Today was a nice relaxing day home with the family and doods. Nothing terribly exciting happened and that is why it was so nice.

My husband told me to not ever leave a dog pregnancy test lying around again. When he said that I realized they do look much like people pregnancy tests. He said he freaked out last night when he found a (positive) pregnancy test on the counter. He said he thought I was trying to tell him something. *snicker*coff*laff* that wouldn't even be funny.

Little Richard (Duchess/Rusty) went home today. He was the first to be chosen but had to stay here while his new family went on vacation. He moved home to Grand Rapids today.

A couple of pictures from yesterday
Lacey, Mera, Velvet, Kori, BrideGroom-Noodles.

I have a terrific picture of Chevy with his guardian mom. I need to get her permission before putting her picture here.

Velvet and daughter Lacey hanging out in the dried mud pit.

The Breeders Gathering.

What a fun day today was. At 8:30 a.m. Lacey (Velvet/Koby
girl) and her 1/2 sister 1/2 niece that she lives with came over for
the day. At 9:30 my sister went over and picked up Rosie and Buddi (Rosie's daughter). At 10:00 Mera came over. At 11:30 I ran over and picked up BrideGroom-Noodles.
Shortly after noon, Tucker (Rosie's son) and his guardian mom,
Jennifer, came over. A little after that the guardian mom, Ally,
came over with Chevy (Mera/DaVinci), Francie
(Rosie's daughter), and Chloe. It was a doodle dog party. Thank
goodness Jennifer and Ally stayed. What a dog party is was. There were big doods, little doods, black doods, and white doods
all at the dog party. They even wore name tags. For each of them I cut
out a white bandanna and wrote their names on it and put it on them.
So...Why, you may ask, did we have 10 visiting doods , Velvet and Kori,
and the four Duchess puppies at our house today? Some breeders came
over today. This was who was in attendance: Helene of Westwood Labradoodles in Ohio, Rochelle of Spring Creek Labradodles in Oregon, Bonnie of Heartsong Australian Labradoodles in Kentucky, Gretchen of Pacific Rim Labradoodles in Oregon, and Mindi of Colonial Village Labradoodles

in Indiana. Renee of Yesteryear Acres in
Ohio met us later. Bonnie was wearing white pants. What was she
thinking? I gave her a hard time and Mera , as if on cue, jumped up on
her and put a dirty paw print on her pants. Really I was just teasing
and felt kind of bad. It was great to have all the breeders there to
see and feel the various coat types and colors and see if we agree on
what they are. It is not always clear cut just what the coat
types/colors are. A coat that one breeder may call a red wool, another
breeder may refer to as apricot fleece. A wool coat is usually curly,
but not always. It can be soft or coarse, straight or curly. Fleece can
be straight, curly, or wavy. Also, the coats the puppies have are
generally not the coats they will end up with. We can't just look in a
book to determine what the coat is because it is the texture that
determines what it is. Experience is the key, and feeling/looking at
coats with other breeders was great. I've had about 14 litters and
about
110 puppies and am feeling pretty comfortable and confident about coat
types. Still it was great to hear what Rochelle had to say. She has
much more experience than I. I wasn't totally sure about a couple of my
girls' coats. (110 puppies!? why aren't I living high on the hog?).

Mindi, Gretchen, Rochelle, Bonnie, Helene, me (with Velvet)

After the others left, Helene and I stuck around to run some doggie pregnancy tests. She bred a dood
a few weeks ago and is wanting to know if she (the dood) is pregnant. She drew the
blood before leaving (of course) and kept it on ice all the way here. I
drew some blood from Rosie to do a test. I was so proud of myself. It
had been about a year since drawing blood or starting an IV. I got her
on
the first try, and didn't even use a tourniquet. O.k., so we have the
blood. Now what? We can't use the whole blood for the canine pregnancy
test. We have to separate the blood and use either serum or plasma.Hmmm
....last evening Helene and I emailed back and forth about ways to
separate it. I suggested she put the tube of blood in her pocket and go
to the merry-go-round and have someone spin her around really fast. She
said that was a good idea, but I noticed she didn't do it. This is what
she came up with:

Now
look at that picture and picture this in your mind: She took a latex
glove, put the tubes of blood in a finger, Duct taped the finger
closed, tied the glove shut, put a small doggie collar through the tied
part of the glove, then...now get this...I swear this is how breeders
amuse themselves and each other when they get together...started
swinging it around and around really fast to try to get the blood to
separate. I took a turn swinging it too. It was harder than it looks
and I couldn't do it with my left hand. After about five minutes we
took it out. It hadn't separated very well. Still, we were running late
for the dinner so we went ahead and did the test for her dog. We really
didn't have enough serum so we couldn't be sure the results were
accurate. We took Rosie's tube of blood with us in the hopes it would
separate on its own.

