Woody Update!

I took this photo of Woody (Zoey's May 2017 litter) over the weekend and just wanted to share ❤️ He's adorable and has been an amazing family member since the day we brought him home!

Some updates from Crystals puppies

If you haven't joined our Growing Puppies Schnoodles page on Facebook, you really should.   All I ask is that if you are not one of my puppy customers that you refrain from posting your doggy photos.  This group is to share updates from our Schnoodle puppies for our customers or future customers. 

Anyway, I browsed the Facebook page and found a bunch of photo updates from Crystals litter and decided to share them now.

Below:
A re-schnunion of Schnoodle siblings - L-R: Asta (Winnie’s December ‘18 litter) Nigel and brother Lafitte (Crystal’s July ‘18 litter) - Lafitte is visiting the Barkshires for two weeks and they all play each evening w/ a very understanding older schnoodle buddy Ollie.

Asta (Winnie's litter),  Nigel (Crystals litter), and Lafitte (Crystal's litter) enjoy a play date in MA.

(Below) Don’t want to leave Ollie out of this schnoodle-canoodle!

Mushka

(Below)  Lilly in her Easter dress (Crystals litter) 

Lilly at 4 months old

(Below)  We are so grateful that the weather is finally warming up here in CT so we can take her out more. She is 5 months now and doing great. She’ll be graduating from her puppy class this week. She’s super smart and caught on very quickly. As you can see, she’s a happy puppy

Penny in CT

Ginny

Ginny at 7 months is the sweetest pup!  (Ginny lives in Ontario)

6 week Schnoodle Puppies - Crystals litter

   What is really amazing about the 6th week of a puppies life ...

is how playful they become.  Suddenly the puppies are all alive with energy and fun.  They are running around, eating puppy food, wrestling with one another and playing with toys. 

The puppies have entered the Litter Socialization stage where the puppies time together is super important.   They learn about puppy play and how to interact with one another.   People socialization is also important at this age, ...but the majority of their time is spent playing together.   We wouldn't want to take a puppy away from his litter at this age.  At this point they have finally reached the developmental. ability to have serious puppy play time, but it only lasts for a few weeks before they have to go home.

This week is the official "weaning of the litter" when Crystal has stopped nursing her puppies.  The puppies are now eating dry puppy food, and drinking well from a bowl. The puppies sharp teeth are coming in and they are teething. 

Crystal still likes to check up on her babies.   And when she enters the room to sniff them through the pen, I immediately know something is up.  From the other room I hear the high pitch squeals (and you would be amazed how loud those little lungs can squeal!)  and I am a sucker every time.  I think, "Oh oh!   Something is wrong!"   I run in to check on the litter, and there she is.   Crystal kissing her babies through the pen.   And the babies are screeching like the world is coming to an end!   Feed me!   Feed me!

You might have experienced this in your own life....its just kids being kids.  ....I am hungry mom.  I haven't eaten in years!.....  But child, you have a bowl full of food!....  I am not hungry for that food!    Ha ha!    Babies are Babies folks.    So Mom sees that the kids are doing fine and goes back to her business and the puppies go back to playing and forget that they were starving just one minute before.  The nursery becomes peaceful once more.   It is pretty funny!

But I know you are waiting for to see photos!!!   So enough of the chatter.  Here are the puppies...looking like little angels.

4 week Old Crystal Puppies

Crystals puppies

Tobias 

           Can you believe how much these little Schnoodle puppies grow in just one week!   Last week they were barely walking and now they are very sturdy on their feet!    This week begins the critical social time when they are learning to socialize with other puppies.   Play fighting is how they play.   They growl and bite (with toothless bites!)  and climb on one another.   They can even sound agressive in their pathetic little way....but it is all very innocent puppy play.   It is like slow motion really, since they are still not super agile.
 
            This week the Schnoodle puppies awake time is increasing but the majority of their day is still spent sleeping or eating.   Mom is not nursing them as often as she did when they were younger.   So it is a good time to start them on Puppy food, wet into soft mush.   Their teeth are just starting to come in, so they are not ready for dry food just yet.

              I will post more everyday photos when I am able.   This is the last litter until the summer.   If you are ready for a spring Schnoodle Puppy, there are only few puppies still available.  See my website for  Available Puppies

Henry

2.5 week old Crystal puppies

Crystal's Boys:

I waited to take the puppies two week photos until their eyes were completely open.   This is such a big week for our little babies!   Their eyes open and they gain better focus every day.  Their ears are also opening and suddenly they are able to investigate the world around them!   Of course that always means they are climbing out of the Puppy Pool.    So I move them to a Puppy Pen as soon as they hit the 2 week mark.

