask if they want all those puppies.

Wow, that didn't last long

I made a mistake. I can't handle another puppy right now. Four dogs are just too much for me. Lexie is a great puppy and she is keeping her poos on the pee pads which is great. She also doesn't chew stuff, and is quiet. ...but still... Just the smell of her poo brings flashbacks and floods of yucky emotions back. I just can't handle it now. I emailed the guardians to see if they want her.

Now there is a family in California that wants Harley. They are set on him. Hmmm...what about the guardian family? I asked, and they are willing to give him up for the right family and this seems like a good one.
Harley is a good puppy

Marley it is. The family from IL has decided on Marley as their perfect puppy. Now they have a few days to get everything set up to bring him home Friday.

Somebody wants a puppy, but she doesn't know which one. We still have Harley (maybe, if the guardian family doesn't keep him), Bernie (maybe, if the guardian grandmother doesn't keep him), and Marley. If this family takes Marley and the gaurdians keep the other two, we are finished. That is exciting.

I want Lexie

I've decided. I want Lexie. This is my last opportunity, and by golly, I want a puppy from Lacey and DaVinci. I haven't found anybody willing to keep her for a few years and then give her back. Of course, I haven't asked.
The guardian parents met me halfway to bring her to me.

Just look at herwho could resist that face?

Shots and de worming

This evening we went to visit Lacey, DaVinci, and the puppies. It was time to give them their second set of shots. Lacey and her sister Chloe got a shot too. The puppies are so big and beautiful. I'm really resisting the idea of bringing Lexie home. I want her soooo badly, but I don't want a puppy right now. What I would love is to have somebody raise her for about 3 years, then give her back to me. That would be great, don't you think?

We stopped on the way to see Betty. Her new name is Dot. She is doing fine. She and Honey haven't started really playing together yet. It will probably take Honey a minute to warm up to the idea of having an annoying little sister around.

Betty goes home

Betty went home this evening. She went to the guardian family that has Honey. They want Honey to have someone to play with and since she (Honey) is being spayed before she has any puppies, now is a good time to get a pup. Honey and Betty have the same daddy, DaVinci.
This is Betty

This is Honey's baby picture

The Chihuahua puppy boys went back to their home today. They were with us over the weekend while their human parents were out of town. Jelly was happy to have them here to play with. They gave her a break from Peanut beating up on her...in play of course.

Lexie went back her parents house yesterday so she could visit and play. She is still there.

Peanut and Bradley's puppy boys have been here all weekend. It is a Chihuahua slumber party.

We have too many dogs here. Good thing they are little.

Miley goes home

Miley's new name is Ellie. She is named after her new dad's late grandmother. She went to her new home today. I've a feeling she is going to be one happy spoiled girl.

Emma goes home

Today was Emma's go-home day. We got up at the bright early hour of 3:30. Somehow, and I'm not sure how, we cut it close and didn't get to the airport until 6. That was cutting it a little too close for my comfort, yet it was good not having to wait long. Going through security was a breeze. I do it everyday at work; but at work they also do a pat-down in addition to the metal detector and x-ray. Emma was a perfect little angel. She didn't make one single peep. The flight was only about half full and I had the row to myself. After we were up in the air I put Emma's bag on the seat next to me. I had my coat over the bag and put my hand in the bag so I could pet her. Since she was being so quiet I didn't want to take her out of the bag because I was afraid if I did, she might whine when I put her back in. When getting of the plane, the stewardess noticed Emma in the bag and acted surprised and said "oh, so quiet!" We had just enough time to run to the bathroom between flights. When we were in the bathroom I let Emma out of the bag. She squatted and peed on the floor. It was quick and easy to clean up and I was so glad she did that instead of going in the bag. We had a seatmate on the next flight so I kept Emma under the seat in front of me. Once again she was perfectly quiet. Nobody even noticed she was in there. I took Emma out of the bag when we got off the plane so her new mom would be able to spot us. It was easy to know who she was. It seemed to be love at first site between those two. We went over and sat down for awhile to talk and go over the usual picking-up-a-new-puppy stuff. We kept getting interupted by people coming over to see and ask about Emma. I love that, yet it was just beginnig to get a little frustrating.

Bye Pearl, have a good fun life.

