These sweet babies will be ready to go to their forever homes March 8-14th.
happy birthday
Abria & Boaz are the proud parents of give gorgeous new babies. They are absolutely precious. Our two preschoolers have named them: Gingie (aka Ginger), Skye (after Skye from Paw Patrol), Emmy (yes, this is our fourth puppy named Emmy. If you find a good name, reuse it), Blue Blue (what else would you name a blue collared puppy?), and Annie (after the neighbor girl down the street). These two have been thinking about puppy names for weeks. They’re only a slightly excited that these puppies arrived 🙂
Abria is an amazing mom and hardly leaves her puppies’ side. When puppies are first born, they depend heavily on their mama. They 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. 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.
Notice how all of the puppies have fairly smooth coats on their backs and you’ll notice in the picture below that no one has evidence of little waves on their foreheads. This indicates that everyone will likely have loosely curly coats rather than tight curls like a poodle. We’ll be able to tell more about their coats in the upcoming weeks.
Enjoy these little pink noses while you can because they’ll soon darken up and the puppies will have beautiful black noses and foot pads. You can see how some of the puppies’ noses have already started darkening even at just a few hours old.
Right now the puppies spend all of their time eating, sleeping, and growing – And I’m happy to say that everyone is doing a great job at these three activities! The little ones all weighed between 8.5-10.5oz at birth – yes, they’re less than one pound. But they’ll soon be packing on the pounds!
four days new
weekly puppy tip
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 undisturbed. This may mean that you need to guide her to a different spot than the one she’s initially chosen. 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.
1 week
These puppies may still seem incredibly small but in just one short week they’ve already doubled their birth weights. They’ve each crossed over the one pound mark. 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” (Hopefully you were able to enjoy the brief video of them twitching in popping in our Instagram story on Sunday). The puppies received daily doses of petting, stroking, holding, and kisses. 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
In addition to growing, the sweet little dumplings have also started wagging their tails while they nurse! It’s fun to watch all the happy little tail wags while they greedily fill their bellies.
hello world.
These cuddly little sausages have started opening their eyes! As you can see here, their eyes are just barely open at the moment. Eye opening is a process that takes several days. It’s so fun to see these little eyes for the very first time.
weekly puppy tip
Make a puppy experience plan – Compile a list of places you want to take your puppy and experiences you want your puppy to encounter. We’ve already started introducing your puppy to new smells. With these little eyes now ready to soak up the sites, 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. So make a plan about how you will start introducing your puppy to new people right away. Try to let her meet a variety of people such as children, elderly persons, people wearing hats, hoods or sunglasses, people using crutches, walkers or wheelchairs, people of different ethnicities, tall people, short people, etc. Meeting people is just come component. Consider what safe 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 someone with a friendly cat or rabbit? 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. 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.
2 weeks
The puppies eyes are opened (this means that they’ve entered the transitional period)! It’s fun to these little nuggets looking back at us! And now that they can see where they’re going, they’ve started climbing out of their whelping box. Even though the puppies’ eyes are peering back at us, their ears haven’t yet opened. All of that dedicated sleeping, eating, and growing is paying off. Their chunky bellies are adorable. It’s truly amazing how much they’ve grown in just two short weeks. These little sausages still spend most of the day sleeping and continue to have activated sleep, building their muscles in preparation for the running and exploring they’ll be doing shortly. We intentionally have the floor of their whelping box covered with a surface that gives them good traction to aid their developing muscles and bones. The puppies already take wobbly steps around their whelping area and crawl all over each other as they attempt to find the coziest sleeping nook in the puppy pile. These munchkins even starting to sit up a little. They’ve started the transition from the tiny guinea pigs they were at birth to beginning to look like little dogs. We continue to hold, cuddle, and pet them daily – and we love every minute of it.
