Finally PICS!

A camara catastrophe has prevented my normal updates but fortunately, my son stopped by today and we bought another camara and are in business once again. :+)
Thank you buckets, Jacob!!















Here is Harriet attending to the pups this past week. She is doing so much better.















As you can see, they love to 'huddle'. :+)
















Today, I actually moved them from my office to the Puppy Room. I decided to do this prior to them opening their eyes. Both eyes and ears are still shut. Their noses, however, are very sharp and they can smell their mommy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
















Yep, Harriet is feeling quite smug these days. :+)

No pics, but good news!

Thank goodness for good breeder contacts. The question was raised about the type of antibiotics Harriet was on. It so happens a side effect of Clavamox is depressed appetite and upset stomach. I decided to not give her any this morning and Harriet is eating a decent amount of food now. This is huge as she has gone for days with barely a few mouthfuls of any substantial solid. I have been syringing her with liver broth and Energel to keep her hydrated and energy level pathetically met.

I am so happy to now say that since this morning she has eaten several small pieces of chicken, a small bowl of hamburger and some ice cream with Energel 'syrup' squirted on. I am soooooo happy! :+)

It is necessary for her to get back on antibiotics given her surgeries and infections, but it will be a different one called Simplicef - more gentle. If this again causes a depression in appetite - I will go directly to Colloidal Silver and leave it at that. I know that will not upset her. I see the light at the end of the tunnal and Harriet looks and feels so much better.

Thanks you for all the well wishes and prayers!

PICS!

Wow! My first full night of sleep and I feel good!!! :+)

So here is your first view of the pups individually. They are doing quite well and Harriet is being a wonderful and attentive mom. The girls are on a pink blanket and the boys on blue - I know, I am such a traditionalist.

#1 female would be considered the color 'chalk'. She will have rose/liver pigment and hazel eyes as she matures. I also think she will have a curly coat.














#2 boy enjoys his meals and will be apricot in color. He appears to be a fleece but I won't know for sure until he grows more. He too may have rose/liver pigment and hazel eyes.














#3 Parti girl also appears to be a fleece. I love her markings. I don't believe her nose will remain freckled but it could.














#4 girl has the silky coat of a fleece at this time.














#5 girl appears rugged and may have a curly apricot coat and black pigment.














#6 girl is also apricot and on the smaller side of the group. I am pretty sure she will have black pigment.














#7 male is the 'hunk a chunk' of the litter. Just look at that head! He too will be apricot with black pigment.














#8 male appears to have the fleece-y type coat of some of the others, but you never know when they may change so this is not guaranteed! I love all the coat types but breed specifically for the looser curly wools and wavy fleeces.














#9 guy is the only chocolate in the group and is one of the smallest as well. His coat has a silky texture to it and I believe he could be a curly fleece when he matures.
















All of the pups' coats are subject to many changes depending on what genes they inherited. I tend to limit my use of Poodles in my program as I am not fond of the strong kinky coats they can pass onto the offspring. Those coats are terrific for allergy sufferers, but there are many breeders that breed for this quality. I just prefer a more 'relaxed' look to the dogs that I breed.

Harriet - 'all tied up'!

As you all know by now, I have had to refrain Harriet from nursing her babies many times for a number of reasons. I thought you would enjoy seeing my 'contraption' up close and personal. Please don't look for beauty or ease of operation - for you will not. It was purely designed for squirrely babies who cannot read 'Do Not Enter' signs and Mom's who have a strong desire to nurse even when ill.

This pic shows how I had to utilized thick elastics to keep the neckline from becoming an 'entry' to the milkbar. Also note the sleeves her front legs are in? They too, need elastics to keep them rather tight. The elastics work better than pins for this purpose.



















This is indeed, the 'back door'. She is lying down so you can only see one side, but there are elastics on both sides of her tail. I grab the edge of the T-shirt's bottom and bring it up towards the top and tie with the elastics. Both sides are done this way. Perhaps if this was Halloween, it could be deemed funny because she sure looks strange. :+) This does allow her to clean and cuddle with the pups but prevents them from eating. Of course, letting her outside many times a day keeps me very busy with elastics.

It took the Lord six days to create the world, it took me

seven to get a glimpse of how difficult that must have been.

