These puppies are not available for adoption as they all have forever families, but we’d love for you to enjoy watching them grow, develop, learn & change with us.

happy birthday: November 1, 2021

Abria & Boaz are the proud parents of SEVEN gorgeous new babies: four girls and three boys. These little ones are absolutely precious. When first born, puppies depend completely on their mama, so we’re blessed that Abria does such a great job caring for them. She nurses them almost constantly it seems. How sweet are these faces? The pups are about 24 hours old in the picture above. Our children have named the puppies: Emmy, Skye, Cincinnatus, Tonka, Cyrus, Banana, and Cider (can you tell that we’ve been studying ancient history?).

At first puppies can’t yet walk. Their eyes and ears are closed. They can’t go to the bathroom on their own. And they can’t maintain their own body temperature. Fortunately God gave puppies a natural instinct to pile together for warmth, so they snuggle together in a giant puppy heap. And they also cuddling around Ivy as she snoozes contentedly, surrounded by her new family. EEGs have revealed that the brain activity of infant puppies is the same when asleep and awake. But these little pups are busy eating, growing, and developing. Abria’s puppies twitch and pop in their sleep, as all healthy newborn puppies should. This activated sleep helps them build muscle tone.

Puppies grow and change so quickly! It’s really an amazing process to witness. Look at the difference just 48 hours made in these puppers! Notice how their noses are pink when they’re born, but have already mostly turned black by 3 days old.

weekly puppy tip #1: nap time is essential!

Think about a napping place – The puppies spend most of their lives sleeping now, but did you know that your new furbaby is going to need lots of sleep when you bring her home, too? Puppies, just like small children, require naps throughout the day. When your puppy is sleeping, try to allow her to rest untouched (it’s okay for noisy life to carry on around her while she snoozes, but it’s best not to physically disturb her as much as possible). This may mean that you need to guide her to a different spot than the one she’s initially chosen. Puppy Culture estimates that an 8-10 week old puppy sleeps 3 hours and then is awake for 1 hour before going back down for another nap. AKC gives some helpful insight into the importance of puppy sleep:

Although puppies may seem like little bundles of energy, in fact, they sleep 15-20 hours a day. One minute your puppy may be a miniature tornado, and the next he’s fallen soundly asleep, almost mid-activity. Sleep is essential to healthy growth: during sleep his central nervous system, brain, immune system, and muscles are developing. All of that sleep also helps him rest up during growth spurts… household members, especially children, should leave your puppy alone while he is sleeping. Plan his day so that active time is followed by quiet time for sleep. He’ll most likely be ready for a nap after playtime or a walk, sleep for a while and then wake up ready for anything. Your puppy may nap every hour or so, sleeping from 30 minutes to as long as two hours. All of this sleep is perfectly normal.

Jan Reisen from the American Kennel Club (AKC)

You can read the rest of the article here.

10 days

These puppies may still seem incredibly small but in just 10 short days they’ve doubled their birth weights (they weighed 6-8oz at birth). These sweet little pumpkins continue to dedicate their entire lives to eating and sleeping. They twitch and pop involuntarily during their sleep, developing muscle tone for the near future. This phenomenon is known as “activated sleep.” The puppies received daily doses of petting, stroking, holding, and kisses. 

In addition to snuggling these sweet nuggets, we also introduce a new scent each day and we’ve also started doing early neurological stimulation (aka ENS) with them. ENS involves stressing the puppies just slightly in very specific ways in order to improve their physiological response to stress in the future.

weekly puppy tip #2

Make a puppy experience plan – Compile a list of places you want to take your puppy and experiences you want your puppy to encounter. Any day now, these little eyes will be ready to soak up the sites, and we’ll now start introducing the puppies to items that differ in appearance. We have a thought out socialization plan, working hard to expose your puppy to as much as possible during her time with us. When you take your puppy home, that responsibility then shifts to you as you continue the socialization process. Exposing your puppy to new people, situations, sounds, smells, textures, etc. is extremely important. Give your new puppy a few days to adjust to her new home and new routine. Then begin giving her short, positive experiences (yummy treats make everything more positive!). Don’t try to do too much in one day, as you don’t want to overwhelm or stress her. Start developing ideas of how to want to socialize your new puppy. 

