I know there's been nothing new up here for a couple of weeks...

I'd like to say a massive Thank You to Lisa Heslington for looking after the Puppy Club Forum and all the new Barleors Puppy Owners while I've been away. You made it possible to relax Lisa and we can't thank you enough XXXXX

Well, that's it for this year folks! Thank you so much for taking the time to drop in and see the puppies every day.

I spent yesterday taking apart the whelping box and play pen and washing everything down.

Puppies are hard work but very rewarding. I'm really going to miss them. Hermione's turn next year ... So, see you then?

Easy Street (Oscar) on his last day...

Texas Rose (Heidi) leaves on Monday...

Boomer Sooner (Boomer) leaves Sunday...

Heidi, Oscar, Archie and Boomer... and then there were 4...

Sorry about the blurred photos, but I was laughing so hard!

This is Heidi's first experience of "mirror"!

She just kept on bouncing forward and back...

And playbowing at herself! Too funny!

Totally Exclusive...

Totally Cute...

This is the all new 2008 Barleors Labradoodle Puppy Calendar!

It features the puppies from this litter, and, of course, the wonderful Hermione!

Obviously, the new owners all get one with their puppy...

If you would like one please e-mail me your order.

£15.99 inc P&P

The puppies are nearly 7 weeks old and storming through their chicken wings now.

They used to go down to the bone, now they're chomping right through them...

Heidi kissing Rachael our incredibly sociable cat.

Woody came for his first lesson today. He's an F2b

Woody and Archie. (Route 66).

Archie and Rachel ~ she wouldn't go away!!

Woody at 8 weeks, Archie at 7 1/2.

Woody is one of Linda's puppies. His dad is Bailey, a miniature poodle owned by Lisa at Lisa's Miniature Labradoodles. He's a smashing pup, full of confidence!

He lives just up the road from where Betty is going to live, so they should have great fun at the Victory Fields when they meet! You can certainly see that he's 3/4 poodle can't you? Absolutely delightful and very, very quick on the uptake.

Rachael is becoming a bit of a pain during private lessons now. Unless the cat-flaps are locked she spends as much of the lesson as she can "socialising" and scrounging titbits. Today, however, she was handsomly rewarded for this behaviour as this is a very good age for puppies to become accustomed to cats that don't or won't run away from them or take a well aimed swipe at them.

Lots of visitors today! Here's James with Betty

Molly (full sister) also came along

Heidi looking impossibly cute

Hermione and Molly with the puppies.

Molly and Heidi playing

They were really sweet together!

Molly inspects her siblings...

I can't believe that 6 1/2 weeks have elapsed already. CEBBIES is boring even the puppies now. (Luckily they only have about one more week to suffer it... I've got YEARS!)

This is the Buddy Bowl. Its the first product that actually does what it says it will.You can turn it over, full of water and not spill a drop. Absolutely essential for toddlers and puppies.

Daisy loves the puppies

it appears the feeling is mutual...

mutual kisses between the babies!

and a cheeky face!

As you can see, the pups are doing fine.

A few special messages:

Simon, Philip and Helen - its been too long. I'm so sad that it took mum's funeral to get us together again. Please stay in touch. Jenson and Daisy need to meet their cousins...

Susan - I really miss you. I wish you were back in the UK.

Sarah, where are Harley's reports? Our international correspondant is conspicious by his absence!

Larchy - what's happening? Do you have snow yet?

Mandy and David. I love you both.

 

Yesterday was a busy day for me and the Puppies! Michelle and Freddie kindly brought Reese over so that the new owners of the male puppies would be able to meet him.

While Reese got an opportunity to inspect his new brothers and sisters, Jenson was made up with his magazine (thanks Michelle) and I got a lovely bunch of flowers from Freddie!

I met Rosie, Ben's first dog - she's an absolutely gorgeous seven year old black lab bitch. Oscar is one lucky boy - he's got an ace-dog to learn from. 75% of a puppy's behaviours will be learned from the existing dog(s) in the household.

If your existing dog has behavioural problems - DO NOT get a puppy to "keep it company" - the end result will be two dogs with problems.

Easy Street takes it all in...

Route 66 in the car

Our "Halloween" cat, Charessa is one of the 4 cats we own.

