Evergreen Manor Labradoodles

Bella's Puppies are growing!

2012-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

The puppies are growing quickly! They are now three and a half weeks old. They have moved on to eating ground up kibble and goat's milk. They love it!

These beauties are also mobile! They are walking all over the pen and actually climbing out over the lip of the pen into the area where they go potty.

Bella is a wonderful mom. She spends time with the puppies and still nurses them. It is a big job to parent ten puppies and make sure that they are well behaved and well fed. We are so proud of her and of the puppies she is raising.

Those of you who have reserved one of these puppies have a treasure coming to you. They are on target to go home in mid-April. We will be doing a final temperament testing and verifying each puppy fits with the family that has reserved them. We want you to be fully satisfied with your new family members!

We will be working with these puppies to make sure they are well on their way in both crate training and potty training. They will be familiar with going potty outside and if you continue working with them on both crate and potty training they should adjust quickly to your home and how to potty outside. We will send you information on how to build on the training we will have done. If you have any questions you can always call or e-mail us.

2012-02-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Juliet's puppies playing outside today. I hope you enjoy it.

Crate Training! Potty Training!

2012-02-01T08:20:00.001-08:00

We have moved Juliet's puppies down to the kitchen where they get a lot of attention. They love it! We have set up a pen for them with a crate (the door is always open and it is their favorite place to relax) and a special tray with artificial grass where they potty. It is amazing that even at four weeks they are choosing to go to the "grass" to potty. Boy do they potty! We have to clean out the reservoir twice a day.

The puppies are also moving to eating from a bowl and are going to start on "mush" this week. We add ground kibble to goats milk and feed the puppies from a large, shallow bowl. It is hilarious to watch them figure out how to lap up the food and to see them experience new taste sensations. These puppies are motivated and learn very quickly that they can have full tummies when they go to the bowl. It is providing a break for Juliet who has been nursing her puppies from their birth. She is relieved to see the puppies feeding and is enjoying more time playing with them and less time feeding them.

We are also introducing the puppies to new experiences and new people. Soon we will be taking them on car rides to the bank and other places where we can introduce them safely to a variety of people. This helps them to be well socialized when they get to their new families.

This litter is very social already and loves people. As I write this blog I am sitting next to the pen and the puppies are whining to get out and have me sit with them. They prefer to play over eating.

I think you will enjoy the videos I am taking and trying to edit so that I can put them on You Tube. I should have them up within the week. Pester me about them if you do not see them soon.

Our Two Current Litters!

2012-01-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

Our girl "Amore"

Our Cinnamon girl "Millie

We have had a blast this week with the puppies from Juliet's litter. They are growing up rapidly. They are barking, exploring their areas, and even beginning to eat mush. We start them on a mixture of goat's milk and ground kibble so that they can get used to kibble once their teeth start to come in. We have also moved the older puppies down to the family room off the kitchen where they can get a lot of attention through the day. We are also beginning potty training with a grassy potty park area and treats. This will be easier once they have teeth and can enjoy the liver treats all our dogs love. We have folks coming over to spend time with the puppies in order to make sure that they are well socialized and adjust easily to a variety of people.

Our girl "Lizette"

Our girl "Lillie"

These dogs are darkening in color and turning more reddish. Cinnamon is a gorgeous red color with a brown nose and hence she is a cinnamon color. All of the girls have a very smooth fleece coat. Their coats are so soft at this point that they feel like you are touching silk. Their eyes are a unique shade of blue and green. We wish we could keep them all!

Our boy "Hershey"

Hershey is our one boy, and we are evaluating whether he is someone to keep as a breeder. He has the same dark chocolate fleece that his mother Juliet has. His coat is also curly like hers. He, like all his sisters, has outstanding conformation. They have some of the best heads of any puppies we have evern produced. Their noses are short and broad with very solid stops. Their ears are set high and their bodies are well shaped. These are great examples of the Labradoodle build. This is an amazing litter.

