doodles on schnoodles
Fantasy Pups
Folks have been asking about our decision to delay breeding Phantasia and Phoebe. This was not for health reasons, since the vet judged that both dogs were in top-notch health and ready for another litter. We felt it would just be easier for us not to have several litters overlapping. Anyway, although we skipped their Spring heats, both dogs are in season again. so here is the latest plan:
Tomorrow we will breed Phantasia to Ricky, since she is back in season. Once she has completed three ties (by June 19), the plan is to begin breeding Phoebe, who should be ovulating by then. If all goes as planned, Phantasia and Phoebe should be whelping in mid-August, and their puppies would be ready to go home in mid-October.
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We are now three weeks away from the birth of our next Schnoodle litter! This spring we decided to breed Marshmellow and Calliope, while we postpones breeding Phantasia and Phoebe until the summer. Marshmellow, due June 28th, is already showing a "puppy belly", and Calli, due July 12th, is just starting to slow down a bit. This week we will give Marshmellow a close grooming so that she is less encumbered with all the Schnauzer furnishing when it comes time to whelp her pups, but still enough time for her to start growing some of it back for family visitations.
A mysterious yellow circle appeared in the sky this week. Nobody knew what this strange phenomenon was, but the elders told of a time when this yellow sphere ruled the sky and made the Earth turn green. As a result of this strange apparition, we were all able to go out of doors and enjoy the warmth that it gave. Here is a video of us enjoying the day with Wren, Robin, and Finch (who we call Ibn Sina, an inside joke related to a medieval physician and thinker that my son reads.) We have had puppies coming out of our ears since Christmas Eve, but now we are down to our last Winter/Spring Litter. My mornings and evenings of rubbing puppy paws and pulling puppy ears and massaging mouths is about to come to an end. The afternoons of half a dozen puppies scrambling across my living room floor, chasing my adult dogs, is about to be replaced with less entertaining past-times. I will have fewer after-school visits from my grandkids. My guest bathroom will no longer be piled high with drying puppy trays; my laundry room will not longer be piled high with dog beds and bedding; my living room will no longer be a puppy den. I will be able to go out of the house again. And all that work and all that energy and all that joy will be spread out to happy families and happy neighborhoods across the Eastern United States. I am spending the day doing deep cleaning, washing and disinfecting all the puppies toys and bedding and food/water bowls. But we noticed a couple of the puppies were getting frisky so we trained a camera on them and captured a few minute so their day to share with you below. I tried to combine these five videos into one, but I cannot figure out how to do it! So if you are interested, you will have to view them one by one. Hope you enjoy our four little puppies, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury! Potty Training Schedule for the 8 week Puppy The most important time in potty training puppies takes place before a puppy is 16 weeks. We start training your puppy for you. But you need to continue intensive training through 16 weeks. (After 16 weeks you still need consistency....but it gets easier. Be aware that at this age, puppies can generally hold their bladder for as long as 2 hours. So, consider then when setting up a time frame on how often to take him out. The general pattern for potty training is as follows: Feed the puppy wait 15 minutes, offer water, and then take him/her out to go potty, then spend 30 minutes to play with puppy. An 8-9 week Puppy needs to soil every 2 1/2 hrs. Always give water before taking pup out to soil. Adjust the schedule to add 15 minutes every week that goes by. Basic Potty Training Schedule for the 8 week old Puppy: 6:30 am Rise walk pup briefly 7:00 am Feed & water pup Walk pup and take to potty spot Play briefly with Pup Pup stays in Crate Mid morning: Walk pup to potty spot Pup stays with you 15 min Pup returns to crate 12-1pm Feed pup second meal and offer water Walk pup to potty spot Go back inside and stay with pup Pup returns to crate Mid afternoon: Offer water Walk pup to potty spot Pup returns to crate 5:00 pm Feed pup third meal and offer water Walk pup to potty spot Allow pup to play in kitchen while making dinner 7:00 pm Walk pup briefly to potty spot Offer water (breeders remove water at this time for an older puppy) Go inside and play with pup Pup returns to crate Before Bed Walk pup to potty spot Pup sleeps in crate...or tethered in your bedroom As your puppy matures you can increase the time between potty breaks. Do not leave your puppy or adult dog in a crate for over 4 hours (as the puppy matures to an adult he will be fine in his crate all night) The advantage of the UgoDog trained puppy: Since a puppy is unable to hold his immature bladder for several hours, if you must leave your pup for many hours, then you can open the puppy's crate in a puppy pen or enclosed safe area in kitchen. Put the Ugodog box nearby and your puppy will be able to potty in the Ugodog when you are not home. The Kitchen Timer Potty ScheduleIf you don't want to watch the clock, you can practice a similar potty schedule by letting the kitchen timer be your reminder. I like to set my kitchen timer for 2:30 hours every time my 8 week puppy goes potty. When my puppy comes inside I let the puppy play for an hour or so. When the puppy looks tired, I put the puppy in its crate or pen to nap the last 30 minutes or so. If the timer goes off, and the puppy is still napping I will let it sleep until it wakes up. If the puppy is awake when the timer goes off, I take it outside to potty. Then I start the timer again. You just need to remember to also offer your puppy water before taking him outside and also to feed him on a schedule. After your puppy eats, you need to set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes. Put the puppy in his crate, and take him out to go pee and poo afterwards.
As your puppies bladder matures, he can hold it longer. For this reason after each week that you are training your puppy, you can add 15 minutes to your time between potty breaks. if you follow this method diligently, your puppy should be accident free, and fully trained by 4 months of age. At about 5 months of age, you can reduce his meals to twice a day. At 1 year old you can reduce his meals to once a day Marshmellow's pups took their first car ride today to visit the vet. They also got their first set of shots. The vet had positive things to say. No umbilical hernias, no abnormal heart murmurs, no eye issues, no cleft palates... As he went through the list, it was a little disconcerting: there are so many things that can go wrong with a newborn puppy! Fortunately, every single puppy in the litter passed with a perfect score! Every night before bedtime, the puppies get their third meal of the day, then they play themselves to exhaustion... then the whole house settles down for the night. Last night was the first night since Christmas Eve that the puppies all slept through the whole night! Calliope has three postures: sleeping, waking, taking a break from the pups... and that last one only started today. Calliope's pups turned two weeks today and one of the pups opened her eyes a crack! My son relocated the newborns' pen into the living room and moved Marshmellow's pups out of the foyer into a pen in the living room beside Calli's pups. It doesn't look like anything out of Architecture Digest, but he says it is important that the puppies adjust to hearing the sounds of an active home all day long. So not only will the puppies get their twice daily belly rubs and foot messages and ear tugs, but now they will also watch me do my housework, share Turner Classic Movies with me, and get the updates on the government shutdown. Calli is a great mother. She never leaves the puppies' side! Her idea of a break is to lay down a foot away. The other adult dogs are very interested in Calli's tiny additions and their constant squeaks. They had been scoping out Marshmellow's pups, but had been kept away from Calli's, so today their curiosity was finally satisfied. And now I always know when Marshmellow's puppies are awake to play because my dogs all run to the living room to watch the action. |
BreederHello. My name is Marie, and I have three Schnauzers that fill my life with joy! With the help of my children and grandchildren, I am raising Schnoodle puppies and placing them in good homes. Feel free to browse through my website and enjoy the pictures! Archives
February 2020
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