We dropped Rosie and Buddi off on the way to dinner in Zionsville. That is where Mindi
lives and she is one who arranged the dinner. She also arranged to have
a vet there who did a talk and question & answer session for
us. We ate dinner and had fun chatting. The restaurant started filling
up and I was feeling uncomfortable about how noisy we were and that I
was not dressed very nice (I forgot to change out of my jeans before
leaving) so started pushing for us to go elsewhere. We walked down the
street to this restaurant/bar place. As we were walking in Helene asked
me if I had ever gotten kicked out of anyplace. (I told her about the
time when I was in the Navy stationed on Adak, AK and I threw a drink in a Marine's
face - he was being ungentlemanly - and it was suggested I vacate the
premises before I got in trouble.) Anyway, there wasn't enough room at
the table for all the breeders so we started doing some rearranging of
the tables. The staff there didn't appreciate our efforts and said that
was a fire hazard and we couldn't do that. They said we would have to
sit at separate tables. That would be no fun. The others didn't come
from other parts of the country just so we could sit in the same
establishment but at different tables.Humf ! so we walked out and told
the others coming in that we just got kicked out. We went to a nice
little bar that didn't care about fire hazards. We scooted three tables
together and commenced to have a great time. Renee is very animated and
told us some funny, and not so funny, stories. Rochelle has the
chocolate girl puppy from Velvet's very last litter. We called that pup
Luckita, they named her Miracle Finale. Mira is her little boy's dog, aww that is so sweet and I'm so glad. Helene bought an ultra sound machine off eBay. I'm so jealous
Gretchen is really funny. We seem to have the same sense of humor.
Bonnie and I had met a couple times before. We met at Gen and Terry's
at Sierra Vista Labradoodles
about 2 1/2 years ago (I think). We also were at the breeders seminar in Chicago a couple of years ago. Mindi and her husband bought their house and property with the purpose of breeding Labradoodles in mind. They recently had their first litter. Pat, also from Zionsville,
sat at the other of the table at the restaurant and the bar. I didn't
get a chance to talk to her. There, now I talked about everybody who
was there. Oh, except for Darwin, Renee's husband. He cleans poo!

It was midnight before I got home.

Busy busy busy...business is booming. Gilligan, Lovey, and Frankie all went home in the past week. Little Richard is going home in a couple of days. It is time to figure out the game plan for the winter/spring. That means: who gets spayed/neutered? who gets Pennhipped? who gets OFA'd? when are the eye exams due? when are the thyroid tests due? who will breed with whom? etc...

My baby started high school today. *sniff *sniff

Three of Duchess' puppies got spayed/neutered today. They had the laser surgery. It costs half again as much, but supposedly is less painful for them. I'm not keeping either of the girls back for breeding. Now they are ready to find new homes. They are getting cuter and cuter by the day. For awhile there I was so worried they were going to end up with short legs and long bodies. Now I'm not so sure that will happen.

Today I got to visit with Rusty, the daddy of Duchess' pups. He was happy to see me and gave me lots of kisses.

Gilligan went home today. He is just barely too big for the small crates I keep on hand for shipping. The other day I took him shopping at two different pet supplies stores. Neither place had medium crates. I ended up getting one that will be big enough for him when he is fully grown. So, he will have plenty of room to play on the plane ride home. He had a bath, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and all brushed out and ready to go this after noon. It seems like everytime I ship a puppy with Continental Airlines, one of the cargo guys takes everything off the top and retapes it. I tried really hard to do a great job to see if he would retape it today. When Gilligan and I got there I took him to the back, gave him a hug and kiss, put him in the crate and weighed him. Then I went back to the front to fill out the paperwork and pay. I was so proud when one of the cargo guys came up front and said to the other guy "I sure wish everybody prepared their crates like that." I finally did it. Oh, I should have taken a picture. Oh well.

All of Mera's puppies have finally gone home. I didn't even keep any of these for breeding. I figured since Chevy and Ruby are from Mera and DaVinci's first litter, I didn't need to keep any of these guys. Oh, I should mention that Gilligan's new family found us through another family. When they were at the soccer field in NJ they saw this cool puppy and talked to his family who gave them my website. Turns out that puppy was Doc, one of Gilligan's littermates!
Doc and Gilligan.

Shopping shopping. We bought new blinds for the living room. It is about time we got around to that. The others have been broken since Da Vinci broke them way back when he was living here. We also bought the paint to finish painting the hallway and living room.

