We took the puppies for a ride in the car today. It was quite the adventure to load 14 puppies into the car and head off to the local Home Depot. They love to have us bring the puppies into the store and give the customers and staff an opportunity to love on the puppies. We enjoy the time with folks as they meet our dogs. There are always lots of questions about the dogs and about breeding. We have gotten to know the staff at the store and they always look forward to when we have litters to socialize.
Once again the puppies were a huge hit. I didn't make it past the front entry way before staff and customers alike were petting the dogs and holding them. The puppies were great and were very calm as people touched them, held them, and loved on them. This is such a good experience for these little guys. Oregon is a dog lover's state and each of the people who stopped were talking about the dogs they have at home, as well as asking about our breeding program.
Providing new experiences, meeting new people, having new sites and smells and sounds is great to help the puppies feel comfortable as they adjust to unfamiliar experiences in the future. As you take your puppy home I encourage you to do the same: take your puppy with you on car rides, and introduce them to as many new places and people as you can while keeping them safe. Bring treats for people to give them so that they associate new experiences with rewards!
After spending some time in the new settings the puppies were worn out and took a long nap.
They are also enjoying our puppy run now that the weather is cooperative and we aren't having rain. They love to cuddle together in the dog house and then go out to run and play. These two litters are adjusting well to life. Soon we will be getting them ready to go to their new homes. We are already lining up trips on airlines to deliver them to Sacramento, Washington DC, Boston, and New Jersey. Other puppies will be going to new homes closer to us. So many new experiences for them to enjoy.
We still have four puppies from these litters available, so if you want a wonderful puppy, contact us quickly!
I have been enjoying the two litters we have at our house these past weeks. Scarlett's puppies are a little over four weeks old now, and Bella's puppies are five and a half weeks. They are playing together through the day, and get along very well. We have them in the family room/kitchen area with us for at least a few hours a day. They play, chew on our socks, and fill our laps. They also do a great job filling our hearts.
As soon as we sit on the floor they swamp us. These puppies are very people friendly. Their tails wag, it seems like their eyes twinkle, and I am sure they have a smile on their faces. They come running up to us and jump into our laps. After they spend some time with us they go off to find a comfortable place to lay down and do their second favorite thing--nap. While they nap we clean up their pens, and get them ready for the evening.
Yesterday and today we introduced the puppies to the back yard. They were not sure about the grass because it was still wet (this is Oregon in winter after all) and a little cool. They did a great job figuring out that it is fun to run around and explore the new smells and textures. I think exploring may be a rival for them with napping. They still love time with people more than either of those. As we got down on the grass with them they once again swarmed our laps and decided that the grass is a great place to be with us.
Soon we will take the puppies on longer car rides and introduce them to places like Home Depot where they can meet all sorts of new people and get new sites, sounds smells, and textures to add to their variety of experiences. We are starting to work on delivery dates, transportation decisions, etc. as we prepare these puppies for their transition to their forever homes. This weekend we will have folks over for the Superbowl (the Ravens are playing and we are die hard fans relocated from Baltimore) and those folks will have an opportunity to help the puppies with new people as well.
Please keep checking back to follow up on these litters. I will post more stories soon.
We have 14 puppies at home now that we have picked up Bella's litter from her guardian in Sisters, Oregon. Scarlett's six puppies are thriving up in my bedroom as we take care of them. You can see from the pictures that they have opened their eyes and ears. They wake me up at night with their barking and yelling. It is so funny! They love to snuggle with each other, with momma, and with us. We sit in their pen at different times and they come up to us to smell us and see if we can feed them. This week we will begin feeding Scarlett's puppies a mix of ground kibble and goat's milk. After that we will be moving them to kibble and water. They really need to have the nutrients that the kibble provides. We also have begun treating the puppies with preventative medications for worms. At three, five, and seven weeks we treat the puppies to prevent any worms that they may come into contact with. We weighed the two litters, trimmed their claws, and gave them medicine. They were all troopers! You can see the range of colors in the puppies from these pictures. Scarlett's litter is darker. They are all dark apricot to red in color. Bella's litter has more of a range and has one that is a very light apricot and goes all the way to dark red. Bella's litter is a little older and you can begin to see the wavy fleece coats that they will have. All of these puppies have great conformation and the boxy noses and faces that we are breeding toward. At this point it is too early to know how their little bodies are developing, but they all look like outstanding examples of the Australian Labradoodle breed!
