The Scarlet Blanket of Shame

or Fertility.  Take your pick.

My girl is in heat.  Again.  Since she's messy (not to mention stinky), she is not allowed to place her monkey butt down unless "the scarlet blanket" is underneath her.  To protect everything in my house within her tailend's reach.

Yes, she is gonna get some action (DON'T judge me).

Yes, I hope to have some cute little babies just in time for Christmas.

Yes, she is monogamous so her dating circle is limited to just Bentley.

Dating will begin on day 10, although the magical number is usually day 14.

No, I am not new to this.

Yes, Jordan is a great momma.

Like before.

And see how cute they are when they are bigger?

And then both Jordan and Bentley will become spokesanimals for Bob Barker.

Wish us luck. 

And if you feel the need to chastise me for "backyard breeding" - you can bite me.  Go leave your judgy-mcjudger comments somewhere else.

Guess who gets his OWN post??

"And in the blue corner, weighing in at an astounding 7.3 pounds, Huuuuuuummer the Maaaaaaaaltzeeeeeeeer!!! This guy is getting huge. And he seriously gets cuter every day!"

In the words of his Mommy Kim:

"He is such a good and sweet puppy (I almost said "little" puppy....). To speak to what a good puppy he is, we have yet to find something that he has chewed up that he wasn't supposed to. He carries our shoes around, but so far he hasn't destroyed any of them. We absolutely love him!!! Not a day goes by that we don't all tell him so. I don't think that one of us loves him more than the others, and he seems to love us all equally as well. He likes to chase Maddy (and that's about the only time he barks), play with his toys with me, and watch the Jazz games with Khoi. So we each get our own special time with him. He's definitely part of our human pack. If we're home, he's stuck to us like glue. He even stands at the side of the tub while Maddy is taking a bath, and he's quite scared of the tub so for him to do that is very brave on his part. He's the perfect dog for us, I still can't believe how lucky we were in getting him. He's such a mellow and loving dog!
(As I was typing this message, one of my coworkers walked by and said "do you always smile at your computer?" I guess I was smiling while writing about Hummer. True puppy love!)
**"

Happiness is.....finding JUST the right home for your babies.

Puppy Update!

Well the little darlings have gone for about a month, but I have been lucky enough to get some updates from their new families.
Ellie:

Hi Melissa,
Just thought I'd give you the latest - Ellie had her next round of shots yesterday. Poor girl was scared to death! She was shaking like crazy while I was filling out all of the papers. Then, once we got into the exam room, she just started crying. Oh I felt so bad, I just wanted to run out of there with her! Once the vet came in she actually calmed down. She had two shots, one of which was up the nose. Didn't cry at all though - she's such a tough girl. Oh, and she weighed in at 4 whole pounds! She's such a runt compared to Hummer's 7 pounds!!!

A few hours ago I heard her barking at the door to go outside. So I took her out and thought, 'hmmm, its about time she learned to go down those stairs." So I showed her how to do it, one by one. Sure enough, the next time she went outside, down she went!!! She's such a quick learner! I even took a video with my camera but then I accidentally deleted it :( Jesse is trying to recover it for me, and if he does, I'll be sure to send it to you. She's had such a good weekend! No accidents in the house, she's started barking at the door when she needs to go out, AND learned how to get down the stairs! You can tell she's proud of herself. She gets so excited when she does good things!
Also, attached a few pictures. Ellie's found her favorite spot in the house - right on top of the heater. So cute. Even with the scary blue eyes :)


Max:

Hi Melissa,
Just a quick update on Max and a picture. He got his 3rd set of shots last week and his first puppy hair cut. We were excited to finally see his eyes! He is doing well. Finding lots of new things to chew on each day. My least favorite choice is the carpet. His most favorite choice are the shoes in the mudroom. Needless to say, it's going to be a long year of chewing.
I have another question about his food. Which science diet flavor has he been eating? And where is the best place to buy it?
Thanks,
Melinda

And finally, last but not least, Hummer:
"And in the blue corner, weighing in at an astounding 7.3 pounds, Huuuuuuummer the Maaaaaaaaltzeeeeeeeer!!! This guy is getting huge. And he seriously gets cuter every day!"
No pictures of Hummer - waaahhhhhh!

There are times that I miss them all terribly. I even hear phantom puppy cries sometimes. Then other times, like yesterday when cleaning my kitchen and discovered this:
How did I miss that for the whole last month?

I'm okay with them being in new families. Really.

Ellie update !!

Now, Ellie went to her new home a week ago, and I got an update a few days later, but have been waiting to post until I got some pictures. They speak better words than I could ever!