Velvet's puppies at a week old

Velvet's puppies are also growing quickly and are almost a week old. We have moved them to the whelping box in our bedroom so that they can get more space than they had in the place where we whelped them last Tuesday. They are growing quickly and each has put on at least half their birth weight. These puppies are also darkening and the apricots are becoming more red as they are growing. They have solid fleece coats with gorgeous sheen. They will open their eyes and be able to hear in the next ten days. They are having a great time with their mom, Velvet, who is proving to be an exceptional mom.

Our boy Midnight Dancer

Our boy Dillon

These puppies are granddaughters of a puppy we raised and is now at Waltzing Matilda's Labradoodles, Evangeline. Our girl, Waltzing Matilda's Black Velvet Beauty is the daughter of Evergreen's Evangeline and Tuscan Ridge's Cosmo di Medici. What a great pedigree! These puppies are out of Velvet and our stud, SpringCreek's Seeker of Legends. The parents have great service dog temperaments, and are both athletic.

Our girl Elisa

Our girl Beauty

Our girl Eva

These puppies will be wonderful animals. We have not seen coats like these silky fleece coats on many other puppies we have bred or seen. This litter has been worth waiting for.

Juliet's Puppies

2012-01-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed family time today as we watched the Ravens play, and defeat, the Houston Texans. Our family moved from Maryland last year and we remain committed Raven fans. Katie and her daughter Annalee came in Ravens atire. Katie was wearing Flacco's jersey, and Annalee is the cutest of all the Raven's cheerleaders.

We took some pictures of the two of them with a couple of Juliet's puppies that we think are still available at this time: Feather and Diamond. The puppies were very happy to meet Annalee. This is the first time Annalee has met puppies. She has gotten to know our mature dogs: Adoni, Scarlett, Juliet, and Velvet. She loved seeing puppies that were so much smaller. You can see from the pictures how much fun she had.

Diamond and Annalee, future BFFs?

Something smells funny, is it me or is it her?

Feather and Annalee, kid tested and approved

What's this Mommie?

Juliet's puppies are here!

2012-01-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Juliet has had her litter of puppies! They were born in an hour on Thursday morning between three and four in the morning. She had four girls and one boy. The girls range from red to caramel in color and have fleece coats. The boy is a dark chocolate, like his mom, and has a curly fleece coat. All the puppies were large and healthy. They were all over nine ounces at birth, and now are all over a pound just four days later.

These puppies are very healthy and growing quickly. In the next eight weeks they are going to be trained to enjoy their crates, to potty in appropriate places (outdoors) and to chew their toys instead of your shoes. They will be spayed/neutered, and thoroughly examined by our vet. They will have their first round of shots and be ready for your home.

Right now they love to eat and sleep. Their eyes and ears are not open yet, but they are getting good at making their noises. If they are not getting the food they want, or can't find mom, they let you know.

Please keep checking out the web page (www.evergreenmanorlabradoodles.com) and this blog for more information about this litter and the two other litters coming soon (Velvet and Seeker due 1/19/12 and Bella and Zac due late February).

Velvet's Ultrasound Results!

2011-12-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

Velvet has had an unltrasound and we have confirmed that she has at least six babies! The Vet said that she is doing well and that the babies are all the right size and look healthy. The puppies should be born around January 19th. This litter will have beautiful puppies with red and black, silky fleece coats. They will not shed and will be hypo-allergenic. Mom and Dad have been fully health tested and passed their tests with flying colors. Seeker has passed his Penn Hip test with 90% and Velvet has passed her tests with 60%. They have passed OFA tests for hips, elbows, heart, and have passed their thyroid tests. These puppies will be healthy! If you want to reserve one of these puppies, fill out our on line application and send in a deposit. Once we have these two items we will reserve your place in our puppy list!

Juliet is also close to having her puppies! We have confirmed that she has at least six puppies from her breeding with Michelangelo and they are due the day after Christmas! It will be an exciting time around the Green household. Michelangelo and Juliet have also passed all the health tests they have taken. They will produce a litter of medium chocolate puppies with soft and silky fleece coats that will not shed. The puppies will be medium in size and will have been crate and potty trained by the time they come home to you. We will also work with them to train them on what is a chew toy and what is not (much more being not chew toys than being chew toys!) We will begin training and socializing them from the time they are born and they will be used to people, noise, lights, animals, and other normal experiences. We have three of these puppies already spoken for, so if you want one of the beauties, send in an application and deposit quickly!