Your goal is for your puppy to meet a minimum of 100 different people by the time she’s six months old. Dr. Ian Dunbar, a puppy socialization expert, raises the bar even higher by recommending that puppies meet 100+ people during the first month at home. If you hope to visit a local nursing home or hospital when your puppy gets older, secure some crutches, walkers or wheelchairs to expose your puppy to at home. Meeting people is just one component of socialization. Think about outdoor experiences that you and your puppy can safely enjoy together. Consider what predictable dogs you can introduce your puppy to (dogs who are predictable, friendly, healthy, and will model good behavior for your pup). Remember, adult dogs aren’t always fond of puppies so be sure to monitor them together. Do you know anyone with a woods or creek where you can take your puppy for a short romp? Remember, you want every experience to be POSITIVE (i.e. bring yummy treats and hand out the praise). Making a plan now, before you bring your puppy home, will help ensure that you follow through with a variety of positive exposures once you have your new little fluff ball at your side. 

Check out AviDog’s free e-book for more ideas about what to add to your puppy experience plan. Baxter & Bella also has some great ideas for socializing your puppy.

two and a half weeks

The puppies are really beginning to look and act like little dogs. They take wobbly steps towards us with tails wagging. They wake up when we make noise and look around curiously.

These guys went on their first road trip on Tuesday. We know they each have a lifetime of car rides ahead of them, so we want to make sure they’re familiar with the feeling of being in a moving automobile. The pups sprawled out leisurely in a crate together and cruise around town. While neither Abria or Boaz struggle with car sickness, we want to do everything we can to set these sweet puppies up for success. There is some thought that early exposure to car rides helps decrease the risk of a dog being prone to car sick as an adult. Even so, it’s a good idea not to feed your puppy a big meal immediately before a long car ride (their inner ear is still developing when they’re pups). But that doesn’t mean you can use treats to make car rides fun!

When your puppy joins your family, continue to take your puppy on car rides to fun places. If your puppy only rides in the car when he’s going to the vet or groomer, he’ll learn to associate the car with those things and won’t want to go on rides. Remember, puppies are highly impressionable at a young age, so a few “bad” trips can give them a distaste for the car. Make sure the good, fun trips outnumber the bad trips. Our parent dogs LOVE the car because they go to the park, to the nature center, to the homes of friends and family, to dog friendly stores, and so forth. Sometimes they even ride in the car to pick up our ClickList order with us. Our dogs associate the car with fun and always eagerly hop in whenever we tell them to “go for a ride.”

weekly puppy tip #4: be the leader your puppy wants you to be

It’s essential that you establish yourself as the pack leader. Your puppy doesn’t want to be in charge – that’s a scary place to be! Your puppy wants to look to you as the leader, but you have to show yourself as worth of the role by being the leader (this also helps set your kids apart as ranking higher in the pack than your new pup). Some easy ways to establish your leadership include:

• Sit down with your puppy each night before bed and briefly touch your puppy EVERYWHERE. Kneel on the floor with your puppy sitting between your legs. Start by petting your puppy’s head and tell him “head, head.” Then check his mouth, telling him “teeth, teeth,” and look inside his ears telling him “ear, ears.” Briefly go over your puppy from nose to tail in this fashion. This helps establish that you’re allowed to touch your puppy anywhere and everywhere.
• Set boundaries so there is at least one place in your home that your dog isn’t allowed to go in your home (i.e. not allowed to jump on your bed, not allowed to sit on a particular couch or not allowed into a certain room).
• Teach you puppy to sit and wait for you to walk out the front door before her and give her the “okay” before she is permitted to walk through it. If you’ve been consistent, your puppy will offer a sit and wait for a release word (i.e. “okay”) before coming inside by 3 months old. When she’s old enough to start walking freely up and down stairs, teach her to wait for you to finish climbing/descending the stairs before she comes.
• Encourage your puppy sit and wait for you to give her the “okay” before she is allowed to approach her food bowl. Periodically pick up your puppy’s food bowl while she’s eating, reward her with a yummy treat, and return the food bowl. (we’ll talk about the Toy Trade Game and other educational games you can play with your puppy next week).
• Teach your puppy to do a long down during meal times. Buy a soft rug or bed and teach your puppy to go lay on it on command. We have our own adult dogs lay on a rug in a down stay during dinner. Maple was doing a down stay along side them at 6 months old for the entire length of our meal – which means your puppy can do it at a young age, too!

