Wrastlin'

We no longer have sleepy puppies that lay around and snuggle all day long. They have turned into rabble rousers that investigate, interrogate, and just generally gnaw on anything they can sink their little teeth into. They are vigorous and ruthless wrestlers when they are tangling with their siblings. But it always ends with them being friends again.
This is Scotch and P.J. There are no rules among these pups. Anything goes in their play. They will stick their opponents whole nose in their mouth and chomp down. Ears, tails, paws, and other things - it's all fair game.

"Grrr, I'm gonna eat your face!"

They are definitely in the teething phase. Having them bite each other is no big deal, but we don't want them thinking the same way about people. We are trying to be vigilant in not letting them gnaw on us, replacing toes and hands with a chew toy instead. It'll take them a little time, they are just puppies after all, but they will get it. 

In the mean time, they are very entertaining to watch! 

First Taste of Gruel for The Labradoodle Pups

Recently it has seemed like the pups are hungrier than usual. Plus, Jinx is less interested than feeding them than usual.She takes great care of them throughout the night but daytime is another story. She just wants to have fun with us and be with us. Often I have to call her over to the puppies and lay her down to feed them. Once she gets there, she doesn't seem to mind nursing them, especially if I stay near and pet her. She does seem to be emptying out more quickly and I know the pups are consuming more. 
All of these factors made me decide it was time to begin the weaning process and introduce puppy food. It will take a few days for them to catch on and truly dig in and eat so I wanted to get started and help eliminate some of the feeding burden from Jinx's shoulders. Puppy gruel is just puppy food mixed with water, blended up so there are no large chunks and made watery enough to lap up.
I was amazed at how well they liked it! They all really surprised me with how well they licked it up and how much they took in. 

Here Tate is putting the gruel in the pen. 

A few of the boys immediately approached the foreign substance.

There was some sniffing and tasting.

Then came some good old fashioned chowing down.

You know what surprises me? That puppies naturally learn to lap up liquids. Cool huh? Because really, how would I teach them that?

Here's Scotcheroo. Not a huge fan of the new puppy pen.

"Let me ou-oooot!"

He also was leaning against the pen with long suffering. Look at his cute little messy snout after eating his puppy gruel like a boss!

Although the puppies are used to being contained, the outdoors are very different then the basement and these walls are see through, unlike the puppy pool. So their little worlds are expanding. 

Here's Mama Jinx. Feeding the pups is definitely more intense than it used to be. 

The pups will continue with their mushy puppy food for a while. I will slowly decrease the amount of water and they will slowly learn to chew as their teeth come in. 

Feeding time is a huge mess. Puppies have no idea that they are supposed to keep their paws out of the food. In fact I think they like eating it better when they are nearly submerged in it.

Fortunately, Jinx is happy to help with the clean up.

Labradoodle Pseudo Names - As Promised

You can't have a littler of puppies and not call them each something. Calling them all 'Puppy' seems a bit boring. So, being the creative people we are, we decided to give the pups each a temporary name until they get their forever name from their new families. 
I thought we would stick with a theme in order to simplify the naming process and to help us remember the different litters down the road. 
Wyat Latched on to this guy and originally dubbed him 'Brownie',  

To honor that we thought we would go with a food theme. After a bit of teasing about naming a brown dog, 'Brownie', his name was changed. 

His official pseudo name is Raisin Brownie Beaber.

You can call him Raisin.

He's big for his age and he likes to chill out. He's our biggest boy. Don't let his color fool you, he could change colors like his dad by the time he is 2.

Next up is our little girl. Seth was in charge of picking her name.

Meet Kisses (like Hershey Kisses).

She is a sweet little snuggler. Although born 2nd, her size makes her the runt of this litter.

Tate picked the name for our golden boy with the pink nose.

Say hello to Pepper-Jack. He is more pale than his brothers. This guy was the first born of the litter and is just a bit bigger than his sister.

I got to name the next little guy.

This is Scotcheroo.

I love his cream color and black nose and paw pads.

He was the first one we saw trying to play with his siblings.

Last but not least, Hunky Hubby's hunk of cuteness;

Meet Peanut Brittle. He is also a big guy. We call him and Scotcheroo the twins because they look very similar with their black noses and paws. But P.B. looks to have a little more red in his coat. I won't be surprised if he darkens up over time. 

So there they are. Our adorable babies and their temporary names. They are starting to play with each other and us, walk on all fours, and go potty by themselves. They are growing so fast. 

Wouldn't you like to take one home? 

1 Week Old Labradoodles!

Whew! What a week!
We had some lows, we had some highs, and we learned a few things along the way. 
Jinx has proven to be a very good Mama. She is attentive and protective. She still wants to be with us during the day, but as soon as she hears the pups making noise, she is back downstairs with them.
The puppies are all doing really well. They are growing fast and wriggling all around their puppy pool. No one has their eyes opened yet, but that is normal. However, their little peepers could open up any day now.

The puppies spend most of their time sleeping.

The rest of their time is spent eating. They are very vigorous nursers. No wonder mom starts the weaning process when their teeth start coming in.

They are pretty strong little babies. They can wriggle around their pool to get to Mom or to climb under and over their siblings in the puppy pile. They use their front legs more than their back legs right now. 

They are all super soft. It's still too early to tell what their coat will be like when they are grown. We will have to give them a little more time.

This is a close-up of our two big boys. They weren't the first born, but they are the chunkiest. 

Our smallest pup is our little black girl puppy.

She is also the most snuggly. 

Stay tuned this week for more pictures and to learn what we have chosen for their temporary names! 

The Labradoodles are Here!!

The anticipated arrival of Jinx's first litter is finally over!
The babies have arrived safely.  
Momma Jinx did a great job for her first time.

In hind sight, she probably would have done better without us in the room. Her labor was relatively long and I really thought she was done after four pups. But a few hours later, she wanted to go outside and she birthed a stillborn. I tried a few methods to see if I could revive it, but I couldn't.  It looked perfectly fine, so I don't know if she was overly stressed and waited too long to birth it or what? Sometimes, it just happens. 
Shortly after that pup was born she birthed the last little cream boy. 

That brings our total to 5.

4 boys and 1 little girl.

It's easy to find her because she is the black one. 

Wyat has already dubbed our little chocolate boy 'Brownie'.
We will probably give all of them temporary names soon.
           

They all wiggle and squirm and are amazingly strong.

And vocal!

You wouldn't expect newborns to be so loud!

Jinx is settling into her role as Mom.

She gets a little stressed out, but with the lights out and the door closed, she settles down.

It's hard for her to be separated from the rest of her family though.

She keeps coming up to check on us.

We will be looking for homes for all of the puppies.

Jinx, the dam,  is a purebred Labrador, without papers.

She is a sweet girl with a heart to please her family.

She has been absolutely wonderful with our boys. Although she is very active outside, in the house she calms right down. As long as she can't see a ball! She is a great retriever and could play for hours. 

The sire is a purebred Standard Poodle.

You can find his information and pedigree here.

Yes, this is the same dog! When he got his spring haircut, they discovered that he changed from a chocolate, to a cafe au lait!

It is not unusual for poodles or labradoodles to change colors around this age. His name is Sidney and he is a tall nicely built boy. He had a calm personality when we visited him.

We are hoping that our pups will be good hunters and that someone who takes one home will train their pup for upland game birds.

Jinx did very well on pheasant this past fall. 

Send me a message if you are interested in adopting one of our precious pups!

We are asking $600.00 per puppy and we will begin taking deposits when they reach 2 weeks old.