I was going through some old photos I have stored in the computer and enjoyed some quiet reflection on our journey with the labradoodles. We have experienced a wide range of emotions as we have been involved in watching 30 new little labradoodles enter the world:) There was tremendous excitement for us and our closest friends as we waited for Avalon’s first babies to be born! We also experienced our first sadness as we lost our precious “Saskatoon” when he was 7 weeks old. I didn’t know if we could do another litter after such disappointment but I soon realized that spiritually I knew he lived the life he was meant to live and we had seven wonderful puppies to send off to their new families. I still think of “Saskatoon” and remember the last morning I spent with him as he enjoyed playing with his siblings in our big back yard. I know that every day he lived was filled with love and companionship and many would wish for a life that full! We enjoyed two more of Avalon’s litters and were relieved that all were healthy and found exceptional families.Our last litter produced Maddie -a fabulous parti girl who will fill Avalon’s big shoes when she retire this summer.
I never got tired of spending time with those loveable puppies and surprisingly many of our friends didn’t either:)
Keely’s first litter was highly anticipated as we sent her away to California. This was also a first for us and something Darren was initially quite uncertain about. Keely managed quite well without us and had her first real adventure on her own. Her puppies were everything we had hoped for and she was the lovable mom we knew she would be. We had abit of what we initially thought was a setback when one of the puppies was born. As I inspected the litter I saw that one of our little babies has a cleft lip and then later realized palate too. I called our vet and asked what to do. I expected bad news but surprisingly he told me to try and feed him. As usual my faithful pal Christa (once a La Leche League member) decided that we needed to “milk Keely” to get colostrum for the puppy. She always said she could get milk out of anything and true to her word she did:) Our little guy took to a bottle which we fed him every two hours. I mixed a formula recipe that I got from the internet and our little guy continued to grow…and grow. I spent alot of time reflecting on our choice as keeping a cleft puppy alive is not something that many breeders agree with. I would feed him at night and cry a few tears as I watched You Tube videos of people who took the same difficult but ultimately rewarding path we did.He drank from a bottle for 7 weeks and in the meantime Keely loved him and licked him while Darren and I fed him. At 12 weeks old he had a surgery to repair his cleft palate which has been successful. The lip is still split as it did not take to the repair as well. “Rudy” as he is now called (after a well known reindeer with a distinctive nose)lives with a wonderful family in Lethbridge who have a doodle from our first litter as well. He is pampered and loved and as Shauna says”will likely always be our little baby”. Another happy outcome of that litter is our stunning Hilo. She will hopefully join our breeding program in 2011. In the meantime she lives with Christa and her family and is a playmate to Kona. We are hopeful that she and Rudy will become pals however right now they both want to be the boss so their play dates are abit rowdy:)
We don’t know what lies ahead for us as we anticipate each litter with optimism and excitement. We know we will continue to breed as long as we look forward to each new litter and know that each of our puppies will go to exceptional families.
There are alot of little details of our puppies that I don’t recall but I do remember how each of them made me feel and that is why we continue to look ahead with hope and enthusiasm:)

Saskatoon

Darren feeds Rudy

the unforgettable Rudy

Hilo

As Valentine’s approaches we are excited to finalize arrangements for Avalon’s final breeding and Keely’s next litter. In conjunction with Prairie Doodles we are planning a mating between Keely and Eden Valley’s Rhett Butler. This litter will produce mini and small mediums in shades of apricot, red and gold. Avalon will mate with Coulee’s Oscar for a litter medium puppies in shades of apricot, caramel and parti labradoodles

At Christmas I receive alot of updates about past puppies. It is one of my favorite things about the holidays:)
I was fortunate to get to see Chili as she is with the niece of our good friends the Tajiris who we just travelled to Mexico with.Chili has a wonderful life in Sylvan Lake and has doting grandparents in Olds AB. Chili has been stunning from the beginning and it was hard for me to let her leave our program:)
Lindy is another great girl from Avalon/Xston and she has a wonderful family in Calgary. Michelle reports that she is very smart and is loved by her new family. She is definitely Avalon’s daughter!!

Chili at almost 8 months

Lindy and her ultra busy mom Michelle

I received an early Christmas present as our beautiful Maddie’s OFA report rated her hips as “Excellent”. This is wonderful news and definitley validation that we are breeding in the right direction. I am looking forward to breeding her in the fall and am already confident that I have found a wonderful stud for her in the Boston area. I will complete her health testing this winter but we are off to an amazing start:)
Hilo Cherry has settled in well at my friend Christa’s house. She is a diva and keeps Kona in his place. She really is too cute for her own good:)
I am enjoying a puppy break and getting back to work with the student nurses in a few weeks. Spring will come soon with more wonderful puppies to share our home with and more loving puppy families waiting in the wings.

Maddie

Hilo Cherry

The holidays are fast approaching and my friend Christa captured this sweet holiday moment between Kona and Hilo.
I have received word that that Keely’s puppies are settling well in their new homes.
Darren and I just returned from Puerto Vallarta. We have a wonderful dog sitter Joe who took great care of our girls while we were away. I did enjoy meeting some nice dogs while we were away but no doodles!

Hilo and Kona

This weekend we bid farewell to 5 of our precious puppies. Our partner Gail from Prairie Doodles picked up 4 of the puppies as they would meet up with their families at her farm in Blackie. Keely kissed Bella, Cooper, Rupert and Wally before we helped Gail load them up. Today my awesome friend Christa took Hilo Cherry and they were off to her parents in Brooks to watch Saskatchewan beat Montreal in the Grey Cup tomorrow:) Did I ever mention I was from Saskatchewan??Hilo will remain in our breeding program once she completes testing in the next year.

We are now left with Jasper, Ramona and our little pal with the cleft palate whom we refer to as Buddy. He is perfectly imperfect and reminds me everyday how easy it is to be happy.
Jasper and Ramona will leave in a couple of weeks and Buddy will stay with us until after his surgery in late December.
Tonight I was in the Christmas spirit and thought I would get some photos of my little friends and in typical doodle style they joined in my enthusiasm for the holidays. Delaney  (Ramona) and Angela,  and her family(Jasper) will have great fun when their doodles arrive!

our little Buddy

our stunning Jasper

cutie pie Ramona

We are on the last week with our precious little puppies. They will have their spay/neuters tommorrow and will start to leave us on Saturday. We have really enjoyed Keely’s first litter and are thrilled with our puppy families!

Bella

Cooper

Hilo Cherry

Jasper

Joel's boy

Ramona

Wally

We are adding some new experiences to the puppies lives. Yesterday they had their first bath. They had varying degrees of enthusiasm but the end result was clean, soft, sweet smelling puppies. Today they had their first car ride to the vet. All were great travellers and then when we got home I let they play outside for the first time. They were overwhelmed at first but soon enjoyed running around with Keely and Maddie.

Here are the photos of the boys. They all look so cute now!!

It was a beautiful day today so I had a few minutes to take some photos outside. These are our three precious little girls. I hope to get out again tomorrow and get the boys  done as well.

We have started to expose the puppies to the crate and they love to pile in and sleep. They are eating puppy food and drinking water and Keely is still nursing but for shorter periods. Next week we are off to the vet for their first check ups.