The count down has begun

So I know what your thinking. We could hardly wait for puppies to arrive just 8 short weeks ago. But by next Monday we are talking about a puppyless household. It was been 9 months of puppies so a break has been well looked forward to in our house. We love the puppies of course. It is so wonderful to watch every puppies first everything. They come into the world wet and needy and it's our job to much sure that they have everything that they need. The first week we watch them constantly, making sure each and every one of the little darlings are getting enough feeding time, don't get lost in the bedding or laid on by mom. Mom needs almost constant feeding so she can in return constantly feed her babies. By the end of the second week, we see blue tinted eyes starting to peek open. Third week finds the babies trying out their wobbly legs. The fourth week they are interacting with one another and us. Their bellies are nice and healthy round in shape, their coat start showing off their trade mark curls. The fifth week they get their first shot, though most don't even notice it happening. They are too excited because they are getting some extra cuddling. By now most have developed definable personalities, we know who's outgoing, who's calm, who likes to be held and who likes to trot around the living room with a little soft toy in his mouth. Week six they will be dewormed for the third time, they spend most of their awake time testing their wrestling moves and using their voices. Weeks 7 and 8 they are hardly ever nursing on mom and thoroughly enjoying feeding time. At the end of 8 weeks, they get their final deworming and shot from us, we say good bye and watch them get loaded into various vehicles by happily smiling families one by one. Puppy equipment is stowed away. The next few days after, we marvel at all the extra time we now have and miss having the puppies around the house. Time to do all things that have been waiting for more time in which to do them. More time spent walking the dogs, we return to our beloved dog park once again. We wait once again for puppies.

Fritz and Lulu

Our black standard poodle Fritz got to go visit Lulu tonight. Lulu is a F1b (which is a the offspring of a 50/50 labradoodle bred back to a poodle) labradoodle. Lulu is cream with apricot markings and looks alot like our Gretchen, though I think that her coat is better, and weighs only 40 pounds and is about 18 inches from the floor to the top of her back. I met Lulu's family earlier this summer at the local feed store in town and we struck up a conversation about poodles and labradoodles and Amy talked about how they hadn't fixed their girl and were considering breeding her. Handsome boy Fritz was with us and Amy really liked how Fritz looked and behaved. So I handed Amy one of my business cards and told her to give it some serious thought and read up about online. We emailed back in forth a few times and at the end of August Lulu went into heat. I calculated the best time for breeding and made up a stud service contract. The first night Lulu just wasn't ready. They did alot of flirting and several attempts, but after two hours they were wore out and no longer interested. Not a big deal, after all if Lulu isn't ready she wouldn't allow breeding to happen. So Fritz and I returned two days later and after a little more play and flirtation, they got stuck. Okay, I say stuck because they are really stuck. Officially it's called a "tie". Amy and her husband asked how long will they be stuck and I told them anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, sometimes 40. So we visit and chat about dogs and puppies and getting prepared for puppies and time goes by and by and by. They stayed stuck for more then a hour and a half! A record for us. I check the calender and tell them we can expect puppies November 2nd. We, Fritz and I will return tomorrow to breed again. Breeding twice should insure a successful breeding. I'll post as Lulu progresses. Right now I am not expecting any of our girls to go into heat for a while. I am also mentoring Amy and will be present at the birth and available to answer any question that the family thinks up. Amy and her husband have four young kids and they are home schooled. This is going to give them lots of information that the kids can use as learning tools.