And Then There Were None...

Where have the last 3 months gone???  We went from having 2 adult dogs, to adding 9 sweet puppies, and now we are back to just the 2 original adults.  All the puppies are officially with their new families and beginning life adventures in the real world.  This weekend we cleaned up all the puppy pens, supplies, play areas, and gear....sanitized and put everything away until the next litter. Melancholy time around here, for sure! :o( The past 3 months have flown by!!! What joy, light, and life these puppies bring into our daily lives. Gratefully, they all have gone to excellent homes and they'll continue to be well loved and cared for. We cherish the pictures and updates we get of these babies whom we've loved as our own since before they were even born!

Here are a few pics looking back at the first few days with these sweet little ones and their very happy, loving, extremely attentive mother. It's amazing how much they've grown and what they have learned in just 3 short months!  We love our little dobie babies!

9 Weeks Old

I can't believe all the little babies are 9 weeks old today!  Time has really flown by!  Everyone is with their new families except these two sweeties, Natasha & Black Bart, who are waiting to get their ears cropped tomorrow.  We will meet up with two of their brothers, Gus & Redd, at the ear cropping vet and they can all become cone heads together!

Today we had a little adventure and went to Petsmart for the first time.  These little ones got loved on and thought all the people and sights were great fun!  They now have new collars because they have outgrown their newborn puppy collars.  Natasha will now be sporting a lovely red collar and Black Bart will sport a nice black collar.  Happy 9 week old birthday, little ones!

Another one gone...

Sweet little Jewel (purple collar female) is now in the loving hands of her new family! They are so happy to have her with them and it will be a big surprise for the mom and older girls in the family to see she is home earlier than they thought.

More Puppies Leaving

Four little ones went to their new homes yesterday: blue, red, brown, and black collar boys. They are all really lucky, though, because they are going to family members so they will get to see each other very regularly and will have lots of fun playing when they get together, remembering they are brothers. We sure love these wild and crazy boys!

"Regulus" AKA "Gus" (Blue collar) & Red Collar (name TBD)

"Knolly" (Brown collar) and Kona (Black collar)

Going Home

Our first puppy went to her new home today: cute little yellow collar girl.  She is already cherished so much and we know she will come to love her new home and family just as much as she's loved being here with us, her Mom, and all her siblings!  Her name is now Anya Rose in honor of our sweet Momma doggie and friend Anya Belle who passed away in May.  We look forward to watching her thrive in the coming years.

This coming week we will send home the majority of our puppies.  A couple will hang out with us for a few more weeks until their newly cropped ears are all healed up.  We are sad to see everyone starting to leave, but it is okay because they are all going to awesome homes!

6 Weeks Old!!!

How can it be that these sweet little babies are 6 weeks old already?!  They are growing and changing and having such great experiences.  They have gone from awkward, uncoordinated puppies to confident little dogs in a very short amount of time.  It is such a joy and pleasure to watch and interact with them every waking minute!  This week they have gotten a lot more steady on their legs.  They not only walk without tumbling over; but they run, romp, and go up and down stairs too.  They have enjoyed exploring the puppy obstacles in the yard, as well as creating obstacles and having adventures of their own making.  They have discovered the joy of playing with toys, as well as wrestling together even more roughly than before!  They have graduated from eating puppy mash (dry puppy food soaked in goat's milk, egg, and cottage cheese) to eating puppy food mixed with coconut oil to keep their coats healthy and glistening.  Their little teeth are like razors so you'd better keep your toes inside your shoes when these little rascals are around!  :o)  They are still very sweet and snugly and don't mind being held and coddled.  They love their time with Momma, but find they enjoy being independent and free most of all.  Mom still takes great care of them and has not tired of her nurturing role.  We love these little puppies so much!

Males

Females

5 Weeks Old!!!

These puppies are so fun and this is our all-time favorite puppy age! We really love them! As a litter they are really enjoyable. For the most part, they are pretty calm, playful, curious, super friendly, loving, and responsive to the activities we do with them. When you get them one-on-one you see more of their personalities coming out. Some are definitely more dominant than others, but all are going to make really excellent companions and family members.  A couple of them REALLY love to eat and are just growing like weeds compared to their siblings.  The largest puppy (black collar male) is 6.5 lbs and the smallest puppy (orange collar male) is 4.5 lbs.  However, all are extremely healthy, good-natured, happy puppies.  We are in love!

Kobe, the water and rock loving doggie!

This is Kobe, age 13 months, from our last litter. His "aunt" shared these pictures with us and we love them! She says, "He is just the sweetest. My brother really lucked out getting him from you guys and he loves him so much and they are a great pair. I get to tend Kobe every once in a while in St. George so I love him like he's my own!"

We are always so happy when we hear great reports back from our previous puppy's families. They are all so loved and well cared for. It is very gratifying to know that they bring such joy to their families. We feel blessed to be a small part in bringing happiness and love to people through these amazing, intuitive, and nurturing Dobermans!

Kobe's daddy said Kobe had to take his favorite toy to bed with him....his rock!  Such a silly puppy!

4 Weeks Old!

4 weeks old and half way to being ready for their new families! They get cuter and more playful everyday! These little ones are so sweet. They've had some big milestones this past week: starting potty training, starting solid foods, graduating to a different puppy pen, baths, and lots of visitors. They are handling everything like champs and we are loving their temperaments and personalities that we are seeing coming out. Mom still takes great care of them but they are definitely becoming more independent and ok about having her away for longer periods of time. They still love her snuggles, kisses, and mommy time, though.

