Puppies

Hi, everybody. We’re here to shake your day up. This is going to be the six-week update for the Shake It Up litter from Van Isle Labradoodles. We’re going to give you an update on each of the puppies, and these are all medium, multigen Australian Labradoodle puppies. We’re going to take a look at each of the 11 puppies, give you a little bit of an update on each of them and what they’ve been doing this past week, and also give you an update on Breezy, and then we’re going to talk about some tips and tricks for you to employ once you get your puppy home and you start taking your puppy outside and doing some socialization.

Let’s get started with the most fun part, and that’s updating for each of the puppies, so we’re going to start today with a dark blue collar puppy power. Collar here. Hello, sweetie girl. Hello. Little dark blue collar is the only sable puppy in the litter, and you can tell that she’s sable because she’s brown with black tips, as opposed to black and white like all the other puppies are. Now, little dark blue collar is a really nice good size. She’s very good at eating, and she’s a real cuddle bug. She’s really enjoying her time outside, and she loves to explore and run around on the grass and just have a great deal of fun. She’s a real sweetheart. We love this little girl very much. That’s dark blue collar.

Next we have here is yellow collar. Just give dark blue to Reynold, and we’ll have yellow collar girl come and make her debut. Hi, sweetie. Now, yellow collar girl is a black-and-white extreme parti, which means she is mostly white in her body, and then she has these gorgeous phantom markings over her eyebrows and on the side of her face. Those are her tan points. Yellow collar is one of our most outgoing girls in this litter. She is a very confident, lively, and happy puppy. Nothing makes her happier than when we open the gate and say, “Time to go outside.” She just thinks that’s fabulous. She loves to go out, and she, too, loves to run in the grass, and she likes to play and everything else when she’s outside. She’s a great little puppy.

Next, we have black collar boy. This is one of the three boys in the litter. Black collar boy started off as green collar boy, but when they graduated to their big boy collars, we didn’t have one in green, so we had to replace it with black. Black collar boy is also one of the more vocal puppies, he likes to talk to us and tell us when he is and isn’t happy. He just thinks it’s great to go outside as well. He’s a real explorer, and he’s already showing us that he likes to play with the ball and he also enjoys playing with the water. He’s a really sweet little guy. Aren’t you handsome? That’s green collar, now black collar, boy.

Next, we have one of our other boys. We’re having a little run of boys. This is the biggest puppy in the litter, and this is brown collar boy. Brown collar is a gorgeous black-and-white parti boy, and he has these beautiful markings on his face that are totally symmetrical. Brown is a highly confident boy, which befits the fact that he is the biggest boy in the litter, but he also has a really big heart. He loves to cuddle. This guy is all about people. He has really strong eye contact. He’s always looking to see what it is that we’re trying to communicate to him, and before anyone else knows that it’s time to come in or it’s time to go out, Mr. Brown Collar is all ready to do so because he’s already read all of our signals. Super nice little puppy. Really like this fellow. That’s brown collar.

Next, we have pink collar girl. Pink collar girl, as you may remember, is our little beautiful black-and-white parti girl, who has the little beauty spot on the side of her face. Pink collar girl is a ton of fun. This puppy is full of life and laughter and always having just the best time. She just thinks life is a bowl of cherries and everything is just waiting for her to explore and have a really good time with. She’s a really outgoing puppy, super confident, and she also is very, very fond of children. Just a lovely puppy, Ms. Pink Collar is.

Next, we have one of the black puppies, and this is orange collar girl. Now, the black puppies are all just a little bit smaller than the black-and-white ones, other than one of the ones which we’ll get to in a moment, but orange collar girl and her sisters who are black are all very stocky, sturdy, solid puppies. They are all terrific eaters. Orange collar is one of the cuddlers in the litter, and orange collar is probably one of the puppies who is most fond of young children as well. She is a really, really affectionate dog. She loves to be held and cuddled, and she likes to have a really good time when she goes outside. She roars up and down all over the place, exploring everything she can get her forepaws on. That’s our orange collar girl.

