These sweet babies will be ready to go to their forever homes October 1st-3rd.
happy birthday: August 6, 2021
Ivy & Boaz are the proud parents of three gorgeous new baby boys. These little ones are absolutely precious. When puppies are first born, they depend heavily on their mama, so we’re blessed that Ivy 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: Tonka (red), Cookie Dough (blue), and Dump Truck (green).
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. Ivy’s puppies twitch and pop in their sleep, as all healthy newborn puppies should. This activated sleep helps them build muscle tone.
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. 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.
one week
These puppies may still seem incredibly small but in just one short week they’ve doubled their birth weights. They’ve each crossed over the one pound and two pound marks (all three boys weighed less than 1lb 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.
The puppies have now had their toenails trimmed for the first 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. We like to keep the puppies’ nails short so they don’t accidentally scratch Ivy while nursing. Plus nail trimming is going to be a regular activity throughout their lives, so we want to introduce them to it at an early age.
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 weeks
Hello world! The puppies’ eye have just started opening over the last few days. It’s so fun to see them looking back at us. Eye opening is a process that doesn’t happen all in one day. The puppies are still in a calm, quiet environment. Soon they’ll be ready for the chaos of our main living area but not quite yet.
Aren’t they getting cuter and cuter each week?! These sweet dumplings are getting so big! The puppies continue to enjoy nursing regularly. It’s a crazy, active puppy pile as they all search for the perfect milk tap. Once the milk starts flowing, they all settle down and enjoy the delicious warmness filling their chunky bellies.
weekly puppy tip #3: age appropriate exercise
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 do so. 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.
three weeks
The puppies are really beginning to look and act like little dogs. They are starting to play with each other, but it looks like they are playing in slow motion. It’s entertaining to watch.
These guys went on their first road trip yesterday. 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 Ivy 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.
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.”
These little sausages have started listening to their habituation CD, which is aimed at helping them become accustomed to various sounds. They listen to doorbells ringing, dogs barking, babies crying, vacuums running, thunder booming, and a variety of other sounds to help them become accustomed to loud noises. Right now, we play the habituation CD somewhat quietly and we’re gradually increasing the volume as the pups are ready for it. We continue to introduce new items in the puppy pen for the pups to explore. It’s fun to watch them curious sniff and check out each day’s new toy. We have also clipped the puppies’ toenails for a second time now. Toenails grow quickly. Be ready to trim your new pup’s nails every few weeks when he joins your family.
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. 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 puppy 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. 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. See the Toy Trade Game from last week’s puppy tips.
- 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
These puppies have grown so much! You’ve seen these the newborn group picture before, but I want to put it side by side with the four week group picture so you can appreciate just how much they’ve changes in just one month.
In just one month, these pups have gone from being unable to walk to playing with each other. In just month 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 Ivy to using a potty area in their pen and lapping goat milk from a bowl (they’re still primarily nursing, but they have tried goat milk several times 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 he’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 play the habituation CD for them and 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 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.
five 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 are so chunky! It’s adorable! They have started eating a much of softened TLC puppy kibble mixed with fresh goat milk. They’ll be chowing down on dry kibble in no time.
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! And they’ve been outside a number of times since. Just today they went outside at least four times. It’s fun to watch the pups pick up leaves, explore behind plants, and trot around the yard after our kiddos. The pups don’t sit still for long, except for when they’re on your lap or sleeping, so pictures are challenging!
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 we certainly understand that these aren’t ordinary times! Timberidge Goldendoodles is excited to be partnering with Baxter & Bella. In a time where it’s challenging to attend an in person puppy class, 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. Even if you participate in an in person class, I think you’ll find Baxter & Bella is an amazingly helpful resource.
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.
If you’re up for doing additional puppy prep, Puppy Culture offers a FREE online course about the first few weeks of your puppy’s time in your home (you do have to create an account even though it’s free). You can listen to much of the course without watching the video footage, although there are certainly parts that are helpful to watch.
I recommend for everyone to watch: Class 1 part 2 about setting up your puppy’s spot at home and Class 2 part 1 about structuring your puppy’s day. If you have the time to watch the entire program, you’ll certainly learn a lot. Jane Killon covers clicker training with your puppy, observations to make about your puppy, why you should avoid legumes in your dog kibble, and much, much more. There are also online resources within the course materials about puppy fitness, a puppy nipping plan, etc. This is a great collection of resources, and it’s free!
6 weeks
It’s been another busy week for Ivy’s puppies. They went on several car rides in the past few days. We’re working hard to expose them 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.
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. 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 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!
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:
- 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.
- 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.
vet check: September 24th
The puppies visited our friends at Hopewell Animal Hospital this afternoon. Going to the doctor is exhausting! I am please to report that all three boys 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 his second dose when he is around 12 (around 10.29.21) weeks of age and third dose at 16 weeks of age (around 11.26.21).
In addition to immunizations, your puppy will also need a monthly parasite preventative that covers a range of parasites (heart worms, hooks worms, etc.) as well as fleas to help keep her healthy. Your puppy received one dose of Interceptor on 9.25.21. Be sure to administer heart worm medication with a meal, as the medication can be hard on your puppy’s stomach. Happily, no one had any tummy troubles with their medication today.
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!
Baxter & Bella is an online resource that offers a wealth of knowledge about raising everything dog/puppy.
Puppy Culture offers a free online course about the first few weeks of your puppy’s time in your home. 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.