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.

Mera's girls

Today when I was taking puppy pictures, Jill climbed up in the chair and said she needed to hold the pups for me. She loves holding the pups while I take the pictures, but she isn't good at holding them still and that it makes it harder. At least she loves the puppies and tries to help. I don't do anything to discourage that spirit.


These are the two cream girls.

Insane Asylum

The girls, Velvet, Ashes, and Mera, are driving me insane. It has been days since anybody has peed or pood in the house, that is until today. For some reason Mera pood
in here around 3:30 in the morning. The smell woke me up. She did it
about 4 more times this morning. It isn't like she has loose stools or
anything, thank goodness. I don't know what is up. It could be that
Ashes joined her and did some of them, but I don't think so. Ashes just
doesn't "go" in the house. Anyway, that is just one of the issues. The
other is the constant in and out today. It is cold but sunny outside
today and they have been wanting to be outside. However, they won't
just stay out. Velvet has been in a very playful mood these last few
days so she is wanting to stay outside.Mera barks to go out, I let her out. When Mera goes out, Ashes wants to come in. Within a couple of minutes Ashes is barking to go back out, then Mera wants in. Velvet doesn't care who is out there with her, just as long as one of them is out playing with her. Mera and Ashes are also checking out each other's babies. Mera doesn't mind, but Ashes doesn't particularly care for it when Mera messes with her babies. She doesn't growl at Mera, but she does try to block her way and nudges her back out the door.

Ashes' chocolate girl has been spoken for. Her name is Ellie. She is going to do therapy work with people with head injuries.

Rosie is in heat. Since she had a rough delivery last time we are going to skip this cycle. She can get together with Pepper again in the fall.

Mera's puppies hang out in the area by the kitchen during the day, and in the whelping box in the utility room at night. They have a litterbox and some are actually using it already. I'm so excited. They are so cute. They are playing and growling at each other now. It is still too early to know what their individual temperaments are going to be like.

I shoulda done it myself

Dangit! Every single dew-claw-hole whatever you want to call it, is infected in Ashes' litter. All the pups have infections. They are swollen and nasty, poor little things. I took pictures, but I'll spare you. I wasn't real thrilled with something the vet does when he removes the claws. I noticed it when he was first showing me how to do it when I was just starting out. He did it again the other day for Ashes pups. He has this jar of styptic powder that he uses. He just opens it and dabs a q-tip in it to put on the fresh wound to stop the bleeding. ...but...he uses the same bloody q-tip for all the pups and dabs the same bloody swab in the jar. That is terrible cross contamination. Who knows what horrible kooties he is putting on those newborn baby feet. As badly as I hate removing them myself, out of all the ones I've done I only had one infection. Even that one wasn't bad enough to require a trip to the vet. I had to take these guys to the vet today and now they are on antibiotics. They are fussy (of course) and not gaining weight very well. They should have nearly doubled their weight by now, but haven't even come close.

Mera's puppies are cows. They are so big already.

Today was the first day any of them showed interest in the big dog food.
Mera is giving a lesson on eating solid food.

Francie and Tucker

Francie and Tucker are from Rosie's first litter.
This is Francie's baby picture. Her guardian mom doesn't know how to take pictures so I don't have a recent picture. Francie

This is Tucker's puppy picture. His guardian mom doesn't have a camera either :(

So, Francie and Tucker are red F1B's that I kept back for breeding. They are in guardian homes. They went to the vet today for their PennHip and blood testing. The vet said he thought they have great hips. Their mom is .24/.32, OFA good, dad is .38/.42. I'm so excited and hopeful about having another line with excellent hips. Now I get to figure out with whom to breed them. Francie and Meeko seem like an obvious pair, but I'd really like to find another true red to breed her with. Tucker can breed with Ruby. They will make a nice pair.

I've become a chicken

Today I took Ashes and her pups in to the vet for him to remove the dew claws. He said they all look great and healthy and should do very well. He also checked out Ashes and said she looks really good too. I took her out to the van to wait while he worked on the pups.