Next, we have gray collar girl, who is also one of our blacks. Hello, sweetheart. Gray collar girl is a little bit smaller than orange collar girl, just a little bit lighter. She’s a little bit of a quieter puppy. She waits to get all of her cues from people. She doesn’t go along with the herd quite so much. She’s not as interested in doing what all the other puppies are doing as opposed to being closer to us and see what we’re telling her to do. She’s very responsive. This little girl is going to be excellent for training, a breeze to train, as all she really wants to do is look at you and say, “What would you like me to do?” You can see she’s giving me quite a bit of eye contact right now as she checks out the lights and looks around and wonders, “What the heck are we doing today, Mom? Why are we here?” She’s a really interesting little girl. Very calm, quiet, and an intelligent puppy. That’s our gray collar girl.

Next, we have peach collar girl. Peach collar girl is a black-and-white parti, as you can see, and this is the one I was talking about when I said she was not as big as the other partis. Peach is the smallest puppy in the litter. She is also probably what we would deem to be the sweetest puppy in the litter. I think it’s her eyes. Now, you’ll notice probably the entire time I’m talking, she is going to be completely focused on me. She may look away, but mostly she’s going to look right into my eyes, and she’s going to do everything to connect with me. Similar to gray collar, peach collar girl is a human contact dog. She is interested in what the people are doing, and she gets all of her cues and all of her confidence from people. This little girl is going to be a super affectionate, very loyal, and devoted companion dog, and she is cute as a button with that little face of hers. Just a doll. That’s peach.

 [inaudible 00:07:29].

Next, we have light blue collar, and light blue collar is one of the boys and-

 [inaudible 00:07:37].

… also one of the black puppies. Light blue collar is lively and bouncy, has lots of fun, loves to play with the toys outside. He really has a good time exploring the slide, going up and down and chasing the balls that are in the container by the slide, and just having a heck of a good time outside. He’s a really lively, rambunctious little fellow, full of life, aren’t you, light blue collar? Very fond of children as well.

Next, we have red collar girl. Red collar girl is our beautiful black-and-white puppy. She’s mostly black, but she has all of these gorgeous white markings, and she too is a snuggle bug puppy. This is a girl who will just look into your eyes when you come in the room. She’ll search you out and follow you until you acquiesce and pick her up and give her some hugs. That’s all she wants in the whole world is for you to pick her up and hang on to her and give her lots of cuddles. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, a woman, a big person, a little kid. She just wants to be held. However, when she’s outside, she is having the time of her life, so she’s not always quiet and into the cuddle. She also enjoys playing, and being outside, and participating in all the activities that are going on. A really nice, well-balanced little puppy girl, this one.

Next, we’re going to take a look at purple collar. Now, purple collar has quite a personality. Purple collar is the personality out of the whole group, I would say. Purple is the talker of the group at this point. She is always telling us exactly how she feels. That might be yelling at us if she doesn’t like the fact that we haven’t let her out. It might be whining at us if she’s mad that she hasn’t been fed according to her schedule, or it might be giving us all sorts of laughter and smiles because she’s just having a great time at that point. She is a communicator.

This dog is probably the one that has the strongest inclination towards being a therapy dog at this point, because she communicates so strongly. However, she might be a little bit too much of a communicator to be a good comfort dog in that if she was in a hospital setting, she might wake everybody up, because she can really make her voice heard when she needs to. She’s so much fun. She loves being outdoors as well. Great with kids, and just probably the puppy that makes us smile the most is Ms. Purple Collar with all of her ways. That’s her.

That’s all of the puppies now. That’s a little update on all of them. If you are following along on our Facebook page, which I hope you are, then you’ll have seen the video that we took recently where the puppies all were outside. It’s just a little short cellphone video where we’re calling them all from up in the Doodle Den to come out onto the backyard. We have five acres altogether on the property, and the back is all fenced into various different sections for the dogs, and there’s lots of nice green grass now that we finally have the beautiful warm weather. We also have some dry stream beds that the puppies can go through. There’s a pond, and they can run around that, and there’s some dirt, there’s some plans. There’s a garden area where they’re not supposed to go, and there’s a gravel area, so they get great exposure to a whole lot of different surfaces under their feet.

