Topaz is expecting!

I am pleased to announce that Topaz has now been bred!!!

Topaz

Topaz came into heat on March 10, the same day we bred Galena. Progesterone tests were done on March 16 and 18 to determine the best date for breeding. They pointed to March 22 as the optimal honeymoon date, so we called for Zip to come do his job, which he was happy to perform!

Topaz  will have an ultrasound in late April (date TBD), after which we will have a pretty good idea how many puppies she is expecting.

The sire for this litter is Springville Zippity Doo Dah, or Zip for short, of Canadian Doodle Puppies here in Ottawa. Zip is a handsome red parti boy who will be turning four in a few weeks. He has had several litters for Canadian Doodles – in fact, his son Donovan was the sire to Topaz’s first litter! Okay, that means that these pups will be half-siblings to her first litter on their dam’s side, and uncles and aunts to the first litter (older pups) on their sire’s side! Could get confusing come family reunion time…

Zip

Zip has had all the standard health testing to make sure he has good hips, eyes, etc and doesn’t carry the genes for a certain genetic eye disease known as PRA-prcd. Zip lived with us for a couple of months when he first arrived from Oregon so he knows us well, though we haven’t seen him in a while.

With Topaz being solid (light) apricot and carrying for parti, and Zip being red parti, we can expect all the pups to be in shades of gold-apricot-red, with half of them solid and half parti. Some might carry for phantom as well, but none will express it as Topaz carries two “blocker” genes and even if she didn’t, phantom doesn’t express when pups are in the cream-red colour range.

Anyhow, with a gestation period of 63 days post-ovulation, Topaz’s due date is around May 23. With her first litter she gave birth at around day 61 or 62, which would make it around May 21 or 22. (We could have another litter born on my daughter’s birthday – May 21!!)  These pups will be ready to go home around the third weekend of July.

In the near future I will be putting out a call for guesses in the 2015 Topaz edition of our Guess How Many Puppies Contest! Stay tuned…

Early morning at the dog park

There are dog owners who make it a habit to get their dogs out early to the dog park every, or nearly every morning. Rain or shine, snow or hail (well, maybe not hail…) I have always thought that would be nice but doubted we’d ever be among the crowd that managed it – I mean, with two kids that need to get off to school, breakfast to be eaten, making sure everything is sorted for the day, who could manage it??!?? We can’t even get out of bed in time to walk the dogs around the block after breakfast and before the school bus comes, let along get to the dog park!!

Well, last Friday we did!

After unsuccessfully pushing the kids all week to get up & out & at’em early enough to do even a short dog walk, I figured – well, who needs to sit down to eat breakfast anyhow? So I told the kids to be ready for a surprise in the morning, then once they were in bed packed a portable eat-in-the-car breakfast, made sure school lunches were ready to be put in backpacks, loaded dog leashes, water bottle & poop bags in the car, set everybody’s glass of milk & morning vitamins ready on the counter, and put toothbrushes, toothpaste & water by the door.

At 6:10 I was up, dressed and waking the kids, telling them to get up, we’re going to the dog park!! At first they didn’t believe me, but they quickly responded and we were out the door by 6:25, at the dog park by 6:40 – the first car in the parking lot!

We took a long walk, exploring several trails we’d not been on before. The dogs loved their romp through fields, bushes & forest. What with the morning dew they got rather wet and bedraggled, but none the less enthusiastic.

By 7:40 we were back at the parking lot and headed to school. As the kids hadn’t eaten all their breakfast yet, we finished it on the way to school and then brushed teeth beside the car out on the street. The kids were a couple minutes late getting in – next time we’ll know to leave the park a few minutes earlier.

But it was fun and the kids said they want to do it again. Amazing how it’s easier to get out of bed to go to the dog park than to get out of bed to do morning chores and eat at the table… We’ll see if the enthusiasm is still there once mornings are dark and cold and it starts snowing…

Welcome to Zip!

DragonRam Doodles is pleased to announce that we have acquired Springville Zippity Doo Dah, a red-and-white parti stud prospect, from Springville Labradoodles in Oregon.

Zip was born April 4, 2011, so is still just a puppy. He has already been fully health tested to the Gold Paw standard of the ALAA – meaning he has good hips and elbows, no eye problems, good thyroid levels, and is clear of the genetic disease PRA. We will repeat his hip test once he’s a bit older, to ensure he hasn’t developed any hip/elbow issues during puppyhood, and his eye and thyroid exams will be repeated at least every 18 months.

Zip arrived in Toronto on Friday, September 9^th, after a 4½ hour direct flight from Portland. My family had driven down the night before and, after spending the morning at the Toronto zoo, headed to the airport to get him. Owing to Toronto rush-hour traffic and some issues at customs, we didn’t actually get him until about 5:30. Boy was he glad to see us! Even though we were strangers to him, he came to us willingly (who wouldn’t, after close to 9 hours cooped up a crate?) and was very friendly and calm. That first night we stayed at some friends in Toronto and put Zip in his crate in my son’s bedroom. Zip did not want to be in the crate, so after a few minutes piteous whining we let him out and he spent the night sleeping on the bed beside my son.

Saturday afternoon we drove home to Ottawa, and Zip did very well in the car – other than being unable to hold onto his poop until I could find a spot to pull over. Thanks to the kids for having the presence of mind to haul out a poop bag and hold it under his bum until he’d finished the job!!

Since we arrived home, Zip has settled in nicely. He likes to play with Lyra & Cassi – especially Lyra, the little doggie ring-leader of the family. He loves my kids – and does well with me, too! – and looks to Amore for cues on how to behave. He is a very, very quiet dog that rarely barks. He has a calm, gentle and loving disposition, playful but not wild, very social and laid-back. He adores snuggles.

We hope that Zip will move in with his forever Guardian Family by the end of September. We will miss having him with us, but will look forward to occasional visits to his house and romps at the dog park.

We expect to use Zip with Lyra to produce some beautiful cream, gold, and apricot babies. He and Galena would have lovely creams, blacks, and cream or black parti pups (he probably does not carry chocolate but we will be testing to be sure). Down the road, as we acquire more dams, we will use Zip with them as well.

 Welcome here, Zip!

Zip is co-owned with Canadian Doodle Puppies.