We are taking deposits on these puppies and have a few left, but if you want to get one of these puppies it is important to contact us quickly at:
Steve@evergreenmanorlabradoodles.com.
We will soon be taking the puppies on car rides, introducing them to new places and people. One of our favorites is to take them to Home Depot and let them get to know the workers there who love to hold them! It is so good for them to be in new places, have new sites and sounds, and to meet new people. Stay tuned for more updates!
Scarlett and Bentley have produced a wonderful litter of six puppies! These beauties were born on January 2, 2013 and have brought joy to our lives in these past three days. We have three boys and three girls. They are all apricot to red in color and will have a beautiful fleece coat. They will be medium size when mature (about 35 pounds and 20 inches at the shoulder).
Right now these puppies are just getting familiar with their world. They are smelling their way to momma, finding her to suckle, and crying when they are cold or hungry. Mom is doing a great job taking care of them and we love watching Scarlett care for her puppies.
The babies will be ready to go home in March and we are still taking applications for them. We have two of the six already spoken for, but still have four available. To apply for this litter go to our on line application on our web page (www.evergreenmanorlabradoodles.com) and send us a completed application. Once we have reviewed your application we will talk with you to cover any questions we have and then you can send in your deposit to hold your place on the puppy list.
On Christmas Eve I received a call from our guardian for Bella Luce, Patty Mills. Patty is keeping Bella with her for the first four weeks of the new puppies lives.
Bella was due on December 29th, but on Christmas Eve Patty was calling to let me know that Bella was very agitated and nesting. "Do you think she is going to have the puppies early like she did last time?" Patty asked. I told her "I don't know, but I am not going to be able to get out to Sisters tonight if she does."
Patty has delivered a litter with Bella already, and Ann and I drove out to "help" with the whelping last February. As we drove we were getting updates on the number of puppies that were being born. We arrived just after the last puppy was born. I knew that if Bella had her puppies Christmas Eve that Patty is up to the job of helping her to deliver them.
Five minutes after Patty called, she called back. "The first puppy has arrived. He is a male and is 12 ounces." Over the next three hours, and before Christmas arrived, Bella delivered another seven healthy puppies. She had a boy, four girls, and then three more boys. Eight puppies. Four boys and four girls. All apricot or red. Both Bella and Patty did a great job in bringing these puppies into the world.
Stay tuned for updates on these puppies, and on Scarlett's litter that is due on the 1st. We will keep you all posted on what is going on with our puppies.
Our family was in Maryland last week honoring Ann with all of our family and friends. On the day that I arrived I learned that Bella Luce was in heat. She was not expected to go into heat until November, or possibly December. We had to arrange to have her picked up from her guardian home four hours away, while we were all the way across the country.
We got her picked up and began the series of progesterone tests to determine when she would be ready to breed. On top of Bella being in heat, we knew Scarlett would be going into heat very soon. When I got back to Maryland on Monday the 22nd we learned that Scarlett had also begun her heat cycle. We have two girls ready to breed at the same time!
I took both girls south to Spring Creek Labadoodles where Rochelle Sundholm is keeping them as they breed with her stud, Bentley.
We expect that both girls will deliver their puppies sometime around Christmas. That means they will have puppies that will be ready to go home at the end of February or the beginning of March.
We already have some reservations on these puppies, but we still have spaces available if you want one of these puppies. They will be red to light apricot with fleece coats. They will also be medium to standard in size (30 to 45 pounds). These puppies will be wonderful pets that will love to be with people and will be great additions to any family. You can contact me at Steve@EvergreenLabradoodles.com or at 301-335-5920.