four weeks

The growing and developing puppies do in the first four weeks is absolutely outstanding! In just one month, these pups have gone from being unable to walk to playing with each other. In just one month, they’ve gone from having eyes & ears that are shut to curiously exploring the world around them. In just one month, they’ve gone from being entirely dependent on Abria to using a potty area in their pen and lapping goat milk from a bowl (they’re still primarily nursing, but they enjoy a little goat milk every day now!). It’s truly amazing how much puppies mature in just four short weeks!

Earlier in the week, the puppies enjoy lapping warm goat milk from a bowl and licking it off each other for the first time today. Shout out to D & L Meadows for supplying us with fresh, local goat milk for these little pups to enjoy. Hopefully you were able to enjoy the Instagram video of them trying goat milk for the first time. Soon the puppies have transitioned from milk to a softened kibble/goat milk blend. Your little one will be accustomed to eating TLC puppy food. You should be receiving an email directly from TLC in the next on to two weeks.

In our weekly puppy tip below, you’ll learn about the trade game. Once your new fluffball is adjusted to your home, you can periodically use your puppy’s dinner bowl to play the game, working on preventing resource guarding. Taking a few minutes to work with your puppy while she’s young can go a long way in preventing unwanted behavior. Pick up a pack of hot dogs or other delicious treat and occasionally pick up your pup’s bowl while she’s eating, exchanging his kibble for a sliver of hot dog, and then returning his food bowl to her (see the trade game from weekly puppy tip #5).

The biggest news of the week is that the puppies have now moved downstairs. At first they needed a calm, quiet environment without too much stimulation. But now they’re ready for the chaos that exists in the main part of our home! The pups moved into a small puppy area earlier in the week and we set up the puppy play yard for them yesterday. They had fun exploring everything! We continue to give them new toys to spark their curiosity. And we continue to snuggle them! They shower us with kisses, and we shower them with kisses, too!

weekly puppy tip #5: Get ready to play educational games with your puppy!

Did you know that there are fun games you can play with your puppy that teach him beneficial skills? It’s great to incorporate regular educational games into your puppy’s routine, so read through these suggestions, add any needed supplies to your puppy shopping list, and get ready for puppy playtime!

• Ball On The Wall – Encourages retrieving
  • Supplies: A ball that your puppy can carry in her mouth
  • How to play: Sit on the floor about 1-5’ from a wall. Put your legs in a “V” and sit facing the wall with your puppy between you and the wall. Toss the ball at the wall, encouraging your puppy to go after it. Give your puppy lots of praise when she brings the ball back! 
  • Variation: Once you’ve mastered Ball On The Wall, try playing retrieve in a hallway with all the doors closed (so your puppy can’t run away with the ball).
• Toy Trade – Prevents resource guarding
  • Supplies: A toy that your puppy likes but doesn’t highly value and a high value treat
  • How to play: Briefly play with your puppy using the toy. Ask your puppy for the toy by offering her a high value treat. Reward & praise her for giving you the toy, and give the toy back to her as soon as she finishes chewing. Gradually work on having her give you objects of higher value (i.e. a bone).
  • Variation: Work on teaching your puppy the command “give” and ask her to drop the toy/bone on command in exchange for the high value treat.
• Hide & Seek – Encourages recall
  • Supplies: Yummy treats
  • How to play: Run away from your puppy, hide behind a corner, tree, couch or other object, and call your puppy to encourage her to find you. When she does, give her lots of praise and a yummy treat.
  • Variation: Play Ping Pong by having a partner play with you and take turns hiding. While the first person is rewarding the puppy for coming, the second person hides.

four and a half weeks

This is such a fun age! These puppies are cuter every day! Their individual personalities are showing through. They’ve transformed from little guinea pigs who can’t see or hear to actual miniature dogs who run around and play and give kisses. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the short video clips on our Instagram story.