weekly puppy tip
Glance over Puppy Culture’s exercise chart. Familiarize yourself with what sorts of activities are appropriate for your puppy at different stages of development. You want to give your puppy a variety of unique positive experiences, but your puppy is still growing & developing, so you don’t want to push your puppy too far. For instance, climbing up one to two stairs is an appropriate challenge but climbing a flight of stairs is not a good idea for a young puppy (a study done on 500 dogs showed that puppies allowed to climb a flight of stairs before 3 months old were more likely to develop hip dysplasia). Remember, free running and playing is a great option because your puppy can rest whenever she feels the need to. If you’d like to read more about puppy exercise, check out AviDog’s puppy exercise guidelines. This article from AKC also gives some helpful puppy exercise tips.
3 weeks
Aren’t they getting cuter and cuter each week?! These sweet dumplings are getting so big! They’ve all crossed over the 2lb mark and are well on their way towards 3lbs. The changes puppies go through in the first couple weeks of life is outstanding. While the puppies still spend a lot of the time sleeping, they’re now toddling about, playing with each other, and exploring (hopefully you caught the video of them playing in our Instagram story on Sunday). They’re even going to the bathroom on their own now. We give the puppies a new item each day to look at and investigate. It’s so fun to see their little eyes taking in the sights. The pups are starting to let out little barks (much to my kids’ delight). They’ve added a variety of little squeaks and squeals to their repertoire. Sometimes the sounds that come out of their mouths seems to surprise the puppies themselves!
weekly puppy tip
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 her 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 from you 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: Have a partner play with you and take turns hiding. While the first person is rewarding the puppy for coming, the second person hides.
4 weeks
The puppies are really beginning to look and act like little dogs. Their teeth have started coming in, which means nursing will soon become uncomfortable for Abria. The puppies enjoy lapping fresh goat milk from a bowl and licking it off each other. Shout out to D & L Meadows for supplying us with fresh, local goat milk for these little pups to enjoy. The pups think warm goat milk is AMAZING, but they’re not completely sure which end actually does the eating, so they frequently end up with various body parts in the bowl. Abria is happy to help lap up any mess the puppies make during their mealtimes and she lovingly licks the goat milk off of each puppy once they’ve finished filling their little round bellies. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the videos in our Instagram story of these sweeties lapping up milk. The sound they make when eating is precious. As you probably also saw in the story videos, Abria continues to nurse them, which the pups also thoroughly enjoy. Since their teeth are starting to poke through, soften kibble isn’t far away.
The puppies have started listening to their habituation CD, which is aimed at helping them become accustomed to various sounds. We continue to introduce new items in the puppy pen for the pups to explore. We play them daily, and their little tails wag and wag. They love human attention! Now that they’re more proficient in their legs, they’re not quite as snuggly as they used to be because they have things to explore. But they still do enjoy snuggling, especially once they tire a little. Now that the pups are so mobile, pictures are a little challenging because no one really wants to sit still, so no group photos this week.
While these little nuggets all weigh under 4lbs, they’ve done a tremendous amount of growing in just a few short weeks. They’ve graduated from ric rack ribbons to mini puppy collars, which we’ve had to loosen several times to accommodate for all the growing. And those puppies nails have grown a lot, too. The pups have now had their nails clipped for the second time. When you take your puppy home, it’s important that you continue to regularly trim her nails. Right now we trim the puppies’ nails with human baby nail clippers. For our adult dogs, we use a dremel to keep their nails short.
weekly puppy tip
Bonding Exercises – Do this every night with your puppy just before putting her in her crate for bed. Puppies benefit from a routine plus everyone benefits from a puppy learning that you’re the leader and that you are allowed to touch her anywhere and everywhere. The this video shows bonding exercises being done for the first time with a new puppy. Yes, your puppy will resist and squirm at first. Eventually, your puppy will come to LOVE and EXPECT you doing bonding exercises with her. Take 30 seconds each night and do it. You’ll be thankful that you did (and so will your vet and groomer!). There’s a second video of bonding exercises being done with an older pup here at the bottom of the post (notice how much he has grown to enjoy doing bonding exercises). It’s easy to periodically incorporate parts of grooming into bonding exercise time, trimming nails one night and cleaning ears a different night.
