Updates

The pick up/ship scheduling is going well. Thank you VERY much. Now if only the weather will cooperate...! And I can't emphasize enough that we have to be flexible. Maybe EXTREMELY flexible. Just look at what is going on with traveling right now because of the storms a week ago. I know it's going to be hard because of the anticipation AND the fact that many of you are taking time off work which has to be scheduled in advance. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes and get everyone you know to do the same!

I'll be sending out an email, probably tomorrow, with some suggestions on supplies to get before the pups arrive.

And a couple other emails over the next two weeks with info on helping the pups to settle in and what to expect. Also one on puppy "diseases" and treatments. You might want to print these off for quick reference later, especially if you have little or old puppy experience.

Water Dogs
Di's and Emy's pups have discovered playing in the water bowl. But so far, aren't making a habit of it. I keep the house cool... low 60s... so being wet isn't all that much fun. Yet. Cotton's pups haven't done it except by accidentally stepping in the bowl when rough housing. Playing in the water bowl is one of my top complaints about Whoodle pups so these guys are all getting "A"s.

Moms
The girls must have believed me when I threatened to take them to the kennel if they didn't let their pups grow up. Emy has distanced herself the most from her pups and Cotton the least, but ALL of them seem much more content not being with them. They still run in to stand by the puppy pens when I let them out of their room or they come in from outside. But they're back to listening to me when I call them away.

Puppy web address
You can no longer get to the puppy pages from the main website. Available pups are pictured on the Whoodle Page, but to see the last pix I took of the pups with homes you have to go to their site directly. The address is
http://uptodatepuppyinfo.com

And I know you're all going to want new pix at least once more before you get your pups. All I can say is I'll TRY. These guys are already working me to death... I knew there was a reason I stopped having multiple litters at the same time... and I do need to spend as much time as possible just holding the pups individually so they know about the joys of human contact!

Farewell 2010!
WELCOME 2011

I Give Up!

Although I separated moms and pups over a week ago... I think... I am still being jarred awake every morning at 5-6 by mamas "talking" with their children. They're in adjoining rooms... but can't see each other... and I don't know who is starting it, but it's driving me nuts! And as soon as one group... pups or moms... is released from "jail," all the members go flying into the next room to see the relatives. Yesterday I had to CHASE Di, Em and Cotton around and threaten to do them bodily harm to get them back into the tv room. If they are not over this by Monday, I'm taking the girls to board at the vet's for a week. And keeping my fingers crossed!

And one other thing
Boon, the new Wheaten puppy, has his nose out of joint because of Crockett's arrival. He is so ticked off with me, he has VOLUNTARILY moved in with the pups and pretty much ignores me as much as THEY do whenever they are out. I have never had such an independant pup before and I'm not sure it's a good thing!

This is Why I Hate Taking Puppy Pix

This is Crockett who has come to live with me. He goes full out for about an hour and then collapses in a heap and sleeps for 2-3 hours.

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas to you and yours

from me and mine!

A Few Things

Christmas photos
This pup just wanted to get down to it and get it over with...


Will put a pix on the website of each of the pups who have homes. The others will have to wait till after Christmas for a photo session.

Weights
Got new weights on Di's and Emy's litters at 8 weeks. And I am REALLY confused!
Di's pups are all 4 to 5.25 pounds
EXCEPT the "red" boy who is 7.5!
Emy's BOYS are from 5 pounds to two that are 8 and the girls are one at 5 and one at 7.
These dogs never make anything simple!

Speaking of which
All 3 litters are still nursing. Their moms are still with them... voluntarily... all the time. The little buggers even cry when their moms are in the house and NOT in the pens with them.
Sooo... it's going to be really nosiy around here for the next couple days as I am moving moms OUT. They are going back into the tv room and babies are just going to HAVE TO adjust. I mean, they're 8 weeks old! And if they don't get with the program, not one of them is going to be ready to go next month.

Ice, Sheet, Freezing Rain

A friend sent me this photo to suggest a possible solution if any more of my trees come down. First off, MY trees are nowhere near that size and second, I'm not worried about them falling on the road, just on the house!

The ice started as predicted, early last night, BUT even though our temperature was hovering around 27, we only got a light coating. When I let the dogs out at midnight (yeah, don't want to hear about it!) the stuff coming down was icy snow. This morning, it was sort of raining and by the time I finally drug myself out of bed, the temp was up to 32... for the first time in a LONG time... and it was REAL rain. Of course, the dogs ran outside and got soaked before they came in even though they were only out there a few minutes. Nothing like cold and wet coats against bare legs! Hours later, we're still at 32... PREDICTED high for today is 42. Right! Still have both power and phone, knock on wood, while all around me the ice was worse and lines are down.

Emy and Sparky's Remy

Several people are trying to figure out what kind of coats the individual pups will have and they're basing their mental arguments on what seems most logical. However, Remy (and most of the pups from that litter) have totally different coats than the pups from Em and Sparky's first litter (of which my curly Cotton is an example.)

Boon
I know. You're all waiting for pictures of the new stud "dog." And as soon as I get over my new camera phobia... caused by trying to get decent pix of 22 individual pups... I'll post some!

He's fitting in nicely although he is about 3 weeks older than OUR pups and, therefore, a little too big to play with them (if he were a little older, he'd behave better with them) and is being spoiled rotten by my adults (who really should put him in his place a little more firmly.) So far, so good. And I'm going to try getting a shot of him with one of the "reds" to show how similar they are in coloration to purebred Wheatens.