The puppies have no teeth yet, and are still nursing exclusively.   The bulk of their day is spent sleeping with little awake times when they practice walking and strengthening their neck and legs.  We have to hold them up for their photos because they would otherwise put their chins on the blanket.  And look how precious are those sweet little faces!   They just get cuter every day, and we wonder if that is even possible!

Tobias - Green collar

Henry - blue collar

The Girls:

Bijou, Bon Bon and Lily

Bijou

Bon Bon

Lily

Crystals 2 Week puppies

Woody in the Winter Wonderland!

Such a beautiful photo from one of our Schnoodle families!

1 week Crystal puppies -

1 week puppies are growing so fast!!!

Crystal puppies are born!

We have happy news!   Crystal whelped her litter of puppies on Sunday afternoon.  And since some births deserve to have the story told, I will share with you how it began.

First of all let me give you a bit of background.   After years of whelping litters I can pretty readily read the signs that one of my dogs is getting close to delivery.    The most obvious signs are nesting behaviors, like scratching the floor, trying to nest in a couch, under a bed....or behind a chair.   This can start a few days before the actual whelping begins.   But usually when the dog is very close to her time, her whole demeanor changes.  She is more clingy and wants to be in the same room as me, or follow me about.   This can be a problem, in that I don't want her to be in any area of the house where she could suddenly slip away and hide under a bed or in a closet and start her whelping.  But it is also very helpful, because with her clinging to me, I can see the minute she starts to act differently.

So as it happened, Crystals due date was only a few days away, and she did not show any of the usual nesting behavior.    The only sign I got was on Saturday night when Crystal did not want to follow me up to my room.  All my pregnant dogs sleep in my room when they are waiting to give birth.  And they are happy to be there.   But when Crystal wouldn't come to me, I knew she must not bet feeling well, and I carefully lifted her up and carried her to my room.   I fully expected to see whelping begin that night.....but instead she was very quiet with hardly any nesting or restlessness.

The next morning, which was Sunday, Crystal followed me down the stairs and out to the backyard as if it was a normal day.   That calmness made me feel comfortable leaving her to attend Church in the morning.   I felt it important to go early, as I new things could change over the next few hours.   Before I left I put Crystal in a pen with her bed to keep her as safe as possible until I returned.

When I got home, Crystal looked quite well.   I had hoped to keep her close to me, but she wanted to be in the basement rec room next to my 9 year old son while he played his video games.  I already know my kids cannot read the signs of whelping...so I was calling down the stairs often to check on her status.   "Where is Crystal....Next to you....Ok how does she look. "   "Mom, she looks fine!"  So it is kind of funny, that Crystal was acting so normal....but somehow I knew the time was near..

 After several minutes of checking her status, I decided to answer an email in the adjoining room where I could listen out for any scratching or digging that would signal a change.   And it is quite commonplace that while I work at my computer I hear squeals of  joy or frustration from my son as he plays his games.   But the sudden squeal that I heard as I typed away,  was nothing usual.  I couldn't tell if it was dog or child.   I froze for a moment trying to process it and in the next split second was rising from my chair when my son came running through the doorway yelling, "Crystal had a puppy!"  "Oh my Goodness!" I thought, "That was fast!"   And sure enough there it was.  A puppy born on the video game chair!"   (Thankfully its a large chair that lays flat on the floor and actually a pretty harmless spot to whelp a puppy!)

I rushed over and hovered over Crystal as she continued to clean up the newborn.  My little boy was so helpful.  He rushed about corralling the dogs into their crates.   It wasn't such an easy task.  The dogs new something was afoot and they were trying to push their noses past me to check out the newcomer.   I called to my husband to help me and as soon as the umbilical cord was cut, he carried the baby upstairs.   I followed close behind, having wrapped Crystal in a towel to carry her to the whelping pool in my master bathroom.

The rest of the story was peaceful and uneventful.   All the puppies came at 15 minute intervals as smoothly as any puppy can be born.   The total number of births were as follows:  3 girls and 2 boys!  What a joy that it all went so smooth and easy for Crystal!

When I shared the birth story with one of my customers she intuitively knew the first born was a boy.   "Of course it was a boy", she said, "Boys love video games!"










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Fun Memories!

We found this photo in our phone from last year.   We were packing for a trip and someone didn't want to be forgotten....