Did I mention that on the 9th I had my two new assistants take Mera's pups to the vet for him to remove their (the pups, not the assistants) dew claws? I loved not having to take them but felt guilty too.

I can't do the dew anymore

It is time for Ashes' puppies to have their dew claws removed. I hate doing that. I hate it I hate it I hate it. Probably not as much as the puppies hate it though. This evening I got everything ready to remove them. I went so far as to have a pup on my lap, dew claw pulled taut, and sissors in hand poised to make the Big Snip. I just couldn't do it. I put them down and put everything away. I'll take them to the vet tomorrow. It will be worth $100 to have him do it.

Here are all 17 puppies. Meeko is the daddy of them allMeeko's guardian family is so proud.

Ashes had her puppies

Ashes did so well with her labor and deliveries. She complained during the first birth, of course. I also had to help pull that first one out. After that, everything went great and she knew exactly what to do. Here is what/when she had:
1) 4:05 a.m. curly black boy 13.3 oz
2) 5:33 a.m. curly boy - light cream 12.8 oz
3) 6:03 a.m. female curly light cream, black pigment 11.9 oz
4) 6:09 a.m. female apricot long straight hair 12.4 oz
5) 6:26 a.m. boy curly a little darker 12.3 oz
6) 6:56 a.m. cream girl curly rose pigment 12.3 oz
7) 7:30 a.m. girl light cream, rose pigment 11.1 oz
8) 7:39 a.m. girl chocolate 11.9 oz long straight-wavy
9) 8:12 a.m. girl long straight black plain 12.5 oz

Midway along

Ashes is in labor

Ashes is going to have her babies very soon. She is restless and panting, but not acting distressed. This is a very welcome excuse for me to not have to sit and act like I care about the football game. Yay Colts!

Why I have chosen to withdraw my membership from the ILA

I have been suspended from the ILA (International Labradoodle Association, aka Labradoodle Association of America, aka Australian Labradoodle Association of America).
Here are the highlights of the story:
Picture it...the year was 1936 and it was a hot day in Cicely....wait a minute, this is supposed to be serious.

I gave a Velvet/Koby daughter, Ashes, to someone who wanted to become a breeder (yeah yeah, I know...when will I learn), and in return she was to pay for the
testing and give me some return pups. At 12 months, Ashes'PennHip scores were .58/.68 no DJD. That isn't that great, but I've seen respected breeders breed with
higher scores with good results. She opted to breed one litter then
spay her. The breeding didn't take and Ashes didn't get pregnant. At 18
months she took her in for retesting. The vet told her Ashes' hips were
bad and there was no way she would pass OFA . (yeah I've heard that
before. Remember the stud I neutered at the vet's word and then the
results came back with good hips?) I told her she could either spay her
and sell her and keep the money to recoup some of her expenses, or she
could send her back to me. I told her if she sends Ashes back to me,
I'm not going to just take her vet's word for it and I'd have her
retested. I told her if she does not pass the Pennhip , I'd spay her and
try to sell her and give her the proceeds to offset some of her
expenses. If she did pass, I would breed her one time with Meeko (PH .27/.27), and reimburse her expenses. So, she opted to send her back to me. On Nov 9, 2006 I took Ashes to my PennHip vet for retesting. I told him about the other vet's findings and asked him that when he was doing the PH x-rays to please spay her while she
is out if he agrees that she obviously has hipdysplasia. Well, he did not spay her. The PennHip report came back .60/.65 no DJD (no hip dysplasia). Again, that is not great, but if bred with the right stud, there should be no problems. So, that was two different PH tests by two different vets that showed no DJD. I bred her one time with Meeko. His mom's PH is .38/.38, dad is Good, brother is .26/.26. Ashes' dad is PH .38/.38 and BVA 2+2, mom is BVA 10. Ashes and Meeko ought to make some good pet puppies. ...but I digress, sometime after I bred them I heard from the other person. She got the results of the OFA Preliminary Evaluation and said Ashes has mild hip dysplasia. Hmm, interesting that it doesn't match the 2 PHs or what my vet said. Some time later I received a notice from the ILA that there was an incident report filed against me. With that report they included the OFA report. That was the first I had seen it. The report date on the OFA report was Nov 14th. Two weeks later I was suspended from the ILA. I will copy and paste it here, it is so stupid I couldn't make something like that up:

