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!

Happy Mother's Day!

 Happy Mother’s Day to all our Mamas out there!

Amore- Mom to 16

• Rusty Diamond, Tory Peridot, Garnet, Boomer Opal
• Sapphire, Zircon, Frisou Carnelian, Oliver Jasper
• Galena Magnolia, Teddy Malachite, Goldie (deceased)
• Obsidian, Banjo Cinnibar, Pearl, Topaz, PJ Peppermint Jade

Garnet – Mom to 11:

• Cassie Cassiopeia, Gatsby Antares, Corona, Lyra, Zigzag HeliosScarlett, Lily Cardinal, Galaxy, Penelope Nightingale, Leo, Arial

Galena – Mom to 20:

• Oscar Apollo, Cupcake Kiera, Hershey Crispin, Tara Firefly, Matilda Nubia, Kacey Lunette
• Holly Delilah, Nellie Serena, Maggio Clio, Baloo Lukos, Hazel, Bo Skylax, Angel Ophelia, Maui Tigris
• Romeo, Fozzie Snoopy, Charlie Peeta, Cooper Finnick, Charlie Evrial, Kobe Moose

Phoenix – Mom to 12:

• Tobey Lupin, Cumin Chino. Nelly Iris, Marley Juniper, Katniss Alice, Chewy Zurr
• Ivy, Peanut, Ash, Indigo, Jasmine, Lavender

Topaz – Mom to 11:

• Rusty Rococo, Harmony, Darwin Caprice, Nocturne (still-born), Brio, Sheeva Piccolo
• Chewie Marley, Rover Kanye, Whiskey Reed, Rosie Clarkson, Jackson

Harmony – soon to be a Mom as well!

Garnet's baby Arial, from her second litter, was sold to Scotia Doodles and has had a couple litters there, meaning Garnet, age 6 1/2, is a grandma too!

Galena’s baby Kiera was sold to Barksdale Labradoodles in Mississippi and has had a couple litters for them, so Galena, age 5, is also a grandma.

Phoenix’s boy Cumin was sire to Galena’s third litter, so Phoenix, age 4, is paternal grandma to those six babies (and Amore is their maternal grandma)!

Topaz, age 4, is grandma to Harmony’s puppies-to-be, which are expected to arrive in mid-June!

And Amore, age 8, mom to Garnet, Galena and Topaz, is obviously Grandma to all their puppies and great-grandmas to all their grand-puppiws!

No flowers or chocolate for these mamas - but we'll give ours lots of snuggles and a good long walk!

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!!

Happy birthday Phoenix, Galena & Teddy

I hate to say it, but with all the excitement over Galena’s being in heat – and then Phoenix and Topaz – I missed wishing them happy birthday.

 

Galena - Four years old!

I did mention in my post about her breeding that Galena turned four on March 9. Phoenix also had a birthday a few days prior – she turned 3 on March 4. My kids mentioned that we always celebrate Amore’s birthday but never seem to remember Phoenix’s. It helps that Mo’s in on Valentine’s Day – who could forget that?!

 



Phoenix - Three years and counting!

Phoenix's third birthday was also in the midst of this. With age comes a modicum of maturity - Phoenix is still a big puppy but not quite as energetic and full of mischief as when she was younger. Being a mom does that to you, doesn't it?

Anyhow, we wish you both a happy happy, along with Teddy from Vancouver (Galena’s littermate). May you run wild and free now that spring has (mostly) finally arrived!

Happy birthday, Galena & Teddy!

Galena and her brother, Teddy Malachite, turn 3 today!!

Teddy lives in North Vancouver, while our Mama Galena lives close by in Gatineau. The latest news from Teddy, a beautiful black boy, is that he loves to go to work with his mama and keep her and her office colleagues company. Couldn’t we all use a little bit of dog therapy on those rough days?!

As for Galena, she is the proud mama of 14 pups (in just two litters!). She loves to snuggle with her humans, play with her brother Carny-Frisou, and enjoy long walks and longer naps. She is looking forward to spring and being able to spend more time outdoors in her backyard.

