Wet Puppy Pix

There are several new ones on the puppy page on the website, mostly of Brother since he wasn't in the pictures (by his own choosing) a couple days ago.

By way of preamble, we had two days of pretty good rain and delightfully cooler weather, even though I couldn't do anything outside because it was raining... but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth! The ground is soaked, there are big mud puddles everywhere and the grass is getting cut tomorrow, all of which means the pups had a blast!

Here are a couple kids... I think the pups are Brother (in the middle... easy to tell!) Charlie (on the right... he always looks a little "yellower" than the others,) Marco (on the left... he always looks a little whiter) and EITHER Elliott or Beckett (in the front... from a distance, it's hard to tell exactly how much black is still in the coat.)



This is Brother, full throttle



And I'm pretty sure this is Spider but it could be Lola


And because Caren accused me of selling her a Bloodhounddoodle since Elliott ALWAYS has his nose to the ground, here's his pretty face. Please note he is also at full throttle!

The Case of the Missing Street

I know any number of people read on my website that my address is a little hard to find and a good many folks think that is a fabrication. So here's what has just happened...
I order all my vaccines and much of my other dog stuff from a company in Iowa, Revival Animal Health, and I have for many years... even before I moved to Tennessee. They are good people to work with, reliable and have prices that are always reasonable. Last Tuesday evening I called and ordered vaccines. They shipped out Wednesday and were supposed to arrive Friday. When they weren't here by 6PM, I called Revival... since you CAN'T call Fed-X... and asked what was going on. I don't mess with vaccines... they either arrive on schedule or I don't accept them. The lady I spoke with called Fed-X... SHE has a phone number that gets through to a person... and then told me they couldn't deliver them to me because they couldn't find me. When I said that was impossible because they deliver out here, and not just to me, all the time, she went back to the Fed-X rep. Then the story changed to the box had probably been misloaded and was on the wrong truck. They would try to locate it and if they did, would either deliver them the next day (yeah, on a Saturday) or refrigerate the package over the weekend. Regardless, I told the lady I didn't want them and she totally understood and said she'd contact me Monday morning and get a new shipment out to me. Needless to say, the first box didn't show up Saturday or this morning. To make a long story short, I called the lady at Revival and since she was out to lunch, left my name, phone number and said "tell her it's about the vaccines that still aren't here." Apparently she takes a long lunch because she hadn't called me back 3-1/2 hours later. BUT when I got into the email account I use for company stuff... confirmations, receipts, shipping notification, etc... there was an email from the head of Customer Service. NOT Fed-X Customer Service, Revival's. He said he had been unable to reach me all day... which is pretty amazing since a number of other people had no problem and I had deliberately stayed off the computer so I wouldn't tie up the line (I'm on dial-up, remember.) But the gist of his email... and follow up phone call about an hour after I replied to the mail... was Fed-X had no idea where my street was. It wasn't on any map they had access to. Here's the thing: it's been hot and I don't function well in the heat but I'm pretty sure my street and the rest of the neighborhood has not been moved to the moon. What I don't get is how SUDDENLY Fed-X can't fine me. UPS I could understand; they've ALWAYS had a problem. It seems like the more of the farmland sold off and built on around me, the harder it is for these delivery companies even though there are no more streets, just the one I'm on. ANYWAY, the vaccines are supposed to go out OVERNIGHT tomorrow. Did you know Fed-X's 3 (or more) tiered delivery servies are TOTALLY separate from each other... different staff, different locations... but, apparently, the same maps.

What's One More!

Or, as she is now known, WOMbat


She arrived Friday, in the company of an 8-1/2 weeks old standard Poodle puppy who stayed till Saturday and is now living in southwest VA with my friend Penny. The Poodle guy and Wombat were the EXACT same shade of apricot! This is Penny's hubby with Cisco the Poodle and Spider the Whoodle.



This girl already knows her name and has had very little trouble fitting in with the Whoodle pups who are 4 weeks younger... and quite a bit smaller than she.



Wombat is a Goldendoodle backcross (from a Goldendoodle parent and a standard Poodle parent... actually, her dad is Cisco's dad as well.) She is for my Double Doodle program and is Ost's intended.

Spider


Several of you have noted how much bigger Spider is looking these days. It really is easier to see it in a photo than to picture it in your head when I say she has doubled her size and is just 1/2 pound less than Lola and only 3/4 pound under Remy and Brother. She is, obviously, as healthy as a horse
and is looking for a home!

New Weights

Okay, here are the new weights for this gang...