"Summary: The ALAA has determined that Lincoln Manor Lady Ashes ALAA-003292, was diagnosed by OFA on November 14, 2006 with Mild HD and sublaxtation. Jane Stanger determined to withhold this knowledge and retest Lady Ashes using the PennHip testing agency. PennHip did not detect the previous diagnosed condition. Jane Stanger of Lincoln Manor Labradoodles then bred Lady Ashes while a member of the ALAA under the ALAA Code of Ethics. It is unknown if the PennHIP diagnosis was a misdiagnosed, or if the previous OFA report was in error. Furthermore a more accurate retest would have been to request OFA
to reevaluate a new set of x-rays with full disclosure of the previous
report. Due to this absence of disclosure it is assumed that theOFA report is may be accurate and/or PennHIP was mislead by Lincoln Manor."

O.k. now, let's go through this line by line:

- The ALAA has determined that Lincoln Manor Lady Ashes ALAA-003292, was diagnosed by OFA on November 14, 2006 with Mild HD and sublaxtation.
= I did not do this test and the results were not sent to me. I did not
know about it. Incidentally, this is a Preliminary Evaluation.

- Jane Stanger determined to withhold this knowledge and retest Lady Ashes using the PennHip testing agency. = Uh...Nov 9th comes before Nov 14th. I had her tested on Nov 9th, there was no knowledge to withhold.

- PennHip did not detect the previous diagnosed condition. = What previous diagnosed condition?

- Jane Stanger of Lincoln Manor Labradoodles then bred Lady Ashes while a member of the ALAA under the ALAA Code of Ethics. = Yes I did, with the knowledge of the two PH reports.

- It is unknown if the PennHIP diagnosis was a misdiagnosed, or if the previous OFA report was in error. = Two PennHip tests reported no DJD and one OFA preliminary evaluation reported mild HD. Apparently the ALAA chooses to assume the OFA is the correct one.

- Furthermore a more accurate retest would have been to request OFA
to reevaluate a new set of x-rays with full disclosure of the previous
report. = The PennHip was the retest of a previous PennHip test. Again, the 9th comes before the 14th.

- Due to this absence of disclosure it is assumed that the OFA report is may be accurate and/or PennHIP was mislead by Lincoln Manor. = I'm telling you, I am not making this up. The suspension report really says this. Again again, the 9th comes before the 14th. There was nothing to disclose. There was no OFA report to disclose. The PennHip radiologists are capable of determining their own diagnosis. I am not psychic.

When I told my vet about this he laughed. I won't say his exact words, but ...um...he thought it was pretty ridiculous.

Catchup

On Sunday 14th, a family came to look at Mera's pups. They put a
deposit down and will probably be getting one of the cream girls. That
pup will grow up to be best friends with Louis,Mera and Da Vinci's black boy from the summer litter.

On Monday 15th,
Beau went home. I'm sad. I miss him. He was the only puppy here
(besides the newborns) so it was like we had our own puppy. Here he is
afterbathie time
That really wiped him out. Now it is nappie time

I'm
so proudThis
is Honey, the Josie/DaVinci breeding girl that lives in a guardian home.

Mera's puppies are growing by leaps and bounds.

Remember
that ILA inspection? I
never received a copy of the report because a report was never written
up, nor will it ever be. That issue has been lain to rest.

That ILA fiasco is old news. I'm really in trouble with them now. This time it is so stupid it is just plain asinine. I do feel free though. I don't have to worry about any surprise inspection or worry about anyone trying to get me to change my diary. I have been holding off on my diary until this new issue has been resolved. It kind of has in a way. Now I can go about my merry business and not worry about what anybody thinks. ...free to be you and me...