We wish you both a very happy 3rd birthday! All the best for the year ahead!

Puppies on the way!

It has been a while since I have used this forum to communicate anything of interest to the dog-lovers out there. The time has been spent focusing on home and work. It’s been crazy busy at the office, and on the home front I’ve had my hands full with arranging childcare for after Christmas and finding a housecleaner to keep things in hand, since my previous Nanny/ housekeeper gave notice in late September. I’ve had the chance to spend more time working with the kids on their reading and school work, and take Mo & Phoenix for training.

But all that will change soon enough.

Galena in heat

Our girl, DragonRam Galena, went into heat in late November. We did progesterone tests last Wednesday and Saturday and determined that Sunday and Monday would be the optimal mating dates. After deciding that Kodiak, my earlier choice of studs, would be too large for Galena to do a natural mating, I settled on Springville Spirit, a lovely caramel parti boy who lives not too far away from us.

(Pix of Galena & Spirit as younger pups.)

Galena came to us from her guardian home mid-afternoon on Sunday. Spirit showed up for a date later Sunday afternoon and again Monday evening. He got down to business right away each time, and Galena was a very cooperative and willing partner. This was a first for her but she knew just what to do and was very happy to let Spirit do his job, even encouraging him with her playful behaviour.

The mating was accomplished within about 20 minutes each time. Afterwards Galena was even more playful than before, bouncing and batting at Spirit like a little hot cookie! It was cute to watch. She went back home to her guardians (and her brother, Carny, who was pining in her absence) later Monday evening. Now we just let nature take its course and wait for the puppies to appear!

Next steps

We will be doing an ultrasound likely in early January to confirm pregnancy and get an initial puppy count, followed by an x-ray the last week of January so we know how many to expect. The expected whelping date is around February 1^st.

These puppies will delicious shades of chocolate and caramel, with some solid and some parti (white with coloured spots). There is a slight chance of a phantom or tri-colour, but it’s pretty slim.

Guess how many puppies contest

As for our previous litters, I invite people to submit guesses as to (1) how many puppies will be born and (2) what date/time the first one will arrive. The person who guesses the correct number of puppies and has the closest date/time to the actual arrival will win a $10 gift card to Tim Horton’s (or, if the winner is 15 or under, to Toys R Us).

Stay tuned for news of the ultrasound early in 2013!

The next few months

Given that the past two years have been very busy and full of dogs, with a fair few pups hanging around longer than the usual 9 weeks of age, I have decided that our family needs a bit of a break. (My kids might not agree with me at the moment, but even they have found it a bit overwhelming when we have multiple pups hanging around to 3, 4 or 5 months of age.)

So Amore gets a break, too, and will not be bred this heat (due any time now). That means this past litter may well have been her last, as I may retire her and let the younger dogs take over. This decision will be finalized next year. If so, she will be able to live out the rest of her days as a loving grandma, pack leader, and teacher for all the other pups that will eventually be born.

Our next litter, therefore, will be out of Galena, our lovely chocolate girl who lives with a Guardian family in Gatineau. The sire is yet to be finalized. If not Kodiak (who has matured much larger than expected, versus Galena who matured a bit smaller than expected), then probably Spirit, another Canadian Doodles stud.

For those of you (like me) interested in the arcane field of dog colour genetics, Galena is chocolate carrying cream, and she also carries parti and phantom (bbEe Ss^p K^Bk^y a^ta).

Kodiak is a solid dark chocolate who carries cream but not parti and does not have the ability for his offspring to express phantom (bbEe SS K^Bk^B a^ta). So Galena x Kodiak pups would be mostly solid chocolate (bbEe – 75%) with a few solid caramel (bbee – 25%).

Spirit is a caramel parti who carries phantom (bbee s^ps^p K^Bk^y a^ta). So Galena x Spirit pups would be quite varied: 25% caramel parti, 25% solid caramel, 15% chocolate parti, 15% solid chocolate, 10% chocolate phantom, and 10% chocolate parti/phantom (potentially tri-colour, though with extensive parti colouring they might look no different than the other chocolate parti). Of course the variety of colouring depends on how many pups are actually born and the chance factor of how the different genes happen to combine.

