Puppy pix

These were supposed to be included in last Tuesday's "Five weeks old" post, but I didn't have them handy when I published the post and was too preoccupied to add them very quickly. Some of you will have seen these photos on Facebook already. But here they are for the blogger-minded!

Beautiful girl!

Little boy

Big boy

Caramel & white boy

All caramel boy

All chocolate boy

 

Have yourself a very Doodle Christmas!

As you sit around the Christmas tree this evening, munching snacks, singing songs, reading stories, playing games, or whatever your tradition is... 

As you snuggle into bed, with dreams of Santa dancing in your head...

Whether you are snuggling your Labradoodle by the fireplace, next to the Christmas tree or are dreaming of a puppy coming your way in just a few more weeks...

We at DragonRam Doodles would like to wish you

A VERY DOODLE CHRISTMAS!!

Five weeks old!

The pups are five weeks old today!

In the past week they have really blossomed. They are now full-fledged, active, playful little dogs. We have shifted from the whelping box to a crate (doors open so they can come and go at will) with a pee pad nearby for business and they are being mildly successful at doing their business on the pad. (We put on a spray that encourages them to "go" there.)

 We are feeding them puppy food mash (kibble soaked in water), and a few of them are starting to get some teeth, so within a couple weeks they will graduate to dry food. While they still nurse, last night when I put the pan of food in their corner and then mama jumped in, a few of them stuck with the mash rather than rushing over to get mama-food.

We have placed the Adventure Box in their corner as well - a 30" x 30" x 24" tall frame with toys, stuffies, and other items dangling from the top, giving them things to play with, touch, and hear. As they move around these items and touch them, they are exposed to a variety of textures and noises, the idea being to familiarize them with various stimuli so they become accustomed to a variety of sounds and feelings and are more able to deal with the stress of new situations.

In addition, my kids have had various friends come over during the past week, and we've had several prospective adopting families come visit the pups, so they have had lots of interaction with people. This is always a good stimulus for them. It helps them get used to being handled by many different people and to learn to play with people. And they are always tired out and sleep well afterwards!

Four of the puppies are now reserved, leaving just two available. We have at least one family still considering it, and have had a couple more inquiries, so we are hopeful they will all find homes by the time they are ready to leave in mid-January.

Christmas Romp & Social

DragonRam Doodles' Christmas Romp and Social, held yesterday afternoon, was a great success! We had 14 dogs in attendance and somewhere between 25-35 people (but who's counting?).

Two litters were represented by 3 siblings each. We had Matilda, Hershey and Tara from Galena's first litter, and Harmony, Brio and Rusty from Topaz's first litter. Their humans got to know each other a bit better and some of them might get together outside the "official" DragonRam Romps for some extra doggie playtime.

Harmony, Brio & Rusty Rococo

 Our two studs, Cumin Chino and Hugo Nico, were in attendance and had a blast with all the other dogs. it's been a few months since we've seen Matilda, and it seems she now is the spitting image of her mama, Galena - with the same lovely silvered cafe curly coat.

Tara Firefly

Unfortunately none of the pups from our most recent gone-home litter (Topaz's second) were able to come - three of them live "far away" and the other two had other engagements. And of course the current litter of pups (Galena's third) are still too young to attend. The oldest dog in attendance was Carnelian Frisou, from Amore's second litter - he turned 5 this past September. (Amore herself was feeling grumpy so she didn't join us.)

Each dog in attendance received a goodie bag with some homemade doggie treats, and there were lots of goodies for the humans, too!

Munchis for me?!??

Christmas Doodle social

This is a reminder that the DragonRam second annual Christmas Doodle Romp and Social is taking place this Sunday, 20 December, from 5:30-7:30. So far we have about 12 dogs and likely 25-30 people signed up to come. 

There will be treats for canines and humans alike. With the nice weather this December the need for an indoor gathering is not so high, but this gives us all a chance to socialize and talk dog without worrying about cold, snow, rain, sleet, hail, wind or anything else other than having a grand time!

If you haven't yet signed up and would like to attend, please RSVP to roma@dragonramdoodles.com as soon as possible.

Four weeks old!

The puppies turned four weeks old today. Wow, what a change in even just the last few days! Suddenly they are reall little dogs! Today for the first time they all managed to climb out of and back into the whelping box and spent a good bit of time running around the puppy corner, squeaking for Mama and finding new places to pee. (Joy-not!) 