Aaarrrggg!!! Major disaster! I updated some system software on my mac last night. Since then Palm Desktop refuses to open the user data file.

Steve fixed it! Bless him. I guess I'll probably have to marry him now!

Pups have had a good day. Bob and Marion visited this morning and watched their pup, Boomer having a mini training session.

Today we started Clicker Training. The process with puppies this young starts with teaching the puppy how to eat treats from your hands.

Route 66 has just had the food popped into his mouth. Once they are readily taking food in this manner, you can start clicking just before you feed.

Care must be taken that the click is not too loud, or very close to their ears which would hurt. Once the click is firmly linked to food, training proper can commence.

Here we have the same puppy, less than five minutes later, being lured into a sit. The process is seamless and gentle. At no time is the puppy touched by your hands and no commands are used. The puppy simply follows the food lure into a sit, hears the click and is rewarded with a treat.

Once the puppy is sitting, the lure can be downwards producing the position we all know as "down". Again, at no time is the puppy touched and at no time do we use any commands.

I have a linoleum floor. This is USELESS for training such young puppies - they aren't even allowed to walk on it at this age as it is far too slippery. An old bath sheet makes an excellent surface for training on. A slip now might damage the pup's confidence in training forever.

Lovely pic from one of the new puppy owners

As Flossy is stepping back, Hermione is stepping in ...

Jane and Ian visited this morning

the pups are too big to all go out together

Now this might not be a very pretty picture... But I'm showing you because I was so very proud of the puppies this morning...

Only one puppy had missed the pad completely (poo in top right hand corner). All the other pups had managed to poop on the training pad.

And most of their wee was there too.

They're only 32 days old and "house training" has started already. Nature is wonderful.

The Puppy Shopping List has moved so its easier for me to update and you to find. Click here for the new location.

Betty eating her first ever chicken wings.

Easy Street having a bath (probably the last one in the sink!)

Flossy is still feeding several times a day

Puppies have graduated to the Weenafeeda

Heidi attacking her first chicken wing

Yipeeeeeeeee! Excellent hips and perfect elbows. Hermione can have babies next year!!

Elbows: 0:0 (Total 0)

 

Hips 3:2 (Total 5)

Norberg Angle 0:0
Subluxation 1:1
Cranial acetabular edge 2:1

 

(The Breed Mean Score is 13)

Hermione, Molly and Reese @ 1 year

Just in case you were wondering why I've posted this information here ... hip and elbow disease tends to run in families. The more members of the family that have good scores, the better that family is! Hermione is full sister to this litter.

When they're ready, she'll let them start feeding alongside her. Easy Street was still feeding from mum while his brothers and sisters started lapping at her milk-meal.

During this week "training" has started. The pups have been put in to this sturdy cardboard box while their whelping pen is cleaned out many times, so it is familiar to them and not stressful at all.

So its really a relatively small step to take them all for a short ride in the car with the help of my magical assistant Sophie, who tickled and stroked them during their first short ride in the car.

Though play he learns his survival skills - chasing game, bringing it down and killing it. Coordination and timing are learned though constant interaction with his littermates, he learns that submission can turn off aggression and what body language is appropriate during these vital play sessions.

One of the most important lessons he will ever learn is during this critical period. For this is when the puppy learns to accept discipline. He learns it from his mother, who through discipline teaches the puppies not to bite so hard, or, during the weaning process, to leave her alone.

If you are enjoying this page and finding it both interesting and informative (for free) can I prick your conscience?
Unscrupulous breeders mean that there are doodles out there that need your help.

Please make a donation.

Getting ready for the big out-door adventure. Steve has built a super 'hide' which is lovely and snug, well insulated and has a heater lamp suspended above it.

Which is obviously working well as the puppies had been placed directly under it, but they'd all moved a bit out of the way by the time I'd come back with my camera a few minutes later.

Obviously contented

Boomer is the first out to explore

I wish you could smell the woodchips - they're the dust-extracted hypoallergenic "snowflake" ones and they smell just heavenly!

In the meantime Daisy has totally trashed her play area.

Inflatable toys make great tents!