Long time no see

Guess it has been awhile since I've posted here. I forgot my username and password.

Let's see...what all has been going on...Tink's pups have been spayed/neutered. Tink went home. Kris, the first born has a new family and a new name. His name is Indiana and he will be called Indy. He already went home. He moved to a town in Illinois and will live only 6 miles from his littermate Beau. His family and Beau's family don't even know each other, it is a complete coincidence they will be neighbors. I told the families about each other and they are going to try to take the pups to the same training classes. Anyway, Missy's new name is Molly. She went home too. Beau is hanging out with us. It is fun having him. Since he is the only pup it is like we have our very puppy. I take him with me on errands. Velvet decided to come out of retirement for while. She has decided to take care of him. She has been playing with him and sleeping with him and even cleaning him.

Mera came back and had her puppies already. She had the first two on the very couch where they were conceived. The real kicker is I was sleeping in the chair right next to her and didn't even wake up. She is such a pro now.

Did you know I'm not a psychic? Remind me to tell you something stupid that happened.

You want poo? I'll give you poo!

I have never seen so many types of worms in my life. Tinkerbelle's puppies are so healthy and they have had perfect poos since they went on solid food. I've wormed them 3 times so far with no signs of worms. They got spayed/neutered Tuesday and spent the night at the vet's. They came home yesterday and have been pooping up a storm ever since. Their poos are getting a bit squishy and upon close inspection of one, I found a worm. What is that all about? I gave them all some Panacur earlier today...and now...I just cleaned up some poos with worms worms worms... tall worms, short worms, fat worms, skinny worms, even worms with chicken pox...
Well, o.k., so maybe that was a slight exaggeration. Maybe there were only a couple of worms; but really, one or 10, it is all gross and creepy. Don't know about you, but it makes me want to do a total body cleansing and detoxification with a parasitic wash (or whatever you call that). Please note this poo rant is at the request of my Laaaazy River rafting buddy in Ohio.

The puppies are doing really well. They are running around and wrestling,, when they are not busy pooing.
Tinkerbelle went home yesterday. Ashes didn't hesitate at all and is taking them over as if they were her own.She is a great big lovable pacifier.
Beau found something fun to do.
Missy and Kris.

The pups spent their first night in a crate last night. They did so well. They all stayed in the same crate and that really helped. I put them in the crate shortly before midnight. I put their crate up on the table beside the chair I slept in and stuck my fingers in the crate at first. They just whimpered a little bit at first. They were quiet until 4:00 a.m. when one started barking. I took them out and put them in the bathroom for them to do their business, then I put them back in the crate for 2 more hours until we were up for the day.

Mera came back this evening. She is here to have her puppies that are due the 8th. I checked her temp and it is 99.1. That means she could have her pups tomorrow. Righ now she is digging in my sleeping chair. Humf! She may think she is having her pups there, I don't think so.

Happy New Year

Hi everybody, I missed you. Thank you all very much for the flood of emails and phone calls. That really meant so much to me. Guess I better not give up the diary.

Here is a really quick update:

Tinker Belle went home today. Her pups are at the vet right now. They were spayed/neutered this morning. I'll pick them up tomorrow. They are all spoken for.

We have no available pups right this minute.

Mera is coming over in two days. She will be here to have and raise her puppies. Her guardian dad says she is huge. Meeko (the pups' father)'s guardian family is so excited. This is Meeko's first pups. Mera's family is excited because this is Mera's final litter. She will be spayed and retired after she recovers.

Bessie is doing really well in her guardian home.

Nobody is cycling now. I'm not sure who/when the next litter is going to be.

Update

Here is the scoop from the last entry:

-Noodles had some dates with Kami and Bonnie's sister. They didn't like each other in the romantic way and maintained a platonic relationship.

-Chevy is a daddy! Kami had 9 puppies. They are all cream and beautiful. That means Mera is a grandma and Velvet is a great-grandma again.

