Rest Between Puppies
After a busy January and early February here at High Desert Family Doodles, we’ve been able to have a couple weeks of down time between our litters and enter into a season of rest - of a sort. We got to send home some wonderful puppies to families up and down the west coast as we sent home three litters. After those goldendoodle and bernedoodle litters went home, we were able to find a brief window to travel to a fun family vacation. However, we also had three of our females go into heat, so we were coordinating pairing these dams with their studs. Several of our dogs were also up for health screenings this month too, which does require some attention to coordinate schedules and logistics. So while we always had something going on, we were able to enter into a slower pace and drink in these beautiful seasons.
Special San Francisco Delivery!
We got to make a special puppy delivery trip together to San Francisco and see a couple things.
In late January and early February, the goldendoodle and bernedoodle litters from Belle, Plum, and Maple all went home in the span of a couple weeks. These beautiful puppies found homes mostly around Portland, Oregon. However, quite a few called central Oregon, the Seattle region, or California home. It continues to be such a special time to host these families at our property, and share such a special moment. It’s beautiful and sacred to hear personal stories about these families’ journeys with dogs, how they found us, and what drew them towards particular puppies. We also got the opportunity for a daddy-daughter puppy delivery to San Francisco, which was followed by a day spent around the city together - including a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge. We continue to be on this journey of raising puppies together as a family, so it was extra special to share this kind of joy together as well.
Pacific Ocean Sunset
We got to see the sunset out on a boat in Cabo San Lucas. It was such as blessing!
After all of this wild insane fun puppy party launch extravaganza, we were able to take a few days and visit one of our new moms Plum, in their guardian home - in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Mini Goldendoodle Plum spends half of the year enjoying the beautiful weather of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, and we had a chance to be with her and her family in a wonderful resort down there. We got to get sunburned, eat poolside, play on enormous water gymnasiums, and even do a little sunset yacht ride. This trip renewed all of our hearts, as we got to rest and play together in the warm weather south of the border. Plum and Chloe instantly recognized us, and we got to see them in the natural environment of sunbathing and getting beach zoomies. It’s tough to envision a better experience for our guardian dogs. After several days of “Paradise”, we said adios to this wonderful time, and descended back into the Central Oregon deep freeze.
Dog Tired!
Even without puppies, we had a wild week of coordination and travel, so everyone is still pooped.
In the midst of this cold part of the central Oregon winter, we had to play match maker on the weekends before and after this trip. Over the past month, Juno, Nellie, and Klaire have all gone into heat. We continually get asked if the dogs sync up like women. This might seem to support that case, but all of these females are in guardian homes throughout central Oregon, with the closest ones being 30 miles apart. So we spent days and weekends coordinating dates with Rudy and Brownie, as we hope to see all of their goldendoodle and bernedoodle puppies in late March and early April.
These next couple of months will be full of our remaining health-screenings for our upcoming breeding males and females. We have four of our dogs that will be doing their initial hip/elbow screenings. Alongside of this, we also have several other bernedoodles and goldendoodles who are coming up on their first birthday. Around that time, we will do their eye, patella, and cardiac screenings. It seems like a lot to keep track of, but we have a great tracking system that helps us make sure all of our health screenings are accurate and up to date.
Relaxation
This season has been a refreshing time of slightly putting our feet up!
While this puppy break has still be full of activity and coordination, it has still been a great time to take a few deep breaths, reflect on this past season, and look forward to the road ahead. As I sit in that place, I find significant wells of gratitude swelling in my heart. We have so many sources of thankfulness, where our lives have been filled with beautiful people, places, and puppies! It has been a great reminder of these things as we get ready to launch into our next season of goldendoodle and bernedoodle puppies here in central Oregon!
Warmly,
Erin and Jay