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June 12th 2023
The pups are 12 weeks old today, it's such a privilege to watch them continue to develop. It's also a privilege to hear from our other pups new owners on how the rest of the pups are doing. Dory is now named Awyna, or "Ani" for short; her name meanings beautiful blessing and what a beautiful blessing she is! We love getting updates from her mama on how she is doing; it warms our hearts as well as reminds us why all the work we put in with our pups matters so much.
" Your enrichment is AMAZING. She has had ONE indoor potty incident since our first night when we didn't know each other's communication yet and she was deeply grieving leaving home. She didn't cry at all last night. Crawled right in her crate with her heartbeat puppy, which I have now named Nurse, moved it around and began to suckle until she soothed herself to sleep. Did the same after a 2 am potty break.
I have no doubt we will regress as she gets comfortable, but I can clearly see she has it in her and y'all did incredible work getting her ready to come home."
We love to hear these updates from our families.
All the pups are improving on both their potty training and crate training. They take daily naps in their crates, we will transition them into sleeping in their own crates overnight this week. The puppies had their twelve week shots at the vet this weekend and we were impressed by each and every one of them at their calmness under a normally stressful situation. No puppy enjoys having their temperature taken, or getting a shot, but the pups all endured with minimal whining and squirming. The vet techs told us they could tell the pups were well socialized and conditioned as they all remained quiet in their crates waiting for their turns on the table.
We continue to work on grooming with the pups, we have started to put them on a grooming table using the same head and body restraints that would be used by a professional groomer. We follow this up with lots of treats and telling them what good boys are. As this is a breed that requires regular grooming, we hope this early exposure will make their future grooming experiences easier for both them and the groomer.
Some more details on our available puppies personalities. Crush is the spunkiest pup in the group and a total rockstar at crate time! From the time we started crate training with the pups, he has always napped the whole time solid as a rock. Jacques is incredibly observant; we've had an owl somewhere in the neighborhood lately and whenever he hears it he sits, tilts his head to the side, and listens for a while. He's been doing so well on our walks, he seems to really enjoy his time walking around the neighborhood and checking out everything around him. Nigel has been the best at potty training and is picking it up so quickly. He insists on going outside to poo and no longer wants to use the litter box. Squirt still is the biggest lover in the group; he'll drop anything for some time on your lap. The pups visited with senior citizens this week and he was living his best life soaking up all the one on one love and attention they gave him. He's very accepting of new people and warms up quickly, he even prefers people over his siblings.
June 5th 2023
The pups turned 11 weeks this Tuesday, their personalities are coming out more each day. They're all curious and ready to explore everything. Squirt is one of the biggest cuddle bugs of the bunch; when the other pups are rough housing it up, Squirt will drop it all in a second for some cuddle time.
We brought out the kiddie pool this week and Jacques had the best time jumping in and out of it. The other pups are still curious about it, front feet in while they bark at Jacques like they can't get to him. They all love playing with the mister in the backyard, Jacques, Nigel, Crush, and Squirt all love sticking their face in it trying to eat the water. We've been working with them this week extra on a "leave it" command when they're getting into something they shouldn't, aka trying to eat bark dust and sticks in the yard. We tell the pups to leave it and redirect them to a toy; they're getting better and better each day at accepting the redirection and moving on to something else, regardless of how tasty that bark dust may be!
We have daily crate training with the pups for nap time and they're getting better each day about settling in. Soon we will start to transition to having the pups in crates overnight to help prepare them further for crate training in their forever homes. The pups are litter box trained and we've been working with them on outside potty training as well. With our routine of taking them out first thing in the morning and frequently throughout the day on a consistent time schedule, we've noticed some of our pups have started to hold it until we take them out rather than using their litter box. The pups are learning that going potty outside earns them lots of praise and sometimes a snack and choosing to wait until we take them outside to go potty. Potty training a puppy is a long process and it can sometimes take 12 months before a puppy is fully potty trained, but the pups are starting to grasp the concept of preferring to potty outside only and it's so encouraging to see this at their young age. We hope this additional work will make it easier for our owners to potty train these pups at home.
The pups went on car rides this week and they all did fairly well! We have them wear a harness and clip them into a little doggy car seat. We always recommend securing your pup in the car before taking off. Not only will it keep your pup safe in case of an accident, it also helps them feel more secure and steady as the car moves. All the pups did pretty well in the car, we recommend our new owners take their pups on regular short car rides so that the puppies can get used to this at a young age and better tolerate car rides in the future as adults.
Nigel, Jacques, Crush, and Squirt are still looking for their forever home, visit our process overview page to learn more about how to adopt, and visit our application page to apply today!
May 29th 2023
These pups are growing so fast and time is flying by! Nemo, Sheldon, Bruce, and Dory have moved on to their forever homes; we're still searching for the perfect homes for Squirt, Nigel, Crush, and Jacques.
Although we focus on grooming on a regular basis, we've focused on it a bit extra this last week. Lots of combing, brushing, with baths, blowdrying, and nail trimming! We work with the pups often on getting used to things like having their snout held and controlled, having their paws, eyes, and ears examined, as well as sanitary trims and and trimming around their eyes to see their cute little faces better. Another big focus this week was leash training and our "with me" command which has always been our follow command for our adult dogs. The pups are all eager to follow us and are getting the hang of this one easily.
