Topaz is our lovely red-apricot breeding prospect out of our Amore and Puppy Love’s Moto Moto. She just turned 4 months old and is essentially house-trained. We expect her to mature to about 25 lbs and 16-17” at the shoulder.
Topaz is a super cute, super friendly, outgoing and loving girl. She is confident, happy to make friends with new people or dogs, quite willing to rough-house with the best of them, and a generally all-around sweet and playful girl. She is also very accepting and patient – witness the fact that she let my daughter and me spend a good half hour picking burrs out of her fur one day last week with nary a whimper and barely a squirm, even when the burrs in need of picking were right by her nose and eyes or on her legs and feet, two areas where many dogs do not care to be handled – not to mention having their fur pulled to get burrs out!!
Given that Topas is one of our up-and-coming Mamas (and we think she’ll be a great one, too!) we are looking for a Guardian Home to be her forever family. What this means is that the family who takes her needs to be willing and able to make her available to us for health screening and breeding until Topaz has had up to 3 litters (unless we decide to retire her early).
You, as Topaz’s family, will treat her just like you would your regular family dog – feed her the best quality food, give her lots of walks and playtime, train her in basic obedience, keep her coat nicely groomed, take her with you on outings, holidays, etc. You are responsible for normal vet care (annual check-up and any required vaccinations, summer heartworm and flea/tick treatment, any general health care).
Since she is not spayed, you do need to be careful when she is in heat that she does not get too friendly with any un-neutered males. Heat cycles come every 6-8 months on average, with the first cycle usually coming any time between age 6 and 12 months. A female in heat is normally not receptive to the attentions of a male unless she is actually fertile, which is a period of roughly 5-7 days in the cycle. Outside that period she will normally not allow a male to get overly friendly; during that period she will be happy for his attentions. Of course, each dog is different and some females are quite happy to let a male attend them outside “regular shopping hours” while others don’t care for his attentions even at the peak of their fertile cycle. You will quickly figure out where Topaz sits on that scale and need to treat her accordingly. It is always better to be safe than sorry, especially when unplanned puppies might result.
We plan to breed Topaz first in 2014, when she is about 2 years old. Before then she will likely have gone two or three heat cycles. When we breed her, we take her in for progesterone testing on 2-3 occasions to determine the optimum breeding date. Once that is pinpointed, she will be bred to the stud of choice. If she lives with a family close by, this can be accomplished without Topaz needing to be gone from your home for more than a few hours every second day. If the family lives farther away, she would come and stay with us for the 7-10 day breeding period and go home to you when it’s all done.
Then comes the fun part: puppy time! Nine weeks after ovulation the puppies are ready to enter the world. Normally Topaz would come to our house about 3-5 days prior to the expected whelp date. The puppies would be born at our house, where Topaz would care for them attentively as all new mothers do. Once the puppies are weaned, around age 6 weeks, Topaz would go back to her home. If you are a family keen to experience the joys of having little pups at your place, we would entertain the possibility of allowing Topaz to stay with you during the whelping and nursing period. We would provide necessary supplies (whelping box, etc), come for the birth, and visit the pups and mother from time to time. At age 7-8 weeks, after being weaned, the pups would come to our place for the final 1-2 weeks before going to their new homes.
As far as health screening goes, this is not onerous. It involves testing of hips on at least two occasions (age 4 months and 2 years), some genetic testing for colour and disease genes (each test done once normally at age 4 months), and eye and thyroid exams every 12-18 months. Since Topaz is already 4 months old, we will be having her hips done shortly along with all current genetic screening and an initial eye exam. The next required testing (thyroid) will only occur after her first birthday, in May 2013.
Being a Guardian does take a fair bit of commitment and cooperation, but it is rewarding as well when you see your dog’s little puppies and know that you are contributing to a quality breeding program where we take great care to ensure our dogs and puppies receive the best of care. In recognition of the extra commitment required from you, the terms for adopting a Guardian Dog are much different than a pet puppy (contact us for details).
We hope that the right Guardian Family is out there and shows up soon!
So far we have had four families express an interest and then change their minds:
Family 1 – originally interested in Aspen, decided they didn’t want to be guardians to a female
Family 2 – had just gotten a kitten and decided a puppy as well would be a bit much
Family 3 – no reason given
Family 4 – mother-in-law coming to live with them, meaning less space and time for another dog
We dearly want to Topaz to be placed soon so she can benefit from the love and attention of her own forever family. She is a super sweet and friendly girl who deserves a loving and playful family home.
Contact roma@dragonramdoodles.com if you are interested or know someone who might be. Guardians must live within a 100-km radius of Ottawa, ON.