The Awareness Period - 21 to 28 Days

By 2l days the pups have the use of all of their senses. This stage, known as The Awareness Period is a important sub-period of the Canine Socialisation Period. There'll be more about this in a later update.

Radical changes in the environment should be avoided during this time of very rapid sensory development. Individual attention needs to be continued.

Each day a new surface such as concrete, linoleum, wood, carpet, matting, will be carefully and quitely introduced. Today they discovered silk.

During this period the puppy needs its mother more than any other time. The brain and nervous system begin to develop. Awareness begins to take place, and in this mental stage, a new puppy finds the world that surrounds it rather frightening.

A puppy permanently removed from its mother during this second critical period will never attain the mental and emotional growth that it could and would have, had it had been left with her. This is the single most important week in the puppy's lifetime. They begin to learn that they are a dog, to accept discipline, and how to show submission. They are moving around the whelping box on wobbly steps, showing curiosity and beginning to explore their environment.

This process kills two birds with one stone ... we want Flossy to be as comfortable as possible while feeding her babies and we want the babies to be handled and be well used to this procedure.

Now is also the time to introduce the puppies to friendly companion animals. We share our home with 4 cats, three of whom fit the bill perfectly.

Hey - just look what happened in the last 48 hours!

The puppies eyes have just started opening. The process starts in the inside corner and gradually widens in a tear-drop shape until the eye is fully open.

All the puppies will have blue eyes at the beginning.

I'd like to say a special hello to Susan Owen - who has moved back to Oklahoma City now. We miss you here in the UK! Come back please!

Susan kindly named the puppies for me on the flight back home. All of their names are linked to Susan in some way or another...

Events to watch out for:

Dogs Today Magazine (Jan issue?) will be featuring Labradoodles ... Hermione was photographed yesterday for the fido facts feature.

My lovely vet Tim Hosken would like to put on a First Aid for Dogs seminar. It will be a couple of hours long, very local to Ascot and probably in the next few weeks. If you're interested in attending can you e-mail me please? Tickets won't be more than £10.00 per head.

 

Chocolate Male
"Red"

Chocolate Male
"Green"

Chocolate Female
"Blue"

Black Female
"White"

What can I possibly say? I'm totally overwhelmed by the supportive e-mails, texts and phone calls I've received in the last 24 hours. You really are such a lovely bunch of people and you've made a tragically heartbreaking situation just a bit more bearable. Thank you.

I got to the vets at about 6pm last night - they had just called me because she wasn't responding to any therapy and they wanted to euthanise her to end the suffering. However, as I arrived she started to slip away and she died in my hands a few minutes later, without any further intervention from the vets.

As Lisa so kindly reminded me this morning when she called, at least she'll never know abuse, pain, anxiety or fear. She put up such a brave fight for so many days she'll always be remembered.

I have let Hearing Dogs know that I am not in a position to donate them a puppy this time, but I have promised one from Hermione's litter, should she have one, next year.

I realise that this decision will probably cause no end of flack in some quarters, but when faced with the decision to let down one of the five lovely and carefully selected

families who already knew they were getting a puppy, or telling Hearing Dogs that I was going to postpone my donation for a year, I chose the latter. They will certainly get a puppy, just not this year.

One of the worst parts of breeding is having to let people down and I feel absolutely awful for having done this to Louise and Phil, who have a lovely family but were unfortunately No 6 on my list. I can't thank them enough for their patience and I sincerely hope that one of Lisa's puppies will be suitable for them.

Thanks again to everyone.

 

Yellow has lost 30g since yesterday - this is despite placing her on the biggest teats at every feed, giving her 'extra time' alone with Flossy and staying up all night to make sure she still got the best position during the night feeds.

As straight intervention isn't working, I have started supplementing her with Whelpi, a bitches milk substitute. She had about 5ml at 10.15am and is now sleeping next to a hot water bottle with all the other pups.

15:30 I've just left her at the vets. She was getting weaker and more dehydrated and I felt expert help was required. Will keep you posted. I've called her Chanel (she was No. 5).

Between a week to ten days of age, all of the puppies should have at least doubled their birth weight.

The pictures below show each puppy today with their their weight gain expressed as a percentage.

The total litter weight gain is over 3 1/4 kilos! Flossy is eating 4 meals a day now, she had half a small chicken with 1/2 a cup of Kefir and supplements for breakfast...