Elliott (Jack) ___ 11 ___ (was 6.5 four weeks ago)
Beckett (Molasses) ___ 9.75 ___(5.5)
Marco ___ 9.50 ___ (5)
Charlie (Eastwood) ___ 8.5 ___ (4.5)
Brother ___ 7.5 ___ (4.25)
Remy (Dora) ___ 7.5 ___ (4)
Lola (Lolly) ___ 7.25 ___ (3.35)
Spider ___ 6.75 ___ (2.75)

Really good decision
Moving the pups into the dog room was a wonderful decision on my part. They have SOOO much more room to play in there that they don't need to be out loose... and tearing up everything... in the house. And I don't have to go around hiding all the electrical cords several times a day. Plus, when they get up and start rumbling in the morning, I sleep through it... well, almost. And another plus, they can play out on the deck once the shade reaches it. Right now, they've been out of the pen for about 45 minutes and most of them are sleeping in the doorway or just outside on the deck. A couple are still moving about but the temp is around 95 (not factoring in the heat index) and they're pretty much done in. The last plus is they have finally discovered splashing-the-water-out-of-the-waterbowl-all-over-the-floor-
and-lying-down-in-it-to-cool-off and I don't have that wet puppy smell in the bedroom.

Emy is still pretending she never saw any of them before in her whole life.

Interesting

Yesterday, even with temps back to 95 (but low humidity so it felt like 95,) I decided to move the gang from my room into the dog room (which used to be know as the living room, back in the day when normal people lived here.) That meant I had to move a couple of the large rescues out (and into MY room) and more than double the size of their area because the whole point was to give the pups more room. And to get the puppy smell out of my room. (Look, ONE or two pups just don't make that big a mess or that many messes in a single day. But EIGHT?! Think about it!) Anyway, after about giving myself another heart attack... and having to cancel my usual Sunday night out with my son... I confined the little darlings to their new pen. This one is 6' by 10' and for right now, is sufficient for them to romp and play and poop with me having to change the papers only 3-4 times a day (rather than every 3-4 minutes!)

They did fairly well. Actually, they did somewhat better than the two adults I moved into the bedroom... it always amazes me how much initial resistance there is to that kind of change with adult dogs. Anyway, the biggest mess came when the pups discovered I'd replaced their ceramic water bowl with a larger plastic one. Big mistake on my part... puppies and plastic seem to be naturally drawn to each other. This is the first litter I've had who has gotten this old without discovering "Swimming in the Water Bowl." Well, they hadn't discover it before yesterday afternoon! So, this morning, they're back to the ceramic bowl. They were quiet most of the night... with the exception of an occasional howl (yes, HOWL) from a pup who woke up and found itself in a strange place. This morning, they were up and playing normally at 7 AM... I know 'cause I heard them but I did NOT go look!

And now, several hours later, they are out of the pen so I can clean it, and are having a great time proving THEY are smarter than I am since most of them have found the hallway back to the bedroom!

Another interesting thing... Emy and the relatives "live" in the tv/computer room which is right off the dog/living room. Grandmom and dad (Di and Brogue) and older sister, Cotton, made a beeline for the kids. EMY jumped up on the back of my chair, faced the wall and has not even LOOKED at them. She did such a great job raising this bunch but now that she's through, she's through! Which puts "paid" to my idea of having her help me with them if I take them all outside at the same time!

Last 3 Photos

Illinois bound as fast as he can get there! This is Marco.



And here's Lola, cautiously making her way toward Boulder.
(You never know what you going to step on in that icky green stuff!)



Brother found a hole and is sure his Pennsylvania family is down there somewhere.

Pups and a Rehome

Elliott, checking out every little spot in the grass!
He'll be living in Nashville where he plans on making a career in country something!



Moving to the San Francisco area is Charlie.
He's perfectly at home in the sun and apparently, loves the camera!


New Home Needed
I've just taken back a 55 pound, black, curly coated, neutered guy who is 3 years old and has been living with a couple kids and another dog. Circumstances have changed in his home AND he has a history of biting, twice. Both times were strangers who were on HIS property when he was unsupervised. He is at my vet's where he'll be staying for an evaluation period of at least 2 weeks. BUT I have to tell you, he was the perfect gentleman when I got him out of the crate and took him for a walk and he doesn't know me from Adam! Guess that should be Eve. (But his owner's name was Adam....) He sat by my side in the exam room, with his head in my lap. And my vet got right down on the floor and in his face when she first walked in the room without eliciting any negative response from him.

I am looking for someone with dog EXPERIENCE and I don't mean someone who has just had a couple pets... this has to be someone who knows what to look for and who speaks "dog."
Email me if you are interested.