We Survived the Doodle Dozen!!

On July 26th the blessed event began.....
and kept going and going and going and........GOING!!
12 amazing little Doodles later, 
Nala was exhausted and I was TERRIFIED! 
Yes,  Macey had had 11 puppies before but not her first litter and I was really not sure how this was going to go.   Nala's delivery was so calm and she kept attentive to both the newcomers and the pups that were already born, I should have known that she was going to be the best mom.  

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After the delivery,  we cleaned up and changed the bedding and Nala spread out her front legs around her puppy pile as if to get them all a huge hug and looked up at me and smiled.  It was so sweet and I was simply in tears and felt so grateful to her!
After the initial visit to the vet--2 little quirts came out with an X on their backs with a warning from Dr. Bohl to keep an eye on them-the journey of making sure that each of these little doodes got enough to eat and Nala stayed healthy began. 
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For the first week,  I did not help feed any of the puppies.  On the advice from my friend Sandra,  I just kept Nala very very well fed and happy and let her do the rest.   She would separate the puppies into piles and just had such an awesome system.  I just stood by and kept the squirts from getting pushed aside and had lots of food on hand for Nala.   During this time I feed my moms what is called
Mother's Pudding--   It is goat milk, ice cream, eggs, gelatin, and vanilla pudding.  I also stir in oatmeal, flax and pretty much anything that will help keep her calcium and energy up.  I have a friend, Heather, who supplies us with our goat milk. Their milk is certified high in fat and fresh from the goat so  it is premium stuff--also very good in coffee! (I have blogged about her before.)
She and I saw a lot of each other for these first 4 weeks!  Which means that I did a lot of driving too since she lives about an hour away!

​After about 8 days, it was clear that Nala was ready to let me handle the pups and was ready for some relief so I went out and bought a premi baby bottle, heated up some goat milk and took a seat beside her.   As you can see by the photo, we still had a couple of squirts that we were keeping an eye on. 
​I would just grab a puppy and let it have an ounce of goat milk and then set it aside into a little bed I made for them in a tote so I could remember who got the milk and didnt get overfed.   

That is what I did every time she fed the pups day and night for the next 2 weeks.   

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As you can see by that chubby belly and the full whelping box, Nala and I did a great job of feeding these doodes.  Their eyes were now open, they were walking and ready to go out into the Puppy Palace.  

Once Our puppies move out to the Puppy Palace,  they are ready to start their socialization and environment stimulations.  I give them little toys and other things to play with that make sounds and help them not only get used to the outside world but to calmly work through their startle and startle recovery phase. 

​This is also the time that Nala feeds them less often and I start feeding goat milk. 

After we get the doodes eating on their own,  they meet their people and are officially someone else's dogs. 
I love selection weekend!!  Meeting the people who we are raising these guys for really brings it all together.  The families of this litter range from a single guy,  several newly wed couples, a family pet and hopeful future therapy dog, a companion for a retired couple and lastly
Todd and I
That's right!! 
When we got River and Nala we knew that one of their puppies would be for us.   
When we sold River in December last year,  we collected his semen so that we could have one last litter and more importantly--our new girl! 
​The vet clinic advised us to use all of our frozen semen so we had 1 shot to get our puppy and clearly,  they did their job with the Doodle Dozen that we were given!!

Reign will be Ten Mile Creek Goldendoodles Generation 2.0
I snapped this photo not realizing that Macey was in the background. 
It is really one of those "photo is worth a thousand words" moments with the
​Past and Future together. 

In a couple of years, we may be telling you about Reign's first litter. 
In the meantime   
we are: 
Potty  training
Obedience training 
Crate training
Leash training
Chew training
Learning to train  training
Just like the rest of the families from this litter we are loving it and having those
"what did we do" 
moments too. 

Put in the work now and your Doodle will live up to the hype                            of  being the best family dog available. 

Peace Out!
Sherry 

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