We have received the results from the health tests on our Seattle's Sundance and Evergreen's Tank. Both dogs have passed their breeding health tests with flying colors! We will be bringing these two dogs in as breeders as soon as they are mature.
Sundance is a cream colored, fleece coated medium and she will be about 19 inches at her shoulder when she reaches maturity. She will be around 32-38 pounds. She loves to play with people and other dogs. When people come to visit our puppies and they meet Sundance and Tank, they almost always ask if the are available. The good news is that now that they have passed their health tests, we are looking for a guardian home for both Sundance and Tank. We are looking for families or individuals who live within a short distance from our home in Newberg, Oregon. Guardians will need to provide a safe home environment and loving attention to our dogs. All reproductive vet care is covered by us, and regular vet care is covered by the guardians. We ask that you feed high quality food and provide lots of love and socialization.
Evergreen's Tank is a male who is standard in size and will be about 23-25 inches at the shoulder when mature. He will weigh over 50 pounds. He is our gentle giant. He loves to play with people and dogs. He has a deep red fleece coat. When people visit our puppies they ask if they can get a puppy with a coat "that color" and point to Tank. He loves to lie down at our feet, unless our granddaughter, Annalee, has come over to play. If Annalee is here Tank wants to play with her and give her kisses.
We love both these dogs, and feel the bittersweet of placing them in other homes. We want to have them around us, and yet we know they need to have homes of their own.
You can check out our application on the web page (www.EvergreenManorLabradoodles.com) and go to the Guardian Home page. You can also call us at 301-335-5920.
Scarlett's litter continues to grow into small dogs, and they are having a blast in the puppy run we have built for them, as well as in our fenced field where they can play with us and chase each other. They are eating, playing, meeting new people, and having a wonderful life. You can see from the pictures below that they are loving life.
We also have been giving the puppies their medicines to make sure they stay healthy. We have given them two doses of de-worming medicine, and their first immunizations. They will have one last dose of de-worming medicine before they go home to their new families.
We had friends over to the house last week to enjoy the evening and to spend time together. We had about 15 people over. All of the ladies went down into the yard to sit with Scarlett's puppies and play with them. The puppies loved the attention and were snuggling up with the ladies. As it got late the puppies all decided to go to sleep on the grass as they sat with the people. We had to wake them up to take them back their pen and to make sure they were safely settled in for the night.
Meggie's puppies have just reached a milestone. They have opened their eyes and ears. They are barking at each other now and crawling aroud the pen. This weekend they will get their first dose of de-worming medicine (given at 3, 5, and 7 weeks of age). Today I gave them their first taste of goat's milk from a bowl. They are so much fun to watch as they discover this new treat. They smell it in the pen, and start walking around trying to find the source of that wonderful smell. They then step into the bowl and start licking the milk off of their paws. As they recognize this is a great food source they learn to put their faces into the bowl and lick up the milk. Their next lesson is how to put their mouth in the bowl without putting their noses into the bowl. They have to learn not to inhale the milk, but how to swallow it instead. It is quite funny to watch them figure this all out.
We will keep you up to date on the progress of the puppies. Please check back and please let your friends know about us.
Steve
Sunday, July 22, 2012
We have put together a puppy room that we have long been planning for. We have put down a vinyl flooring that is completely waterproof and easy to clean. We have installed a utlity sink where we can wash the dogs and the potty park we use to potty train the dogs. It also has a door straight out to the dog run which is rain proof with trees covering the run and with a liner and pea gravel that will keep the puppies from getting muddy. They are really glad to play outside and we are so happy with this space.
On top of the new puppy room, we have a wonderful grassy area where we take the puppies out to explore and play. They are more and more excited to get time outside and play. Scarlett comes out to play with her puppies and feed them. You can see from these shots that there is a range of color in the puppies. We have dark reds all the way to cream. These are gorgeous puppies and very friendly. We are trying to add to their natural temperaments by working on taking them to a variety of places to give them a variety of experiences so that they are comfortable when they experience something new.