Big boys

  

Gold boy

From just barely opening their eyes less than two weeks ago, to just barely managing to stand and walk, to being able not just to walk but even run over the slippery vinyl floor - they sure have made progress. 

Happy boy

Little boy

We gave them some "real" food for the first time today - puppy kibble softened in hot water until it turns into mush, seeing as they do not as yet have any teeth. That will be the next big development - by the time they turn five weeks, most of them will have the beginnings of a few teeth poking through, meaning the transition to solid food will be well begun. 

Snuggly boy

We sold a second puppy this past week, so there are now four remaining. The temperament assessment is scheduled for January 7, 2016 - just over three weeks away.

Almost three weeks old!

Time sure does fly. The pups are approaching three weeks of age already, and growing like weeds. 

Over the past week their eyes and ears have started to open, bringing the world to life in a whole new way for them. So far, their vision and hearing is still developing, so the acuity is far from good. But it is improving daily!

We've had them out of the litter box a couple of times, on a rug just outside the box, where they can try out their wobbly legs and explore a wee bit more of the world.

Over the next two weeks the changes will be just as dramatic - their legs will grow stronger and they'll start to really walk and even run, and they'll start to get qjite playful. Just in time for Christmas!

One week old!!

Galena's pups are now one week (and two days!) old, and growing like crazy. They have already more than doubled their birth weight. Whereas at birth they fit easily into the palm of one hand, now they are overlowing!! While their activities are still pretty much limited to nursing, sleeping, and pooping, I've seen them wriggling around and even getting up on their legs momentarily before giving out and resorting to crawling once again. Soon their eyes and ears will open and they will start getting serious about walking. We always really enjoy that phase of development!

Grow, babies, grow!

They don't fit in one hand anymore!

Happy birthday Scarlett, Lily, Galaxy, Penelope, Leo and Ariel

Happy fourth birthday to Garnet’s second set of pups!

I can hardly believe that Leo, Lily, Galaxy and their sibs are going to be FOUR!! How time does fly! This was the litter that seemed to take forever to find homes – the first pups were four months old when they went home, and Leo and Ariel didn’t find homes until they were about 10-11 months old. But no matter what, we keep the pups and look after them until they find their forever family. It just wouldn’t be right to do anything else.

Leo, Lily and Galaxy are relatively frequent Doodle Romp attendees, so we get to meet them a couple times a year, which we always enjoy. Penelope lives nearby but we haven’t had the privilege of seeing her since she went home. Scarlett lives close to New York City, and Ariel is in Nova Scotia, so they are far away.

Ariel is also a breeding dog with Scotia Doodles. She has had several litters of lovely phantom, parti and solid coloured pups for Rhonda. She was a lively and friendly girl and we had contemplated keeping her ourselves but decided at that time not to, but we’re happy to keep up with her online.

Happy fourth birthday! 

Have a great time now, in the coming holiday season, and beyond!

 

We have puppies!!

I am pleased to announce that Galena surprised us this afternoon by giving birth to SIX beautiful babies. Our vet had counted five on the ultrasound with, she said, maybe a sixth but she thought the sixth was more likely a partially resorbed embryo as it was much smaller and less well-defined. As it turns out, one of the pups is much smaller than the others; maybe that was him.

We have:

• Puppy #1: male, 234g, caramel with a small white spot on his chest, born around 2:35
• Puppy #2: male, 248g, solid chocolate, born at 2:45
• Puppy #3: male, 274g, caramel with a white star on his forehead, born at 2:50
• Puppy #4: male, 190g, chocolate (phantom?) with a tiny white spot on his chest, born at 3:33
• Puppy #5: female, 263g, chocolate phantom, born at 3:57
• Puppy #6: male, 290g, chocolate (phantom?) with a large white patch on his chest, born at 4:24

This measn that the winner of the Guess How Many Puppies contest is Kathleen, sho guessed six puppies with the first born on 17 Nov at 3:30pm. That's less than an hour ort from when the first one actually arrived. Congrats Kathleen! A $10 Timmy's card will be winging its way to you shortly. 

And congrats to Galena and Cumin Chino, who made some beautiful babies together!

If you know anyone who is thinking of getting a puppy, send them our way. Several of these pups are still available.