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I know that it is hard to think of your nice new puppy having food aggression but it can easily happen. There are a few tips that you can do right now, from the beginning to prevent this. Now that your puppy is home, they no longer have to share their food bowl with their 6 or 8 siblings. They might get over comfortable with THEIR food bowl.  We want your puppy to think of someone's hand in or by their bowl while they are eating as a very very positive experience. That way, when they are grown dog and a small child accidentally crawls too close to their bowl, they will not even react.  Not only will creating this atmosphere keep you and others safe, it will keep other animals safe too. I know of someone who's female dog severely injured one of it's own puppies because they started eating out of her bowl while she was eating. This is an accident that no one could have predicted. But it is an example of setting your dog up for success and not to take any unnecessary risks. Macey, Leighla and Willow have no food aggression at all yet, I never let them have a bone or play with a toy in the presence of their puppies. It is just a risk I am not willing to take. When the moms and puppies are together I put all toys, bones and food away. It removes any chance for an accident to happen.  Here is a photo of our dog Duke. Duke is mastiff and lab mix. Duke weighs about 115-120 pounds. Duke is very protective and quite stubborn. If Duke had a mouthful of food and I decided that I didnt want him to have it-- I can reach right into his mouth and take it out. My 4 dogs eat together side by side out of their own bowls. Although they respect their fellow pack mates bowls, if one of them decided to start eating out of it, I know there wouldnt be any blood shed. Use the following tips to give yourself that confidence. Preventing Food Aggression Tips to form Passive Eating and Food Habits #1- Give your puppy his food serving divided into 2 bowls. This way when your hand comes in to change bowls, it's a good thing! #2- Just put your hand in his dish while eating. Maybe scoop up a little kibble and hand feed them some. #3- When your puppy is having time with their bone or toy, offer a high value treat as an exchange. A high value treat can be anything from cooked chicken to a piece of hot dog or even a toy that they like better. #4 - Have your children offer these high value treats and exchanges as well, as long as you know that it is safe and you can supervise them.  Every time we interact in a positive way with our canine friends, we offer them a chance to mature and improve their manners. The reason we have these animals in our home is for comfort, fun, companionship, protection and overall good quality of life. As the part of the pack with opposable thumbs, and access to the food source, it's your job to help them be the best at their jobs as possible!! Peace out!
Sherry
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With some serious attention right at the beginning, you can quickly potty train your puppy and learn some teething deterrent techniques that will help with a successful transition to your home and into your family. Awareness is the key to success! While a new puppy parent was discussing how much they wanted to prevent puppy biting right from the very beginning and what tips did I have, they were animatedly letting the puppy chew on their hand?????? People love coming to see the puppies and the first thing so many people do is to let the puppy chew on their hand. It just seems to be a reflex. When I say "please dont let the puppy chew on your hand, they will be punished for that as soon as they leave here" I get the dirty look?? I brought a puppy in the house the other day, just to walk around and get used to some more environment changes. I put him down and then decided to start getting some things ready for dinner. About 3-4 minutes went by and when I looked over, he was sniffing around in the corner- presumably for a place to squat. Then I realized, I woke that guy up and immediately brought him in the house. Who was at fault here? A small 8-12 week old puppy can learn more in a 2 minute training session than in an entire obedience course. This means that they will learn bad habits just as quickly as good ones. Every encounter that you, your children, friends and family have with your new puppy will be teaching and training their behaviors. If you pick them up while they are jumping on your legs-- You just rewarded a TERRIBLE behavior so they will do it again.  I bought this puppy training series and it teaches from breeding to puppy adolescence how to give a young puppy the best start in life from early stimulation while just minutes old to teaching a puppy how to walk on a leash. I love having the professional advice and hearing some scientific findings to back up what we already knew. One of the first things they say is when you are preparing to have a litter of puppies is to locate a source for what???????? ..........Why good ol GOAT MILK of course!! ;p) There are some step by step tips from the experts on Potty Training on the screenshot images below. Have you ever had or heard of someone's dog hiding to go to the bathroom in the house? Its because they have been scolded while defecating. They dont get it that they are "in the house" they just learn that they should not go in front of humans....inside or outside, they have no concept of the difference. We also recommend keeping them on a thin leash in the house at the beginning. That way if they do start to go, you can startled them into stopping and then take them outside. Praise them like crazy and give them high quality treats.    