We have also bred Bella with Zac. We have not yet confirmed the pregnancy with the irrefutable ultrasound, but we are completely confident that Bella is pregnant. She will deliver her puppies right around Valentines Day (shortly before Juliet's puppies are heading to their new homes). These puppies will be red and apricot in color and will have straight to curly fleece coats. They will be a bit larger than Juliet and Velvet's litters. Bella will pass on her delightful and gentle personality. These puppies will be spectacular family dogs for those who have younger kids. We have a list already going for this litter and still have some spots available. If you are looking for a medium red or apricot Australian Labradoodle this is the litter for you. Send in your on line application along with your deposit on Pay Pal quickly to reserve your puppy!

If you have any questions about these litters please contact us at Steve@EvergreenManorLabradoodles.com or call us at 301-335-5920.

Three litters on the way!!

2011-12-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

We have confirmed with an ultrasound that Juliet is pregnant and has at least six puppies. These puppies will be chocolate and medium in size. They will have outstanding personalities and gorgeous fleece coats. We have three of these puppies allocated already, and we can take reservations for three more. Once the puppy list is full we will take names and deposits for a waiting list.

We will soon have an ultrasound for Velvet to confirm the pregnancy and get a sense of the number of her puppies. She is a black girl bred to Seeker, an outstanding red stud and will produce a litter of deep red and black puppies. Both Velvet and Seeker are gentle and athletic. Their puppies will be wonderful dogs with service temperaments. If you are looking for a deep red this litter will produce the most stunning reds and blacks. On top of their color and soft fleece coats, these dogs will be remarkable pets for families with children. One of these puppies is already allocated. Breeders are welcome to ask about this litter as we think that there will be amazing reds produced. If you are looking for a dark red to breed, give us a call.

Lastly, our girl Bella, who is a beautiful red has been bred with Bedrock Labradoodles' Zac who brings an ideal conformation and size so that these puppies will be red and apricot and will be large mediums to standards. Bella is one of the sweetest dogs we have bred and will pass her personality on to her puppies. We have two of the puppies from this litter already allocated. If you want a red large medium or standard you want to put in a deposit soon.

Juliet will deliver shortly after Christmas and her puppies will be ready to go home in late February. Velvet will deliver in early January and her puppies will be ready for their new homes in early March. Bella will deliver late February with puppies ready for their new homes in late April.

Confirmed Preganancy!!

2011-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a very exciting visit to the vet's office. We have been waiting with hope and anticipation for the ultrasound that would confirm Juliet's pregnancy. If you have been following our blogs over the fall you know that we had two breedings that resulted in non-pregnancies. Both Cappi and Lacy were breed this fall and neither one became pregnant.

We have recently bred two other girls, Juliet and Velvet, and have been waiting to get assurance that they were indeed pregnant. These girls are both completely health tested. They have passed their tests with flying colors, as have the studs we used with them. Juliet's hip tests put her in the 90%. The stud we used, Mojo, also has good hips (70%). They have been tested for Thyroid as well and both passed. Velvet has also been fully tested and passed her hip tests with a 60% and the stud we used, Seeker, has 90% in his hip scores. The puppies from both litters will be very healthy!

We have been confident about Velvet due to the progesterone tests that we did while breeding her. We didn't do a final progesterone test for Juliet once we bred her after she reached 3.4. Dogs ovulate once they hit 5.0. We have regretted not getting that final test.

Today we had an ultrasound done to find out if Juliet is indeed pregnant, and if so, how many puppies we would see. The answer is yes she is indeed pregnant and will deliver shortly after Christmas! Yay! We also saw at least six puppies and so we know that we have at least six, and possibly eight or nine puppies on their way.

We are grateful to Jennica, Juliet's guardian, for bringing her down to the vet and for taking such good care of her. I know that Jennica and her family will share our excitement about this litter.

We already have four of these puppies allocated. If you are interested in a chocolate Australian Labradoodle who will have great conformation and temperament, contact us soon and we will be glad to put you on our puppy list once we receive your application and deposit.

Check back for more blogs and updates.

