One month old on Christmas Day!

Yes, we are One Month Old today! And it's an exciting time to be around! It is so much fun to see the funny pokey green thing with lots of sparkly balls and strings and things hanging on it, and lots of bright packages underneath, and to snuggle up with our people close to the warm fire-spot and listen to stories... 

We are getting big and strong now! We can climb in and out of the sleeping cave ourselves, and in and out of the sleeping mat, too. We try to remember to pee on our pee pads, and we never pee where we sleep, oh no! And we've just started to eat real FOOD! just like Mama. Well, not quite JUST like her - her food is round and brown and crunchy and my sister almost choked on one piece when she tried to eat it, so our people are putting it were we can't reach though it smells so yummy, but instead they are giving us soft white stuff that's almost like Mama's milk but with some other stuff mixed in that makes it even yummier and a bit thicker and we have to lap it instead of sucking. 

Mama is starting not to be too keen on us drinking from her all the time, I'm not sure why. 

Sometimes when my sisters play with me they poke those sharp things growing in their mouths - whadya call them, teeth? - into me and it hurts! 

Hey, maybe that's why Mama doesn't like us to drink so much from her all the time now... I didn't think of that before!

On Friday I took a ride in a loud rumbling machine to this BIG building and inside one of the rooms there way my boy! with lots of other human pups. They sat in a circle on the floor and I got to meet them all. It was kind of scary, but fun, too! 

Hey, did you notice something strange last night? In the middle of the night I heard some strange noises upsairs - like some big fat strange human was coming into the house through the roof and fussing around with stuff by the fire-spot. I squeaked and squealed but Mama told me to be quiet, it wasn't anything to be worried about, just a guy bringing the people in the house some surprises. Weird. I wondered if any of them would be for me? 

And you know what?!? THEY WERE!! (Well, some. And I have to share with my sisters. But that's okay.)

Signed, 

Leo

and my sisters

Scarlett

Cardinal

Galaxy

Nightingale

and

Ariel 

(who might be last, but is now the biggest of the bunch!)

Doodle Romp Report

Last Saturday’s Doodle Romp was a great time! Besides our three – Amore, Aspen, and Garnet – we were joined by Cassi & Lyra from Garnet’s last litter and by our stud prospect Kodiak & his house-mate Snickers (who is not a doodle).

The day was fine – a mix of sun and cloud, warmish but not hot, with a bit of snow still on the ground (which has since disappeared owing to rain and continuing warm weather). We tried out Pine Hill, a small NCC park in the Rockcliffe Park part of town. It is definitely smaller than Conroy Pit – we did the circuit of the park twice and were still done in under an hour. Just as we were leaving, two members of Garnet’s family found us and said hello to us and to Garnet – she was very excited to see them and I’m sure disappointed that she couldn’t go home with them yet.

  

Cassi & Lyra have both grown! They are a bit bigger than their Mama though not yet Amore’s size. Both look happy, healthy, and well-cared for. They definitely remembered each other, as well as Amore (not sure how much they remembered Mama Garnet – but she was gone by the time they were 8 weeks old so they didn’t spend as much time with her as with Amore). Apparently Lyra has learned that she can’t tackle all the big dogs in the park!

Puppy update - week 2 (ish)

Okay, so I`m a bit behind – giving you the “two-week” puppy update when the pups are almost three weeks old already!

They are continuing to grow and develop. From itsy-bitsy things you could easily hold in the palm of one hand, they have tripled their birth weight and are becoming daily more mobile. While the vast majority of the time is still spent sleeping and nursing, they do on occasion liven up and tussle about a bit, or go exploring on their wobbly legs. They are starting to be able to carry their own weight with the legs underneath them, instead of “swimming” along the ground like little crocodiles with their legs splayed to the side.

The big difference, of course, is that they have EYES!!! They all opened their eyes between 13 and 15 days of age. What a difference it makes to see them with their eyes open, gazing back at you – it makes their faces more alive and interesting. Their vision will remain blurry for several weeks, but will slowly improve as they get outside the whelping box and begin to become more active and explore the big wide world.

They had their first deworming on Sunday and took it well. Everybody seemed to like the medicine - it's made to taste nice!

Uncle Aspen and Grandma Amore are now allowed inside the puppy area – Garnet has reduced her level of protectiveness and no longer growls when the other big dogs come to say hi. It is really fun to watch Aspen with the puppies – he lies on the ground and they toddle towards him; he licks them and they fall over; they tussle with each other and he nudges them with his nose. We’ve caught a few of the pups trying to latch on to one of his teats with little success!!

Aspen & Amore meet Santa

Last Saturday afternoon, after the morning romping at art lessons, we headed out with Aspen & Amore to cut our Christmas tree. It is an annual ritual with us to go to a local tree farm and select and cut our own tree.

Last year we had taken Amore along to the tree farm we have been to many times in the past, along with our friends and their little dachshund, Jenna. In previous years no one had commented on Jenna’s presence and we had met other dogs there, too, so we expected no hassles, but we disappointed upon arriving to be told “No dogs allowed.” So this year I hunted for another nearby tree farm and called in advance to be sure we could bring the dogs. Fallowfield Tree Farm was happy to welcome the dogs and we even met their German Shepherd roaming freely around the property.

While we waited for the tractor wagon ride to take us to the tree cutting field, we roasted a couple of marshmallows by the fire, and then along came Santa, so of course we had to introduce the dogs!

(We found the perfect Christmas tree, and it’s now standing well-decorated in our loft, where Aspen can’t get at it as he’d no doubt strip off all the ornaments he could reach and chew them to bits… )

When we got home that evening, Aspen was totally exhausted after all that activity! He went into his crate (something he doesn’t often do voluntarily) around 7pm and didn’t make a noise (highly unusual when crated!!) until 10pm when I let him out before hitting the hay myself. Then he went straight back to bed and slept soundly all night long!

Upcoming Doodle Romps

We have organized three Doodle Romps for our DragonRam Doodle families (and any other interested Ottawa-area doodles who might care to join us!).

First, this coming Saturday, 10 December, from 10am to noon. For this romp we will try out the NCC park at Pine Hill, in Rockcliffe Park area. Meet at 10:00at the parking lot just west of Lisgar at the corner of Willingdon (very close to the east side of the Governor General’s estate). We are looking forward to meeting Lyra & Cassi again, and whoever else can make it!

A second romp is scheduled for Monday, 2 January from 2-4pm (for everyone who gets Monday off in lieu of the first). For this romp we will return to our regular venue of Conroy Pit.

Finally, a third romp on Saturday, 7 January from 2:30-4:30pm (to give us time to get there after skiing lessons). Again we will meet at Conroy Pit. This one promises to be fairly well attended!

We look forward to meeting as many of our doodles as can make it to one or more of these events.

If you are a prospective purchaser of one of Garnet’s puppies, come out and join us and meet some of these puppies' half-siblings, uncles and aunts!

Playtime!

Last Saturday, as usual, we took Amore and Aspen to play in the ball field outside the place where the kids have art lessons. Since their lessons overlap only half an hour out of a three-hour stretch, most of the time there is one kid with me and the dogs to play.

This past Saturday there was a bit of snow on the ground, so we put jackets on the dogs, parkas on ourselves, and headed out. Aspen’s jacket didn’t stay on long, what with the rip-roaring good time he and Amore were having. Amore loves to chase the ball, but Aspen isn’t really into ball – not yet at least. He just wants to tussle with Amore! (Typical guy.)

  

My son was also very tired after a VERY late night the previous night, so after making a couple of snow angels he mostly just lay on the ground and rested, while I threw the ball or just watched the dogs play.