These puppies are eager to get outside to play. This is a fun time for us each day when we take them to the garden and watch them explore.
We also have the puppies with us in the kitchen at various times throughout the day so that they are used to noises, and people. They really enjoy being with us.
We are excited to let you know that we have two up and coming breeders who will be joining our program after we get their test results and they continue to grow up. The first is Seattle's Sundance who comes to us from Jan Probus. She is the daughter of Greta and Chipotle. She has the most amazing personality and loves everyone she meets. She is gentle with our one year old granddaughter, Annalee, and you can see her making Annalee giggle on our You Tube video of the two of them.
You can find the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlb8IYhLbtc&feature=plcp. Sundance is a wonderful girl who makes friends with everyone she meets. She is a medium and has a cream with soft fleece, and has been tested. We are waiting for the results of the hip and elbows tests. We will begin breeding her in the winter or spring months.
Our other new breeder is Tank, who is growing into a standard size. He is five months old and already is bigger than his mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. The vet saw him yesterday and thought he was a two year old. Tank is very friendly and relaxed. Everyone who meets him wants to take him home. He is a red that is holding his color, and has a soft fleece coat. He will sit down with you and soak up all the love you have to give. Then, he gives it back.
Tank roams around the house and yard and entertains himself until he finds you, and then you are his best friend.
Tank also gets along with all the dogs we have. Whenever we are out and he meets another dog he has found a new friend.
If you are looking for dogs with great temperaments you want to mark these two dogs and keep an eye on when they have litters.
If you are a breeder looking for a red male Tank is a breeder to keep your eyes on.
Great news! We learned today that Meggie is also in heat. She will be tested for her progesterone levels in a few days and once we know she is close to fertile we will be breeding her to Seeker. That means that in a little over eight weeks we will have her puppies here (around the Fourth of July), and after that it will be another eight weeks before we are able to deliver them to their forever families (Labor Day Weekend?). We have already closed the reservation list and have people who are preparing to welcome their new family members into their homes. These puppies will be going to homes in Oregon, Washington, and even to the Netherlands! We have two breeders coming out of this litter.
Scarlett is doing very well and is several weeks into her pregnancy. In a couple of weeks we will be having an ultrasound done to confirm the pregnancy and to give us an idea of how many puppies she will be having. We have at least one family on a waiting list in case we have more puppies with Scarlett than the reservations we have already taken. Scarlett is known for having eight to ten puppies per litter, and we may well have more puppies than the number already spoken for on our puppy list. We may know more clearly what to expect once we have the results from the ultrasound.
Stay tuned, we are in the midst of exciting days here at Evergreen Manor Labradoodles.
We have finished raising three litters over the winter and they are nearly all in their new homes. We still have a puppy from Bella's litter that will go to her new home (a breeder in Texas) on Thursday, and we have another puppy that we are still allocating to her new family. Home is a lot quieter now. We do have two puppies that are going to be breeders in our program that we are raising and testing before we allocate them to guardian homes (see our page on Guardian homes).
The quiet will not last forever. We have exciting news to tell! Scarlett has been bred to Seeker yesterday and today. She will be delivering her next litter of puppies in nine weeks. We already have a full reservation list for this litter, but we are still putting people on waiting lists in case she has more puppies than we have reservations. The last litters Scarlett had were ten puppies each. We have taken six reservations and we can take two or three additional applications for her waiting list. This litter is going to be spectacular. We expect reds, apricots, and perhaps a cream puppy. These puppies will have wonderful conformation and boning. They will be athletic and outgoing. They will be friendly and have gentle temperaments. The pictures below show some of the puppies Scarlett and Seeker have produced in the past.
We also expect that Meggie will be going into heat in the next few weeks. We also plan to breed her with Seeker so that we will have dark reds and dark apricots that will be small mediums or large minis. This litter also has a full reservation list. We are not expecting as many puppies from Meggie as Scarlett has produced. We will wait until we have the ultrasound to have more of a sense of how many puppies she is carrying to take any more applications for a waiting list for her.
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.
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.
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.
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