Happy third birthday to Harmony and the other pups of Topaz's first litter!

Harmony's second litter just went home in late March, so at the age of three she is the proud mama of 14 beautiful babies (two litters of seven each).

 

Sweet Harmony

We have also had the pleasure of seeing Brio and his family fairly regulary and Rusty a couple of times at our Doodle Romps. Darwin lives in Toronto and Sheeva in Montreal, so they haven't been able to join us. :-(

The sixth puppy in this litter, Celeste, was stillborn after a difficult attempt at delivery. We hope you are looking down on us from puppy heaven!!

All the best to the five of you! Happy birthday and enjoy those doggy cupcakes (or whatever your humans give you to celebrate!)a

Happy first birthday to Phoenix's second litter: Kinoko Ivy, Peanut, Boomer Ash, Cooper Indigo, Poppy and Lavender!

I would wager to state that these six pups were/are the biggest (as a group) that we have ever had. Mama Phoenix is about 30 lbs, and Papa Jackson was around the same. By the time she was eight weeks pregnant, Phoenix was huge and probably weighed over 40 lbs!! When born, the smallest of these was bigger than the biggest we’d had before, and the the biggest was just under 400g – huge by our standards!

Peanut at 8 weeks old

 Now one year old, I believe most of them (with the possible exception of Lavender, who was the smallest pup) are over 40 lbs. We have the good luck to see Poppy regularly at our Doodle Romps, and Peanut has also joined us on occasion despite living in Montreal (now that’s dedication!!). Ivy and Lavender have also come once or twice, but Boomer and Cooper live far away in Toronto.  (One of these days we’ll have to organize a Toronto romp for all our pups who go there!)

Cooper at eight weeks old

Poppy has a canine sister, Lily, whom she loves like crazy, along with three human brothers. All the other pups are single dogs, though most have human siblings (except for Peanut).

We wish you all the best on this momentous day of turning ONE!!

Happy squirrel dreams!

Happy 5th birthday to Topaz, Pearl, Sid, Banjo and PJ!

Well, it’s been five years since Topaz arrived on the scene, along with her sister Pearl and brothers Obidian (Sid), PJ & Banjo!

Topaz had her first litter just after her second birthday and her second litter just after her third birthday. Now she is pregnant again with her third and final litter due just after her fifth birthdqay!

Topaz is a beautiful apricot girl who is very happy in her guardian home. Her human siblings are growing up and moving on, but she loves to run out the back door and out the yard to the wide open park behind her home.

We’ve been lucky enough to see Pearl and Sid at the occasional Doodle Romp, and PJ showed up once too. We always love seeing our former pups and their people! Banjo lives in North Bay which is a bit far to drive in for an hour’s walk, but we know he’s doing well up north.

Reminder - Guess How Many Puppies

As the days continue to warm up, what little snow remains melts away, and we dream of crocuses, tulips, and fresh green leaves... so do the days count down until Topaz’s whelping date.

How many puppies do you think I'll have this time?

 We have a few guesses already, but it’s always nice to have a good competition, so – remember you have just four more days to submit your guesses for this spring’s Topaz edition of our Guess How Many Puppies contest!

If you missed the details in the first post here is a summary: Topaz’s first two litters consisted of 6 and 5 puppies and were born in late afternoon to late evening; and her most likely whelping date is estimated to be around 3-5 May. 

You have until noon on April 3^rd to send in your guesses – how many puppies, and the date and time the first one arrives – for your chance to win a $10 Timmy’s or Chapter’s gift card!

Happy puppy dreams!

Happy belated fourth birthday to Galena's first litter!

Galena’s first litter was born on 29 January 2013. She had six beautiful babes:

• Oscar Apollo, Cupcake Kiera, Hershey Crispin, Tara Firefly, Matilda Nubia, and Kacey Lunette

 

Matilda

Kiera is now a breeding mama with Barksdale Labradoodles in Mississippi.

Kacey lives in Toronto, while the other four live here in Ottawa. We see Matilda fairly regularly at our Doodle Romps (when her family isn’t travelling) – she looks just like her mama! We wish you all a happy belated birthday (four years and two months today!). Hope you are enjoying the (almost) spring!

Happy birthday to Phoenix's first babies!