Jumping and Biting: My dogs Macey and Leighla still jump on people. I want to simply die everytime they do it. We're not resigned to it, we are continuing to learn new tactics and keep on training! We are the "re-home" for both of them so we did not have the opportunity to train them as a puppy and they are PROOF that it is so much easier to TRAIN A GOOD BEHAVIOR THAN TO CORRECT A BAD ONE!! Jumping: Don't reward your puppy for jumping up. Simply stand and wait until they step back. At first you may have to reward them just for all feet on the ground but after a few sessions, before long- they will sit and wait for your attention. Only pet or give them attention when they have all 4 feet on the ground. Do NOT let little kids wave their hands about their heads. Teach them to bend down and pet below the chin. It can be relatively easy to teach a puppy not to jump especially when nothing fun or enjoyable happens about their head or when all 4 feet are not firmly on the ground. This is also why you see trainers had their dog treats from below their chin. Biting and Nipping: Puppies bite and growl and wrestle with each other all the time. Their mom's mouth them and play with them this way. Your puppy is socializing with their family by biting, nipping and chewing on them. This is natural for them. As part of their family, they are going to think that this is also how to interact with you and your children. We have to immediately teach them not to chew on us.    Some of the things that we use for teething and boredom chewing here are : Marrow bones from the local butcher shop-- keep frozen and give to puppy for only a short time. Knotted rope-- Clean nylon rope. Tied in knots. I also put them in the freezer. Baby toys-- I got to garage sales and good will and buy toys for the puppies. Tennis balls. Don't just leave all these things in their pen indefinitely. Rotate them in and out so they they are interested in them to prevent boredom and chewing on things you dont want them to. If you have to physically stop your puppy from biting. Do not yell. Simply firmly grip the puppy muzzle and let them pull away. I will demonstrate this for you before you leave here with your little one. In the puppy packs that I send home, I send a small spray bottle and the recipe for Bitter Spray. YOU DO NOT SPRAY YOUR PUPPY WITH THIS You give your puppy a taste of it on a small cotton ball or piece of cloth and then spray the object that you don't want them to chew on. Then supervise, supervise, supervise. Remember, anytime you can not watch or monitor your puppy's behavior, put them away in their enclosure. He will be safe and you will not get discouraged There is not one magic answer to any training. Repetition, persistence, patience, time and a positive attitude are the best way to successfully teach your puppy to be a well mannered mature adult dog.  Mr. Waddles is still waiting for his family to find him. If you are interested in meeting him or have questions about having him join your family. Let me know!!  If you have never tried Goat Milk before, you are missing out!! It is creamy, cold and oh so so yummy. It goes with coffee better than donuts and could possibly be the single reason why I am raising puppies! ......well- It's good. Let's just leave it at that.  I first started using goat milk for our puppies when Macey had her first litter 5 years ago. The puppies were getting big and she wasn't keeping up so the vet handed me a can of what I now refer to as "Devils' Nectar" There were so many ingredients in that can of crap and NOT one that I could pronounce. This was not going to work for my babies!!! I knew that a friend of mine had actually gotten a goat instead of buying formula for her baby so I decided if goat milk was good enough for her son, it certainly was good enough for my puppies. Now--where in the hell do you get enough goat milk for 7 hungry puppies? Todd had given me some goat milk lotion for Christmas. I called the person who made it, found out where she got the goat milk and then called her. Heather had a bunch of milk in the freezer that she didnt know what to do with so off I went. Set the directions on my Garmin, got lost 5 times but I found it and never looked back. Those puppies were so happy and eager to eat that milk. Their energy was high They slept soundly Their coats were as shiny as a brand new car. I knew I had something here!!  Heather's business has drastically changed and so has mine. I now go to her house, the day before the milk truck comes and she takes milk out of the tank that was in a goat just hours before. When I say Farm Fresh, I mean it very literally. Heather is also becoming a great friend. I admire this women so so much. She home school's her kids, she runs this goat dairy and helps her children show and train goats, go to wrestling and other sports and has them do volunteer work. She has ###? (lots) of goats, knows every one of their names, who their mom is and even when they were born. I have a lot of gratitude towards her for providing us with goat milk. Without this high quality, nutritious element, our puppies would never be the great dogs that they become. Heather and her husband also make Maple Syrup. Not just the old run of the mill Maple Syrup but the Chug out of the Jug kind. Her husband is this genious fabricator their sugar shack has this amazing open fire in it that gives the syrup a soft smokey flavor. Yeah So ------ I start my day with Goat milk, Maple Syrup and Fresh brewed Coffee. Secret's out!! Now you know how I get so much done before 9:00am!! If you want to try some I always have some and will be happy to get you a bottle when I next go for milk.
