Karla's Cottage

Tails from the Road Part Two

Was our cross country trip to pass out puppies only four nights? So many miles, so many places, so many happenings, all in just a few days? 

Days were long in the car, but between audio books, This American Life podcasts, and naps, it wasn’t bad.  We stopped every couple of hours for the pups to stretch their legs, and they all travelled well. They peed on command and mostly slept while driving.  

Each day we tried to get as far as we could towards our next meet up location and the puppy owners were kind enough to be flexible along with us.

Our hotel stops weren’t planned very far in advance, but we got lucky in finding ideal places with ground floor rooms. Although, I am afraid that I didn’t take advantage of that in the middle of the night.  Instead, I was so tired that I lazily sat pups on their peepads instead of leashing them for a walk at 3am.  

This resort in Tarrytown, NY was our favorite stop.  Ruby’s family lived in Manhattan, and obliged us by driving a half hour to meet outside of the city to get her.

She is a lucky pup who will live on Central Park.

The hotel was an old estate on a hill overlooking the Hudson transformed into a resort.  I would’ve loved to stay longer and explore, but we had a mission.  I felt a little like Santa, flying across country to bring joy.

We did get in to Tarrytown early enough for a delicious room service, Asian meal.  Restaurants were out due to not only Covid, but to having a passel of pups with us. 

Ruby’s family brought us fresh, NY bagels! We got up early to let the babies frolic on the expansive lawns and figured we’d eat a granola bar in the car after Ruby left.  These were a magnificent surprise!

And the world’s most delicious bagel.  So was the cream cheese.  It was so Rich, that it was almost an ivory tone.  Do they mix it with butter there?  

Delicious!

Driving across country during a pandemic can be eerie.  We were extra careful, but it was disconcerting to see so many people with no masks (mostly in Missouri and Indiana) unlike the area we live in.  I doubled up and wore a face shield too.

We listened to the news reports of the cases soaring, and swore to be even more careful than planned.  We couldn’t do typical tourist stuff, or explore much.  We wanted to get back home safely and quickly.

Our first stop in Indiana at my sister’s was much too fleeting, and our first night with the pups was stressful at the hotel.

But finding this mansion estate (under $200, including pet fees) turned our trip around.

We decided then, that we were going to try local foods as we drove cross country and upgrade our hotels along the way.  We spent more, but it made the trip feel like a get away, not a chore.

We had a car picnic at a really nice seafood restaurant in Mendon, MA after dropping off a Teddy. 
(In the two litters, we had three Teddies and one Freddy)

That lucky boy lives in a wonderful home by a lake now.

That night, we stayed in Buffalo at a Hyatt Place.  Not a mansion, but a perfect hotel for puppies.  There wasn’t as much for them to get into there, those rooms are streamlined.  Other places had dangling cords or other temptations.  I think Hyatt Place is ready for pets nationwide and most other chains just accommodate animals on an individual basis.  

We’ve always been fans of this brand anyway, it’s a well run, comfortable place to stay.  I wish we had chosen one on our first night on the road, but that was before we decided to not be on a tight budget and to enjoy the trip.

The puppies are supposed to be a business for me, but they are so much more than that.  So, why should I try to be frugal and make a profit on the drive to get them to their homes?  We figured it was much more pleasant to treat this adventure as a getaway, because there aren’t very many of those in this day and age.

After getting another Teddy (the poor boy whose previous family didn’t want him) to his Wisconsin family who met us in Chicago, we drove around to sight see and stopped at Portillo's, to get a Chicago style dinner to go. 

Local foods made our trip so much more interesting than typical drive thrus would have.  And the change of attitude did too.  

But the best part of the trip?  We came home with Molasses, “Molly”.  I kept thinking we should try to sell her too, and had many offers.  She came with us on the drive as kind of an interview process to see if we were keeping her.

While she was a perfect pup, and quite mellow, I was still iffy.

People asked us if we were keeping her, I answered maybe, Rich always answered yes.  I was still getting emails from interested buyers and just couldn’t commit.

Finally, he made me see that she was already family.  And now that we are home, tearing down the puppy corrals, packing up supplies, I am so glad that she is here.  It is the six month anniversary of Ryan’s death, and I don’t think I could handle losing all sixteen puppies on top of that.

This girl has sweet Angel wings on her chest, that make me think she was sent to me from Ryan to give me someone who loves hugs as much as he always did.

