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!

Ready to go home!

Okay, I missed the Tuesday announcement. What can I say – it’s been busy.

Here it is… (drum roll, please):

Our puppies are excited to join their families:

• Kinoko Ivy – Lai family in Ottawa
• Tazman Peanut – Cook family in Montreal
• Ash – Urback family in Toronto
• Cooper Indigo – Ramesh family in Markham
• Poppy Jasmine – Daigeler family in Ottawa
• Lavender – Okhrimtchouk family in Ottawa

The pups will join their new families over the weekend (just one or two more sleeps!) – four on Saturday and two on Sunday. Then we’ll move Harmony’s babies into the puppy corner and start all over again!

Happy puppy dreams!

Puppy allocation

So, the big day is upon us!! The puppies went through their assessment on Thursday and we received the write-ups yesterday. I spent the evening poring over the assessments and the families’ application forms to make the best matches possible. Over the course of today and tomorrow, the families will come and spend time with the two puppies we are recommending for each family. They will have to pick the one they think will suit them best. Not easy!!

By Tuesday I should be able to announce which pup is going to which family. There will be a last few days of waiting to get through, and then you will be able to take your puppy home!!!

Happy puppy dreams!

Six weeks old!

Phoenix’s babies are now six weeks old!! They are still super cute! Now that they have lots of pokey little teeth in their mouths, Phoenix is not so keen to nurse them because it hurts!! We have already been feeding them puppy food for a few weeks, to supplement the milk they get from mama and to get them used to eating out of a dish. At first, before their teeth came in, it was mushed up puppy food (kibble soaked in water). By now, we are just giving them straight puppy food, as they have teeth to crunch it with. They already know the sound of the food dish hitting the floor! When it gets put into the puppy corner, they all come running!

They are a lot more work for us now that they are this old. When they were little, mam would clean up after them. (In fact, when they are first born they can’t pee or poop on their own – mama licks them to stimulate them, and that makes them do their business. It’s a good way to keep the whelping box clean!!) Now that they are big and rambunctious, and eating a lot more, mama doesn’t do that any more, or not very much. So they do their business on the floor and we are the ones who have to clean up. We set out pee pads and they are pretty good at going on the pads, though they definitely do have misses. Dog poo is quite stinky (a lot stinkier than cat poo, for some reason), so we try to pick it up whenever we smell some. Thankfully, with the warm spring weather we can keep windows open too, to help keep the smell down. Over the next couple weeks we will start sending them outside and encouraging them to do their business there.

The next two weeks will be a time of big changes for them. First they will have their first doctor’s appointment, then get assessed for temperament, have surgery to get neutered, and then go to new homes. Wow! What an exciting (and kind of sc

Almost five weeks old!

Once again – I meant to do a “one month old” post on Saturday, but life (and warm weather) overtook me…

So here we are, turning five weeks old tomorrow! They are are real little puppies now, not just toddling but walking and running. They stick close to Momma or to us, their people, and have started playing with each other and with the adventure box that we placed in their pen over the weekend. (For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a cube formed of plumbing pipe with objects of various types (paintbrushes, stuffed toys, plunger heads, etc) hung from the top to give the puppies exposure to different sensations of sight, sound, and texture).

We took them outside to our lawn and to the big field over the weekend, for their experience in the grass (and dandelions!). They were a bit nonplussed at first, but quickly adapted, bouncing around over the grass blades, attacking the dandelions, and getting worn out by the sun. As I noted, they stuck pretty close to us, not wandering off too far – they’ll do more of that as they get older, braver and more experienced with the outdoors.

In just two weeks they will have their first vaccinations, followed by the temperament assessment two days later, on June 9. We will go through the allocation process over the following weekend (june 11-12) . They will be neutered on June 15, and as long as all goes well those first two days, we will send them hom on June 17-19. So – for those of you waiting for a puppy – she or he will be home with you in just over three weeks!!

I’d like to give a shout out to the Grade 1 students in San Diego (in particular Eleni), who are following along to see which of these puppies goes to Catherine (the neice of Eleni’s penpal Jane). Thanks for following along on this adventure! You will find out which puppy is the lucky one around June 12 or 13 (I’ll try to post an update in a timely fashion!).

Happy puppy dreams to all!

Two and a half weeks old!

As usual, I’m slow on the updates – though Tristan has managed to post new photos on Facebook a couple times. But here we go!

The pups are doing just dandy – growing like weeds! They are starting to toddle around, getting their feet under them more and more every day. Their eyes opened over the last 4-5 days, so they now look like real pups, too, with beautiful gorgeous gazes.

They continue to be among the biggest pups we’ve ever had. I updated my weight chart on Sunday morning and did a quick comparison to our other pups. The smallest of these pups is similar in weight to Galena, Matilda, Moose, and PJ at the same age. Just to show how non-predictive weight at this age can be: Galena matured to about 20 lbs, while PJ matured to almost 50 lbs! Matilda is in-between, at about 28 lbs I think. Moose is not quite six months old, so he’s still growing, and I’m not sure how heavy he is now. I should note that Galena was from a litter of 3, so the pups had room to grow more in the womb and it’s perhaps not surprising that Galena didn’t mature to a huge dog. These pups are six (like Matilda, Moose, with PJ one of five), so having squished together in the womb, these pups are likely to be more in line with Matilda and Moose’s mature weights (30-40 lbs). At the top end of these pups’ scale, the only pup we’ve had who was a comparable weight at this age is Oscar Apollo, I’m not sure how big he matured to, but I think in the order of 40lbs.

Anyhow, we will continue to monitor weights, feed Phoenix all she can eat (!), and give them lots of love and stimulation. In a couple weeks, we will probably take them outside on fine days and let them experience the outdoors – but that is still to come.

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!!

Puppies on the way again!!

I am happy to confirm that the first of our spring/summer litters is now definitely on its way! 

Phoenix was bred to Black Canyon Triple Play "Jackson" on Februrary 22 and she had her ultrasoun on March 23, which confirmed several beautiful healthy babies in progress!! We expect them to be born around April 20, give or take a few days. 

Jackson is a gorgeous black phantom/parti tri-colour. With Phoenix, they will produce a whole rainbow of colours and patterns!! Black and chocolate phantom, black and chocolate tri-colour, and cream/caramel are all possible. Since Phoenix doesn't carry parti, there won't be any true partis, but there could be some "abstract" (lots of white but less than 50%) and white mis-marks (i.e. white spots on colour). 

Pups are likely to mature to 25-40 lbs, so large minis/small mediums. We already have one deposit on this litter and no doubtg more will come as the time of birth approaches!