Red Male = 145%

Green Male = 133%

Blue Female = 118%

Orange Male = 167%

Yellow Female = 113%

White Female = 162%

The weights above were pre-breakfast!

All that was left of Flossy's breakfast this morning!!

Busy days!!! We abandoned the collars on Wednesday because of the speed the puppies are growing at. They were absolutely invaluable during the birth and first two or three days - I'll definitely be using them again, but tippex and nail polish works brilliantly after that, without the risk of the collar becoming too tight or getting snagged.

According to Jack and Wendy Volhard, we are still in the Neonatal Period (Birth to 12 Days). This critical period is devoted to two functions: obtaining nutrition by nursing, and staying warm.

A puppy is not physically self-sufficient when he is born. He needs the warmth of his environment to control his body temperature. He needs physical stimulation to urinate and defecate. He has neither sight nor hearing and is deficient in his senses of smell taste and touch. He reacts to hot and cold, and to some extent to pain. He also reacts to the smell of mother.

So you would expect these puppies to be "much of a muchness" wouldn't you? But already I can see their personalities starting to develop.

Happy Birthday daddy!

 

The environment affects him only inasmuch as it touches him. While the puppy grows rapidly in size and strength during this period, his behavior patterns remain virtually the same throughout. EEG's taken during the Neonatal Period show no difference between the puppy's brain waves when he is asleep and when he is awake.

It would be interesting to se if an EEG would differ from one puppy to the next at this stage? Pup No 6 is sooooooooo laid back I'm not sure an EEG would pick up anything right now!

Daisy loves watching the puppies

Flossy has a "sneaky" feed with No 5.

During the neonatal period, ALL puppies should be with their mother and littermates, but research shows that brief, gentle handling by humans of both sexes can have beneficial effects. Puppies that are briefly picked up and held for a few seconds at a time while being gently stroked have been shown to have higher tolerance to stressors later in life. Puppies that are handled are more active, more likely to explore their environment and are more social with humans. Another study showed that handled puppies had increased nervous system maturation, more rapid hair growth and weight gain, earlier opening of the eyes and enhanced motor development. Thus, early handling may lead to improved learning ability and a more emotionally stable puppy. Furthermore, it has been suggested that mild stressors, such as early handling, affect the pituitary system in a way that helps the puppy cope better with stress in later life. Phew... That must explain why Hermione is my "Hangover-Dog" !!!

Number 5 was significantly smaller than any of the other pups at birth, but I'm pleased to say that today she has doubled her birth weight and her future looks considerably brighter than it did even just a few days ago. She is, without doubt, of the same ilk as Barleors Saffron Sue (Eileen will be chuckling) - I can hardly believe how "lucky" I am to have another one!

Its official - I'm exhausted now! 1am starts seem to do that. Flossy is sporting a very trim Kennel Clip now, all the pups are gaining weight and looking lovely. We did weights and collars this evening - everyone needed a new collar and everyone has gained another 10% of their body weight or more. Two of the pups are as heavy as the pups were at day 10 last year! The lightest pup is still 20g heavier than the lightest pup from the last litter and gaining strongly.

No 5.

No. 6.

6.00am Blog...

Well, we've just had a very squeaky night. I don't know why they do it, but some nights you hardly hear them at all and other nights, like last night, you're up every 20 to 30 minutes checking on them.

Naturally, they've been pretty much silent since 6am, the poor little tykes are probably tired after partying all night...

This litter will be named in honour of my great friend Susan Owen, who left the UK yesterday to go home to America after living here for seven years.

The only puppy to be named so far is the chocolate female and she's going to be called Barleors Texas Rose. The name Oklahoma will probably be awarded to the most vocal pup, whilst Typhoon Alley will probably go to the most boisterous.

Susan's task, whilst on the flight yesterday, was to think up the rest of the names for this litter. We did Flossy's first litter together and Saffron Susan was named after her.

I'll take some more pictures later on today, and probably put them up after lunch. Right now I'm just enjoying the pre-Jenson peace and quiet!

The Cast - In order of appearance...

Chocolate Male

Chocolate Male

Chocolate Female

Chocolate Male

Black Female

Black Female

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10