Seven Weeks Old & My Favorite Pictures of the Week

March 8, 2024Leave a comment

Happy March! I can’t believe it’s March already, and spring is just around the corner. In between the long stretches of rainy days we’ve had recently, there have been several beautifully warm days. The puppies have moved to their outdoor pen, and they are loving the extra space to play outside on the warm days.

At this age there are three main things happening for the puppies:

1. Introduction to house training. For the first few weeks, most of my litters live inside. It’s nice to keep a close eye on them when they are teeny tiny. However, once the puppies are walking and moving around, it becomes logistically necessary to move them outside where they have more space. The indoor section of the pen is about the same size as what they had in the house. This space is temperature controlled and keeps them warm and dry no matter what the weather is outside.

In addition to that space, they have a door to go into a large outside pen. On days with pleasant weather, they spend a good portion of the day outside playing. On the rainy or cold days, they only go out to go potty and then head back in where it’s warm and dry.

Having their pen set up like this is excellent for basic house training. Already, the puppies are learning to go outside to do their business. They can go outside whenever they need to during the day or night. Since puppies are born with an instinct not to pee or poop where they sleep, most puppies learn very quickly on their own to keep the indoor part of the pen clean. Capitalizing on this instinct at a young age makes crate training and house training so much easier! This is building a great foundation and creating good habits that go along with the puppies to their new homes. The reports I’ve gotten back from families with our puppies in regard to house training have been overwhelmingly positive.

2. Another big development for the puppies is weaning. They are getting toward the end of the weaning process now. They are eating three meals a day of Life’s Abundance Large Breed Puppy Food, and they get a mid-day milk snack from momma. The food that puppies (and adult dogs) eat has a HUGE impact on their health. Puppies have young digestive and immune systems that are just beginning to develop. The immune system, in particular, doesn’t fully mature in dogs until 18-24 months old. It’s very important for puppies to have a food that is gentle on their digestive system and full of essential nutrients. It’s also important that the nutrients come in forms that the puppies’ immature digestive system can absorb. Many cheap and low quality dog foods contain corn. While corn does have nutrients in it that fill in the boxes for the nutrition label, dogs can NOT digest corn. Whatever nutrients are there come straight out in their poop, completely useless to them. Low quality foods are harsh on the digestive system, leading to more bouts of diarrhea and a weaker immune system.

This is why I feed my puppies Life’s Abundance. Here’s a quick summary of the good things that are in the food and the bad things that you will never find in Life’s Abundance products.

• A proprietary blend of vitamins & minerals
• High-quality, multi-source proteins for growing muscles & healthy development
• An antioxidant system with vitamins C & E
• Prebiotic fiber & guaranteed probiotics
• Omega-3 fatty acids for healthy skin & a shiny coat
• Enriched with DHA
• Dietary fiber to help maintain a healthy digestive tract
• NO artificial flavors
• NO artificial colors
• NO corn or corn glutens
• NO wheat or wheat gluten

3. The third thing that happens around this time is their vet check. All the puppies got a clear health certificate along with their first vaccinations this week. Routine vet care, vaccinations, and dewormings are important in keeping puppies healthy and setting them up for the best adjustment into a new home.

And of course, I can’t finish out a blog post without a few pictures of the puppies from this past week. Here are a couple of my favorites to brighten your day! I know I always gush over how adorable my puppies are. But really, look at these guys. They are darling! Four of these pups are available. If you’ve been thinking about getting one of our puppies, this is your chance!

Meet Our 2024 Puppies!

January 26, 2024Leave a comment

It’s been a long time coming, and we are excited to introduce you to our winter 2024 puppies!

For many of you, this may be your first time meeting Momma Oakley. Oakley is our 2.5 year old Golden Retriever. She is spunky and sweet, and she is proving to be a very mellow tempered momma.

Our lineup of dogs that we are actively breeding has changed a bit. Duchess has joined Mia in retirement, leaving us with two younger females- Nova (Irish Setter) and Oakley (Golden Retriever). While we waited for Oakley to grow and mature the last two years, Nova was our only female that we were actively breeding. But for those who have been following along since then, she has proven to be a pickle! We had several failed breedings with her. She did have two litters, but they were both small (2 and 4 pups). It has been a long time since we have had available puppies! In the last two years any puppies we had were immediately claimed by families who had been patiently waiting on our waiting list.

But for the first time since the summer of 2021, we have available puppies! Oakley had a beautiful litter of seven puppies on Saturday, January 20. She has been taking such good care of her babies, and she is very tolerant (but watchful) of my young children handling her babies. All the puppies are gaining weight, and I am very pleased with how everyone is doing in these first few days.

If you or someone you know has been wanting one of our puppies, now would be a great chance! It’s been a long time since we have had puppies available for reservation, and I’m excited to see what new families we get to meet with this litter. It’s always a blessing to make new connections, and bless other families with one of our puppies.

Nearing the End!

September 28, 2017January 2, 2019Leave a comment

We are in the final stretch of raising Timber and Duchess’s puppies! Next week marks the time when they are ready to go to their new homes. It has been an exciting two months.

The last two weeks in our home brings a lot of changes for the puppies. The weaning process is completed, and they each receive a health exam, vaccinations, and a third round of de-wormer. We also begin crate training and some more intentional socialization.

For the crate training introduction, I put half of the puppies in a crate in our living room. The first time is usually met with some whining and crying (from the puppies, not me!). I dish out a dose of tough love, and simply let them cry. I make sure the room is quiet and calm; and usually after 15-20 minutes, even the most stubborn puppies quiet down and accept this new place. After all, they are snuggled in a warm place with their siblings, so it’s not a very scary experience. Once everyone has settled, I turn on some music or run the vacuum. This helps them get used to different noises. They usually watch the vacuum curiously but don’t give much other reaction.

Watching Roomba vacuum

Calm and snoozing a few minutes later

And let me mention food. A large litter of growing puppies eats a lot of food! I am feeding about 15 cups of food per day. The puppies eat three times day, with each of them getting approximately 1/2 cup at each meal; and they are growing beautifully! This is what the puppies are currently eating.

As the puppies get older, it’s becoming much more difficult to let them in the yard to play. I now only let half the litter out at a time, because I can no longer keep track of ten setter puppies! They are so curious and have started to wander further and further as they explore their big, exciting world. They have an undeniable fascination with our chickens, but they are bird dogs, after all! They love leaves and anything they can chew on whether it’s toys, sticks, or my toes.

It’s been fun to note the differences between Irish Setter puppies and Mini Goldendoodle puppies. Irish Setter puppies are more independent, exploring farther away by themselves. This is very typical of the breed, which is known for it’s far quartering range while hunting. Some of them already have exhibited the point and stalk behaviors used in bird hunting. Seeing that makes me very happy! We chose to breed a working field line of setters, ones that are worth their salt as gun dogs. Field dogs are usually too small to use in the show ring, but they can out hunt your typical show setter (commonly referred to as “bench” setters). Both bench and field lines of Irish Setters make wonderful family companions; but since both my husband and I come from families that enjoy the outdoors and participate in various forms of hunting, the field dogs appealed more us.

This next week, I’ll be soaking in all the wiggly puppy snuggles that I can! As always, we are excited to see them go to their new homes, but we do miss them when they leave. I’m satisfied, though, knowing I am helping to add a loving companion to so many different families!

Happy Fall & Four Weeks Old

November 12, 2016January 2, 20192 Comments

This week’s blog update is going to be mostly pictures. I have some pictures of the big dogs enjoying the beautiful fall weather, of Duchess hunting, and of sweet Noel, of course. Enjoy!