Happy third birthday to Katniss Alice, Cumin Chino, Chewy Zurry, Marley Juniper, Nelly Iris, and Tobey Lupin! (Our St Patrick's Day puppies!!

Cumin Chino has sired two litters totalling 15 pups with Galena, so he’s an experienced stud – though I wouldn’t say “father” as the stud’s involvement in puppy rearing is non-existent!! All he gets to do is put things in motion and leave mama (and us humans) to do all the work. Hmph.

Just kidding, we love Cumin Chino!! (But we’re happy human fathers don’t take that route…)

Big boy Cumin Chino

atniss Alice is the only other of this litter that we have regular contact with, as her family brings her and her canine sibling Leo (one of our other pups, though unrelated to Katniss) to the occasional Doodle Romp.

Katniss Alice - a beautiful girl!

 Tobey and Nelly live in Montreal, though Marley and Chewy are local. 

Happy birthday to all of you!! Best of luck as you move into your fourth year. 

Guess How Many Puppies - Topaz edition

So, Topaz is (most likely) pregnant, meaning it is time for another edition of our Guess How Many Puppies contest!!

Topaz-Mama to be (for the third time!)

 Please send us your guesses! Each guess needs to include:

• ·         how many puppies she will give birth to
• ·         the date and time of the arrival of the first pup

The person who guesses the correct number of puppies, with the date and time closest o the actual arrival, wins a $10 Timmy’s or Chapter’s gift card!

This will be Topaz’s third and final litter. Her first was six puppies (of which one was unfortunately still-born), and her second was five puppies. So I expect lots of guesses for five or six pups – but four or seven could also be possible! (Or three, or eight… !!)

As for timing, Topaz ovulated on 3 March. Gestation is roughly 63 days after ovulation, but Topaz gave birth on the 61^st day with her first two litters. That would put her most likely whelping date around 3-5 May, give or take a day or two.

Topaz’s ultrasound to confirm pregnancy and get a preliminary puppy count is scheduled for 3 April, so we will accept guesses until noon that day. Once we announce the initial puppy count from the ultrasound, no more guesses will be allowed. That gives you just over three weeks to send us your guesses.

So go to it!

A few birthdays

What with breeding Topaz, my son’s soccer tournament and my daughter’s Europe trip, we kind of missed Phoenix’s birthday almost 10 days ago, on 4 March. She turned 5 (already!!) and remains an active, happy-go-lucky dog who loves cuddles and chasing squirrels. Really, she acts like she’s still only 2!!

Our girl Phoenix

Plus, last Thursday, 9 March, was actually the birthday of Galena and her brother, Teddy Malachite, who turned 6!! Teddy lives in North Vancouver, while our Mama Galena, who had her final litter last summer, enjoys a happy retirement nearby in Gatineau.

Gorgeous Galena

In fact, one of Galena’s puppies from her last litter joined Uncle Teddy in North Van last October!! Teddy took a little while to get used to having an annoying little pup around, but they are now best buds. For her part, Galena’s half-brother Frisou is happy to have her all to himself again – even though she does compete for human attention…

We wish you all a very happy birthday, and all the best for the year ahead!

Guardian home needed!

As I mentioned in my last post, we are planning to keep one of Harmony's puppies as a potential breeder. 

That means we are looking for a Guardian Family to keep this lovely pup and help us make our breeding program a success. By placing breeding dogs in Guardian Homes, we ensure our breeders are raised in a family setting, given lots of love and attention, and well-looked after. This also helps to make an urban breeding program viable, as we could not keep enough dogs in our home for a full-fledged breeding program, and we do not believe in rehoming adult dogs unless absolutely necessary. When our breeders retire, they do not need to go live somewhere else - they simply stay with their Guardian Family in the home they have known since puppyhood. 

Since our Guardians are working with us to make our breeding program a success, the price of a Guardian dog is reduced and/or rebated. Since we are not 100% certain how much use we may make of the pups we will be keeping this year, we are taking a slightly different approach - the Guardians will pay a reduced price for the puppy, and if/when we choose to breed her, we will pay the Guardians a set amount for each litter up to the full purchase price of the dog. In this way, if we end up not using a puppy, we will not have simply given away one of our best pups. 