More Progress in Breeding

2011-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

Ivy Lane's Michelangelo

Seattle's Love Sweet Promise--Juliet

We are pleased to let you know that our girl Juliet has successfully been bred with our boy Michelangelo. They had three different times where they bred, and we are eagerly waiting until the pregnancy has progressed far enough to have an ultrasound to confirm how many puppies we can expect.

Chocolate Puppy

We anticipate chocolate puppies, like those pictured above, from this breeding. The puppies will be medium in size, ranging from around 25 to 30 pounds when mature. The will have very soft fleece coats with a dark chocolate color like their mom. Both parents are very friendly and well behaved. They love to be with people, rarely bark, and love to play.

SpringCreek's Seeker of Legend

Waltzing Matilda's Velvet

We are also pleased to tell you that our girl, Velvet, has gone into heat. We anticipate we will be breeding her this weekend (November 12-13) with our boy, Seeker of Legends. They are both amazing dogs with silky fleece coats and love being with people. We are introducing black into our lines to intensify the reds we produce. We have looked forward to this litter for over two years. These puppies will be deep reds and blacks with fleece, non-shedding coats. These two parents are particularly people oriented and will produce delightful puppies.

Look below for pictures that are examples of the reds we anticipate in this litter.

Juliet and Mojo

2011-10-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

The long awaited day has come! We have Juliet staying with us while she is fertile and she has been a dream! Thank you Jenica and Patrick for letting us have this visit with Juliet. We have had Juliet and Mojo tested thoroughly for a variety of health issues to insure that they are premium breeders. They have passed all the tests with flying colors. We also know that Juliet was very close to ovulating on Monday morning. Monday evening Mojo and Juliet had a tie (honeymoon for those of you who aren't breeders) and we will have them breed again this evening (Wednesday) and then again on Friday. We may test Juliet's progesterone again on Thursday to make sure it indicates she has ovulated and that we can expect a pregnancy.

The puppies these two will have should be solid dark chocolate in color, with soft fleece coats and great conformation. Juliet brings a beautiful dark chocolate color that has held up long enough to show us that she will not likely lighten up much. Most chocolate Labradoodles do lighten up and we have been working hard to have a line that will keep its dark color. Juliet also brings a very sweet and warm personality into the mix. She is a lovely young lady and has stolen our hearts again with her visit. She has matured into a beautiful girl.

Mojo brings a great personality as well. He has been home with us for over a month now, and has been in a trial guardian home for a little over a week of that time. He is quite the lover. He tries to sit on our laps when possible. He is about 26 pounds and thinks he should put his face right next to ours whether we are sitting with him on the floor, or are on the couch. He wants to be as close to us as possible. He has great conformation and boning and will pass that on to the puppies. He loves to play and will take all the time we can give him. His caramel coat is buttery soft.

We are looking forward to a litter of dark chocolate puppies that will be under 30 pounds when mature and will stand about 17 inches at the shoulder. These puppies should be born around December 20th and will be ready for their new homes around Valentine's Day. If you want a puppy for your family, these puppies will be great Christmas gifts, (notes in a gift) and can be yours on Valentines!

Finally, Signs of Heat

2011-10-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

While the weather is turning crisp, the big news at our house is heat. That is right, we have signs that our girl Tiramisu is going into heat and will be ready to breed in the next couple of weeks. That means she will be having a litter of puppies by the end of December. She is a beautiful parti factored dog with milk chocolate and cream coloring. Her coat is a buttery soft straight fleece and will not shed. Misu also is a wonderful dog that lives with a guardian family in Newberg and loves being with kids. She will produce puppies with a similar temperament. In fact, we have selected the male we will use with Misu on the basis of his temperament. These puppies will be very friendly and loving. They will be chocolate in color with luscious soft fleece coats. We will be training them as they grow to be used to people, to be potty trained and crate trained, as well as to know the basic commands of sit, down, stay, and come. We also will be working on training the puppies what they can chew and what they can not. You will love these puppies! If you would like to give your family a “coupon” for their Christmas gift that shows the puppy you will be receiving once the craziness of Christmas has passed, we can help you.