-Holly is a grandma and Meeko is an uncle and Mera is an aunt and Velvet is a grandma. Kenia is Holly's son and Meeko's littermate. Kiwi is a Velvet/Koby puppy from their first litter together. She is Mera's littermate. Kenia and Kiwi live together with a breeder and just had 12 puppies together.

-Robbie and Steve have gone to their forever homes. That means Rosie and Pepper's pups all have their own families now.

-Tink's girl pup has been chosen. She is going to live with the same family who has Steve. That mean only one pup is left without a family.

I'm thinking about giving up the diary. What do you think?

Here are my reasons:

1) Face it, every breeder deals with poo, worms, wacky customers, and sick puppies. Most breeders who have been around long enough will end up with an accidental pregnancy and perhaps even an instance of poor judgement. However, most breeders do not talk about it. Since I do talk about it, it can look like I'm the only one with these problems.

2) I'm getting tired of the diary. It is no longer fun, it is just another chore. It is boring. How many times now have I said "I can't believe how quickly they are growing up" "They got spayed/neutered today and are playing like nothing ever happened." "...."?

3) I'm putting personal stuff in it that I'm sure should not be shared with the world.

4) I've had people tell me they decided to get one of my puppies because they appreciated the honesty of the diary. Really though, I have to admit that I'm sure I've lost even more sales because of it.

5) Maybe I don't want to tell all anymore. Maybe I want to keep secrets like everybody else. I've never been good at keeping secrets though.

Noodles' date

Holly was hung over this morning when I picked her up. She was miserable and swore she was never having a retirement party (getting spayed) again. Thank goodness she got better as the day wore on. By the time her family picked her up in the evening she seemed just fine.

Noodles had a date today with Kami's littermate/Bonnie's older sister. She played hard to get and he respected her wishes not to...well, you know what. Finally, after 2 years, I have a halfway decent picture of him.Noodles the BrideGroom.

Holly's retirement party

Holly's official retirement party was today. She partied so hard that she couldn't even drive home and had to spend the night there. Do you know what the Lincoln Manor breeding dogs do for their retirement party? They get altered...spayed or neutered...fixed...the big snip snip. I was going to pick her up this afternoon so she wouldn't have to spend the night. I ended up having them keep her over night. I was afraid she wouldn't get enough rest if she came back here. She is such a sweet dog. It is hard to imagine she is the same dog we brought back from Oklahoma. She was so skittish at first. Her guardian family has done a terrific job turning her around. She is not at all skittish anymore. She comes up for affection and even bumps my elbow with her head while I'm typing. Today I put together a booklet for her family. It has her test reports, a little blurb about where she came from, and who and where all her kids are. She has 9 puppies, 3 are breeding dogs now. Meeko is her pup so that means she is going to be a granny next month. That is funny. Have I mentioned lately what a big girl Holly is? I had forgotten how tall she is. No wonder her kids are so big.

We need help

Here is an email I sent out this evening:
"Help guys,

"Someone who has three Labradoodles from me just now called me. She was in tears asking if I could find someone(s) to foster her dogs for a minimum of 2 months. She really does have a sob story (I'm being serious). She and her husband have a set of 8 yr old (maybe they are 9) triplets plus a 6 or 7 yr old son. The mom has health problems and now on top of that, she just got out of the hospital. She broke her leg in four places and is in a wheelchair. She will have a cast on for 6 months. It will be two months before she will be able to get out enough to be able to walk her dogs. Her husband is overwhelmed between taking care of her and the kids and working. He simply cannot take care of the dogs too. They are in a kennel right now. They are asking for someone to be able to keep them for about 2 months, possibly a little longer. They want to make it very clear this is only temporary and they absolutely do want their dogs back.

"About the dogs:
"Coco and Rascal are litter mates from Zion (Leather) and Noodles (BrideGroom). They are one year old and house trained. They are Australian Labradoodles around 40 pounds. Coco is intact and is going to breed for me next year. She just had her heat cycle about a month ago and isn't due for at least another 5 months. I can possibly keep Coco here if I can ever find a guardian home for Bessi. Rascal is mellow for a puppy, but the most active of these three. He wasn't neutered until last month. Pumpkin is an F1B from Rosie's Feb litter. He is a standard size and the most mellow of the three. He is a real sweetie and is neutered.