She was the only girl of the bunch and in her new Mom's words:
"Hi Melissa,

Just thought you might like to hear how Ellie is doing...

First of all, I forgot how energetic puppies can be! Ellie is definitely a hyper one. Jesse thinks she's ADD - she can't concentrate on one toy for more than 20 seconds. Here's the latest:

1. She's a little scared at night still. The first night, we had to get up about five times cuz she was wimpering. Poor thing. Last night we only got up once though! She's getting better!
2. I showed her how to get up the stairs in the front of the house, feet first then bum. Sure enough, the next time she went outside, she got right up those stairs, with a little encouragement from mom. So now, if we take her outside when she doesn't want to, she just runs right back up the stairs into the house! Little snot! Now if she could learn how to go DOWN them.....
3. She loves running back and forth throughout the house, she's such a speed demon. Good way to wear her out before bed time.
4. She's fascinated by her tail. She jumps around in circles trying to catch it and sometimes wonders "what is that thing touching my back!?"
5. She's making friends with the puppy in the mirror. Yesterday while I was at work, Jesse caught her watching herself, then slowly inching up to the mirror sniffing. Then, she lunged at herself and hit the mirror, yelped and ran away. Oh I wish I could have seen it! This morning I caught her waving to herself. So cute! I need to get it on video.

I was thinking this morning of how lucky we are to have gotten Ellie from someone like you - someone who really cares about the puppies and who they go to. Others just say "gimme the money!" It's really comforting to know that our little Ellie was so well taken care of before we got her.

Thanks again for everything. Please keep in touch, and I'll do the same. Ellie and Hummer have their office play date on tuesday so Kim and I will let you know how it goes!

Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your call with your son!"



Thanks for the compliment Natalie, but really I am the lucky one to have found 3 PERFECT homes! Seriously, if I knew I could guarantee that again, I would go for it. Note to anyone thinking of breeding....DO NOT think you are going to make a ton of money. You don't. You'll be lucky if you break even.
And if you are thinking that, then you definitely SHOULD NOT be breeding. Period.

Hummer/Biscuit update!

<
How freaking cute is he?
His new family hasn't decided if he is going to stay with the name Hummer or go with Biscuit as Maddy wants. Either way, SO CUTE!

He is settling right into his new home (of course), and cute as ever!

In the words of his new Mom:
Hummer is doing so great! He woke up at 4:00 this morning, but I'd been awake since 3:00 anyway, and seeing as it was his first night away from home, I spoiled him and just let him out of his crate for an early start to the day. He was SO wild! I swear to you I played fetch and tug-o-war with him for 45 minutes straight before he grew tired of that game. I finally wore him out at about 6:30 and let him come lay down on my bed. He did a couple of those Chewbacca yawns, and they're adorable! And despite a fit of wild barking at about 5:30, he did not wake Maddy up. We finally dragged her out of bed at 8:30 and brought her downstairs to see him. She just wanted to open presents, a little bit of a let down (okay, a huge let down) for Khoi and I who thought she'd just go nuts over him. But she did warm up to him once the toys had all been unwrapped, and she keeps telling him that she loves him.

She wants to call him Biscuit, but we'll talk her out of it. We really love him, he's just so adorable and fun. We've taken about 100 pictures of him already, but our camera can't keep up with him and only about 10 of them actually look like a dog rather than a blur

Congrats Kim, Khoi and....

of course Maddy!

Goodbye's are the hardest!.....puppies gone...WAAAHHHHH!!

So after the ever thrilling Christmas eve party, it was time to get the boys ready to go to their new families. Each of them had a bath, a blow dry and then some one on one time with me.
Me and Hummer

Me and Puppy boy

Handing off to Hummer's new family.

And Hummer's new family - the fantastic Kim and Khoi! (Maddie is missing, but hope to get a pic soon - he was her surprise!)

Hummer will be so happy in his new family...... wonder if Hummer will stay his name? That would be hilarious when he won't actually get any bigger than about 10-12 lbs. : )
Next it was Puppy boy's turn to get ready.....
Me and Puppy boy

The hand off....

And now with his new mom Melinda- now remember, he is going to a home with 5 kids who have been begging for a dog! He is their Christmas surprise, and I can't wait to get pic's!

Now, to self medicate with chocolate covered Cinnamon Bears that the super great Kim and Khoi came bearing. They sure do soften the blow. Or not.

