Introducing Bear

Bear is an F1B Labradoodle that came to us from Westwood Labradoodles. He is such a sweet love-sponge.

This is Clancy. Isn't he cute?


This is Ginger. She is cute too, of course.


This is their brothercousin, Mikenike. He is a sweet boy.

Together forever

Nickie and Teddy went home together today. They get to keep each other company and be best friends forever.

Rose goes home

Rose got to fly home to VA today. She made it safe and sound.

I'm taking an online back to nursing refresher course. Today I went to Indianapolis to get the books and attend a career fair. I do miss nursing, but I don't know...I do like what I'm doing. I would like to be able to clock and leave my work and relax. I can never do that now. I'm always at work.

Some of the pups went to the vet today. All is well.

Here is Lester

Rose and Ashes got spayed today.

Expenses

I finally finished totaling everything up for taxes. Are you ready for this?

Here are some of the grand totals:
-Vet bills: $20,691.09
-Dog food: $2,168.97
-Dog supplies: $3,485.75
-wages: $8,263.50
-breeding dogs: $9,050.00

I drove a total of 8,900 miles.

Lacey had her hips tested again today. My vet finally went to Penn State to learn how to do the PennHip testing. He has to test five dogs now before getting his official certification. I, of course, offered for him to do five of my doods. I do have to pay for everything except the PennHip fee. That means I have to pay the hospital fees and all that. I am having him start out with some of my dogs that have already been tested. That way we can compare the previous results with the results he gets.

Yet three more pups were spayed/neutered today. Three other pups went for a check up today. They are doing so well.

Three more puppies were spayed/neutered today.

Starburst goes home

Another of Mera's pups went home today. She is moving to Cincinnati.

Ashes' puppies are all in the clear. They are continuing their medication. Everybody's stools look normal. They are all gaining weight nicely.

Skittles goes home

Another of Mera's puppies went home.

Ashes' pups are continuing to gain weight.

Daddy's home

Meeko came for a visit and to see all his kids today. He went to the groomer a few days ago and now he is almost naked. He is also turning darker again, either that or he is a parti. He had a great time playing outside with Ashes and Velvet. They were a muddy mess. See, here is his picture after getting dirtyI should have taken his picture before he went outside to play. He was too excited though and wouldn't hold still.

Ashes puppies are getting better already and everyone of them are gaining weight. Lester and Ellie are the only ones who needed the injections, and that was only the first day.

Sophie goes home

The first of Mera's pups went home this evening. One down, 7 to go. She moved to Indianapolis and is going to be best friends with one of Josie's pups.

Our Puppy ER

Great news! The puppies are going to be just fine. I took Ellie, Lester, and one of the bigger ones to the vet this morning. Turns out to be nothing more than hook worms and a severe case of Coccidia. That is normally no big deal at all. It is totally treatable and will leave no lasting affects. I'm so relieved and excited. It is all making sense now. Do you remember back almost 2 years ago when one of the litters got Giardia and Coccidia? That was Ashes' litter. She was one that had Coccidia as a puppy. That is something that can live inside a dog forever and not cause any problems. Turns out she passed it on to her puppies when she was pregnant with them. When these puppies got infected paws (remember the poor nonaseptic technique the vet used) from the dew claw removal, that stressed them and caused the Coccidia to rear its ugly head. Ashes also gave them hookworms which is a blood sucking parasite. That also worked in weakening the puppies. I did deworm them at 2 weeks and didn't see any worms in their stools. At 4 weeks I dewormed them with Panacur instead of Pyran since Panacur also gets rid of Whipworms. I don't know if any of our pups have ever had that type, but I wanted to treat for as many types as possible. Anyway, the vet said that is too broad and to give these guys Pyran instead. I'm to give both litter and both adults Pyran (for hooks) and Albon (for Coccidia). Ashes' pup will get antibiotics. I'm also to give the smaller weaker pups SQ injections of D5 NS 25-20CC TID PRN to rehydrate them and get them eating again. Right now it is paying to be a nurse. Otherwise the pups would have had to stay at the hospital.

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.

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.