Doodle Romps for Spring & Summer

I have worked out a schedule for Doodle Romps for the spring and summer. With my son so busy with soccer, and my daughter's social life and school work, it can get challenging to find a time that suits us all. In fact, both kinds won't be able to make every one of these, but then there are things like long weekends and Mother's Day / Father's Day to consider, so - like I said - it's not easy. 

Here's what I've got scheduled:
May - Sunday 15 May at 4:00
June - Sunday 5 June at 4:00
July - Sunday 10 July at 4:00
August - Sunday 7 August at 4:00
September - Sunday 11 September at 4:00  (Happy Ethiopian New Year!)

Sunday is the day of choice, because my son's soccer games are all on Saturday afternoons and for some of them we have to travel far away. 

I'll send out e-mail reminders a week or so ahead of time. 

Guess How Many Puppies

If you were paying attention, you'll have noticed that there was no "Guess How Many Puppies" contest for Phoenix. I just didn't get my act together in time before the ultrasound. Then I considered just having a "Guess when they'll arrive" contest, but it was too much like work...!! However, a bit of anticipation was wanting when Phoenix went into labour - the sense of just waiting on tenterhooks to see who would win...

So we're having one for Harmony. 
Here are the rules: Send me your guess including (1) how mny puppies you think Harmony will have, and (2) the date and time of birth of the first pup (to determine a winner since lots of people guess the same number). Whoever has the right number of pups and is closest to the actual date/time of arrival of pUPPY #1 wins a $10 Timmy's card. 

Harmony

 Harmony ovulated on 15 April, so nine weeks later would put it at 17 June. A dam can give birth within 3 days, plus or minus, of the due date. We've usually found them to be 1-4 days in advance. Don't think I've have a dam go later. (If you were that round and heavy, would you?) And most of our girls (with the exception of Topaz) prefer odd numbers. Out of 13 litters, we've had 10 born on odd-numbered days. The most popular time of day is between about 3 and 11pm. We've had one litter born around 4-6am, and a few as early as 2-2:30, but nothing outside those hours. The most popular number is six. (We've had one litter of 2; two litters of 4; three litters of 5; six litters of 6, and one litter of 8.)

So guess away!! Guesses must be submitted by midnight of the day on which Harmony has her ultrasound, which isn't scheduled yet but is likely to be around 16-18 May.

Harmony bred

So, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Harmony was in heat. We tested her progesterone; she was in early pro-estrus (not quite ready to breed). We tested her two days later - her levels had gone down instead of up. Tested her again three days after - they were even lower, at "non-heat" levels! What the flip? So I decided before giving up, I'd wait a bit longer and do a final test, and voila! She was ovulating.

Harmony the beautiful

 So on Sunday, 17 April, she and Hugo had a date. They were both virgins, but Hugo knew exactly what to do (even though he's not yet 8 months old!!). It only took half an hour and the job was done. I'd hd a semen evaluation done on Hugo, since under eight months one can't be positive a boy has the goods, yet, but he tested out with flying colours! My vet was impressed at how easy he was to collect. 

Hugo when he was a pup!

 Counting nine weeks from ovulation, these pups are due to arrive around June 17 - the same weekend that Phoenix's pups will be ready to head home! Means we won't have much overlap, which is okay. 

We are still waiting for Galena to go into heat. Since Harmony was early, I'm just fine with Galena being late, as - again - we prefer not to overlap litters too much as we only have so much space. I'm thinking as long as she's in heat by mid-May it will be fine; we'll still have summer puppies and they can home while it's still early fall, with enough time for house-training before winter sets in. 

Gorgeous Galena

It's gonna be a puppy-filled summer!!

And the total is 6!

Puppy #6 popped out right about the time I shut the computer down on Friday morning, at 1:14am. She is another blondie, quite pale in colour, and the smallest of the lot at a "mere" 299g. 

Now, some 35 hours later, the pups are all snuggled up with Mama in the whelping box, nursing, sleeping and pooping - ah, the life of a puppy! Phoenix is a very attentive mama. 

Keep watching this space for updates, and our FB page for more photos over the coming weeks. 

Almost done...

Well, Phoenix took her sweet time getting those babies out! 

The first one didn't arrive until 11:22pm on the 21st - and she was a big girl of 370g, who came out feet first. We were almost getting concerned that it was taking too long, so between my son and me, we helped her along until she finally emerged and we made sure she was breating right away. She is a blond (gold-caramel?) colour with white chest, toes, tail-tip, chin and lips. 

