Ginny Nightingale's Blog (125)

One of the puppies from Lyric's last litter had such beautiful blue eyes that then started to get a bit greenish--well, now he is three months old and loving his life with new owner Corinne Varon-Green (a DKer) and his eyes are still mesmerizing--thought you might like to see this pics of him on his first trip to the beach this past week--it is cold up here in the north, so I give Corinne credit for taking him to the beach!

II am hoping to get some more pictures from the new owners…

Gio is now called DJ (short for Don Giovanni??) by the Italians he is living with and he is really representing Labradoodles in a big way. Most of the people he is meeting have never seen  labradoodle, so the fact that he is so darn cute and smart is doing great things for the breed's reputation. I have some pics to share with everyone. My breeder is still there and is posting some on facebook for me. (her email is not working!) 

This is DJ with the local people and the woman…

Gio flies to Venice, Italy today with the breeder--we are all nervous but excited. He is such a good boy--almost housebroken and knows some Italian already! I will feel so much better when he is back on the ground. It is sad knowing that I will never see him again, but I look forward to hearing about his future adventures. 

Presto went to his forever home last Friday and has a great big brother named Rocco, who is a gentle black lab. His name is now Memphis and he is doing really…

I got a little behind on puppy news--mostly because I have been busy housebreaking the last two! So, here is the latest. Daisy, who will keep her name, went hom on Monday, Nov 28th--she is doing well and has twin boys to play with--here is a picture of mom and dad and then one with the boys. She looks worried, but that is her natural expression!…

Big day today for Jasper (formerly Nutmeg) and Pooh bear (now Uchu!) Here are the happy new families. Uchu's new parents are both professors at a major university, so he should have a very interesting life! Uchu is the word for a chiean pepper in an indigenous language from the Andes.

Jasper is now owned by Heather of Blueberry Cottage Labradoodles (a DK member) and will hopefully be in her breeding program--she is looking for a guardian home for him!!!

First Jasper--can he get…

Here is Rosie with her new family--she looks so cute, no?

And here is Enso (formerly Kelly) with his new mom and dad--and in his new bed--he is so gorgeous, it is hard to believe that he came from Lyric!…

This has been a lovely experience and it is almost over. I have met great new people (the new owners) and have had a chance to spend 8 terrific weeks with the 8 terrific pups--now we must prepare for the big send-off. I will be keeping a few at home a bit longer--they are staying in my breeder's program and will stay here until they go with her or to guardian homes. One is the red wool pup--his official name is now Sorcerer's Apprentice and his call name is Presto!

The other is Honey…

The puppies are now 6 weeks old and all the people who are buying a pup all came one family at a time over the past three days--it was really fun! They couldn't pick a pup yet because the breeder will not be able to tell them which they can choose from until she makes her decision this week about who will stay in the breeding program--but luckily, everyone felt that every pup would be a good pup to get.

I have been too busy to post much, so i will try to catch you all up--they are…

Hi everyone who is still out there watching Lyric's pups grow. They are little tiny dogs now--playing, running and giving big sloppy kisses. These last few weeks with them are so much fun and it is so hard not to get attached! I will try, but I am sure a few tears will fall when they leave. Speaking of leaves, I am going to start this slide show with a photo I took today of fall leaves covered in snow--we got 17 inches of the white stuff today and there were some beautiful scenes. Then we…

Do you need a nice long puppy fix? I made a video tonight that shows the puppies over 9 days as they go from 3 weeks to today (just over 4 weeks) Wow--have they changed! So, for those of you who love to watch puppies, there are a full FIVE minutes of video --it's a bit fuzzy and I almost dropped the camera once, but they are so cute, you might not mind. Make sure you turn up the volume to hear Patch sing at one point--you can't miss it--he does a solo.

I also made a big mistake when i…

We made the move to the downstairs pen! I also started solid food today and didn't have to ask them twice. Usually you have to coax a little to convince them that eating food is a good thing, but these guys dove in with both feet--literally!

They were a bit unnerved by the move to the big pen after being in their closed-in whelping box, but everyone found the attached crate and are now sound asleep. This is the first time Rio and Mattie have seen the puppies--Rio was so excited! I…

Every Sunday I send the new owners a set of pictures of all 8 pups, so here are the latest. The new owners do not know yet which pup they will be getting, although they are allowed to tell the breeder which are their three favorites--they will hopefully get one of them. So, I want them to have nice clear pictures to go by. In three weeks, all of the buyers are coming to the house one family at a time to see the puppies and that will give them the best idea of whch ones they like--I am glad I…

Wow--what a difference a few days makes--the eyes are all open in Lyric's litter now and everyone is toddling around. They have started to do a little bit of playing and are finding the newspaper to do their business more often. Momma is getting pretty tired but hanging in there. She takes long breaks now and hangs out with us between feedings. She is not the most devoted mom in that she will leave them for hours at a time now, but she knows they are safe and barks outside the puppy room…

Here are all 8 of them--some are more cooperative then others but I got portraits of all 8 for the perspective owners. 

Here is the "blue" pup a.k.a. Winnie

above: "Brownie" although he looks more red every day! He is the biggest right…

Gosh, can these guys eat! They are growing so fast and changing each day. I will do a portrait of each when they reach a week old, but for now, here are a few more pictures. Lyric is already getting a bit antsy and leaving them for an hour or so now and then to come downstairs and hang out with us. It must get very lonely up there in the puppy room. 

Momma with some of her pups--she is a lot more comfortable now!…

Today was the day for Lyric's pups to be born! I was expecting them Saturday, but was ready yesterday just in case and now I am so glad! We have 8 gorgeous puppies, 6 boys and 2 girls. The first 5 were all male and after the last litter of 5 males, i was getting a bit nervous! But them 2 little girls came along and I was so happy! The last puppy was a male and was big and hearty. 

The first pup was born at 3:30 after Lyric spent most of the night and that day panting and walking…

Lyric is expecting puppies on Saturday and we went in to the vet's for X rays today--the vet says there are 8 pups--she is the expert! i have a copy of the Xray and there is such a jumble of skulls and spines, it is hard for the average person to count! I can clearly see 7 though if you blow up the image. I thought some of you might like to see what one of these Xrays looks like, so i am going to paste it here (they gave me the CD). If you can download it and inlarge it, it is fun to try to…

Of her pregnancy that is! Lyric is lumbering around looking pretty depressed, but will only 4 days to go until her due date, i know she will be a happy camper soon. Xrays tomorrow and we will have a number of pups and will share it with all of you!

Here is a picture taken two days ago--can she get any bigger??…

I will post pictures here when I am all done grooming Lyric with her Mommy cut, but you won't believe how big she is! Yikes! She looks like a big pink balloon with her hair shaved down on her belly. We do X rays next Thursday so we will have a count then, but I am guessing 7 or 8 pups. You can feel them moving around in there now. 

She is sleepy most of the time now and when she does hear something and starts to bark and run, she quickly stops and seems to say "ugh--what was i…

After three weeks of a poor appetite and the blahs, Lyric is gearing up for the whelping on October 1--she is ALWAYS hungry now and is feeling much better, although still sleeping a lot. She seems so big to me already that I did a few comparisons to her photos from Litter one. She is much bigger this time--but I don't know if that means she has more puppies (she had 6 last time) or is just "stretched out" from the first litter. Here are some comparisons:

Lyric at 7 weeks with first…