These puppies have started eating a mush of softened TLC puppy kibble mixed with fresh goat milk. Soon they’ll be chowing down on dry kibble, but for now while their teeth are coming in, the soften food makes for a perfect meal. Abria continues to nurse them throughout the day.

The puppies are walking about, exploring the world around them. They enjoy playing with the different toys in their pen, and they enjoy playing with each other, too. In between their short bursts of energy, they still spend much of their time sleeping. If you sit on the floor, you’re sure to have a lap full of puppies! The pups were able to experience the great outdoors for the first time this past week. The pups don’t sit still for long, except for when they’re on your lap or sleeping, so pictures are challenging – unless they’re sleeping!

The puppies continue listening to their habituation CD daily. And our kids excel at making a variety of loud random noises to ensure the puppies are comfortable with all kinds of sounds. It amazes us how these pups can sleep through just about anything!

Weekly Puppy Tip #6

Pick out and sign up for a puppy class – A puppy class is essential both for socialization and manners. Look for a class that emphasizes positive reinforcement, as learning & training should be a fun game at this point. Clicker training is a plus. This article from AKC gives some pointers about what to look for in a puppy class. Many dog training facilities will allow your new friend join their puppy class around 12 weeks of age, once she has received her second set of immunizations. Allison Camp from Pups Unleashed offers a local puppy class. She’ll be temperament testing the puppies in a little over 2 weeks and assisting with matching. Temperament testing always an exciting day!

We prefer in person puppy class over virtual hands down, but having online recourses is incredibly helpful, too. Timberidge Goldendoodles is excited to be partnering with Baxter & Bella. These online resources, virtual classes, and video training tips are an amazing option for every puppy owner. Plus membership is for a lifetime, so you can access Baxter & Bella’s tools repeatedly over the years ahead for each and every furry child that joins your family. 

Use the discount code TIMBERIDGE to save 25% when you join Baxter & Bella!

Here’s a short video from Baxter & Bella’s about how to train your puppy to respond positively the someone ringing your doorbell. You can take this same principle and apply it to a variety of other circumstances, such as teaching your puppy to walk calmly past another dog who is going crazy.

six weeks

I’m so excited to share the puppy video with you! Pictures are great, but it’s a different experience to see these guys in motion. There’s a lot of playful puppy energy in the video that I think you’ll enjoy! I’m glad that a number of you were able to come snuggle these cuddle bugs in person at the meet & greet day.

It’s been another busy week for the puppies! They’ve played outside A LOT! They LOVE the great outdoors! It’s fun to watch the pups pick up leaves, squeeze through tight spaces, bound around the straw, and frolic through the grass. They’re so lively! And they even got to experience snow for the first time, as you’ll see in the video.

These puppies are just darling! They are playful, friendly, affectionate, and they bounce around like little fluff balls. Whenever we enter the puppy pen, we’re instantly covered with excited, happy kisses and nibbles. It’s such a privilege and joy to share our home with these sweet pups.

We’re working hard to expose these pups to a variety of sights, sounds, smells, environments – and in just a few short weeks, it will be your turn to continue that socialization process with your new pup.

The pups have also had their nails clipped for the third or fourth time and had their bottoms trimmed with clippers. It’s helpful to have a pair of dog clippers at home if you’d like to extend the time between haircuts.

weekly puppy tip #7

Get ready to groom! – Your puppy has had his nails clipped and hair trimmed during his time with us, so he has already had his initial introduction to his lifetime of being groomed. Take him to the groomer for a puppy clip after his 16-week immunizations. The groomer will bathe him, trim the hair out of his eyes, give him a sanitary clip, and trim his nails. Since he will need regular grooming throughout his life, both he and his groomer will benefit if he becomes accustomed to being groomed from a young age, even before he’s ready for a full haircut. 