The Truth Shall Set Me Free

HA! I got Cotton's pictures all done, just like I said I would. And in much less time than I spent with the other two litters. Every one of C's pups just sort of sat there, or laid where I wanted them to, and most had very little trouble looking at the camera. (Some pups and dogs HATE it when I put something in front of my face, even sunglasses.) With Cotton's litter, the average number of shots I took per pup was two... to get TWO USABLE pictures each.
With Di and Em's litters, the average was 4-5. Talk about laid back. Or, maybe, they're just Fabio wannabees!

This is one guy who got more than 2 shots... he was the last one I did, so maybe he was feeling slighted!

So... I Lied

It's COLD here. About 15 right now and it's only 7:30 at night. Going down to single digits and only getting UP to around 20 for the next 3-4 days. If you don't believe me, check out Ost and Wombat... AND BROGUE who never ever cuddles with anyone.


So what I lied about...
Pictures. I finished taking Emy's 8. And I'll get a shot of each uploaded to the website later this evening... provided it and my browser have settled their differences. In the meantime, here are a couple pictures I like.
One of the two "red" boys making sure HIS stuffed animal stays HIS.

And one of the 3 black and tan boys, not the least impressed with HIS!



I plan on doing pictures of Cotton's 9 babies tomorrow IF my camera isn't frozen!

Promises, Promises

I absolutely promise to get some pictures of the individual pups in Emy's and Cotton's litters and at least send them out via email THIS weekend. Don't know if I'll get them up on the website as my browser (Firefox) has suddenly taken a dislike to my site host and refuses to communicate with it/them/whatever. The folks who own/run my host have worked on the problem for days and their final solution... use another browser. The only one I have is an old (like REALLY OLD) IE. So, soon as I get the guts, I'm going to unload Firefox and load the newest version... and hope nothing is lost in the process except whatever bugged the old one about the host!

Two of Emy's older pups...
actually it's three since Zoe (the parti) is from Em and Shadow and Murphy (the black/tan) and Beckett (the snowman) are from Em and Sparky.


Zoe and Murphy


Beckett

Here's the Thing...

Microchips...
here's a situation to consider: Jack Elliott managed to get out of the yard and disappeared for several hours. Caren found him over a mile away, tied up on some guy's carport. The man told her Elliott was HIS dog and refused to give him to her. She said, "Fine. MY dog's microchipped. Let's get this dog scanned and we'll see whose dog he is." Then she put Elliott in the car and took him home.
A couple people have told me they put their pup's chip number on his id tags. If the dog gets lost and people can get close enough to him to read the tags, they can read your address/phone number. They do not need his chip number. If, on the other hand, the dog is in the hands of someone who wants to claim him as their own, it is nice to have some way, unknown to them, to prove your ownership.

Packages...
someone has sent me something. Ordinarily, this would not be a big problem. However, according to the post office, it is too big to put in my box and I have to pick it up at the counter, and at this time of year... especially with all the consolidation the post office has done around here... it's hard to find a parking space much less get through the line in less than 30-40 minutes. Many of you know I have PAD which makes standing in line for more than a couple minutes an impossibility. It's not that I don't want surprises; I love them! So if you're planning to send me something... and this is NOT a hint or a solicitation!... let me know and I'll give you my son's address. He lives in town and has delivery at his home. (He also has neighbors and noise and traffic....)

It's Snowing... Again!

I already had 1-1/2 inches of snow... the first weekend in November, which is very VERY early for us. And it's coming down again. Wasn't supposed to start until late this afternoon and even then it was supposed to be rain, turning to snow as the sun went down. However, there was a light dusting overnight which the dogs totally ignored when they started their morning trips outside. But now, 2 hours later, it's coming down to beat the band! The last group just came back inside, covered with the stuff and now they're soaking wet and steaming! Original predictions were a trace to 2" by Sunday night. That's been upped, thank you very much, to 2 to 4 inches by Sunday night. And with temps at or below freezing for the HIGH for the next couple days, it will probably stick around a bit. Early Winter = early Spring?

Pups and water
The kids have learned to drink water! They've been licking AT the water for the last 2 weeks... sticking their noses in, jumping back and then licking their lips, paws, etc. But in the last day or two, all of them have taken to slurping it down... and I do mean slurping. I've had horses who were quieter about getting a drink!

And lets not even talk about food. I feed my mamas... and the pups... a "better quality" food than what the dogs normally get. It is much (MUCH) higher in protein and fat and is a very small kibble size (so even the babies can eat it, even before they have teeth.) The first four weeks after birth, I used one 40 pound bag. In the almost 2 weeks since, I've used 2 bags and am about a third of the way through the bag I got Wednesday afternoon. AND this gang... all 3 sets... are NOT scattering it all over their pen but eating every little piece.

Puppy behavior
So now they're "fighting" with each other. That is, they're biting down hard enough to make each other cry. And when they're not crying, they sound like little buzz saws. It's kinda cute... especially as they've already learned the "lights out means shut up" rule. One thing I seldom see is moms interfering when the kids are tussling, however all 3 have gotten up and separated pups who were getting a little carried away in the bully department. Guess they're taking the news stories to heart!

Cotton's Pups - 5 Weeks

SOME of Cotton and Brogue's litter on their 5 weeks birthday.
A number of them are really getting the hair... I didn't brush them out for these photos, but by the next ones, they will all be fluffy!
And not to put down the other two litters, but Cotton's babies are pretty much all using just one area of their pen for potty-business. That is SO advanced it is probably just a fluke!


Other pix on the website.