We had to go run a quick errand after work. I put Emma in her carry bag and brought her with us to help get her used to it. She was perfect and didn't make a peep.

tears

Today when I got home from work I was greeted by Velvet, Peanut, Bradley, and Lexie. Emma (Pearl) and Jellie were in the playpen whining to get out. There was the old familier poopy smell. I took all of them but Jellie outside then back in and cleaned. There was poo and pee and torn up paper and chewed cords and a chewed up SD card full of Michelle's photos. I was fighting back tears as I was cleaning. It was just like old times and I hated it. I can not will not again live in a house with half dozen dogs, poo crumbs and pee dried on the floor, chewed paper pieces, and having every thing getting torn up. Nope, I can't deal with that type of life anymore.

Emma gets spayed

Today the first of Lacey/DaVinci's puppies got spayed. ...sniff....my babies are growing up. There! I haven't said that in a long time.
The puppy on the right, the black pup, is the one I was going to keep as my very own pet. Now her name is Emma and she has a family waiting for her in NH. She was the very first pup to be chosen. The family that has her also has Sadie the broken leg puppy from Velvet's Oct 2005 litter. She is fine and runs around with no problems. They also have a puppy from Lacey/DaVinci's 2nd litter.

Anyway, where was I...oh yeah, I was getting ready to whine about the drive to get Emma. This morning I took Emma to the clinic to get spayed. I took her dropped her off and went straight to work. MapQuest says it is a 36 minute drive. It was really about 45 minutes. That is not too bad. Well, I left work at 4pm to try to beat rush hour and to make sure I was there by 5:15 pm. Pick up time is 5:15-5:45. It was snowy and I did think about calling to see if I could get her earlier, but I didn't want to leave work early (I love my prison job....oh hey...American's Most Wanted was there today to interview one of the offenders). So, I left at 4:00 and didn't get to the clinic until 6:45. That is right, it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to get there. The roads were bad and there were some accidents. The clinic chicks were not too happy, but they didn't say anything. I tried calling on the way but I just got this big long recording and no opportunity to leave a message. I am glad they were still there. It was pretty quick getting home. Once home I took Emma outside where she commenced to run around for a couple of minutes. Can you even imagine having a total hysterectomy and then running that same day? Puppies are great.

Emma is going to fly in the cabin of the plane with me to her new home on Friday. Today I bought her carrier bag and put her in it for a little bit so she can get used to it. She did really well and didn't cry or bark or anything.

Today we went to Lacey and DaVinci's home to visit the puppies. We brought two of the pups home with us. One of them is named Pearl. She has a perfect fleece black coat. She is beautiful and is going to look like a black version of Lacey. If she doesn't get chosen by a family I'm going to keep her as my very own pet. The other pup we brought home is Lexie, a chocolate girl with a curly fleece/wool coat. She would make a terrific breeding pup. If Pearl gets chosen, I'm going to keep Lexie.

I feel a little better today. Well, ok, I feel a lot better now that we have these two cutie doodle puppies. When I'm around these spectacularly beautiful puppies I wonder how in the world I can think the chihuahuas are cute. No, that isn't right. The Chi's are cute, just in a different way.

That's it...

That's it, I'm done, I can't take any more. Everytime a puppy leaves and goes to her new home she takes a piece of my heart with her. Everytime one dies he takes a chunk of my heart. Today Walle didn't recover from the Anesthesia from his neuter surgery. We went to the hospital to be with him. Michelle ended up staying a couple hours with him while I tended to the human kids. I went back up there to be with her and we ended up transferring him to a bigger, 24 hour pet hospital. Shortly after we got to the other hospital it was obvious he just wasn't going to make it. We had him put to sleep. That's it, I'm done. I just can't do this anymore. It is no longer enjoyable, and the heartache is too great. Out of around 200 puppies I've had early spay/neutered I've had no problems at all. Now with this first litter of Chihuahua's and poor Michelle's very first litter of puppies, one dies. She really didn't want to take them today. She just didn't feel comfortable with it. I assured her and reassured her and convinced her nothing would go wrong. When we were waiting at the clinic this morning to check the puppies in we saw a sign that they had done over 17,000 spay/neuters at that clinic. Well we found out this evening that out of those over 17,000, they have only had 9 dogs die. Now they've had 10. Although that is awsome statistics, we are very sad to have one of them be ours. This makes half of this litter we have lost.
Walle has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Let's recap Peanut Butter/Bradley's litter:
One pup died at birth.
Peanut got sick and had to spend a night in the hospital when the pups were 2 weeks old.
One pup had to be put to sleep due to water on the brain at 2 weeks old.
One pup didn't make it through his neuter surgery.