Number 2 arrived a mere seven minutes later, at 11:29. This one is a chocolate phantom tri-colour, with white spots on chest, feet, tail, and paws. He weighed 311g. 

Number 3 arrived at 11:48, a blond (apricot-caramel?) boy with similar white markings as his sister. Did I say she was big? Well this guy is a whopping 399g - the biggest pup we've ever had!!

Phoenix took a bit of a break then, while the next pups got into position. Number 4 arrived at 12:22, exactly an hour after the first one. He was another blond (gold-apricot?) boy with the same type of white markings as the other blondies. He's smaller than his brother, at a mere 331g - which is still twice as big as lots of other pups have been. 

Number 5 arrived at 12:35, a beautiful black girl with lots of white spots as well. She was medium sized as well, around 347g.

Number 6 hasn't arrived yet. We're pretty sure there is a Number 6 - there appears to be another puppy-shaped lump inside - but it's reluctant to leave. I'll report later on Friday if/when it emerged from hiding.

Technically the last pups were born on a different day than the first three, but we'll give them all the 21st for their birthday. (It's a good number - my daughter's birthdate, albeit she was born in May.) 


Phoenix is a wonderful mama. She is very doting on her babies, takes excellent care of them and keeps them clean, fed, and snuggled. And boy she had to work hard for these ones - by the end she was quite rotund!! No wonder, with around 2kg of baby inside, not to mention all the placentas and fluid. She only weighs about 13kg herself. She likes to crawl under my bed and by the last few days we closed my bedroom door so she couldn't do so, as it was such a tight fit we were scared she'd get stuck!! She's a lot more comfy now, I'm sure. 

(Note that just because they're huge babes doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be huge dogs. We'll monitor their relative growth and be better able to estimate adult sizes when they're 4-6 weeks old.)

Watch for photos on our Facebook page later today (Friday). I'm not the best phtographer and I'm too tired to fiddle with posting photos. Tirstan will get some up on Facebook later.

Happy puppy dreams!!

Ready to pop!!

Phoenix is in early-mid labour at the moment. We’ve been monitoring her temperature since Monday. Though things might be starting on Tuesday, but no deal. Yesterday evening her temp finally dropped significantly,same this morning, meaning babes should arrive within 24hours. I think it’ll be later tonight or early morning. I came home from work early, just in case, and she was antsy and panting, but has settled back down now. So I’m just hanging around, watching her, reading and waiting. Stay tuned!!

Happy 4th birthday Topaz, Obsidian, Pearl, Banjo and PJ!

Four years old already!

It doesn't seem that long ago that we had five beautiful babies in Amore's final litter! And now Amore's daughter, Topaz, is about to become a granddam when her own daughter, Harmony, gives birth to her first litter in June. This will be the first of Amore's great-grandpuppies that will be born here, though she's had a few litters of great-grandpuppies born in Nova Scotia and Mississippi.  

(Sure glad kids don't mature that quickly, or I'd be a multi-great-grandmother by now!)

Sid, Topaz, Pearl, Banjo and PJ - we wish you all a great day and a wonderful year to come!

More puppies (soon to be) on the way!

Well, our girl Harmony just came into heat this past weekend. This is almost a month earlier than I had anticipated, but no problem, we'll work it out. 

I had hoped to use our new stud boy, Hugo, with her, but he may be too young. We're testing his semen quality Wednesday morning, along with a progesterone test for Harmony to check whether she's ready yet or not. If it turns out Hugo isn't yet mature enough to make babies, we'll use a Canadian Doodles stud - most likely Rogue, Oscar or Clifford (to be determined). 

Watch this space for more details over the next week or so. (And also for news of Phoenix babies, due to arrive in about two weeks!)

March Birthdays

I missed posting birthday greetings on our website for both of our March litters. So here they are - better late than never!

Happy (belated) birthday to Galena & Teddy, who turned FOUR (count 'em!!) on March 4th. 

Galena at 8 weeks old

 And Happy birthday to Katniss Alice, Cumin Chino, Marley Juniper, Nelly Iris, Chewie Zurry, and Tobey Lupin, who all turned TWO on March 17 (Happy St Paddy's too!)

Katniss Alice - 2015

Cumin Chino - 2015

We hope you all have a great year ahead and lots of lovin'!