Topaz puppies - 3 weeks old!

So the puppies turned 3 weeks old on Thursday! It’s quite amazing the changes they go though at this young age. A week ago their eyes and ears were just opening and they still were crawling around like little crocodiles. Now their eyes and ears are fully open, they are toddling on their four legs – and getting etter at it daily! Though the vinyl floor can be challenging when they’re out of the whelping box – and even emitting the odd little high-pitched bark, as opposed to squeaks and squeals.

For up-to-date pix, check out our Facebook page. My daughter posted some photos there a day ot two ago. I’ll aim to get some on this blog on Monday, once my son’t soccer tournmanet is done with and I can focus on puppies again.

Topaz puppies - photos from 2 weeks

I know this comes a bit late - like a whole 8 days late! - but after sending all the puppies home over May long weekend, my attention was turned to organizing my son's soccer tournament, which I had somehow volunteered for without meaning to be the mainn organizer. So that has occupied my brain and time for the past two weeks. The tournament takes place tomorrow & Sunday, so then I'll have brain space to focus on this litter of puppies again!

Anyhow, here are some photos of the pups at two weeks old.
(For more up-to-date photos, go to our Facebook page, which my daughter keeps fairly up-to-date.)

DragonRam Chewy Zurry

Fifth of the six puppies to go home was Chewy Zurry, who joined her family last Saturday afternoon. Zurry is the pretty chocolate phantom female - but unlike her brother Cumin, Zurry's chocolate is dark and even all over. She may yet fade to a lighter cafe colour, but for now her tan points are very evident against her dark chocolate fur.

Zurry was the quiet, introspective female at our temperament test who "came alive" when a friendly other dog was introduced. This is how the testers describe her:

CAUTIOUS, SENSITIVE, DOG-SOCIAL
Zurry is a sensitive puppy who is cautious about all things new and unfamiliar. She is likely to flee and attempt to hide when frightened. Zurry is food motivated which will be very helpful in desensitizing and conditioning her to the world around her. Once stress is minimized, Zurry is highly trainable and enthusiastic to learn. She will need to be fed primarily by hand through training or by treat toys for the first 2-3 months to teach an association between humans and food and working for food. When with other dogs, Zurry becomes animated and excitable. She would benefit from the guidance and leadership of a calm, adult dog with good behaviour. Zurry’s ideal home would be with a patient and organized owner who has a balanced adult dog.

 Chewy Zurry's new family consits of mom and dad and three childre. They don't have another dog, but they will give her lots of love and care and she will learn to bond with them and find security in her new home.

Interestingly, they chose to call her Chewy - which is the same name her sire's family calls him! (Short for Chewbacca, not because he chews everything!)

Good luck to you, Chewy Zurry and family, and we hope to see you at a Doodle Romp some time!

DragonRam Nelly Iris

Puppy #4 from Phoenix's litter to go home was Nelly Iris. Just like her brother Tobey Lupin, Nelly will be making her new home in the Montreal area. She is the gold female with a black nose - again, just like Tobey!

Nelly was the "active" female at the temperament evaluation. Here is what the testers had to say about her:

ADVENTURER, INDEPENDENT, IMPULSIVE
Iris is an independent, take-action kind of puppy. She can be very affectionate, but on her own terms. She loves to explore and will not take kindly to being restrained or confined. She will bond very strongly to her owner and select others. She is not a social dog and will ignore most other people and dogs. She is highly distractible and will move impulsively towards objects, scents, sights or sounds of desire. She will need to learn impulse control and a solid recall in order to be given any freedom off-leash in uncontrolled environments (such as outdoors). She is very amusing and has an enthusiasm for life. She will need an active owner who can provide her with structure and routine.

 Nelly's new human mama has no human children and so Nelly will benefit from lots of attention when mama is around. She will get lots of walks and active time with mama, and will get to play outside and maybe, once she's grown, get to play dog sports to give her enthusiasm and energy an outlet. Mama expects to retire in a few years at which point Nelly will get even more fun play time together.

We wish you both lots of adventures together!

Topaz puppies: 2 weeks old

The little pups are now located in the puppy corner, aka (former) breakfast nook, right beside the kitchen and close to the action of the household. From  here - now that their eyes and ears are opening - they will be able to see and hear the action of our family's daily living, from sounds of kids chatting and the radio playing to the sights of people walking by and dogs free to roam in the rest of the hosue. And, of course, they will be close to all the tantalizing smells of supper cooking and - when we have the windows open, now that the weater is getting nicer - the grass and trees and cars outside.

We occasionally see one trying to stand on its little legs already. At this point they take a half-step and then flop back down as their bodies are still to heavy for their legs to support them. But it won't take much longer!

Mama Topaz is happy to be closer to the household action, too. It was a bit lonely at times tucked away in the bedroom. Now it's easier to take a few moments outside the "den" and interact with the other dogs when she feels like it.

Now that puppy eyes and ears are on the verge of oepning, we will be stopping the daily neural stimulation exercises we've done since they were 2 days old, and starting to do other things like play the radio, shake noisemakers, and so on to help get them used to the different types of sounds, sights, and actions they will face in the big wide world out there.

Happy birthday to Lyra, Cassie, Ziggy, Gatsby and Corona!

Can it be – they’re turning three!!

Garnet’s first litter is already three years old! (That means Garnet herself will be five in summer – where did the time go?!)

 

We’ve been fortunate to keep in touch with both Lyra and Cassie and their families since they went to their homes at the age of about five months, and also with Ziggy despite the fact he now lives in Montreal.

Unfortunately, neither Gatsby nor Corona has come to any of our Doodle Romps or sent recent updates, so we don’t know how things are with them, but we’re sure they’re just too busy enjoying life with their humans to miss us.

Happy third birthday all of you!

We wish you many new exciting adventures

in the coming year.

(Oh, and happy birthday to my daughter, too, who is a lot more than 3!)

DragonRam Katniss Alice Cloverdeen

Third of Phoenix's pups to say good-bye, Katniss Alice Cloverdeen is the gorgeous black phantom female that we are keeping as a breeding prospect. Like her brother, Cumin, she is expected to contribute to helping us produce lots of lovely phantom doodles. Of course, we will need to find another boy to use with her as we can't use her brother.

Katniss Alice went to a Guardian Home with a family that has one of our other pups, Leo de Janeiro. Leo is black and white with a scruffy coat as he has "improper coat" - but he's a gorgeous and lovely boy nonetheless. In fact, he's a big suck! We know he will be a good big brother to Katniss Alice.

The temperament evaluation on Katniss Alice had this to say:

BALANCED, SOCIAL, SENSIBLE, SMART
Katness is a balanced puppy with equal parts of social and independent characteristics. She is sensible and will take a moment to observe before reacting. She is very affectionate and will lick your face if allowed to do so. She will come to humans for direction and for comfort. She is curious about new environments and will explore with human permission. She enjoys toys and appears to ‘come alive’ with play. She is food motivated and easily trainable. She will quickly learn to settle and enjoy being in her crate for rest periods. Chew articles will be helpful to keep her occupied during quiet times.

As I mentioned after the evaluation, the three female pups went from one end of the "outgoing" scale to the other, and Katniss Alice was the puppy right in the middle of her two extreme sisters! "Balanced" is a good description indeed.

Katniss is going to a well-balanced home, with two human sisters to play with her and a mom and dad who will take good care of her and ensure she gets everything she needs but isn't spoiled.

We wish you well and we'll see you at our next Doodle Romp in June!