They get to get used to all these different textures when they’re going across the dry streambeds. It’s great because there’s a drop-off, and they have to be able to negotiate that. They have to be able to balance on the rocks, get out the other side. It also really helps to develop their skillset when they’re here and other things are going on over here, how to best get from here to here.

Some of the areas in our backyard, there’s quite a bit of a drop-off, at least if you’re a little puppy, and they will come to the edge and look and decide and figure out how to negotiate that. Now, some of them will choose to slide down. Some of them will just go all out and then go, “What have I done?” Some of them will stop, look, watch and figure out that, “Well, if I go around here, this will work. If I go this way, it’s more direct.”

This is all part of what we do with our assessments for the puppies. We watch them in all these different situations, and we assess how they assess situations. This gives us lots of good information about their problem-solving skills, what they’re more inclined to be like. The puppy who runs headlong and goes over the edge and starts sliding, that’s a puppy who’s very outgoing, very enthusiastic, and has no fear. A puppy who comes up more slowly, watches what the other ones do and contemplates, “How am I going to get from A to B,” now, that’s our thinker, and that’s our more calm and a little bit more sensitive of a puppy. The puppy who figures out the shortest route from A to B, now, that’s our puppy that we give marks for extra intelligence to.

There’s all sorts of things we find when we take them outside. It’s not just all fun and games for them. We also watch and see who picks up the balls, who picks up the sticks, who digs, who does all sorts of things, who’s drawn to the water. In our whole dry streambed system, there is always water going through the system, and the puppies who tend to like the water the best are always drawn to that and always looking for it.

What I want to talk to you a bit about today is when you take your puppy home and have your puppy outdoors, both in your backyard, in the park, at a friend’s house, or out for a walk. What are the things you need to be looking out for? What are the things you need to be aware of?

The first thing is, a lot of people think when they take their puppy home that they shouldn’t take them out and about because they don’t have all of their vaccinations yet. True enough, they’ve only had their first shots, and they don’t have their full immunity yet. However, parvo and distemper are very rare. They don’t occur on a regular basis, so the risk of your dog running into those things is nominal. Just use some common sense. Don’t go to the SPCA. Don’t go to a rescue shelter. Don’t go to the dog park. Don’t go anywhere where there’s a large conglomeration of dogs that you don’t know. Obviously, then you may run into a circumstance where there are dogs who aren’t vaccinated who are carrying some disease.

Go places that you know and you are safe and confident in, places where you’d be comfy taking your kids and letting them sit on the ground. For sure, take them out and walk around your neighborhood. Let them meet everybody in your neighborhood. Your neighbors will like to meet them, and that’s really good for your puppy to meet different people. Make sure you go on a street where there’s lots of different traffic. If you can find a spot where you might be able to hear sirens or construction, even better. You want to keep exposing your puppy to new things all the time, but the key to all of that is that each time you do, it’s positive. The experience has to be a good one in order for your puppy to take away from that experience that life is good and that they’re safe, so you always want to be sure that you’re keeping an eye on your puppy. Watch their reactions. If your puppy is going like this and trying to hide, shivering, putting their tail between their legs, cowering, then you know what you’re doing is too much for your puppy.

Now, you don’t want to pick your puppy up and [inaudible 00:15:37] and make a big production out of that, because that just teaches your puppy that, “I was right. There was something to be afraid of.” Instead, take your puppy and go, “Hey, come on, Rover. That’s a way. Come on. Let’s go over here,” and remove the puppy from the situation that’s causing them discomfort. Take them far enough away until you notice that they’re relaxed again, the tail’s back out from between the legs, the ears are no longer down, they’re not shivering, they’re not yawning, they’re not panting, they’re looking relaxed again.