We expect Galena to go into heat in late November or early December. Breeding at that time would give us a whelp date of late January/early February, and the pups would be ready for their new homes in time to enjoy spring puddles, early crocuses, and the first barbecues of the year – late March or early April.

If we manage to place Topaz and Leo soon and finalize Ariel’s fate, that should give us a good four months with no pups or extra dogs in the house. (Say a little prayer for us that it so happens!)

A second 2013 litter would also be from Galena (breeding: June / whelp: August / home: October), possibly using Zip or a chocolate stud. Our girls Phoenix and Topaz will begin their breeding careers in 2014, when they are around 2 years old.

Health test results for Galena

When the pups went in for spay/neutering back in January, Galena also visited the vet to get her hips and elbows x-rayed to assess their soundness. This is one of the essential health screening tests we do for breeding dogs, as hip dysplasia is a relatively common problem among both Labs and Poodles. By breeding only dogs with “Good” or “Excellent” ratings the goal is to reduce the incidence of hip and elbow dysplasia in the Labradoodle population. 

I am thrilled to report that Galena rated an “Excellent” for her hips on the official Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) assessment report!! (And “normal” for elbows, which are rated a bit differently.) As she is not yet two years old, this is a preliminary grade, but for pups aged 10 months and over the preliminary grade is a quite reliable indication of the soundness of the hips and elbows. The test will be repeated after she turns two, when she can receive a “final” grade.

The day after the hip x-rays were done, Galena went to a veterinary ophthalmologist for a CERF exam. This is an eye exam where the vet looks for any anomalies, problems, or issues with the eyes, similar to visiting a human eye-doctor. Galena’s eyes checked out as normal on all fronts – great news!!

 

The final required test is a thyroid check and full blood panel. These will be done in mid-March after she turns one, as that is the earliest point at which the OFA will certify the results. 

Assuming all goes well, 

we can expect Galena pups 

in summer or fall 2012!

Visit with Galena

After the Doodle Romp on October 23^rd, Galena and her family, including brother Carni, came to our house for an extended visit. Since Galena will be one of our breeding girls once she matures and will come to our house to have her puppies, it is important that she remain familiar and comfortable with us and our home. This is especially true as she only spent 9 weeks with us after birth, unlike Garnet who was with us 3½ months (or Lyra & Cassi who have been here 5 months, though they won’t be breeding girls).

She certainly displayed no anxiety about coming into our house and playing with the kids and the dogs we currently had around – Amore, Cassi, Lyra, & Aspen. But then she has always been a very friendly girl, happy to go to virtually anyone – guess all that early socialization paid off! Though on the other hand, her recall (i.e. “come when called”) isn’t great, so she doesn’t get to run off-leash unless there’s limited opportunity for her to run off. That’s something her parents are working on.

We humans enjoyed supper together (thanks Martin!) and a pleasant visit while the dogs got some quality time visiting each other.

Galena is a happy, healthy, well-adjusted and very beautiful dark chocolate girl of 7½ months old. We’ll start her health testing in early 2012 and – assuming she passes all her tests – you can look for her puppies in a year’s time. The daddy will be one of our local boys.

Carni says bye!

Last week's Doodle Romp

On Tuesday 12 July most of DragonRam’s local pups gathered together at Conroy Pit Dog Park for a Doodle Romp. Everybody was there except for Oliver (Jasper) and our new stud puppy Magnum. (And of course our current pups were too young to come and run around, as they haven’t been fully vaccinated, although we did bring Antares in the puppy pack so he could meet his new owner a second time before going home.) Garnet was still with us, so she came and met some of her half-siblings, and Galena was also there – it was great to see her again!

Zirci has faded from his original dark brown to a café colour. We figured he was likely to fade, given that his fur was not as dark to begin with as Sapphire’s (who is still deep chocolate). He looks very handsome!