5 weeks
Five weeks is such a fun age! These puppies are cuter every day! Their individual personalities are showing through. 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 don’t sit still for long, except for when they’re on your lap or sleeping, so pictures are challenging!
The puppies have transitioned from milk to a softened kibble/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 week.
Remember that trade game in week 3? 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. Neither Abria or Boaz display food aggression and neither one greedily inhale their food (in fact, it’s not uncommon for them to leave some kibble in their bowls after eating their fill), so likely your puppy naturally won’t either. Even so, 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 her kibble for a sliver of hot dog, and then returning her food bowl to her (see the trade game from week 3).
weekly puppy tip
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 next week and assisting with matching. Temperament testing always an exciting day!
6 weeks
It’s been another busy week for the puppies! The weather has finally been warm and dry enough that they’ve been able to play outside, which they absolutely love! They went outside for the first time early in the week and immediately took to being in nature with zero hesitation. The pups have a blast exploring the great outdoors. It’s fun to watch them pick up leaves, squeeze under bushes, and frolic through the grass. They’re so lively!
The puppies also went on several road trips in the last week. 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. Plus we want to expose them to new and different places. The pups all piled together into a crate and cruised around town. We recently purchased several acres (which you may already know if you follow Paul on Instagram), and this is the first litter of puppies to visit our new farm, which was very special. We hope to share our farm with many more puppies in the future.
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.
weekly puppy tip
Get ready to groom! – Your puppy has had her nails clipped and hair trimmed during her time with us, so she has already had her initial introduction to her lifetime of being groomed. Take her to the groomer for a puppy clip after her 16-week immunizations. The groomer will bathe her, trim the hair out of her eyes, give her a sanitary clip, and trim her nails. Since she will need regular grooming throughout her life, both she and her groomer will benefit if she becomes accustomed to being groomed from a young age, even before she’s ready for a full haircut.
When should she have her first big girl 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 her 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.
Waiting until 6 months for the first full big girl 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. It’s easy to incorporate different parts of grooming into your nightly bonding exercises. We have a plethora of haircut resources under the “grooming” tab in the main menu bar.
seven weeks
The puppies had a busy day today! First they went on a road trip to visit Allison Camp from Pups Unleashed dog training for their temperament testing (I hope you’ve checked your email to learn about your puppy’s testing results!). This evening, the puppies visited Dr. Steffen at Companion Animal Medical Centre. They are all sound asleep early tonight! I am please to report that they all received a clean bill of health! All of the staff received puppy kisses 🙂 The puppies received their first of three doses of the DHLPP vaccine. You should schedule an appointment with your vet for her to receive her second dose when she is around 12 weeks of age and third dose at 16 weeks of age. The DHLPP vaccination protects your puppy from:
- Distemper – a disease affecting the lungs, intestines, and brain
- Hepatitis – a disease affecting the liver
- Leptospirosis – a disease affecting the kidneys
- Parainfluenza – a lung disease affecting the bronchi
- Parvoviris – a disease affecting the intestines
In addition to immunizations, your puppy will also need a monthly parasite preventative that covers a range of parasites as well as fleas to help keep her healthy. Your puppy received one dose of Interceptor today. Be sure to administer heart worm medication with a meal, as the medication can be hard on your puppy’s stomach.
weekly puppy tip
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
getting ready for your puppy
We’ve created a puppy shopping list to help guide you as you prepare to bring your new pup home!
meet the parents
Learn more about Abria & Boaz by visiting our parent dog page. Want to see pictures of Abria’s past litters? You can find those on Abria’s personal page. There’s also are videos of their past puppies if you’re curious what this litter will look like in a few weeks. Don’t forget to check out Instagram for more pictures of the parents, past puppies, and this current litter.