"Please let me know if you want to help. No need to respond to this if you can't or don't want to help. I am sending this out to everybody and I'm not keeping score. Some of you, I realize, there is no way you can take in another dog. I sent this anyway just hoping maybe you know someone who would like to try out a doodle for a little while.

"Oh by the way, I do need a guardian for a 10 month old F1B black and white Parti Labradoodle girl. I have more guardian dogs coming up in the spring.

Thanks guys,
Jane Stanger
www.lincolnmanor.com
765-642-8287 "

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I have made the difficult decision to sell Robbie as a pet. There are several for this decision. 1) I'm running short on guardian homes 2) I don't have a Poodle and that is what he would need bred with 3) umm...well we really need the money now.


Most of the pictures of Missy have been of her sleeping, like thisMissy
So I finally got some of her awakeIs she yawning or singing the blues? See how white she is underneath?
See her white tipped tail?

Oh I got so caught up in the new baby yesterday that I forgot to mention that Noodles didn't get to work yesterday. Poor guy, his date won't be able to go see him until Monday.

Let's see, what else didn't happen yesterday that I forgot to mention? The prospective guardian didn't get to come see Bessie.

We've been Liudaless most of the week. Since we don't have many puppies right now I really don't need the help.

I took a nap today. That was such a rare treat. The only problem is I've been sick and that is why I napped. It would have been better had I not been sick.

Zokora is here!

Really I have no idea how to spell her name. It is pronounced like Zoe-Cora. Who is she you ask? That is Jill's birth sister. Jill's birthmom and birthmom's husband had a baby today. The husband called me from the hospital just as soon as she was born. They hadn't even weighed her yet when he called. Bryony and I ran up to see her. I took Jill up later this evening. sorry, this has nothing to do with Doodles

Bessie is doing well. Here is her today's pictureBessie. She is such a puppy. She likes to chew things. She has already eaten a glass Christmas tree ornament, among other things. She reminds me of Kori. Oh speaking of that...you know what else she does that Kori used to do? She puts her nose down at the bottom of Bryony's bedroom door and makes these whine-cry noises trying to get to the cat. She is in the same position as Kori and the sounds she makes is exactly like Kori. Bryony and Liuda keep talking about wanting to go visit Kori.

Here are pictures of Tink and DaVinci's puppies.
Kris Kringle, the available boy.
Mistletoe "Missy", the available girl.
Beau, the chosen one.

Robbie and Steve are in jail I didn't have any help when I was trying to take their pictures. They wouldn't sit still and kept trying to follow me around. I finally put them in the puppy play pen so I could get far enough away from them to get their picture. They are so smart and so cute. Have I mentioned that yet today?

The puppies are all so cute. Tink's pups are playing now. They have these cute little baby barks and baby growls. I never get tired of it. Their coats are getting longer and curlier already. I'm still trying to decide if the girl is a Parti or just mismarked. I'm thinking she is just mismarked. She has that white patch on her head that goes down to her nose. Her tail has a white tip, and her front feet are white. She also has some white on her legs and chest. The boys have white patches on their heads and faces too, just not as much as the girl.

Rosie's pups are getting really big too. Robbie weighs 18 pounds and Steve weighs 19 pounds. They are almost as big as Tink. Well, they almost weigh as much, but she is taller.

Bessie is getting more comfortable with us. She is coming up to us for affection now. She has been sleeping in Jill's room at night.

Still waiting and waiting

Do you remember that stupid ILA surprise inspection I had October 19, 2006? Me to. I still haven't heard anything back on that. I was supposed to have a copy of the report within two weeks. Supposedly complaints were made against me. *coff coff* How am I supposed to know what to correct if I'm not made aware of the problems? The person I'm assuming ordered the inspection (I don't even know for sure it was ordered since I was never given a report) was no longer in office at the time of the inspection. The person who did the inspection left office very shortly after the inspection. Anyway, I'll report back when I hear something (or not).