So it is with much gratitude that I am able to post a pic of this litter looking healthy, chubby and beautiful.

Harriet is finally nursing again!

We are slowly climbing out of the woods and Harriet is happily nursing the litter this morning. Now my goal is to try and increase her appetite to maintain the nursing demands and not set her back. So far Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream is her favorite 'food'. Oi vey!

This is such a special litter.

Hello,

First, my apologies for not posting these last few days. It has been quite intense here at Annabelle Doodles. The pups are all doing fine, but Harriet has been quite ill. It started out with a c-section to remove the two dead pups, progressed to a terrible infection which resulted in the necessity to spay her not a moment too soon. Had I not made this choice, she would have gone to the Rainbow Bridge by this weekend. I have been feeding and cleaning pups round the clock and was either doing that or trying to get a few minutes shut eye. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel however. :+)

Harriet is a wonderful mom and is distraught that she cannot nurse her babies right now due to the intense regime of antibiotics, and other fluids that saved her life. We are a good team however, and all their needs are being met.

On the left side is Harriet prior to going into her spay surgery. Although she doesn't look ill in the pic, she was very close to death's door. But to dogs, providing for their babies is very deeply ingrained and they will loose their life fulfilling their duty. The pic on the right is her after the surgery. To prevent nursing (and much to the puppies complaint!) my T-shirt design allows cuddles with the pups but no feeding. :+) In a couple of days, I am hoping to help her re-develop her milk and things will be normal once again.

The pups go to the vets. :+)

Hello,

I believe we have turned a corner and Harriet, the pups and myself are all doing much better. The pic below shows a more perky Harriet with one of the cream males taking a nap on her paws. Parti Girl is happily snoozing by herself on the heatpad while the others are at the milkbar. It is so nice to see the serenity of this shot.
















Here we are loading up for travel! This is the 'bunting' I use to take the pups for their first check up and dew claw removal appointment. I also use it to put them in when I change the bedding in the whelping pool. It is a very handy little item - nice and soft. For winter litters I warm up a disk and place it on the bottom to keep them toasty.














We have safely returned much to Harriet's joy. She jumped right into the pool and settled right down to cleaning and nursing. :+)

Harriet was home just in time to receive a lovely bouquet.

Some of my clients are just too special. Thank you Marcia on behalf of Harriet who is still resting.

Harriet is home but is still definitely under the effects of the anesthesia. Her C-section went well and they really flushed her out well. She is a bit shakey on her feet, so I carried her in and placed her in the whelping pool. She has been quietly sleeping on one side and the pups are generally 'puppy-piled' on top of the heating pad.

About 15 minutes ago, I finished tube feeding 4 of them and then placed them next to her for warmth and milk stimulation. Many times, when a dog as sick as Harriet was goes under anesthesia - milk dries up. I am hoping to prevent that with careful inclusion of the pups slowly along with an herbal remedy called Byronia Phytolacca. This is a product that helps with the 'let down' trigger of the mammary glands.

So far, we are doing pretty well. They are all now with mom and quite content.

It's been quite a morning!

Hello,

It was necessary to take Harriet to the vet's under an 'emergency' type visit. She had to undergo a C-Section because she had two puppies stuck in her uterus. :+( I had a gut feeling that something just was not right and I am glad I followed my instincts. The puppies were not viable and began to infect Harriet. I am heartened that a spay was not necessary as sometimes it is the quality of the uterus that becomes questionable when this happens.

So, dear Harriet was carrying 11 not 9 puppies all along. I am told that I can bring Harriet home this afternoon. In the meantime, I am swamped with helping 9 little pups eliminate and doing my best to get them to take a bottle. They are strong little buggers!! They are all weighing roughly 8 to 9 ounces. The chocolate boy is the smallest and the strongest fighter! Some things never change!

Here is their first group pic! :+)

The Doodle Stork came early!

Hello,

We have just finished our whelping (I think) and there are nine (9) puppies! I hope to get them to the vets tomorrow to be sure they (and Harriet) are fine, so no pics right now. SORRY! There are 5 females and 4 males. The colors are as follows: 2 cream, 3 apricot, 1 black and white parti, 2 blacks with some white markings, and 1 chocolate. She whelped 4 days early!

Stay tuned everyone...we are delivering puppies!!

