What would a birthday be without a story from Grandma...

[Dianne Carter ~ Trinity Doodles]

~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAXTER, BEAU, JACKSON, NORMAN, LIBERTY, LEWIS & CLARK ~

 

It hardly seems possibly that a year has passed since I met all of you for the first time. Today I wish you a happy birthday. It was with true Grandma pride that I was able to tell some of you that message in person and get to see what magnificent little grown up doodles you have become. Others I have gotten messages from or have spoke with and I cannot possibly express how it warms my heart to continue to have the privilege of sharing such joyful moments with you and your families.

 

To your families I wish to share a story of your ‘birth’day, that I probably have shared already but it does the heart good to have a smile cross your face so lets remember…

Charity’s litter was anticipated on the fourth of July. We had carefully selected strong patriotic names, symbols and characteristics for the names we would label this litter with while they were with us. Originally Justice, Franklin, Jefferson, Gulliver (okay maybe not such a patriotic thing but this one is a story in itself), Liberty, Lewis and Clark. Ironically as I sit in our sweltering house today I am reminded that the air conditioner had gone out on this day one year ago as well. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was just time, this litter was ready to meet the world.

 

Now Charity LOVES her momma (that would be me) and is often found at night sleeping with me and must be touching me. As puppies often do this group began making their debut in the wee hours, can you tell where this is going? Yep, Charity decided that despite the plush and spacious whelping box that had been already prepared for her she was going to have her puppies where else but right next to momma. That is how I awoke at 4 am, so I moved Charity and her first born and we proceeded to meet her babies together. By 9 o’clock we had a final count of 8, 6 boys and 2 girls. Now to the whole bed thing I have to add that Charity is the neatest mom I have ever seen, of both of her litters you can barely tell she had a litter, thankfully the same was true of that first arrival.

 

So all is well in the first day and eve with Charity’s darling brood. After a long day I retired with Charity and her pups nestled right beside my bed. It was not too awfully long after drifting off that I was awoken to a strange feeling. It was that of digging! It seems that Charity did not want to leave her babies OR her momma, so she moved them all to my bed while I was sleeping and put them right between herself and me. A sleepy chuckle escaped from me then I moved this family again to their proper destination. This became a routine every night for two weeks with Charity, her babies and myself. Gulliver however seemed to move around significantly more and for a longer time. That baby puppy was one very well traveled boy and so he became Gulliver as in Gulliver’s Travels.

 

I could not complete this story without a sad explanation. You may have noticed I shared we welcomed eight, yet seven are wished happy birthday today. Our dear little Miss Olympia passed after ten days, a true fighter ~ though smaller than half the size of her litter mates she hung on and we hand fed her around the clock for days once it became apparent she was having to fight. This is the hardest part of breeding and as I type this the tears of this wound still run from my eyes and it feels very fresh. Some people think that people who see tough stuff become callused, it does not feel like that to me right now. Breeders and vets say sooner or later you will have to face this, that generalization sure does not take any of the sting away. A dear breeder friend says that someone in heaven needed a doodle angel, I think they are all angels but feel especially touched when I think of the possibility of touching souls with our doodles beyond the earthly type.

 

The stories of our families lives and those they are also able to touch through those dear puppies are THE reason for us. We have been so incredibly blessed that our families have continued to share the fruits of that which we allowed to play a small part in. Doodles are all that and then some BUT without our families it would not be enough. From the bottom of my heart thank you for being part of that, for choosing to be part of our family and for allowing us to share in that with you.

 

Wishing you abundant blessings today and always,

Dianne

[Dennis Hopkins]

Than you Diane. We are really enjoying Jackson and Ella! You do such a great job raising your doodles!
We just joined the doodlekisses.com site and I uploaded 5 photos of your grand dogs. Please check them out!
Glenda and Dennis