Here's some more information about goat milk and how it can benefit your puppy.
https://www.aplaceforpaws.com/great-reasons-add-raw-goats-milk-dogs-diet/ Peace out! Sherry .......................oh, OK one more goat picture!!  Most of the posts on this jabber portal of mine are expected to be, and will be about my Doodles and farm but not today. Im just bursting with pride and thoughts about my awesome daughter so that's what Im going to share. I have a friend who says that my stories eventually circle back to the topic at hand so maybe it will happen............Maybe not? Let's see what happens. My daughter Emma is a senior at UW-Madison. She has been volunteering and working with a student organization on campus since her sophomore year called Camp Kesem. http://campkesem.org/uwmadison Camp Kesem is a student run summer camp for kids whose parents have had or do have cancer. The students raise money to be able to send these youngsters to a summer camp for free. They recruit and train each other to be counselors, social media and marketing, event planners, entertainment committees, etc. Last night was their big gala event called Make the Magic. It is an evening of celebrating the student's accomplishments and fundraising. ------First and ONLY chapter in the nation to offer a 3rd week of camp to over 250 children---- We got to meet some campers and their families and heard how the camp has helped and supported them through the worst imaginable life circumstances. We listened to student counselors share how their involvement with this group helped them learn and grow as young adults. And........we got to see over $165,000.00 being raised for this summer's events!!  As parents, we do your best to instill love, gratitude compassion in the young humans we are allowed to spend our lives with. Camp Kesem has brought those qualities out in Emma and allowed her to give hope and comfort to some deserving young people. I am so very proud of Emma in her selfless time she gives to this organization and these campers. She spends endless hours at trainings, planning meetings, preparing for events and long long hours during the weeks of camps. Even in October she's got "Kesem Meetings" scheduled in between physics and microbiology lab. Seeing the impact of this time and sacrifice her and all the students give come to life last night was truly amazing! They call it --------------- "The Power of Kesem"
  Oh yeah, puppies!!!! I still have puppies from Leighla's litter. Peace out!
Sherry Well,,,,,,,,,,,,that was a crazy couple of days!! Willow had 9 puppies and Leighla had 7 puppies. As of this moment I have 2 puppies available from Willow's crew And I have 5 puppies available from Leighla's crew. All are doing so incredibly well ----- I SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!! That means not one puppy screeched or cried out enough to wake me up. When they do that, there is usually some indiscretion happening to them like the nipple of their choice is occupied by a bigger, stronger sibling or, they headed off to the opposite side of the box that their family is in and they cant figure out how to get back. All reasons for immediate rescue from their human!!!   Now my goal is to keep these new amazing mom's as happy and comfortable as possible. There are a couple of big issues that can come up that I need to keep watching for. #1- They could get infection from the birth. We monitor their attitude, temperature and also visually anything looking scary from that "end" #2- This is when they have an easier chance of getting mastitis which is an infection in their udder, This is really common because the puppies are not as strong as they will be and they can not get to the underside "faucets" as easily so the mom is not nursed equally and can get engorged and that leads to an infection. (This actually started happening to Willow yesterday afternoon. I checked her and half of her was hard as a rock so I climbed on in the box, put her head in my lap and hooked a few puppies up to the right spickets to even her out. If I had not been aware of this, she may be at the vet today and I could easily have 9 hungry, unhappy puppies!) ---How did you spend your vacation/PTO days this month?? ;p)  The struggle is oh so very real in my house!!! My poor husband is terrified to eat anything out of the fridge because he doesnt know if it's chicken feet bone broth, venison, dog food and sweet potato slurry or a leftover stir fry!! All of my dogs get homemade bone broth daily but when I've got new momma's in the house, there is a WHOLE NEW LEVEL of doggy dinners in the fridge! My motto is "keep the momma's happy and they will keep the puppy's happy" It's worked so far and Im sticking with it!
Don't worry, It's a mistake you only make once!!!!
Gotta go, lunch time!! ...........everyone is heading to the vet today to get their first vet check and dew claws removed. I hear some people use their vacation days to do things like go to the beach? Crazy them!! Peace out! Sherry Leighla just came to live with us in July. Leighla is the first Standard Poodle that I have really known. The poodles we've had puppies with in the past were males so they dont live with us. Let me tell you, the rumor's you hear about Poodles and the stereotypes you see on cartoons are TRUE!! It has been really fun getting to know this breed and learning how to take care of this amazing dog.
