Announcing our next litter!

DragonRam Doodles is expecting our next litter of puppies to be born in late November!

Dam: DragonRam Garnet, age 2

Garnet is our petite black beauty, a very good-looking fine-boned girl who weighs in at 12 lbs and stands about 13” at the shoulder. She lives with her Guardian Family in Cornwall, Ontario. She loves to play Frisbee and snuggle with her dad and kids.

Sire: Springville American Idol of Puppy Love Labradoodles, age 2

Idol is a stocky boy with a deep red coat who stands 15” at the shoulder and weighs a bit over 20 lbs. He is owned by Puppy Love Labradoodles in southern Alberta, where he lives with a Guardian Family.

Garnet and Idol honeymooned on 29 September. Seeing as my vet wasn’t available to do the specialized trans-cervical insemination for us, and no other vet in Ottawa has the equipment or training, Garnet hopped a plane to Calgary on the 28^th and returned to Ottawa on 3 October. So it was a real honeymoon (though I’m told Garnet wasn’t the most receptive of brides, but Idol still accomplished the job).

We are expecting about half the puppies in this litter to be in shades of cream, apricot, or red and half to be black. Garnet’s last litter had 5 puppies and we are hoping for a similar number this time. We expect to do an ultrasound in early November to confirm pregnancy and get an estimate as to number, with an x-ray in late November to firm up the puppy count.

With 9 weeks’ gestation, the puppies are expected to arrive sometime between 27 November and 1 December. They will be ready to go to their new homes around 3 February 2012.

Sled dogs, anyone?

Homes for Cassi & Lyra!

There may not have been much posted on this blog for a while, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy!

Lyra has been in Puppy Kindergarten since late September to help her learn her manners. (We’ve then been having her teach Cassi what she’s learned!)

Amore has been in agility training since mid-September at the Ottawa Canine School, a small indoor facility on St-Laurent. She really likes it and does very well! My daughter has been her main handler and is also doing well – it’s not always easy to remember what order to do things, which hand to use to guide the dog, and to do all the subtle body language cues the dog responds to. We hope to do another short session this fall. Depending on the timing of her winter litter, we hope to do some outdoor agility with her in spring.

Since our visit to the vet in late September revealed that Lyra’s underbite was much worse than we had thought, we took her to the dental specialist in early October to assess the situation. He recommended surgery to remove some teeth to make her more comfortable and to give her jaw a chance to grow more in the remaining growth period before she turns 6 months old. He also recommended not using her for breeding, so we made the hard decision to place her as a pet, and had her spayed the same day as the dental surgery.

But the good news is that both Cassi & Lyra have now found their forever families!! (In the space of one weekend!) And both of them will be staying here in Ottawa, so we hope to see them at future doodle romps.

Lyra will be joining Beth, Doug, & their teenage daughter Erin this coming Friday. They have come to meet her twice, so we hope that bit of extra familiarity will help ease her transition to her new home, after five months with us and her sister. We will post some pictures of “going-home” day on the weekend.

Cassi will be joining Lisa & Mike. They are hoping to involve their puppy in therapy dog work once she matures, and we all felt Cassi’s lovely gentle and (mostly) quiet temperament would be best for that type of work. They will be out of town for a few days next week, so Cassi will join them the last Friday of October. We will post more pictures after Cassi’s “going-home” day too!

With Lyra becoming a pet, that means that we are now short one breeding female that we had planned would be of breeding age in late 2012. I am now scouting around for another breeding prospect female puppy (or maybe two) that would replace her. It will take some time, but once I have news you’ll see it here!

Visit with Garnet

We drove out to Cornwall on Sunday to pick up Garnet. It was a glorious fall day, warm and sunny. We took Amore and the puppies (Lyra & Cassi) along, but Zip spent the day with Linda of Canadian Doodle Puppies so he didn’t get to come.

Garnet’s family has a large back yard, so kids & dogs all spent a good couple of hours romping in the yard. Garnet is one amazing Frisbee dog and boy she loves to play!! Her family has a play tunnel, so we did some agility tunnel with Amore.

And I napped on the sofa for close to two hours. After about four post-1 am nights this past week, I sure needed the rest!! Garnet will be with us for about a week while we breed her for her second litter – stayed tuned for an announcement of stud & breeding date!

 Lyra & Tes

kids on trampoline

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…

Howdy, Magnum!

Last Sunday we visited Magnum at his Guardian Family.

One very big yard, eight dogs, five kids, two grown-ups… it was controlled mayhem and a load of fun!

 

We brought Amore, Zip, Lyra & Cassi. They had Magnum, Robbie & Piper. The neighbour’s Lab, Dodge, joined in the fun.

Robbie wanted to play chase – Amore obliged.

Piper (who is the oldest at 11) wasn’t sure all the action was such a good idea.

The kids – aged 5, 5, 7, 8, and 11 – put puppies in wagons, playhouses, arms, and more.

Lyra likes to tussle – everyone was a target! (Even Grandma MoMo at one point.)

Magnum couldn’t decide whom to play with first – he followed Zip, Lyra, Amore, Robbie… whoever got in the way. But Lyra really caught his fancy – hey, she is a spunky gal with lots of vim & verve.

Zip got lots of snuggles from Magnum’s Mom.

At one point, after the kids had abandoned the little kiddie play structure, Lyra discovered it... It has a slide, a little tunnel at one end, and a door giving access to the inside where one end of the tunnel is. Lyra started racing around in quick circles, into the structure through the tunnel, around & back again, with Cassi & Magnum in hot pursuit. Robbie stood by the outside end of the tunnel whining - he was too big to get through - while Zip & Mo looked on... We were all cracking 

By snapping about 150 pictures, I managed to get a good dozen or so of Magnum, some of which are featured here. (Amazingly, not too many of the 150 pictures feature dog parts – tails, legs, butts, etc – from dogs who got out of the camera window before I caught up!)

Cassiopeia STILL available

Our Cassiopeia, daughter of Garnet & Hot Sake, is still available. 

Cassi was born May 21 so she turned four months old today. Cassi is a real little sweetheart. She has a gentle, calm temperament. She gets wound up sometimes by her sister, Lyra, who is the smarty-pants of the puppy family. They LOVE to tussle, romp, and play hard. But when she's not with her sister, Cassi is quiet though still playful, and very very sweet. She will play by herself when necessary, and will not make a fuss at being alone. She loves to cuddle, play tug-of-war, and chase balls (hasn't yet got the hang of bringing them back, though!).

We are still working on house-trainng - she is doing pretty good though not 100%. But within another couple of weeks it should "click" - usually around 4 months of age is when the pups really catch on. Cassi is used to being in her crate at night and for short periods (max 4 hours) during the day when no one is home.

Cassi is already spayed and has had all her vaccinations, including rabies just this past weekend. She has been dewormed (including a first dose of heartworm) and is microchipped. She is good on a leash and doesn't tend to pull (except when the kids or other dogs are ahead of her and she wants to catch up!). She has been well-socialized, with visits to my kids school classroom, meeting other dogs in the neighbourhood, being taken to the vet and to other people's homes, etc.

I have wished more than once that we were keeping Cassi for our breeding program – she is such a sweetie and so good-natured! But I have enough black dogs at the moment. So she really needs a good home.

Direct inquiries to http://www.blogger.com/goog_1846969232.

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.