Beau got picked

A family came today to look at Tinker Belle's litter. They knew they
wanted a boy and decided on Beau. They liked both boys and decided on
that one because his coat is just a little less curly. See, they are an
experienced doodle family. They know the curlier the coat, typically
the more difficult the maintenance. I like showing off my puppies. It is so much fun. One Tink puppy down, two to go.

Bessie and I have been stood up. Somebody was supposed to come Friday but called to reschedule for yesterday but was a no-call-no-show yesterday. I thought maybe I
misunderstood and that it was supposed to be today instead. So, I stuck
around all day today too but they were a no-call-no-show again. What a
wasted December weekend.

Tinks puppies started playing today! That is so cute. This is their very first toddelie play. Their eyes are all open now and they are toddling around like little baby dogs. I guess that is because they are little baby dogs.

My other babies, Robbie and Steve, are so big. They are 18 pound brutes now. They are going to be big gooder-ole-dogs when they grow up. They are so wonderful that I can't believe they are still here.

The night the lights went out

Today was part frustrating part fun. I started out working on answering emails. This is what some of the new emails were: 1) 2nd inquiry from a family that is interested in Steve, 1) a different person also with a follow up question regarding Steve 3) an application for a puppy, no specific pup 4) application for one of Tink's pups 5) new inquiry from a prospective guardian family (came accross to me as a half hearted inquiry, nothing to get too excited about), 6) Liuda is not coming in today. First I went through and read all the emails and deleted the junk mail. Then I went through and was answering them. I was in the middle of answering one when the power went out. Oh that is right, we were in the middle of a big storm. Our power frequently goes out and usually comes right back on. I wasn't terribly worried about it. Well, after an hour I started getting antsy. Somebody (probably a body that walks on 4 legs) chewed up my cell phone charger and I haven't replaced it yet. That means that in essence, I don't have a cell phone. Also, all our phones are cordless and that means they don't work without electricity. I was expecting a prospective guardian family to come this afternoon to meet Bessie, our new parti dood. She was supposed to call first. I had no way of calling her and she wouldn't be able to get hold of me. I also wanted to be available in case somebody wanted to call and get a puppy. So, I loaded up the girls during this high wind (it sounded like our roof was going to blow off) and went to K-Mart. I got a cell phone charger and a corded land line phone. Jill was funny. When we got home and I hooked the corded phone up, Jill went over to it and said "It is like a phone". Kids these days...
The power never did come back on today. The good neighbor called to let me know it was not expected to be repaired until tomorrow. That means I had no computer today! Holy cow! That was so frustrating. I couldn't go check my email while eating. I couldn't go read the forums while waiting for the power to come back on either. We are on well water and have an electric pump. That means that once the holding tank was empty we would have no water. I was in the middle of doing the dishes (between emails) when the power went out so at least we had 2 sinks full of water. I finished the dishes and left the water in there so we could wash our hands. I also filled up the dogs water bowls with the water that was left in the holding tank. The prospective guardian family called to say they would not be out today. They will come tomorrow afternoon instead.

Going without power is fun every now and then. This is one of those times. Rick fixed a nice steak dinner and we ate by candle light (of course). Jill went to spend the night at my mom's, Bry went to a friend's house, Rick went out with his buddy. Aahhhhhh, that meant the Doodles and I had the whole quiet house to ourselves. Ahhhhhhh....that is bliss. After I let the dogs and pups (Robbie and Steve are doing well with potty training) out to potty and back in, I washed their feet the best I could with the damp towel I used on them this morning. Then I layered up in warm jammies, gathered my blankie and pillows and fixed up my favorite chair for the night. I snuggled down with a flashlight on my shoulder and read "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia B. McConnell until I fell asleep. Ahhhh...life doesn't get much better than that.