Guardians must live within 40km of central Ottawa (preferably less) and be willing to bring the dog to us when necessary. This involves a couple of medical checkups during the first year, checkups once every 18 months after that, and access to the dog for breeding purposes. For females, the dog comes to us to be bred, and then comes to stay with us one week before the expected arrival of her pups. She stays until the pups are weaned at age about 7 weeks, and then goes back to her family. 

We normally have three or four litters with each female before she retires. She would have her first litter at around 2 years of age, and then we would aim to com8plete all litters by the time she is 5 years old. 

The pups we will choose from for Harmony's litter are:
Harlequin (chocolate/white parti girl)
Bella (black female with white markings)
Dakota (chocolate female)
Which one is ultimately selected depends on the results of the temperament test and initial vet checkup. As such, the decision will be made after March 13. 

If you are interested in being a Guardian, please send an email to roma@dragonramdoodles.com. We will be looking for three Guardians this year - one puppy from each of Harmony's, Topaz's, and Phoenix's litters. 

Life gets exciting!

Harmony's puppies are now six weeks old!! 
The next few weeks will be eventful and be the first steps towards life away from Mama. 

On March 8 we will be taking them to my son's school for a visit with a couple of classrooms. The kids always love meeting the puppies (as do the teachers!) and the pups generally respond quite well to the attention, noise, hands, pats, and new surroundings. This will also be their first car trip. 

On March 13 they will undergo their temperament assessment in the morning and first vaccinations in the afternoon. The following weekend, March 17-19, the families that have reserved puppies will come and select which of two choices we offer them. 

Then on March 22 they will be neutered and have a couple of days to recover before heading home with their new families on March 25-26. 

As of today, four of the puppies have been reserved and we plan to keep one as a potential breeder, leaving two still available. If you are interested, please send an email to roma@dragonramdoodles.com. 

(As usual, photos of the pups can be seen on our Facebook page. )

Happy birthday to Galena's first puppies

It's hard to believe, but Galena's first litter of puppies is turning four today!! How time does fly!

Cupcake Kiera, Tara Firefly, Kacey Lunette, Hershey Crispin, Oscar Apollo and Matilda Nubia were born on a Thursday afternoon in January 2013, Galean's first litter when she was not quite two years old. As I recall, she had an easy and quiet birthing experience and settled right in to the job of mamahood. 

Of these six puppies, Kacey Lunette is now living in Toronto, Cupcake Kiera went to be a breeding mama for Barksdale Labradoodles in Mississippi, and the other four remained here in Ottawa. We see Matilda fairly regularly and have also had the good fortune to see Hershey, Tara and Oscar from time to time. 

Happy fourth birthday to all of you!!

And the winner is...!

With each litter of puppies we have a “Guess How Many Puppies” contest, where we invite our puppy families’ to guess both the number of puppies will be born and the date and time of arrival of the first one.

We had good participation this time, with about 20 guesses ranging from five to eight puppies and from 17 to 24 January.

And the winner of the 2017 Harmony edition of the contest is…..

MONICA!!!

Congratulations Monica! We’ll pass on your prize, a $10 Timmy’s gift card, when we see you next!

Puppies have arrived!

I am thrilled to announce that Harmony and Hugo are the proud parents of a second litter of seven beautiful puppies – one male and SIX females!!

I got a call at work just after noon from my father saying the first puppy had popped out a few minutes earlier. So I finished up what I was doing and headed out the door.

By the time I got home, puppy #3 had just arrived. I checked them all out and everything seemed fine, so I sat down beside Harmony to wait and lend a hand. Puppies #4 and #5 came in fairly short order, but then she took a long break – about 75 minutes before puppy #6 arrived. Another long break followed and puppy #7 popped out just as we were finishing supper preparations.

So here’s the list:

Puppy #1 – born at 11:54, male, cream parti, 243g (Domino)

Puppy #2 – 12:48, female, curly solid cream, 258g (Jyn)

Puppy #3 – 12:59, female, solid black with a couple white spots, 256g (Bella)

Puppy #4 – 13:30, female, chocolate parti, 274g (Roxy)

Puppy #5 – 13:45, female, cream with white chest, 269g (April)

Puppy #6 – 15:07, female, solid chocolate with white toes, 263g (Dakota)

Puppy #7 – 16:52, female, chocolate parti, 227g (Harlequin)

Puppies are nursing heartily and squeakily, Mama is tired but well, and humans are happy and excited.