Super Saturday - Act II

Scene: The vet office for second round of shots for puppies.
Characters: Ellie, Hummer, Puppy Boy, vet tech and Dr Silkman.
And.......Action!
The darlings went in for their second series of shots and a check up by Dr Silkman the vet. They all are in EXCELLENT condition. In the words of Dr Silkman "rock solid".
Then they got their next series of shots and a squirt up the nose. This after getting their temperature's taken (not orally), and a hands on inspections by Dr Silkman. I could sense their embarrassment. Especially when the vet remarked that the boys' testes had descended. I'm pretty sure both of the boys blushed.
Here's Ellie - weighing in at 3 lbs (and some change)

Here's Puppy boy - weighing in at nearly 4 lbs

And finally , here's the Hummer - weighing in at 5 lbs (and some change)

Nice to see that all three were in exceptional health. Dr Silkman is wonderful to explain every little detail, and since he has bred his dog before, had lots to offer in the way of suggestions on how to handle it when it's time for them to leave. Both for the two-legged mom and the four-legged mom. Which leads into the next act.

Puppy Parade & FUNDERFUL afternoon!

Oh what a FUN, FUN, FUN afternoon!!
First, the new mommies came to see their babies.
Here is Natalie with her Ellie, Natalie's Mom (Grandma to Ellie) holding puppy boy, and Kim with her Hummer.....

Here's Natalie with Ellie....

Here's Kim with Hummer.....

And here are the two cute girls with their new babies.....

Two fun little side notes - As we all stood at the door when they were leaving, I had forgotten to put the gate up, and here comes little Ellie waddling straight up to Natalie! She knows exactly who her Momma is and was practically begging to go home right then! And this morning (forgot to tell you Kim), when I looked out the door to bring the puppies back in, Hummer had already figured out how to get up two of the stairs! Oh they are so very cute and smart!
This afternoon, while the afternoon sun shone in the french doors, the boys became VERY playful - look at those puppy teeth!


Later in the afternoon, Chloee came over and one of my dearest BFF's brought her little guy over for playdate and to see the puppies before they all left.
Max is used to BIG dogs, so to see the little puppies wasn't that impressive to him. He and Chloee were more interested in piling things into the crate, but here he is showing a little interest....


The kidlins finally found Chloee's room with the toys to be more interesting. Max particularly liked being IN the toy box.


And, yes, I should have had pants on Chloee when she had a boy over for a playdate, but hey, she had just dumped the dogs water dish, and I hadn't had time to get on it....
Puppies and babies, does it get any better??

Saturday Snow day for the Puppies!!

Ruh Roh! At least that's what I think I heard the puppies say this morning when they went outside to the lovely, couple of inches of snow we got! Either that or what I heard needs to be edited (puppy potty mouth - awesome!)

So the last snow storm was a mere skiffing, this morning's was BIG! They were troopers and went out anyway as good puppies in potty training do. The two boys quickly did their business and then hid under the stairs. Not Ellie! No, not that brave girl. She needed to do more than just a little piddling and ventured all the way to the poopy patch. GOOD GIRL!

Of course, we had to towel off and get warm each and every time, we did this little routine. After lunch though, instead of me just putting them out, each one of them went to the door and either scratched or cried to go out! YES! House breaking - success in progress!! And then they all wanted to stay out and play in the cold wet mess! Imagine that!
Instead of the toweling off, we had to pull out the warm hair dryer. Stinking cute babies!
Here's Ellie:

Here's Puppy Boy:

And here's the Hummer:

What a day for the kids!

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

BEST.NEWS.EVAH!!
Finally! Found the BESTEST home for Hummer! Cute family, Kim and Khoi and their daughter Maddy, but sshh, he's a Christmas surprise..... we couldn't be more thrilled that Hummer is going to be theirs! They came over tonight to meet him and he took right to Kim. He chose THEM!
I can now sleep at night knowing that all the babies have the perfect homes. And the sweetest part? Ellie's mom and Hummer's mom work together so play dates are already in the works!
AAHHHH, sweet relief! Congrats to Hummer and his new family!

Puppy Patrol! - Milestone for the babies....

The little darlings went ALL NIGHT without having to go out! We, as in Dave, took them out one last time last night before he went to bed, and they didn't get up again until I was up getting ready for the gym! And no piddles in the crate (of course)! They are soooo on their way to being house broken.
Then when I came home to get packed for the trip down south, I let them out, but it was snowing! I think it's safe to say, that not one of them cared much for the wet and cold....
Here's Puppy boy trying to figure out how to get up the stairs to get back inside.

Here's both boys trying to figure it out and Mom encouraging them.

And here's Ellie who has given up and looking for an alternate route.

Once inside, we needed to dry off....





We also needed to mop the floor, Puppy boy was a big help....

I hope the new families enjoy these pictures, they are the cutest puppies EVAH!
Now, we gotta find a super, fantastic home for Hummer.
Really, who could resist this?