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. )