Doodle Doings

Apologies to J. Geils, but that song is the theme of the week here at Westwood.

“You love her.

She loves him.

But he loves somebody else, you just can’t win.

Love stinks”

Marley, my F3 medium Labradoodle, is in season, finally!

Marley-F3 medium Labradoodle

She was in season last December but I skipped breeding her because I already had two girls due in that time frame, and two litters on the ground at the same time is my limit.  I assumed she would cycle roughly 6 months later and I would get to breed her in the summer.  Silly me.  I should know better than to count on anything dog-related.  She went almost exactly a year in between cycles.

The plan is to breed her to my mini Double Doodle, Westwood’s Isaac Newton, AKA Reuben, for second generation North American Retrievers. This will be Reuben’s first litter.

Reuben:Mini North American Retriever (Double Doodle)

Reuben has NO idea what to do with Marley.  He knows he wants to do something, but can’t figure out what it is.  He follows her around sniffing her, but eventually gives up because he doesn’t want know what to do next.  Marley, on the other hand, is VERY interested in Reuben.  She tries to entice him with ‘play bows’….that really cute thing dogs do where they crouch down on their elbows with their butt up in the air. She sidles up next to him, bumping him with her body, trying to give him some idea what to do, but he is clueless.  She found it very frustrating that Reuben finally decided it was more fun to play with the 8 lb, 10 week old puppy I have here than her. I guess the pup is way less intimidating!  And Reese, who is normally Marley’s very best buddy, does not understand why Marley won’t play with her!  Hence:

“You love her.

She loves him.

But he loves somebody else, you just can’t win.

Love stinks”

I finally decided my only chance for Marley/Reuben puppies this time around was to collect from Reuben and inseminate Marley.  That went well, and now **I** am Reuben’s very best friend.

you answer yes to more than two of these things (translations below for those things that non-breeders will not get!):

1.  Your kids say, “The dog is wearing underwear, she must be in season!”

2.  You worry when the neighbor kids come over when the dog is wearing underwear because you may have to explain WHY the dog is wearing underwear.

3. You spend more on vet bills in a year than you do on your family’s medical bills.

4. You’re cooking vegetables and meat on the stove and the kids ask, ‘Is that for us or the dogs?’

5. Those glass bottles in the fridge with expiration dates on them all hold only 1 ml.

6.  You spend all night….regularly….. looking at a dog’s butt.

7.  There are more pictures of puppies on your computer’s hard drive than there are of your children.

8.  You worry about someone ever needing to use ‘CSI’ techniques in your house because you know there are traces of every type of body fluid in your house.

9. Vacation and family plans revolve around the dogs having sex.

10. There is a category of laundry in your home called “Dog Laundry”.

Translations:

1. My dogs wear boys tighty-whitety underwear when they are in season….their tail fits through the fly perfectly!

4. Breeding dogs eat well!

5. Vials used for vaccines are generally 1 ml.

6.  Some females give no indication at all when they are about to deliver a puppy.  So unless you are LOOKING at the…..important part……you might miss an important event!

8.  Between dogs in season (ie drops of blood no matter how careful you are) and dogs giving birth (more blood no matter how careful you are) there are definitely traces of blood in every breeder’s home!

9. It is pretty much a given that a dog will come into season if a breeder makes plans that cannot be changed (picture a wedding, or non-refundable plane reservations).

ADDENDUM:  Following this post a number of breeders made observations and comments that rang VERY true. So the following are not my original thoughts, but came from other breeders:

A. There are more dog beds then people beds in your house.

B. When reporting that you are taking your child to a medical appointment, you have been known to say,  “I  am  taking (insert child’s name) to the vet.”

C.  All your travel planes are based on where a stud dog lives.

As summer was ending I did something I had never done before……whelped two litters within a month of each other!

I plan the litters at Westwood so that I never have more than two ‘on the ground’, as we say, at the same time.  Puppies are an INCREDIBLE amount of work, and I would not have the time for them, or for the investment in time that I make communicating with the families that are getting ready for their arrival.  So I have had two litters here at once before, but one litter was always within a week or so of going to new homes when the other arrived.  So all of August was spent preparing for Sloopy’s litter  to arrive at the end of August, and Daisy’s to arrive at the end of September.

In addition, it became clear as summer was coming to an end that my older son was not going to lottery in to a different middle school. The school he was at last year was a disaster, with daily fights involving tables, as well as fists, being thrown, as well as a required police presence.  We knew he could not go back there, and when he did not lottery in to a different school I had to begin plans to home school him.  I already knew I would continue to home school my younger son, but planning for schooling for two very different kids, in different grades and with very different needs, was a daunting task.

Sloopy’s puppies were born on 8/27, a litter of 5 mini Double Doodles with Beau as the father. This was Sloopy’s first litter, and it was greatly anticipated.  She did a great job!  One of the puppies was a phantom (a dark puppy with tan markings like a Doberman)

Sloopy's mini North American Retriever litter included a phantom puppy!

The puppies were a delight, and the phantom puppy ended up being the one chosen to be trained for service by WAGS4KIDS.  This was the third puppy I donated to WAGS4KIDS.  Wendy, the director of that organization, is always a joy to work with.  Her program places the puppies in the Marion Correctional Institution for training, a win-win situation for everyone.  Here is ‘Petey’ before he left for prison!

Getting ready to leave for service training by WAGS4KIDS!