The pups favorite toy this week has been what we call "the big bag of stuff". It's a velcro fleece bag filled with fabric, ball pit balls, and strips of tarp. The the different textures and sounds gets the pups used to walking on unsteady or uneven surfaces, noisy surfaces or unexpected noises, and provides a great platform for them to play king of the hill too. All of the pups have been enjoying tug of war this week in the yard. Crush, Nigel, Squirt, and Jacques have all been loving putting their face in the sprinkler when it's warm enough.
May 15th 2023
The pups turned eight weeks old this week, they're all ready for their forever home! Sheldon has moved on to a loving local family, he will have three young kiddos to love on and keep him busy. Nemo will be leaving this week as well. Nemo will be living with a dear friend, he will go on to train and work in an adult care home as a therapy animal. Bruce will be staying here with us and his mama, I just couldn't let this one go!
The rest of these pups are still looking for their forever homes, in the meantime we'll continue to love on them and use conditioning methods to prepare them for their adults lives. We love watching their personalities develop more each and every day.
Seven Week Temperament Testing
Overview
May 13, 2023 - 7 ½ weeks
We completed temperament testing on the puppies, and as expected, they scored similarly in personality traits. Although we do believe there is value in temperament testing to see what personality traits are emerging at this early age, your puppy’s adult personality will largely be determined by their new home environment with you. These puppies' temperaments are overall adaptable to their environment, and their training with you will be the biggest determining factor of their adult personality and temperament. Like people, puppies evolve and mature, and build their own set of traits and characteristics.
All of the pups are tracking us closely. They watch and follow our movements whenever we are around. They all follow our leads, are submissive, and smart. Each pup thrives on human interaction. They truly adore being held and loved. They even get jealous when it’s not their turn for cuddles! Being with their humans for cuddle time is extremely important to each and every one of them. When they come home, you can expect that they will want to be beside you all day, but they are getting used to alone time in a crate and learning to be content on their own too. We’ll continue crate training for 1-2 hours a day to help them prepare for home. We urge all of our puppy parents to continue this crate training at home; crate training helps pups learn how to be secure on their own, this creates calmer and less anxious adult dogs.
The Australian Labradoodle temperament traits include being extremely clever, sociable, comical and joyful. They are energetic when free and quiet when handled. They approach people in a happy, friendly manner, and are keen and easy to train. We have found this to be true of this litter, and believe all of these pups will thrive and continue to grow into friendly and outgoing pups with continued proper training, socialization, and exercise.
Nigel, Crush, and Nemo
Nigel, Nemo, and Crush or the three amigos as we like to call them. They are the three smallest pups in the litter, but that doesn’t hold them back from wanting to be the leaders of the pack! They are inquisitive, adventurous, playful, and welcoming of strangers and new experiences. They are eager to please and will drop everything in a heartbeat for some cuddle time with their people. These pups are outgoing with tons of personality.
Sheldon and Bruce
Sheldon and Bruce are two of the more mellow pups. They love running and playing with their littermates, but they also enjoy a good nap, independent play, and some calm cuddle time with their people. Sheldon seems very comfortable in new environments and curious as well. In his first visit to the vet when it was time for shots, Sheldon promptly and calmly laid down to give the vet some kisses while they did vaccines and microchips. Even the vet was surprised by his response! Bruce has a similar temperament to Sheldon. Although he’s over 2 pounds bigger than some of his siblings, he is most definitely a gentle giant. He’ll only knock his siblings over if he is racing over to get some love from his people. Nothing phases these boys too much.
Jacques
Jacques is such a sweet lovable pup. He is a bit more laid back and would prefer to watch others investigate before diving in. We’ve noticed that although Jacques is more inclined to observe first, when he decides to jump in, he learns very quickly! He is smart and very attentive to our movements. He’s likely to be a pup who would rather stay with his humans, than have a solo adventure like Nigel Crush, or Nemo might prefer. Jacques is eager to please and has been picking up on some commands like sit and down quicker than the rest of his siblings.
Dory
Dory is an absolute people lover. This girl is always looking for some affection and is eager to please. She isn’t as rambunctious as some of the other pups, but she certainly isn’t shy. She is always wagging her tail and enjoys new experiences as they come her way. She doesn’t always push in front of her brothers, but when it comes to getting some attention, she’ll do her best to get to the people first! We are looking to place Dory in a guardian home to eventually have a litter of her own and pass on Nora’s genes. She will have a lot of growing up and health testing to do, but we believe she will make a good candidate when she is old enough.
Squirt
Squirt is playful, confident, and very affectionate. He is a mix of all the traits we see in the other pups. He is playful and curious like Nemo, Nigel, and Crush, while mellow at times like Sheldon and Bruce. He’s very attentive to our movements, quick to pick up on things like Jacques, and a total people lover like Dory. Squirt is bold and confident, while also eager to please, and eager to be picked up for some special attention.
Four to Seven Weeks Old
One Day to Three Weeks Old