If you need to pick your puppy up to do that, don’t hesitate to do that. There’s nothing wrong with picking your puppy up. I always usually pick them up and go, “Hey, that’s okay. That’s a way. Good dog. Come on. Let’s go,” and then put them back down on the ground. Usually with a young puppy, they’ve forgotten entirely about whatever it was that was worrying them, so just go far enough away and sit and make sure that that experience is good and that they feel great. Then the next day, come back and try that same situation again. This time, go not quite as close. Just watch your puppy really carefully, and as soon as you see any signs of them being uncomfortable or distressed, stop, back away a little bit, till you’re back in their comfort zone. Lots of treats. Lots of smiles. Lots of, “Hey, yeah, whoa, this is great,” happy voice. Use that body language. Lots of open body language.

The other thing you can do is, here’s your puppy, here’s what they’re afraid of. Put yourself in front of your puppy. Put yourself right in front of the puppy. Communicate with your puppy. Lots of eye contact, treats, smiles. “Yeah. Great. Everything’s good,” and then gradually come around to the side of your puppy. This gives your puppy lots of security. Your puppy knows, “Oh, there’s my person. I’m safe. They’re looking after me.”

If you find that your puppy is still afraid when you move, and they can see whatever it is, then go back again and block their vision off again and just keep trying the same thing multiple times until your puppy is comfortable with whatever that situation is, but remove them from the situation that’s causing them discomfort and distress as fast as you notice it so that they don’t have in their minds that this is an unpleasant situation.

Now, when you go out and you meet other dogs, one of the things that’s really difficult for dogs is meeting each other when they’re both on leash. The humans have their dogs on their leash, and they’re holding them, and they’re pulling on them, and the dog feels totally powerless, so ideally when you see another dog coming, just take your puppy over to the other side of the street. That way, you don’t have the meeting new people on leash, or even better if they’re meeting a new dog, do it off leash. Again, do the same thing. Put yourself in front of your puppy. Make sure your puppy’s confident, knows you’re there to protect them, that you’re there to look after them, and that everything will be fine.

If your puppy looks at all unhappy about meeting this new dog, pick your puppy up or just walk over to the other side of the street, turn around, go a different direction, whatever you need to do to give your puppy comfort. That’s all that’s needed, but again, not a big production of [inaudible 00:18:57] and, “Oh, my poor baby,” because that will just instill the feeling of fear with them, so it’s similar to everything that we do.

This is all called desensitization. Anything that your puppy finds uncomfortable, you want to take time, and you want to take special care to make sure that you’re introducing them to these things in a nice, protected, safe, calm and encouraging manner, very similar to what you would do with a young child if they hear a loud saw, a loud sound rather, or if they meet someone that they’re afraid of. You just handle it the same way.

It’s all really just common sense. It’s not a difficult task, and if you find your puppy is repeatedly afraid of something and you just can’t move them past and get them familiar with what that is, speak to a trainer. That’s always your best bet. You’re all going to have your puppies in puppy kindergarten and puppy socialization classes, so just take the opportunity after class and say, “I’ve been taking my puppy to the fire hall, and every time the fire engine comes out with the siren on, I can’t get my puppy to get over being afraid of that.” They’ll have all sorts of great tips for you to help deal with that.

Sounds are really scary for puppies. We do a lot of desensitizing here with your puppies, but it doesn’t take long for them to forget, so you have to remember, when you have your puppy at home, you have to keep instilling this into them over and over when they’re youngsters. Now, one thing some people don’t know is, when you take your puppy home, your puppy’s about nine weeks old when he leaves Van Isle Doodles. Puppies usually enter a second fear period shortly after they leave here, so you need to be aware of that and be prepared for that, and don’t think that something terrible’s happened with your puppy or something strange is going on. Just be aware of the fact that it’s not unusual when they become a little bit older to all of a sudden be afraid of things that previously they were not afraid of. It’s just a phase to work through. It’s just like when they become a teenager, or when your own children become a teenager.

