Our matriarch retires along with her daugher.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Miss Annabelle Potts was spayed and 'officially' retired from having any more puppies. It was a sad day for me because Annabelle loves having and rearing babies. She was a remarkable mom who always packed her whelping pool with all of her stuffed toys to welcome her babies into the world. It was the cutest thing ever - even though it made cleaning time twice as long!

In her breeding career, Annabelle had six litters - all of them beautiful and well loved by their owners. Once both she and her daughter Harriet Potter (also retired) shared rearing litters. At that time, Harriet had ten puppies and Annabelle one. Although Harriet was a bit miffed, Annabelle bathed in the glory of nursing not one but four pups! Harriet doesn't know how lucky she was to have a surrogate helping her with that huge litter! By four weeks old, both mother and daughter would be in the same pen offering 'dining services'. :+)

An amazing level of intelligence and wit abounds in Annabelle. As a puppy, she was certainly mischievous and I often wondered if she was smarter than I was! Taking her to puppy classes was pretty much a disaster as she would be car sick going, pooping in the class, would not stay still when asked and would bark. Oi vey! Perseverance is something I am blessed with and I would not give up. It was many months later at a romp in Massachusetts that I realized what a character I had for a doodle. At insistent urging, I competed in an Obedience Contest. Trust me, I did NOT want to do it knowing full well how awful we did when we attended puppy classes. During the competition, Annabelle did every command with aplomb! She beat out some very, VERY good doodles (those that are good ALL the time), and we came out with the Blue Ribbon. To this day, I am still confounded. LOL! What I did learn is that Annabelle behaves when she wants to show off! :+)

Annabelle has provided me with some lovely offspring and I am so grateful for that. They include my creamy velcro girl - 'Harriet Potter', a curly redhead named 'Maple Sugar', our beautiful apricot and white parti girl 'Clara Belle' and the silken black delight - 'Olive Oyl'. All but Harriet (retired) will hopefully carry on Annabelle's tradition of producing wonderfully intelligent puppies with personality and character.

To explain Harriet's early retirement - her uterus got an infection during her third whelp. To save her life, we did a C-section first and then had to remove the uterus at a second surgery. It was a difficult time for her and for me, but she has pulled through and is a happy, healthy pet who loves to sit on my lap and give me a face wash each evening. :+)

So here is a pic of both my retired 'leading ladies' that has made Annabelle Doodles what it is today. Thank you girls - you provide sunshine on even the grayest of days.