It was a crazy drive home from our daughter's wedding shower in Rhode Island for me, but I did arrive in time to take over at the moment of #4's birth. What a ride! Kudo's to my dear husband for not panicking and doing a great job with the first three. :+)

Updates will be posted when the 'event' is over.

Working on an expanded play-yard.

We have decided that we need to add a bigger play-yard for our puppies. So we are putting up an addition. Today, we started digging the trenches. Once we put up the chain link fence and anchor them in the trenches, stone will be added to prevent 'digging under the fence for an escape route'! Puppies love to dig.

This shed is where I keep a lot of dog supplies, including crates, whelping pools, gates, etc. You can see Clara and Willis romping in what will be part of the play area.
















This is a view of where the fence will be from the opposite side of the shed. It is a long but somewhat narrow space - about 24 feet wide.















Here is Clara at 6 months. She and Olive love to be out loose with us.















And here is Olive with her dirty face. :+)















The three girls have really enjoyed being outside with us today. Smelling the earth, laying in the trenches, grabbing sticks, tasting plants and looking into 'critter holes'. We will update with pictures as we progress. Hopefully, the new litter will be very happy. :+)

SPRING 2009 LITTER: MAPLE SUGAR X RUMPLE

Or should it be MAPLE SUGAR x CORIANDER?

It appears that I have more than enough applications to fulfill Harriet and Rumple's May 2008 litter. Of course changes can and do happen, so there is always a window of opportunity.

My thoughts are now to decide who I would like to breed next. I am leaning towards my curly red head Maple Sugar with fleecy Rumple which will give me a litter of blacks and an array of reds with black pigment (no chocolates). My other thought is Maple Sugar with Smitty. If I do that mating, then the assortment of curly puppies would be a color range of creams, apricots and reds with no chocolates or blacks. Ummmmmm....it is like opening a box of luscious chocolates and trying to choose JUST one! :+) Thankfully, I have time to give it more thought. :+)

After much more deliberation, Coriander came to me and I just knew that Maple would be bred to him. :+)

What a day for good news!

Hello!

Well, here is Harriet laying down this morning prior to going to the vets. She takes it easy most of the day except when she feels the need to follow me wherever I go. Since I still have two pups here, we still need gates and she hops over the gates to stay close to me. I sometimes think these babies are going to be 'milkshakes'! I thought she seemed pretty round, and the x-ray my vet took shows 9 to 10 pups! It was just a sea of spines attached to circles all tangled together. There is no more room in there and I have no idea how she is going to last for two more weeks without blowing up!!















Here, she is sitting on the stairs watching me. When I start to come in, she wiggles all over. You swear I was returning from a long trip instead of just emptying the garbage. :+)



















And this one just cracked me up - does she not have a 'Mona Lisa' smile???? Makes me think she has a secret.

And along with all this great news about the number of pups Harriet is carrying came the GREAT results of the two Annabelle pups I have kept back. Both Clara Belle and Olive Oyl have very nice confirmation prelims on their hips! Yay!

It is going to be VERY difficult to make a decision as to where these pups will go. The best scenario is to have them in guardian homes that live very close to me for ease of visits; as well as vet and breeding needs.

Both of them are wonderful pups. Clara Belle exhibits a comical behavior that compliments her curly apricot and cream colored 'parti' coat. Olive, on the other hand, is quite demure in her shimmery black wavy fleece coat.

Doodles and steamed clams.

Hi,

My husband loves to clam during the winter months. It is his version of 'relaxation'. For the life of me, I can't figure what is relaxing about going out in the freezing weather, into the frigid waters in high rubber boots and digging in the deep sand for the elusive clams. He comes home wet, cold and proud of his 'catch'. To each his own, I guess.

HOWEVER, there are several furry doodles who are absolutely delighted he does this every weekend. Doodles LOVE seafood and steamed clams (without the butter, please!) are one of their favorites. Here they are, waiting patiently for their turn for the delicacy. Harriet is watching Annabelle, who is laying down savoring her goodie. The others are praying they will be next and won't take their eyes off of Carl. (In order: Harriet Potter/Cream - very pregnant; to Harriet's right is Clara Belle - apricot/cream parti; Olive is the black one and Willis McParti is the chocolate/cream in the front.)