January’s Vibrant Greetings and Heavy Farewells

As January rolls into February, we’re left wondering where the last month went! Time waits for no one, and this month has been the quintessential example of this. However, as we look a little closer at the past few weeks, we’re stunned by the way this past month has been such a wild ride! We’ve welcomed some new puppies to the mix, along with a new location. However, this past month has also had its fair share of farewells as well: puppies, dogs, and people. With so much transpiring, the days can seem long, but the weeks and months appear very short!

Puppies are good at a few things, and one of them is SLEEPING… ALOT!

Let’s start with the hellos before the goodbyes (put them off a little bit). Over the past two days, Miss Yosemite welcomed a beautiful litter of standard bernedooodle puppies. This litter was sired by our standard merle bernedoodle stud, Remi. She had 10 puppies, six boys and four girls, and six of them are merle, while four are standard tri-colored bernedoodle puppies. Since this is an F2 litter, we are going to do a furnishing test on all of the puppies to see if there is any unfurnished puppies. However, the first few days are reserved and relaxed as Yose finds her rhythm with these puppies, and we make sure they are all flourishing. This litter’s naming theme will be country stars, where all the bernedoodle puppies will be named after some of the top country music legends.

We are also expecting Maple’s first litter of goldendoodle puppies this coming week. We confirmed her pregnancy last week, and she will have her Xray on Monday to give us an idea of how many mini goldendoodle puppies she’s carrying. Klaire is not too far behind either; we will confirm her pregnancy via ultrasound in the next week or so, and she’ll be due towards the end of the February.

Goldendoodle Stud Luca is taking a load off at our new place in Madras, Oregon!

While we’ve been nurturing these mommas and puppies, we’re also moving some of our program to our new place in Madras, Oregon. We’re excited because it’s on a couple acres, with plenty of space for the dogs to roam. It’s also quite close to our vet and some dear friends, so we’re in the process of dreaming how this could also integrate with our place outside of Antelope in rural central Oregon. At the very least, we will be doing all of our puppy go-homes from this new location, which will help us improve the way we host the whole puppy-go-home event.

This chunky Goldendoodle puppy is heading to his forever home this weekend!

This takes us to the beginning of our farewells. This weekend, we get to send home Honey’s Cozy Winter litter! This litter of medium goldendoodle puppies will leaving us here in central Oregon, and head to their homes throughout Oregon and Washington! The vast majority of this litter will remain throughout Oregon, mostly around Portland. However, we will have one puppy - Birch - that will be splitting its time between Washington and Nevada! Also, Juniper - now Ginger - will be staying with a guardian home in Bend, Oregon; hopefully she’ll be a future goldendoodle mom for us if she clears all her health and temperament testing. We’re excited to see the adventures that this goldendoodle litter has ahead!

The Comers have been a fabulous partner with us here. We’re thankful for them, and are rooting for them in their next journey!

As we say goodbye to this litter, we will also say goodbye to some members of the High Desert Family Pack. Over the past year, the Comer family has helped us whelp, raise, socialize, and send off goldendoodle and bernedoodle puppies. However, in a couple weeks, they will be entering a new chapter of life, as they’ll be leaving our community and moving to Colorado. This has been a beautiful chapter of shared joy and mileage, seeing their family embrace this beautiful journey of raising and nurturing these goldendoodle and bernedoodle puppies. While they’ll be dearly missed, we’re excited for what God has ahead for them. This weekend will be their last puppy-go-home weekend, so we’re going to try to drink it all in.

Mango’s warm and jovial demeanor melted hearts and created deep friends. We will miss this about him, and so much more.

Sadly, our last January farewell was both surprising and heavy. In a quick cascade of events, our golden retriever stud Mango crossed the rainbow bridge. In the space of 48 hours, Mango’s health deteriorated quickly and he passed just as swiftly. It obviously came as a tremendous surprise and tragedy to both Mango’s guardian family and us, and we’ve all been missing this friendly guy’s joy and frivolity. That’s probably the heaviest part of this process; when you give your heart to anyone - even a dear pet and companion - the vacuum left by your companion’s absence can be heart-wrenching. We’ve said goodbye to a number of dogs throughout the years, and they’ve all been journeys through mourning and grief. We’re grateful for the time we got to share with this beautiful doggy soul, and cherish those times.

This past month has been a faithful microcosm of our journey here at High Desert Family Doodles. We’ve had the opportunity to be a part of tremendous beauty and new seeds of life. However, we’ve also said farewell to beloved animals and people as we go forward from chapter to chapter.

I feel like it takes a lot to both embrace the highs and joys, along with the tribulations and sorrows. While it may be tough, I think journeys like this help us live more deeply, and fully participate in this dance of life.

So we will hopefully receive the ups and downs of February, just like we tried to do in January.

Warmly,
Erin and Jay