Dang...this has been a rough one. I hope Michelle doesn't want to do this again. I just can't take anymore. I am emotionally exhausted. I have nothing left to give.

Law and Order

This was just like old times. I groomed Velvet while watching Law and Order this evening. I loved that. It is very therapeutic. Velvet likes it too.

I woke up after midnight and just couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up letting Velvet outside to pee, feeding and watering the puppies and dogs, and hanging out with the pups for a bit. The boys go in the morning to get neutered. Ginter (now named Count Maxwell) is getting adopted by Kristin's boyfriend. Kristin is adopting Walle. They will be taking them to their homes this weekend. Tyler and Jelli will hang out with us until they get adopted. One of the guards at my work keeps asking about the pups. I'll bet he breaks down and gets one of them too.

Nasty poo

Ewwww...when's the last time I talked about nasty poo? When Michelle cleaned up a tiny poo in the puppy area (the Chihuahua's poos are fabously tiny)she asked "What is this? Is it a worm?" I went over to inspect, and sure enough, there were 2 big fat worms in the poo. Needless to say all the dogs and pups were promptly de-wormed.

Lacey and DaVinci's guardian family is raising their litter of puppies. The dad called to schedule the spay/neuters, but was told the pups have to be at least 8 weeks old to be done. This is a new place we are taking them.

Bessie is retiring

Bessie is going to retire now instead of have more puppies. There were many things I took in to consideration in this decision. The main thing...I'm not excited about having another litter of puppies. That in itself is reason enough not to have more puppies. We still have all these Lacey/DaVinci puppies with not a one spoken for. I do not want to go down that road again of having too many dogs in the house. Bessie lives in a guardian home and she would come here to have and raise her puppies. That would make too many dogs here.

Bessie has an appointment with the vet tomorrow for her progesterone test. Not doing that is the mistake I made with her last cycle. I thought if we just went by the day of the cycle we'd be o.k. Well, we weren't. We drove her all the way to Kentucky to breed, only to find out we missed her fertile period.
Still not excited about another litter of puppies.

Well, I contacted the breeder with the boy I tried to breed Bessie with last time. ...Sigh...she doesn't have him anymore. She does have a couple of others that just might do the job. I'll think it over. I'm still not excited about another litter of puppies just now.

Bessie

Ahhh! Bessie is coming in heat already. Man, I'm so not ready for more puppies. On the other hand, it will be a couple months before she has them, if she gets pregnant. Oh, ok., I'll call Kathy in KY to see if her cutie boy is up for a job. I'm wanting to breed Bessie to a little Goldendoodle and have North American Retrievers.

PB's pups get the works

Today was the day Peanut and Bradley's puppies got weighed, first round of immunizations, and microchipped. Gunter "the crow" is the biggest and 2 pounds 9 ounces. Jelli is the smallest and 1 pound 13 ounces. It is so hard to imagine that they are old enough to go to their new homes. I'm not ready to let them go just yet. I'd like to keep them until they are de-sexed and that will probably be a couple more weeks anyway. Really, Gunter and 3 spots are big enough to get neutered now. Maybe I'll call the vet tomorrow and schedule that for them.

I want a puppy

Ever since I got Velvet I have known I that wanted to keep a puppy out of one of the last litters from her or one of her daughters. Now is the time. Lacey is the last I have from Velvet and this is her last litter. This is also DaVinci's last litter. He is the perfect doodle boy and Velvet is the perfect doodle girl (and so is Lacey)...so what could possibly be better than a Lacey/DaVinci puppy. I'm so gonna keep one.

Dang...The Colts just lost the play-off game. If I gave a rip about professional sports I would care.

The poop

Peanut Butter is back to her pre pregnant self. She is playful and wants to sleep with us and is annoying and...well...it is so good to have her back. Her poops are a healthy solid and her fur on her bum is growing back.
Her pups' poos are all solid and looking great too. Speaking of the pups' poos, they are doing very well with house training. The kitchen is blocked off so they hang out in the kitchen. We have a pee pad down and they are all consistently going over and pee/pooing on the pad. I'm so pleased with and proud of them. I have to admit it is fun having such tiny puppies. They are quiet and tiny and no problem at all. Jill love playing with them and put up with her just as well as the doodle puppies always did.