Pepper Jack Playing Ball

This is a video of Sgt. Pepper Jack Dancer, age 13 months, a puppy from our last litter.  He is just as ball crazy as his mama!  He's such a happy, smart, playful guy!  We love to see our past babies loving life and so doing well.  Thanks to his daddy Mike for keeping us regularly up to date.  We love it!

3 Weeks Old!

How can it be that these little sweeties are 3 weeks old already?  They get cuter and more playful and fun by the minute!  We sure love having these little ones in our home.  They love to snuggle with us and their Momma.  But they especially love playing and wrestling with each other.  They experiment with every sort of vocalization possible (barking, howling, whining, growling, humming, etc.) and they sometimes create quite the ruckus! Everyone's teeth are coming in and they will have their first experience with eating puppy mash today.  They will love it!  Momma still dotes on them and takes excellent care of them, but she is also enjoying having a little more time to herself as they have become more independent.  What a fun group of puppies!

An Arm Full of Joy!

How could you resist these sweet faces!  It is such a joy and pleasure to be surrounded by and interacting with these little sweeties all day everyday!  They are getting cuter and more playful by the minute.  We sure love all these babies!

2 Weeks Old

Babies are 2 weeks old! Their eyes are all open and they are becoming more mobile. Their walk is very unsteady and slow, but they are definitely getting stronger. They have started barking and experimenting with various vocalizations. Their ears should be completely open in the next couple days. The smallest puppy weighs in at just under 1.5 lbs and the heaviest is a little over 2 lbs. We are so in love with these little ones!

1 Week Old

Can it be that these little sweeties are already a week old?!  They are growing steadily, eating well, and becoming more active and vocal.  Everyone had their tails docked and dew claws removed this week and were given a clean bill of health.  Mama is taking great care of them and is very watchful and protective of her little ones.  We sure love these little sweeties.

Puppies are here!!!!

Starting Sunday night and going through Monday afternoon, our sweet little Mama dog Ana blessed our lives with her beautiful puppies.  It was a long and exhausting experience for everyone, but Ana was such a trooper!  We are so proud of her!  As a first-time mom she has really taken to it and is so very gentle, loving, attentive, and concerned about her babies.  It is a joy to watch her with them.  Ana delivered 13 puppies.  Sadly, 2 were stillborn and 2 had small but fatal birth defects (underdeveloped lungs & abdominal).  But, we still have 9 healthy puppies who, so far, are doing very well.  There are 3 girls (1 blue, 2 black) and 6 boys (1 blue, 5 black).  They are eating well and are very vigorous.  Prepare for puppy picture overload!!!  :o)  Ana is such a happy, proud little mama!  She loves her babies and it shows on her face!

X-ray Results

This morning we took Ana to the vet to get an x-ray to determine a puppy count.  We were absolutely blown away with what we discovered!!!  Our little mama is expecting 13-14 puppies!!!  Wowza!  We've really got our work cut out for us over the next couple of months!  We are still in a state of shock but we are also so very excited.  The vet thinks her puppies will come on Wednesday, September 24th.  So, not too many more days until we meet all these little sweeties!

Babies are growing bigger!

Puppies are growing and growing!  We have an x-ray scheduled for this coming week (Sept 19th) to find out how many babies Ana is expecting.  We can hardly wait!!!  She's such a cute little mama.

Puppies are Moving!

We started feeling puppies move yesterday morning! We are so excited to meet the babies in 2 weeks! This picture does NOT do justice to how big Ana is getting!  She grows visibly from morning to night everyday!!!  Basically, all she does now are rest and eat.  Poor little mama!

Happy Birthday, Boys!

All the boys from our "Brothers Litter" celebrated their 1st birthday this week.  Happy birthday, boys!!!  It is amazing that a year has passed already.  They have all grown into such handsome guys and we receive glowing reports from their families.  Here are some updated pics from 5 of the 7 brothers.  We are sure proud of all our boys!

PUPPIES ARE COMING!!!

PUPPIES ARE CONFIRMED!!!!!! We just returned from Ana's ultrasound where we learned that Ana is definitely expecting puppies! We are so excited! The vet thought he could see up to 10 little ones in there! Wow! He did admit, however, that there is a possibility he counted some of them twice. It was obvious, though, that there are a lot of puppies.  Either way, we are so excited and September 24th can't come soon enough! Yay for Ana and Vivaro!!!!!!

Breeding: Ana X Vivaro

Amazingly, we were able to get all Ana's health clearances completed and everything lined up in time for Ana to be bred to an INCREDIBLE stud--Vivaro v. Noblesshof: IPO-1, BH.  Everything just seemed to fall into place quite easily.  Ana & Vivaro spent the week together; and if all goes as planned, we should be expecting puppies around September 22nd!  We are so excited to see what these two beauties produce! Pregnancy will be confirmed via ultrasound August 22nd.

Vivaro was imported from Noblesshof Kennels in Serbia.  He has a solid, thick, European frame and the working mentality to go along with it.  He is also amazingly gentle, calm, and personable.  We REALLY like this guy and everything he has to offer!  He's got the whole package: working aptitude, solid character and temperament, proven lines, strong health, great looks and coloring.  He is a perfect compliment to our Ana girl.

Ana's Hips

We had Ana's hips checked out today at the vet.  He says they are BEAUTIFUL!!!  Possibly among the most beautiful hips he's ever seen.  That is excellent news for our girl!  The vet said, "If the OFA does not give her an 'excellent' rating then they are either smoking something or having a really, really bad day!"  We are so pleased with this news.  Things are moving forward in wonderful, positive ways!