It’s a phase that can be trying, but it’s something that you just want to work through, but the main thing to remember is, lots of new experiences, all of them positive. Try and get your puppy out every day doing a couple of different things each day, but don’t overwhelm them, and try and get them to meet ten people or go to five different places in one day. Don’t forget, take them to Winners, and to Home Hardware and Canadian Tire, and all the stores that welcome puppies. So many places do now. It’s just great. Walk them around a shopping area, just outside where there’s lots of traffic and people. School zones, playgrounds, go to a soccer game, a baseball game, a football game.

If you can take your puppy into an arena for a hockey game, terrific. All sorts of different sounds and things that are going on. Here in Duncan, I know that you are allowed to take your puppy in to watch practices at the arena, so it’s a great place as they learn the sound of the pucks, and the sticks, and all sorts of different environments for them.

Give them lots of different textures under their feet. Walk them in the city. Walk them out in the country. Go in the park. Introduce them to ducks, the ocean, a lake, a puddle, everything you can think of, and just have a really good time and relax, because your puppy’s going to get all of their signals from you. Everything goes down the leash, so don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen to your puppy. Everything will be fine. Just be relaxed. You have a good time, and your puppy’s going to pick up on that, and they’re going to have a good time too.

Now, we’re going to do a little update on Breezy. We’ve seen all the puppies, and that’s a little bit about having your puppy outside. Breezy’s gone back home to her guardian homes, Marsha and Martin, so she’s back with her guardian parents, settled back in, and she is probably thinking, “That was a whole heck of a lot of work raising those 11 children.” She did such a fabulous job with this litter. We have never had a mama dog who was so poised and so calm. She was amazing. Having 11 children all running up to you going, “Me, me, me, me, me,” and wanting to feed and wanting your attention is pretty overwhelming for even an experienced girl.

For a first-time mama, Breezy was really remarkable. I can tell you she was not really pleased at the idea of weaning them. She would have probably fed them right up until the time they were three months old if we’d allowed her to. She really enjoyed being with her puppies. She didn’t stay in with them for as long towards the end, but she did like being with them. She enjoyed playing with them, and she was just a fabulous mom. We’re really looking forward to her next litter. It’s always great for us when we have a mom who’s so calm and so confident, as we don’t have to worry, “Are her babies being well-tended?”

Also, you can see a lot of that in these puppies in that they’re all extremely confident puppies. There is not a single puppy in this group that is even the least bit hesitant, and there is not a puppy in the Shake It Up litter that is anything but a nice chunky good size, so she did a fabulous job feeding them all as well.

They’re always eating really well. They have just a little bit of goat’s milk here and there now, but primarily all they’re eating is their raw meat, so there you have chicken, turkey, and beef, sometimes venison, but that is not usually their favorite, and we find they don’t like lamb when they’re little. Our adult dogs love the lamb, but the little ones don’t really seem to prefer the lamb. That’s what they’re eating, and they all have a great appetite. They gobble their food up in no time flat, and they are always asking to go outside. Now that they’ve noticed what the outdoors is and they’ve been exposed to it, they can’t wait to get out there.

That’s your update for the Shake It Up Labradoodle puppies. We hope you enjoyed it. Give us a thumbs up if you like it, and please, if you have any questions, be sure to ask them in the comments below. If you go back and watch our other videos from other litters, please don’t hesitate to comment, even if it’s from a litter from six months ago or longer. Feel free to leave me a comment in there. I get a notification, and I’m always happy to answer your questions. We try to give you a little bit of different information with each litter, so it’s really great if you go and watch all of the updates for all of the litters, and then you’ll get as most, the most amount of information as possible.

If there’s something that you feel uncomfortable with that we’re suggesting you do, don’t hesitate to ask us about it. We’re not here to dictate how you do things. We’re trying to give you the benefit of our experience, but we’re always happy to hear what you have to say, and any concerns you may have and figure out a solution together. It’s all part of the Van Isle Doodle community, and we do that with us and also with our other owners. We’re all here to support you, so thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week with another update for the Shake It Up litter.