We also have our beautiful midnight colored girl, Velvet, showing signs of going into heat. Velvet is a gentle and loving girl who just spent the weekend with us so that we could perform some health tests on her. It was hard to let her go back to her guardian home. She just fit so well with our family and the other dogs in the house. We not only did not have trouble adding another dog into the mix, we were sad to see her go home. She would sit at our feet and snuggle, making us feel good. We are confident that she will pass this on to her puppies. The stud we will be using is also a dog who is just comfortable to be with.

Seeker is the stud we will use to produce stunning red and black fleece coats. These dogs will have silky fleece coats that will make you run your fingers through their fur. We expect that we will be holding back breeders from this litter and already have had some breeders express interest. If you want a pet from this litter, reserve your place now. We have waited for this breeding for two years. We are very eager to have this litter on its way.

Joys and Heartaches

2011-10-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

This past week has been another time of joys and heartaches as a breeder. We got a new stud that we just love. He is three months old and we have a lot of tests to run on him to make sure he is a good breeder, but he is a love. His name is Deacon and we got him from Bedrock Labradoodles. Maggie is a dear to let us get Deacon. She had been planning to keep him for her own program, but was willing to let us have him. He is going to be a small standard in size and he is a dark apricot with the most luscious fleece coat. He is still young enough that we understand how our buyers have to continue the training we begin in order to make sure that the puppies build on their training. We are working hard with Deacon to make sure that he knows how to potty outside. We take him out frequently, and we are still working on keeping an eye on him while he is inside. He wants to please, but he is not familiar with our home yet, and we owe it to him to train him with what we want from him. He is also doing really well with commands like sit, down, wait, and come. It is a lot of work, but the result is an amazing dog who knows how to please us.

Deacon is also a very beautiful stud. He has the boxy conformation we are looking for and a great face. He is stunning. We look forward to getting his tests back and being able to both use him in our program and studding him out to other breeders who are looking for the characteristics he brings: great color, coat, temperament, and size. We will have to take a lot of time and money to make sure that he passes the health tests.

Speaking of health tests, we had another heartache this week. We had bred our girl Cappi recently and had hoped that she would produce a litter of reds and apricots with our boy Seeker. When we went to have the ultrasound done we found out that she was not pregnant. That was quite the blow to our plans for this year. We struggled a lot with why. We recently had her eyes retested (we do this every 12 to 18 months according to our breeding association guidelines) and found that she has a problem with her retinas. The problem will mean that we cannot breed her (we have not had a litter with her yet and so she will never be a breeder) because her puppies will have serious problems that will lead to blindness. Her problem is not so serious for her, it will not affect her quality of life, but it would be very serious for her puppies. This did not show up at all in her earlier tests, but did show up now. We are so grateful that she was not pregnant and that she will not produce puppies with vision problems. We are very sad that such a beautiful girl with a wonderful temperament will not pass those characteristics on to puppies.

As we have said before, breeding is not for the faint of heart.

We are looking to have an open house in the coming months and in particular are looking for great trainers in our area to invite to meet us and our breeders. If you know of any really good trainers in the Portland area, please pass on those recommendations. Also if you are interested in coming to our open house, let us know and we will give you all the details when we pull them together.

Thanks, Steve

What Goes in to Producing Our Dogs

2011-10-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Breeding outstanding Australian Labradoodles takes an incredible amount of work. If you ask any breeder member of the Australian Labradoodle Association of America, the Australian Labradoodle Club of America, or any of the other breeding associations who exist to make sure the dogs you get are the best they can possibly be.

We raise our dogs in our homes and not in outbuildings, outside, or in kennels. The rule of thumb is that a puppy ought to meet 100 different people by the time they go home to their new families. Imagine having one or two litters of puppies in your home (already a massive job) and then having folks you know come to your house by the dozens each week so that by the eighth week your puppies have met and been handled by 100 different people. This helps your dog to be friendly with everyone. You want a dog that will comfortably greet new folks.

We also spend time training your puppy to know where to go potty and more importantly, where not to go potty. We work with each puppy to train them that there are places where they are praised and rewarded if they potty so that they do not go potty indiscriminately around the house. Why go potty somewhere that you do not get rewarded if you can go potty in a particular place and get a great tasting treat? We do something similar with training your puppy about their crate. We want to teach our puppies that the crate is a place of safety and reward. They actually like being in their crates! This helps a lot with the potty training as well.