Carni was his usual gentlemanly self, good to listen and eager to please. He has a coat with fairly close curls, like his father Ranger.

Galena stayed on her leash the whole time – at four months of age, she is still not quite trustworthy to come when called if she’s off leash. Apparently she copies everything Carni does – he’s a great big brother and good at teaching her what to do!

Garnet, our very petite Mama, is barely bigger than four-month old Galena! They weigh about the same (12 lbs) but Galena is not quite as tall yet. So Galena will likely be about 24 lbs when full grown and a good 16” tall – just a bit bigger than her mother Amore.

I’d brought along a ball and we took turns throwing and letting the dogs chase. Garnet, for all she’s little, is very fast and VERY ball-crazy, so she was after that ball like a rocket and frequently beat out the bigger dogs! Though sometimes one of the bigger boys or MoMo would get it.

It was a fairly warm evening and VERY buggy – we were slapping mosquitoes left, right, and centre as we walked since no-one had remembered to bring bug spray. To keep the bugs down we tended to stick to the more open spaces where the breeze helped blow them away. Next time we’ll go earlier in the day!! (And by fall there shouldn’t be nearly so many bugs around, either.)

We look forward to our next doodle romp sometime in late September, and hope that (Jasper) Oliver, Magnum, (Antares) Gatsby and Lyra will be able to join us, along with whichever other dogs ending up being local as well.

DragonRam Doodle Romp

DragonRam Doodles is organizing a Doodle Roma at the Conroy Dog Park on Tuesday, 12 July 2011, from 7:30-8:30pm (not change of date). We are specifically inviting all our puppies that live in the region (and their owners!) to come, but if there are any other doodle lovers/owners out there who would like to join us, we would be happy to have you.

At our last romp in May we met up again with the three boys from Amore's 2010 litter who all ended up in homes close by. They will now be 10 months old! This time we are hoping Galena, from Amore's 2011 litter (4 months old) will be able to join us too, and perhaps our new stud puppy CD Maggie's Magnum Rocky Road (Magnum), also 4 months old and a potential future mate for Galena.

Garnet's puppies are not fully vaccinated, so they are not ready to come to the dog park and wander around (when we bfought them before, they were confined to their playpen). But any potentially interested purchasers who would like to view them would be welcome to visit puppies either before or after the romp. Contact me for info.

Puppy update

Can it really have been 3 weeks since I last updated? It’s been busy!

Since then, both Galena and Malachite Teddy have gone to their new homes.

Galena ended up going to live with her big half-brother, Carnelian. Martin and Carole had expressed an interest in a chocolate, blue-eyed female and Galena fit the bill perfectly. (Though we do think her eyes have shifted from blue to greenish in hue – but still beautiful!) She has now been with big bro for a week and is adjusting well to her new home, playing with Carni, imitating whatever he does, and taking charge of all things playful. I just know she will be loved to bits and given all the attention a young pup want and deserves!

 

Galena Magnolia by the magnolia tree! 

Outdoor doods

To help our puppies become comfortable in a variety of environments, and to learn about the wider world, we have started to take them outside whenever the weather is decent (i.e. not pouring rain, in this eternally rainy and somewhat miserable spring we've been having). Over Easter weekend we had three very nice, warm, and mostly sunny days, so we got the pups out into nature for at least a short walk every day. We have a small pond and urban forest close to our house, as well as some open fields, so that is where we tend to go.

It is always risky, taking young unvaccinated puppies into "wild" environments where they could be exposed to viruses, bacteria, and germs, but they do receive some immunities from their mother's milk, which they are still drinking though in smaller quantities than before. We also try to prevent them from drinking from puddles, keep them at a distance from other dogs whose vaccination and health status is unknown, and just keep an eye out for any dangers. Overall I think the benefits outweigh the risks as it gives them freedom to explore and become familiar with new environments. We do some simple training exercises in the nearby open fields, like "go find" (one person hides behind a tree or bushes and the puppies need to "find" them - first they can see where the person hides and eventually we'll have the person hide without the puppies watching), and "come when called" (always a good one to start as early as possible!).

