Dana and Roux

Dana!


Dana after her haircut!

Dana and her half sister Roux. Roux's dad is Maxximus, the black standard poodle, where Dana's dad is Sam, the F1 goldendoodle. Roux is curlier and bigger and Dana is a little smaller and not quite as curly. They are both adorable.

Sisters!

Pregnant?

Well at first it seemed like Sutter was definitely pregnant. She even had a touch of morning sickness in week 3. And as we got to week 4, I could feel little walnuts in her uterus. I thought I felt 2, maybe 3. Usually for a full litter I can feel at least 4. I wasn't worried, yet. But as we got to week7, I usually can feel and see the puppies moving around. And her tummy just isn't that big. I was worried that it was too soon in her cycle to have bred her again - and it definitely was, I just got overly excited about having spring/summer puppies instead of fall/winter puppies. I should have waited until NEXT summer. So my fear was that there was going to be a litter of just one puppy again. Well that puppy turned out just fine, but it was miserable for us. A litter of 8 or 9 pups is easier that a single pup, believe it or not! But thankfully over the last 3-4 days I have been seeing and feeling pups move in her tummy and am pretty positive that there are at least 2 pups, maybe even 3 or 4! So not a full litter, but more than ONE!!! Yeah!!! I had her due date calculated at 4/25ish. Well that hasn't happened and since I was off on calculating her cycle, I am betting her due date is off about a week or so. That is why I couldn't feel puppies moving earlier! Sutter's eggs must have dropped about a week or so later than I thought and these pups have another week or so to cook before they come out!
So now I am revamping my plans and am actually excited for a smaller, more manageable litter. I was going to miss a couple of my boys dirtbike races and a trip to Oregon for a National race in June, but I think 2-4 pups can easily travel with us!
And this is going to be so much easier on Sutter. She is still bouncing around, jumping up the retaining wall in the backyard, jumping on my bed, not avoiding the stairs, etc. I just cut her hair off and she is a happy girl. I bet she will think nursing half a litter is a piece of cake! I know cleaning up after them will be a lot easier for me!
I have pics of pups from previous litters have I will post so everybody can see their progress and how cute they all are. I will get them up today.

Sam was over today.....

It was a nice little family reunion. Sam remembered me when I picked him up and when we got home he made a bee line straight for the door to the backyard and his curly blonde girlfriend. He certainly didn't forget us! But I was nicely surprised at how much his hair has grown in. He is about 3 years old now and "fully matured". So I guess there is hope that pups like Ruby might actually end up with some hair after all!

They are in love!

He looks pretty happy! I think he likes coming to visit.

Ruby is so much like her dad. After spending time with Sam again, I noticed all the little things they have in common. The noise she makes when she yawns, the look they both give Sutter when she is trying to boss them around (whatever?).

I tried to keep Ruby inside so her parents could have some alone time....but she was crying and barking and wanted out with them so bad, I finally relented and let her out. It didn't seem to bother the love birds at all. And she followed her dad around like his little shadow.

Look at all his hair! What a cute shaggy guy! I felt like I was giving up some of the doodle looks by using Sam as the stud but I was so happy with his temperament and the temperament of his pups, I was willing to forgo the doodle look for a more golden retriever look. But now I think I got the best of both worlds. His hair just took a little time to grow in!

6 Months Old

Hi Everybody,
Well this last litter of pups had their 6 month birthday on Valentines Day. Hope they are all being sweet!!
Ruby is doing great, she is 50 lbs, and about the same height and length as Sutter now. She is still lanky and leggy with hardly any hair!!! She has the beginnings of a beard, in fact a lot of our friends affectionately call her "the bearded lady". So while I think she looks a little funny, I also think she has the best temperment of any dog we have ever had. Everybody is her friend, she lives to please, my boys can walk her on a leash without getting pulled around, she is a huge snuggler and we love her to death. I think she could also turn out to be quite a bird dog. She is always watching the birds, and we recently noticed her starting to point at them in the backyard. So I started working on retrieving and dropping the toy at my feet so if my husband gets a chance to take her pheasant hunting, she will know how to do her job. I think the pointing and flushing will come naturally to her, but getting the dog to give up the bird is usually the hardest part. However, she has such a crush on my husband, she does anything he asks, so I know she will gladly hand over a bird to him. And the crush goes both way. Recently, she got sick and I just KNEW that she had swallowed a lego and it was stuck and she would need surgery to get it out. I had taken some legos out of her mouth the night before and gotten mad at the boys for leaving them on the floor and sure enough about 4 am she started throwing up and was sick all that day. I had a vet appt for her the next morning and was up worried about her all night and didn't notice until after the crisis had passed (literally, she passed whatever the problem was and ended up just fine) that my husband didn't once say anything about the impending vet bill for a surgery. That is not like him at all, anything over $1000 at the vet, he needs to really think about (and complain about). When I called him on it later, he said "Well, she is the best dog we've ever had, of course we would find a way to pay for whatever she needs". Hmmmm sounds like she is a keeper.
Let me know what you think about your pups. Make a comment on this site or send me an email at lunds@mindspring.com , I am anxious to hear back from all of you because I am trying to decide if Sutter should have one last litter and if so, if the daddy should be Maxximus, the big black poodle stud or Sam, the smaller goldendoodle stud.

Pono

Here is big Pono from Sutter's first litter.  He is such a nice guy!  Stella said she had to have him shaved recently and he looks so much better with all his pretty hair!

 

New Pics!

Here is Sally and her brother Charlie! Very cute!

And here are some pics of Roca (formerly CC, the darkest, smallest girl). She looks a lot like her dad!! Wow, looking at these pics right next to each other you can really see the differences in these girls. Sally looks sooo much more like a golden retriever and Roca looks like a doodle. Roca even has her little beard in! What a difference there is between these sisters, of course both of them are absolutely beautiful.

Wow look at those paws! People say that about Ruby, but I think she has little paws, but these paws on Roca look pretty big to me. And she was supposed to be the smallest one!

Almost 4 months old....

I still have to lift Rubicon up onto our bed when she wants to snuggle with us, and I have been noticing that she is getting heavier and heavier! I just weighed her and she is just a little over 35 lbs. The growth charts I have found on the internet say that to guess their adult weight, take their weight at 4 months and double it! I was really hoping for a smaller dog than 70 -80lbs!!! However I also weighed Sutter because she has been looking very chunky from sneaking all of Ruby's puppy food, and she came in at 60lbs! That is huge for her, so she is going on a diet tomorrow. Sutter normally springs up onto my bed, and she is so heavy that she actually missed yesterday and had to take a second jump. I can't wait for the next set of shots so I can get these girls out and get them some more exercise. All of us need it!