Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

We have a house full of puppies.  It is wonderful!

There are still two puppies from Juliet's litter here (until tomorrow when Amore is scheduled to go to her new home), five of Velvet's puppies (four of which will leave in the next few weeks to go to their new homes) and ten of Bella's puppies.  They have a load of fun as they play outside in the grass when it is warm and dry enough for them to be outside.  Today was just such a day, and I got some great pictures of the three litters playing together.  

They are  so much fun to watch.  They run all over the yard chasing each other and finding toys to play with.  The older puppies are gentle with the younger ones.  There isn't the kind of competition we would normally expect with three different litters of three different ages.  
Having so many dogs in the house can also be stressful, but we know that all but three of the twenty puppies we had in these litters are already reserved and now we are spending time socializing them and doing temperament testing to make sure that the dogs go to the home where they fit best.  It is a delight to fit the families to the puppies.  After spending so much time, energy, affection, and yes money, on these puppies it is very important to us to make sure that they have a wonderful future with their new families.

We are setting up trips, and flights to get these puppies to their new homes.  We will be taking dogs to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Jersey.  We have a dog flying to Florida.  We also have other puppies from these litters going to Oregon, Washington, California, and Texas.  We are building relationships with extended family members all over the country.  We love raising puppies and making new friends! 

Bella's Puppies are growing!

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.  

 

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

Crate Training! Potty Training!

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!

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

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!

  

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).