I was up until 1:00 in the morning painting the hallway floor. At least it is finished.

Frankie went home first thing this morning. He is joining a family with four boys. He is going to have a fun life.
These are Duchess' boys shortly after birth. One is Frankie.
Here is Frankie last week.

Lovey went home a few minutes after Frankie. She moved to Ohio with a family with two children, a boy and a girl. She will get to sleep in the girl's room. She is going to have a great life too. It is kind of funny that my brother lives just three miles east of her, and Joliet Jake (an Andria/Koby puppy girl) lives 3 1/2 miles west of her.
Lovey (and Gilligan) is somewhere in this pile of puppies.
Lovey a couple of weeks ago.

We went to the state fair. It was great except my nephew didn't have the best ride of his rodeo career. At least he didn't get hurt. It was like a family reunion. My brothers, sister in law, and I walked around in the animal barns together. It was great. I didn't get to eat any deep fried candy bars though. My life is not complete.

It is difficult keeping a healthy happy doodle puppy calm. I've only been letting Lovey outside by herself and just long enough to do her business. This afternoon Gilligan slipped out with us. Before I knew what was happening, Lovey was chasing him around the yard. They made two laps around the yard before I could get her in the house. Her incision was oozing a little blood. She didn't act uncomfortable or anything. She didn't bleed anymore the rest of the evening. She is all ready to go home in the morning.

Frankie, a Duchess puppy, spent the night in Jill's room last night. He loves his house time. He is also ready to go home in the morning.

Lovey is doing much better today. She is still moving more slowly, certainly not like last night though.

Duchess' puppies take turns sleeping in Jill's room. I have it fixed up for them. There is a little crate with a towel, food, water, and a toy in it. The door is left open to the crate, and there is a litter box next to the crate. They have been doing very well.

I got all the adhesive off the hallway floor and I put the primer down.

Lovey got spayed today. Poor thing, she is just lying around. The older the pups/dogs are when they are spayed the harder it is on them. The 7 week old pups come home playing like nothing ever happened. Lovey is 16 weeks old. She isn't crying or whining, just walking only a very little and very slowly. She has mostly been just lying around. She had the laser surgery.

Yesterday when I called to schedule Lovey's surgery a new person who I didn't know answered the phone. She said the soonest they could get me in would be Friday or anytime next week. I went ahead and scheduled for Friday and asked if they would call if someone canceled. Not five minutes later she called and said Dr Baker said they could squeeze me today and that I could go ahead and bring the other pup in that afternoon for his physical. It is nice to be so loved. I'm really working on the vets there to get Pennhip certified.

Today I ripped up the hallway carpet and will work on getting all the adhesive off the concrete tomorrow. That is so much work.

My nephew is a professional rodeo guy. He is a bronco rider or bull rider or whatever they are called. He is going to be in the rodeo at the Indiana State Fair this Saturday. I've never seen him work and am so excited to finally be able to watch. He is such a funny kid.

Poor Fubuki the cat is so sad and lonely. Oh, wow, I just realized I forgot to tell you about our really bad day last week. Last Thursday when I was at the vet in the morning my cell phone rang when the tech was out of the room. When I tried to answer it, it flipped shut and hung up. I saw it was Bry and decided just to call her when I was finished up there. Well, poor kid, it turns out she was calling because she had just found her bunny dead on her bed. She lets him run around her room and that is where he was when he died. She said that the day before he wasn't moving much. So, her bunny died. That afternoon I had to take Jolene to the vet because in spite of my syringe feeding her small very frequent meals, she just wasn't getting any better. She hadn't urinated or evacuated her bowels in days. We had to end up putting her to sleep. The vet couldn't find a good easy to get to vein to he put the gas mask on her first so she wouldn't be scared or in pain when he put her to sleep. So sad. We lost two pets in one day. Bryony and I buried them in our back yard.

Jolene the kitty.
MoMo the Bunny.

I'm so proud of Gilligan. He went to the vet today for his final thorough check up. He had an abscess on his upper lip (likely play fighting with Lovey) that the vet lanced. The vet didn't numb it or anything. Gilligan just sat there cool as a cucumber. He didn't try to get away, didn't growl, didn't raise a paw to push the vet away or anything. He just sat there and let the vet do what he wanted. Gilligan has his daddy's disposition. That is so great, I'm thrilled.

Lovey went to the vet too. She is spending the night there and getting spayed in the morning. The poor baby.

Duchess' puppies are taking turns sleeping in Jill's room with her. Tonight it is Princessa's turn. I was thrilled with her. While I was reading Jill's story, I noticed Princessa trot on over to the puppy litterbox I put in there for her and go poo in it. Yeah.