 This is Leighla and Emma in the car, about 3 minutes after they met. It was meant to be!! To say that adding a 4th big dog to our household was a little crazy, is an understatement. We definitely do not regret it! Leigha quickly became part of the pack and our lives. She is affectionate, good natured and very smart. We are so excited to meet her puppies and to see her as a mother! Stay tuned, they are due in a few days. .............because she wants to climb into your pocket!! Peace out! Sherry The F1b doodle combination seems to really be growing in popularity. They have a more curly coat, will tend to have less shedding and should be more tolerant to allergy sufferers due to less dander. They also have enough of that retriever in them to keep that nice calm demeanor and more of a stocky build. Willow and Rogan's puppies should be in the Red, light brown, cream color spectrum. Willow's mom, Macey is a very dark gold retreiver and her Dad is a true white poodle. Rogan is a true red poodle and that color will dominate. Their coats should be curly with the 3/4 poodle but the 1/4 retriever will add some looseness to the curls. These puppies will also have a fuller build like Willow does. She has a nice full head, broader shoulders and big paws.  This is Willow as a new born puppy. As you can see, she definitely changed color as she matured. It can take as much as 10 months to a year for the coat color and curl to fully develop. I wanted to talk a little about our upcoming litters. As we showed you, Leighla will be having Cream English Goldendoodles. When I was first asked about whether our puppies were from English or American Golden Retrievers, I thought that the person I was talking too was crazy....... ....THEN I googled it and couldn't stop reading and WANTING!! An English “Teddy Bear” GoldenDoodle is a hybrid breed between a Poodle and an English Creme Golden Retriever. The Goldendoodle is an affectionate and gentle dog that has gained popularity since he was first developed in 1990s. ... EnglishGoldendoodles are typically very easy to train and make great companions. This comparison article is the best that I can find that is not, I hope, proprietary content and ok to share on our website. It really goes into great depth about the two, very similar but different dogs. https://pethelpful.com/dogs/the-truth-about-English-Cream-Golden-Retrievers The #1 piece of information that I kept on going back to was the fact that every article that I read kept saying that they were such great animals around kids. Most of the families who buy puppies from us have kids......kids, jobs, friends, families, stress, schedules and now a puppy. We want everyone to be happy with the new addition and this breeding combination seems to be the very top for that success. The #2 piece of information or fact that kept on bringing me back to wanting to know more about the English Retriever was simply their looks. Lets face it folks--Looks really go a long way! Your kid is 100 X more likely to take a dog outside to play on a hot day that's cute and playful rather than stern and grumpy. So I started looking. I sent messages to a few breeders and quickly learned that that was not going to make me any friends or get me any puppies! Then, it occured to me to contact English Doodle breeders, people who were already mixing the breeds. That's when I stumbled upon Kimberlee from Kimberlee's Kennels in Decorah Iowa. I explained who I was, what I was looking for and a little about our farm. Altough she does not publically breed other dogs, she agreed to breed Leighla and 2 days later I was on my way to Iowa in a snow and ice storm!!! Dont get me started on the how's and why's of how new people show up in our lives!! Im just going to say, again, I am grateful for the chance to raise a litter of these puppies, to meet them and to find some deserving, loving and respectful homes for them!! The second topic that we discuss a lot while talking to families about our puppies is their coat. Will it shed? Is it hypoallergenic? Will it be curly? Maybe Maybe Maybe ------------ Joking, but not really. One has to really embrace the famous saying of my sweet daughter at the wise age of two which was........................................ "you get what you get and you dont have a fit" most impactful if said in a high pitched little girl voice! The F1 Goldendoodle will be most likely to have a wavy to curly coat, be light to little shedding and will have less dander therefor be more tolerant to those with allergies or asthma. The third topic that comes up is color. I think that these puppies with all be a light cream color. Leighla has some cafe au lait coloring on her head, back and tale but her genetics point to her offspring being a solid color. We may get a marking or two, but it's doubtful.............we'll know soon enough!!! I hope this information is helpful in deciding whether or not an English Goldendoodle is in your family's future Peace out! Sherry Im just going to take some time tonight and Complain about the Snow!!! Gosh, April 2nd and we are watching, what could be 6-11 inches of snow fall! Yesterday, Easter Sunday, we took all the dogs out for a walk in the early evening. I wore long johns, lined jogging pants, down ski jacket, hat mittens and listened to the human I was with bitch about the cold the entire walk!! We are proud of how mighty and strong we are in the midwest to not be fazed by -35 degree wind chill and months of breath sucking cold air but here's the deal............TIMES UP!! That's right, even the mighty midwest folk get to a point where we are just like Helk No. " I want to see the ground and I want to go outside without wearing EVERYTHING I own!" Honestly. I would give anything to be outside cleaning up dog landmines right now instead of sitting in the house watching it snow.  Willow wouldnt even go outside with me to take some pictures. She just looked up and put her head back down and looked away!!!
Next time you hear from me..........the Sun will be shining and there will be puppies to talk about!! Fingers Crossed!! Peace Out! Sherry It would seem that we are now living a "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it" situation! When we realized that Willow and Leighla were both on the same cycle we had to decide which one of them we were going to breed to have puppies. Willow didnt get pregnant last time and we didnt have a male for Leighla so we were left to figure it out. One. None. or possibly Two. Well......we've got TWO!!! 
We're so excited to meet the new puppies and to get our happy canine family back together again. The next few months are going to be really exciting around our house. We've got the logistics down pretty well of keeping everyone in their own space.
Now we're just keeping these two new mom's as happy, safe and well fed as possible to get ready for their new adventure as Puppy Mom Peace Out! Sherry |
SherryMy farm is my favorite place to be. Cant wait to share what's happening here. Archives
June 2020
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