Happy birthday Nellie, Maggie, Delilah, Angel, Hazel, Baloo, Maui and Bolt

Galena’s second litter turns TWO today!

I’m not sure if it’s because this was our largest litter, at eight puppies, but I’ve always had the hardest time remembering all of them. We use book characters for the names we give Galena’s pups, and almost all of these pups also have names their owners gave them, so having to remember double names is also a challenge! For this litter the names all came from the Roman Mysteries series of children’s books that we were reading at the time. Here they all are (new name + book character name):

Nellie Serena

Holly Delilah (I think I’ve got that right)

Maggie Clio

Baloo Lukos

Hazel (I think she stayed Hazel)

Bolt Skylax

Ophelia Angel

Maui Tigris

There was quite a range in sizes for these pups. By the time they went home at age 3 months, Lukos, Skylax and especially Tigris were quite large, well over 10 lbs, while little Angel was barely half that size. For whatever reason, Angel didn’t find a home until she was 9 months old, but we loved her to bits. She was always very quiet and unassuming, other than wreaking havoc on her favourit chew toy – my dirty underwear… (KIDS!! Close the door to my closet! Harrumph.)

We see Nellie and Angel fairly regularly at Doodle Romps, and Maggie and Bolt have joined us a few times, too. Baloo lives in Montreal and Maui in Washington DC, so those two are Far Away. We keep hoping that Hazel and Holly might join us at a romp, too, but so far they’ve always had other engagements.

Happy second birthday!

Have a great fall romping in all the lovely leaves.

Happy birthday Garnet, Tory, Boomer and Diamond Rusty!

This was our very first litter back in 2009 – SIX years old now. Yikes!

Garnet herself is a grandma already. She was the first breeder we kept and produced two nice litters for us before taking early retirement. Tory ended up in Vancouver, Boomer lives in Winnipeg, and Rusty is the closest besides Garnet, in northwest Quebec. Given their great distances, Garnet is the only one we’ve really kept in touch with, and even she is not as frequent a visitor now that she’s not having pups any more.

Garnet is mom to Lyra, Cassie, Ziggy, Gatsby, Corona, Lily, Scarlett, Ariel, Leo, Galaxy, and Penelope, and grandma to I don’t know how many of Ariel’s puppies. She lives with four human siblings, a mom dad and cat in Cornwall, where she is a happy and well-loved dog.

Happy sixth birthday!

Enjoy a lovely summer!

Just one left!

Well, the puppies are in their final stretch with us! Last week they said goodbye to their Mama Topaz, who rejoined her guardian family, and had their first vaccinations and their temperament assessment. Over this past weekend we have gone through the allocation process with our new puppy families.
Whisky will be joining Katie and Matt in Hamilton.
Rosie will go to a family not far from us in Ottawa - Janet, Drew and Quinn.
Chewie will be heading to Toronto to live with Melissa and Stephen.
Rover will join Eva, Thuan and Josh near Montreal.

One last puppy, Jackson, is still in need of a home though we have someone who is very interested so we are hoping he will find his forever family this week as well!!

Tomorrow the pups are going for neutering - the last big "milestone" before they head to their new homes. After several days of recuperation, the first of them will start the transition to their new families.

Today they joined us on our July Doodle Romp. It was a small Romp - only three dogs joined us - but a good one nonetheless. With the heat, it was more of a "Doodle Flop" - we wandered slowly through the woods (with several people herding the puppies along and making sure they didn't disappear into the bushes beside the path!), crossed the road, and then all flopped down in the shade of some trees in the field. Some of the dogs had plenty of energy to play, and the puppies were busy exploring, running around and being active - at least for a while. By the time we all headed home an hour and a half later, three of the pups were worn out, but Jackson and Whisky were still going strong!

Check our FAcebook page tomorrow for some photos of the pups and other dogs at the Romp-Flop!

Five weeks old!

My, how time does fly!

I have been very remiss in these blog posts (or lack thereof) since the pups were born. It can be challenging to balance pups, kids who play soccer several nights a week, and the usual household and work duties. Thankfully, my daughter has done a good job of posting pictures on our Facebook page, so you have not been totally devoid of input to satisfy your puppy cravings! (She is definitely the picture person and I am the word person…)

But here we are – the pups are just over five weeks old and getting more active and playful with every passing day! From tiny blind and deaf creatures that you could hold in the palm of one hand, they have grown to over 1kg (almost 2kg for the big boy!) – still can be picked up one-handed, but now you could do some basic weight lifting with them!!

These ones were a bit slower to open their eyes, with the red boy the first to get eyes and the rest following a bit after two weeks of age. Red boy was also the first to actually stand and take a few steps instead of doing the crocodile swim-stroke to get around.

Now, of course, that mode of movement is ancient history. They are walking, running, jumping, and boy do those little tails ever wag when we pet them, play with them, go into their corner of the kitchen… Mama Topaz is no longer spending her entire days with them, but goes in to feed them every few hours and spends most of the rest of the time with the other grownup dogs. When we let the pups out to roam the house – good to get them used to activity, people, and to stimulate their curiosity and adventuruousness – mama Topaz will play with them too.

We have started to take them outdoors to play in the grass. Being outdoors and able to roam freely in the grass is excellent for puppy health and development, exposing them to novel sensations, textures, sights and smells. We do keep a close eye on them out in the field so they don’t wander too far and get lost! 

Keep watching our Facebook page for more picture updates, and I promise to update the blog a few more times over the next few weeks as the pups progress through the final preparatory stages before heading to their new homes.

Three of the pups are reserved but we do still have two available – so let your friends and neighbours know!