Along with the training we also do extensive health testing on our breeding dogs so that your puppies are as healthy as they can be. We test hips, elbows, and patellas so that the dogs we choose to breed are going to produce puppies with good joints. In Labrador Retrievers, hip dysplasia is a big problem. We test our dogs with Penn Hip and OFA tests to make sure that your puppies parents have great hips, elbows, and patellas that they pass on to their puppies. We also test their eyes, their hearts, and their thyroid.

All of this takes a lot of time and expense. It is worth it to improve the Labradoodle breed. It is worth it when we place your new puppy with you. We want to hear from you after years and years of you and your dog enjoying life together.

If you have any questions about our breeding program, our dogs, or how we train them, feel free to contact us in the following ways: phone (503-554-5785) e-mail Ann@EvergreenManorLabradoodles.com, or at our webpage www.EvergreenManorLabradoodles.com. We love to talk with anyone about our work.

If you are interested in getting a high quality dog like those we produce feel free to go to our upcoming litters page http://evergreenmanorlabradoodles.com/Australian_Labradoodle_Puppies_Upcoming_Litter.html. We have four premium litters coming up in the next few months and you can reserve your space on our list now.

More on the Ups and Downs of Breeding

2011-10-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

In my last blog I shared that we had the disappointment of learning that Lacy, one of our girls whom we had recently bred, was not pregnant. Today we took our girl Cappuccino to have an ultrasound to confirm her pregnancy. You guessed it, she is not pregnant. That was again, very disappointing.

As a result of these two missed litters we are moving forward with breeding two other girls when they come into heat. You can see all the upcoming litters on our webpage. We had thought we would hold off on them one more cycle. We want to make sure we do not have too many puppies on the ground at one time. We had thought that these two cream girls would produce some creams, apricots, and reds and that we would focus on them for now. Now we are going to breed out Waltzing Matilda's Black Velvet Beauty and our Spring Creek's Seeker to produce rich, dark reds and silky blacks. We have been waiting for over a year and a half to breed this litter. If you want to keep vibrant red coats that hold their color, you have to add in blacks periodically. Velvet is a beautiful black color that has held up over time. She will accentuate the rich reds that Seeker has produced, even with our cream girl, Scarlett. We are planning on holding back breeding stock from this litter for our own program, and we think that other breeders will be interested in these puppies.

We are also going to breed our chocolate girl, Seattle's Juliet, with our stud who carries for chocolate, Ivy Lane's Michelangelo. These two should produce stunning dark chocolates with great conformation, gentle and friendly personalities, and buttery soft fleece coats. Both of these dogs are athletic and graceful. They love people. "Mojo" is never far from us and loves to give love. He will sit at your feet and wait for you to tell him what a wonderful boy he is. He also has the most amazing yellow eyes that glow. Juliet has green eyes that hold your gaze. I am eager to see what color eyes their puppies have.

Lastly, we are also going to have another litter with our girl, Evergreen 's Bella Luce. She produced an outstanding litter of ten puppies last winter, and they were apricot to red. You can look at our web page to see pictures of these puppies as they grew up. They were amazing and we are eager to have more like them to provide to quality homes who want Australian Labradoodles they will love.

It is hard to adjust to our girls not being pregnant. We look forward to each litter and to getting to know the puppies as they grow. We are looking forward to these new litters in the coming months. If you are interested in these puppies please contact us or go to our web page to fill out an on line application.

The Ups and Downs of Breeding

2011-09-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

We are moving from older puppies to no puppies to new puppies. As of tomorrow we will have three dogs at home: Adoni, Scarlett, and Mojo. Lady in Red is going to her guardian home in Seattle tomorrow. The family is good friends of ours and our daughter from Maryland. They moved out here a few years ago, and when we moved out we were glad that they were already here.

So we have already begun preparing for the upcoming litters. We have two girls we have "honeymooned" and had prepared for our new litters to come. We took the first girl to the vet for an ultrasound to find out how many puppies were in there. This is always an exciting time and we love to put on the webpage the good news of a confirmed pregnancy.