When should he have his first big boy haircut? The wavy, curly adult coat will start replacing the soft, fluffy puppy coat around 5-6 months of age. You’ll notice the new hair coming in is kinkier than the pure fluff on top. Waiting to cut the hair until the adult coat makes its debut beneath the layers of puppy plush helps ensure that the adult coat remains soft. Many poodle groomers and poodle fanciers claim that shaving a poodle or goldendoodle down before her adult coat starts coming in could damage the adult coat, affecting the texture. While there isn’t any substantiated evidence that this is true, it’s worth avoiding just in case. That doesn’t mean that your puppy might not benefit from a puppy clip in the meantime! Don’t let your puppy’s hair get out of control! As aforementioned, take him to the groomer for a puppy clip after her 16-week immunizations. When the time comes, check out the grooming section on our website for a variety of goldendoodle haircut pictures. Learn more about your Goldendoodle puppy’s first trip to the groomer. We have a plethora of haircut resources under the “grooming” tab on the main menu bar.

Waiting until 6 months for the first full big boy clip does NOT mean you’re off the hook for grooming at home! You should regularly groom your puppy: brushing her hair, cleaning her ears, brushing her teeth, clipping her toenails, and checking her for any anomalies (i.e. ticks, cuts, etc.). You want your puppy to become accustomed to being brushed and handled all over from a young age. We HIGHLY recommend doing regular bonding/body handling exercises with your puppy, demonstrated in the video below. Goldendoodles are a breed that like routines (thanks to those poodle ancestors), so it’s nice to do bonding exercises every night just before your put your puppy in her crate for bed. It’s easy to incorporate different parts of grooming into your nightly bonding exercises, just doing a little here and a little there since young puppies don’t have the attention span for lots of grooming at once.

Here’s a quick video from Baxter & Bella giving you a safe method for helping your puppy become comfortable having the hair around her eyes trimmed. Your puppy is going to need those pesky little hairs trimmed out of her eyes throughout her life, so you’ll be thankful that you got her accustomed to that from a young age. Take this same principle and apply it to other aspects of grooming, such as nail trimming and teeth brushing. This method helps create positive emotional responses in your puppy towards grooming, which is exactly what you want! Baxter & Bella has other short helpful grooming related videos on their Instagram page (posted in October & November 2021).

seven weeks

The puppies are so much fun! They bound around outside, finding things to chew and places to explore. They also sneak around the house, trying to investigate new places. The pups have discovered the big dogs’ crates and go in them hunting for food. We continue to take the puppies on new and different adventures. It’s fun to see their curiosity! This past week we’ve let them try out a ball pit and a crunchy water bottle pit. Both were fun and noisy. The pups enjoy any new toy we throw their way, and they are still very fond of their slide and adventure box.

Be sure to pick up a special extra yummy chew that your puppy only gets during (daytime) crate time.

weekly puppy tip #8

Fostering the children/dog relationship – Goldendoodles are family dogs by nature, but there are a few steps you can take to help set your puppy and your kids up for a lifetime of friendship:

1. When your puppy is sleeping, let her sleep – your puppy is growing & developing and she NEEDS that sleep. Teach your children to respect a sleeping puppy by not interrupting her. Your puppy’s crate should be her safe retreat. When she’s in her crate, allow her to enjoy safe, undisturbed quiet time- this doesn’t mean that you all need to tip toe quietly around when the puppies napping! It just means that when the puppy is napping, let her enjoy that peaceful sleep untouched and wake up on her own good time.
2. Involve your children in daily puppy care – allowing your children to participate in caring for the puppy will help grow the bond between them and their furry friend. It also helps the puppy learn associate good things with little people and helps her see the children as above her in the pack order. Younger children particularly love being helpers. Our kids enjoy (aka fight over) feeding the dogs, letting them out of their crates, opening the back door to let the dogs in/out, etc. We let them help brush the dogs with much supervision (remember, we want all puppy experiences to be POSITIVE!). Our children also love holding leashes on walks (children should only take your dog on a walk with adult supervision). If you don’t trust your puppy to not pull a young child over, you can attach two short leashes to one dog so both you & your child have a leash to hold. Be cognizant of your child’s age and maturity level. Older children can be more actively involved and younger children can be involved in smaller ways.
3. Encourage your children to play with the puppy – puppy nips and jumps can be intimidating for some children. Teaching children how to act calmly around a puppy and how to play intentional games such as fetch and educational games (see some suggestions under week 3) can help both the children and the puppy learn how to interact with each other. Explain to your children that your puppy isn’t trying to hurt them when she’s nipping – she’s asking them to play with her.
4. Include your children in puppy training – when you enroll your puppy in a puppy kindergarten class, ask about bringing your child along (assuming he’s old enough and mature enough to participate). Our children enjoy practicing sits and downs with our dogs, dolling out hotdog slivers to the eager participants. Our dogs think it’s great! Be sure to always supervise children/puppy training sessions.
5. Teach your children to respect the puppy – sometimes it’s challenging for children, especially young ones, to distinguish between their favorite stuffie and a real-life fluffy puppy. Many children need to be patiently taught to be gentle and kind with animals. “No hugging dogs” is a rule in our home because a preschooler bear hug around the neck is too much our small dogs (our dogs don’t mind but we’re afraid they might accidentally get hurt since they’re significantly smaller than the ones dolling out the hugs). If there are times when you aren’t able to supervise your children’s interaction with your puppy, it might be best (and safest) to put your puppy in her crate. Remember, that crate should be your puppy’s safe place. This article by AKC has more helpful tips about teaching children to respect dogs.

vet check: December 17th

The puppies visited our friends at Hopewell Animal Hospital. I am please to report that all seven puppies are healthy! The pups received their first of three doses of the DHPP vaccine. You should schedule an appointment with your vet for your pup to receive a second dose when she is around 12 (around 01.24.21) weeks of age and third dose at 16 weeks of age (around 02.21.22). 

getting ready

The best thing you can do for your puppy is to start preparing for it now before she comes to join your family. Here are a few free resources to help get you ready for your new bundle of fur.

Baxter & Bella: first 2 weeks with a new puppy

These are all short 1-3 minute videos that are helpful to watch. You’ll learn how to teach your puppy and get ideas for establishing good behaviors from day one. These videos show Amy Jensen training Chili, her young goldendoodle puppy

• Puppy pen & day one crate introduction
• Impulse control
• Toy trade game, building a marker
• Mat work & teaching your puppy to settle
• Teaching your puppy to sit to say “please”
• Settling in a crate, redirecting
• Come
• Keeping an eye on your puppy while you’re being productive & preventing resource guarding
• Helping your puppy enjoy being brushed
• Introducing a harness or therapy vest
• Walking on a leash
• “Drop it” command
• Example of a puppy-sized training session (training sessions should only be 1-2 minutes long for an 8-10 week old puppy)

If you’re eager to learn more, Baxter & Bella’s online resources, virtual classes, and video training tips are an amazing option for every puppy owner. Plus membership is for a lifetime, so you can access Baxter & Bella’s tools repeatedly over the years ahead for each and every furry child that joins your family. Use the discount code TIMBERIDGE to save 25% when you join Baxter & Bella!

Puppy Culture: first 2 weeks with a new puppy

You will have to put the free course into your cart and check out. Much of this program you can just listen to without actually watching, so this is a great have this on hand while you’re driving. If you only have time to watch part of this course, I recommend watching: Class 1 part 2 about setting up your puppy’s spot at home and Class 2 part 1 about structuring your puppy’s day.

Puppy supplies

We’ve created a puppy shopping list to guide you as you prepare to bring your new pup home! Go ahead and pick up a Snuggle Puppy (with a heartbeat) to bring with you on meet & greet day. If you have a crate, you’re welcome to leave that with us that on meet & greet day as well and we’ll start getting your puppy used to her new future “bedroom.”