Rosie went back home today. She had so much fun playing while she was here, but was so glad when her mom came. We will find out in a couple of weeks if she is pregnant or not.

Man I don't know what happened, but it is like somebody flipped a switch or something. Four different families have called in the last two days all wanting Gilligan. He and Lovey and two of Duchess' puppies have families. They haven't left yet though. Bussiness certainly isn't hurting now.

I'm gross. Yup, I really am. Somebody emailed to tell me how terribly gross I am in my diary and no wonder I can't sell any puppies. Guess other breeders don't have to deal with pee/poo, semen, placentas, and other gross stuff. How utterly entertaining and enlightening that email was.

Poor Mera, she is like the first born child that had to pave the way for the younger kids. She didn't get away with anything. I whined here plenty of times about how she is completely house trained and has good manners at her house. Yet, when she comes here she pees/poos in the house, counter cruises, and trash can dives. To be fair, she doesn't do that nearly as much as she used to. Anyway, what am I getting at? When Josie's mom came to pick her up today I told her how great Josie was. I went on about what a good girl she is. She and Rosie both are good as gold. Then I got to thinking, "Poor Mera". Josie takes the food off Jill's plate and even took some bread right out of her hands. Rosie trash can dives, they both pooed in Jill's room about everyday, they both barked when visitors came over. The difference between these two and Mera is that now we keep the counters clean, the trash empied, and tried to keep Jill's door closed. That meant it didn't happen as often. Plus, Mera paved the way so we know how to deal with it.
Josie
Josie will be back in a couple of weeks to have her babies.

The Professor went home today. He is one of Mera/DaVinci's puppy boys. That makes nine down, two to go.

Duchess' pups are so cute and doing so well. Most of them are using the litter box all the time now. Cleaning up after these guys is so easy.

Did I mention that Josie and Rosie are both here while their families are on vacation. It is a little croweded here now. However, this is a great opportunity for them to get comfortable here before they have to back to have their puppies.

Rosie, Josie, and Lacey went to the vet for tests today. Rosie got her OFA hips and elbows checked along with a CBC. It showed her red blood cell and platelet counts were down which is perfectly normal and expected in a pregnant dog. We haven't confirmed her pregnancy yet, but it is looking like she is. Josie just had her hips and elbows done. Lacey had it all. She is so pretty. She is a Velvet/Koby pup with a chocolate fleece coat. They did really well today. We'll get the results within two weeks. The vet thinks they all look great.

There are 21 Lincoln Manor breeding dogs, including the puppies that will be breeders. 11 of them have already had their hips, hearts, eyes, and blood tested. 10 are still puppies. In reviewing the testing standards required of the breeders association to which I belong, I realized I didn't have their elbows tested. I use the Pennhip method for the hips and they don't test the elbows. The OFA method can test the elbows, but a dog has to be at least two years old to get an official certificate. Also, if the dog is less than two years old then the OFA x-rays are only read by only one vet instead of three vets. That is a subjective method and the same x-rays could get different scores depending on what vet read them. So, at first I was doing the OFA and Pennhip at the same time. Then I decided the OFA was a waste of time and quit doing it. Now, I realize with great horror, that I need to go back and redo all the testing to include the OFA to get the elbows done. I called around to see if I could get just the elbows done and not have to have the hips retested too. Well, yes...but, it costs the same. For just the OFA hips and elbows and no blood testing or anything extra, it is $273. For Pennhip and OFA it is $466. They also need their annual eye, blood, and thyroid testing. I figured it out and to go back and retest, plus do all the annual tests, and do testing on all the upcoming breeding doods, it is going to cost over $10,000.

Velvet and Kori to the rescue.
Today Velvet and Kori went to the local Veterinary acute hospital for examinations and blood tests to see if they can join the doggie blood donor program. They are looking for more donors. They don't store blood. When there is a need they call the donor who has already been screened and typed and that donor goes in right away and donates to the recipient. Velvet and Kori did very well. They passed the physical and temperament testing. They had blood drawn and it will be sent out to find out what type it is. They are looking for a certain blood type. We won't know until next week if they will get to be part of the program. I'm so proud of them. We stopped at McDonalds and I got them each a cheeseburger and some french fries. I want them to associate going to that vet and getting poked and prodded with something good.

The King has left the building. The first of Duchess' puppies went home. The King, now known as Kingston, is the one we are keeping for a stud. He went to live with his daddy Rusty, who lives with Connie, my best friend. Kingston weighs three pounds now.
Doesn't he just look like a King.