When I got home from work that day I asked Ann what the ultrasound told us. She said "No puppies." I looked at her and asked if she was teasing. (For those of you who do not know Ann, she teases about everything.) She told me she was serious. She was serious and I was stunned. We had counted on this litter.

We know that breeding is not for the faint of heart. We have had other difficulties in breeding, and we have also faced a litter with Adoni where she had been pregnant and the puppies had all reabsorbed. (Dogs do not have miscarriages, they actually reabsorb the puppies.) In this case, Lacy had not become pregnant. There simply were no puppies.

Next week we take Cappi in for her ultrasound. I hope that she has a ton of puppies. If she does we will broadcast the good news. I am looking forward to working with the puppies to help them get ready for their new homes. This should be one of our best litters yet. I will keep you all updated.

Steve

Mr. Red is now at home

2011-09-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today two of my kids, and my one granddaughter, took Mr.Red up to his new home in the Seattle area. It is always a bittersweet time for us to deliver our puppies to their new homes. The really good side of the equation is that the puppies are now going to get the one on one love and attention that we know they deserve. Mr. Red is a sweet, cuddly little man who loves to look you in the eyes as you rub his ears or his chin. You just know that he is enjoying the attention and wants you to enjoy this too! His big brown eyes grab your heart and make you wish this was the only thing you had to do all day.

This morning as we went out for potty and got him ready for the trip to Seattle, Red was aware that something was up. He didn't want to get out of the crate and have the leash put on. After he was in the car and the kids were getting ready to leave, I had some time with him to rub his ears and to give him several hugs. He melted into me and it was so hard to let him go. That is the difficult part of the equation. He is such a wonderful dog and it is so hard to say goodbye. I have watched him grow up from the day he was born. I have enjoyed every stage of his development. He has been such a gentle soul and such a calm puppy. I know that Jessica and Russ will love him as much as I do. But, I won't be with him to love him face to face. I hope to hear from them about how he is and what they are doing with him. We always enjoy hearing about how the families who have our dogs are happy with them.

Later this week we send Maggie to Alaska, and Black to Vermont. More ups and downs, but we love to know that the dogs are getting all the love they need. Thank you to all the families who have our dogs, and who love them the way we want to love them.

Steve

Sending Puppies Home

2011-09-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

In the next couple of weeks we will be sending the last of our puppies from the spring 11 litters to their new homes. We have Scarlett's Black going to Vermont, Scarlett's Red going to Seattle, and Angel's Maggie going to Anchorage. We are excited to have the dogs go to these families, but we are certainly going to miss these puppies.

Black, Red, and our stud Mojo have lately been learning how to play fetch. They love to run after the toy I throw and race to see who can bring it back to me. They are clear that the command "release" means they are to give me the toy so that I can throw it again. They will even sit and wait for me to throw the toy once again.

In the morning when I get the dogs out they will patiently wait for me to put out their food and water before I open their crates and let them out on the deck. I really enjoy their temperaments. I am going to miss them. To those of you who will be getting these dogs, your are going to love your new family members!

The Wonder of a Furry Friend

2011-09-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

Over this past summer we have gone through a lot of trials. Ann has battled cancer. She went through some really tough treatments involving daily radiation treatments for 8 weeks and weekly chemotherapy. As a result of the cancer and the treatments Ann was wiped out. Our first Australian Labradoodle, Rutlands Adoni, was inseparable from Ann.

Addie stayed up in the bedroom while Ann slept. She stayed when Ann rested in bed. She would stay in the room with Ann for over 24 hours and when we finally took her outside to potty, we actually had to pull her from the room. Addie's affection for Ann was a comfort for Ann. The rest of us were busy trying to cover all the responsibilities for the house, and Addie simply stayed with Ann and loved her. I am so grateful for the care our wonderful girl gave to Ann.

She has cemented her place in the family. I have raised dogs that have gone on to serve as therapy dogs to give love to folks, but I have also experienced what a therapy dog can do as this wonderful girl has loved my wife when I was off doing the other things that needed to be done. Thank you Addie!