Socialization

Proper puppy socialization is very important. Being raised in a family environment goes a long way towards helping with puppy socialization, but it's definitely not everything. In addition to being handled a lot (something family raising certainly provides!), they also need to be introduced to unfamiliar dogs and other animals, have plenty of meetings with strangers (of the human variety), and make strides towards learning proper dog manners (obedience, bite inhibition, etc).

With our first two litters I wasn't as aware of the requirements in all the areas, or of the need to undertake some of this training/socialization during the very impressionable 5-10 week period. Now, however, I have done more reading about puppy socialization (in particular the book The Breeder's Guide to Raising Superstar Dogs by Jerry Hope, a certified dog behaviour consultant) and am implementing some of the exercises the author recommends with our current litter.

Hope notes that for a puppy to get used to being around strangers and not react in fear to the presence or approach of strangers (which would include their new owners initially), it is recommended to introduce the puppy to at least 100 strangers by the time they are 10 weeks old. So far, our puppies have:

(a) visited two school classrooms, where they met about 30 kids and another 10 or so adults;

(b) gone to the vet's for a "well puppy visit" (before they go there for their check-up and vaccinations) where they met 5 adults;

(c) visited Garnet's guardian family, both at our home and at Garnet's, where they met about 6 children (including a couple of friends of the family) and 2 adults; and

(d) been introduced to some of the people in our neighbourhood (roughly 4-6 people).

With this goal in mind, along with that of meeting strange dogs and going to new places, we took the puppies on Saturday to PetSmart. We kept them inside the shopping cart lined with one of our puppy blankets, to help prevent exposure to germs from potentially sick or unvaccinated dogs, and they didn't actually have contact with more than one or two other dogs, but did get to see lots of other dogs walking around the store and playing in the PetSmart PetsHotel and Doggy Day Care rooms. They also had a chance to see various other animals, from cats to birds to fish and small rodents. But quite a few human strangers stopped to pet them and say hello. During this visit Galena in particular displayed a lot of curiosity, standing up so as to see over the edge of the cart. looking around at everything. Malachite Teddy may have been a bit tired, as he joined Galena at the cart edge but shortly just curled up in the basket and went to sleep.

Six week update

The pups are now six weeks old already! Hard to believe that in less than a month they will be heading off to their new homes. They are growing well and they have TEETH!! Galena's are more advanced than Malachite Teddy's - she has all her canines and both top and bottom incisors are starting to poke through. Teddy just has his canines showing. Teething means they want to chew, chew, CHEW! We have several chew toys in their playpen and so far we have generally been letting them gnaw on our hands, seeing as the teeth weren't really out yet, but now that the teeth are showing and sharp we will start to work on bite inhibition.

About a week ago we took them outside (when we had some decent weather in this pretty cool, damp and miserable excuse of a spring...!). They were quite happy to explore the big wide world, running around in the grass and romping with Mama and kids up and down the back lane. 

They also experienced their first bath last week. My daughter (chief dog-washer of the family) said they didn't mind the water at all, and Teddy especially liked playing and splashing around in it.

Now that they have the beginnings of teeth, they are starting to eat more solid food. I take the puppy chow and soak it in hot water, then mush it up and add some goat's milk and/or yogurt, egg yolk, a bit of oil, and possibly some cooked sweet potato. That gets mushed all together and put in big batches in the fridge. When it's feeding time, we take some out, warm it up, mix in a few bits of solid kibble, and voila! Supper. As their teeth grow the need for the mush diminishes as they are more able to chew the solid bits. They still love to nurse whenever they can, but Mama isn't so pleased about it any more, especially with Galena who has more and sharper teeth!

The kids hauled out the play-time doll carriage a day or two back and rolled the puppies around in it. They sat for the most part, though tried to jump out a couple of times. By the time they go home, these pups are going to be used to all sorts of different  experiences and adventures!!