 

You know who else was glad we kept her?  These two mamas were overwhelmed with joy when we got back!

 

 

Dealing with grief in our own ways

My husband’s log cabin is progressing.

Joy Joy thinks he is building it for her.

But I think he is building it as a meditation, to help his grieving.  Much like me filling my arms with puppies.

Both of us are working nonstop on our projects, he drives the gator through the woods, measuring tree circumferences to find the perfect size to harvest and stack for his walls.
 
I tend to, clean up after, snuggle and train way too many puppies.

Each of us are fulfilled in our own ways, while exhausted and worn out at the end of the day.  Yet with a sense of accomplishment.

Grieving takes many forms, and we were both lucky enough to find something that helps ease the pain that never leaves, but can be soothed.

Although, there are also moments where our busywork backfires.  Ryan was always such a huge help with the past litters.  I get jabbed by memories of him laughing at silly puppies. Or slammed with overwhelming loneliness when I tuck the babies in at night and he isn’t by my side.

Ryan used to help us with projects outside, but I doubt if he’d have been into the cabin idea.  Still, he had a genuine curiosity and appreciation for whatever we were doing and would want to go for a walk around the yard after he got off work to see what we’d done that day.  

Plus, that man was STRONG, he worked out daily.

He’d have helped heft some of those larger logs if Rich asked him for help, even if he didn’t particularly want to be a log cabin builder.  I don’t know, maybe he would have liked the construction part.  He loved watching HGTV building and remodeling shows.  
 

 

 

Packing up the pups

The time with my puppies is ending soon.  Four have already left, and over the next two weeks, they will trickle away from me.

To send them off, I’m making up bags of toys, blankets, and useful doggy items.

Honey helped me with the job, she wore all of the baby blankets and played with each toy so her scent would be on them.

The bags I found were a mix of designs, my faves are the “Honey” bee prints.

In each one is a baby book.

They hold weights, Med records, photos and other info.

A lot of pages are left empty so the new owners can add their own mementos.

I hope the families like the books, but I made them mostly for myself.  They were invaluable in keeping me organized.  Sometimes it was hard to tell those pups apart, and having descriptions and pictures in a book for each really helped.

I haven’t done this with past litters, but I sure will with future ones.

Sneaking in an itsy bitsy, teensy weensy amount of crafting, Guncle Time, and Freddy

Guncle Randy came to visit last week and we had big plans for crafting every day in the studio while puppies ran around our feet.

Then this happened.  Poor, little Freddy got sick.   And the weather turned snowy, so the other pups were cooped up indoors.  Not only was I up with Freddy throughout the night, holding him, medicating him and getting him to the vet, I had major cleanup to do nonstop with 15 other pups who couldn’t go outside to play.  

16 pups are a ton of work on a good day, if you want to do it right.  It’s important to keep them and their area clean, if you want to housebreak them.  They need to know that pottying just anywhere isn’t allowed, so if they do, it needs mopped up.  And the scent needs to be removed so they learn that isn’t the spot to go in.

Oh, they got fleas too.  And were too young for chemicals.  They had to be bathed and gone over with a flea comb, it was the only treatment I could do.  Sixteen little wrigglers who needed to be gone over with a fine tooth comb multiple times isn’t a speedy activity.

And with new families being far away, or not able to visit due to covid, I want lots of photos to send to them.  Plus, the dogs need to learn manners, I have to de-worm them, do their shots, make special food, and most of all, snuggle them, of course.

(Videos of the babies can be found on Instagram at Cottage Doodles, and a few are on my FB page)

They also needed their fluffy butts shaved for sanitary reasons.  Which reminds me, I think they are due for another shave before they go home next week...

 But we did not give up.  We might not have done all the fun plans we had (face painting for Halloween, working in the studio, watching horror movies all week) but we did squeeze in an hour of air dry clay crafts in front of The Witches.  

I made this doodle out of clay, Guncle Randy whipped up some pumpkins. But I was too tired to stay up for the end of the movie.  I knew I’d be up taking care of my little buddy, Fred during the night, and needed at least a bit of sleep.

Since Randy has gone, the weather cleared so the babies are running (and pooping) outdoors, and Freddy Puppy is doing better.

I had time to paint the clay piece to look like a Bernadoodle for a friend (she raises those) and make some doodle face cupcakes for her birthday too.

What a relief to have this sick boy feeling like himself again!

 What a darling guy he is.  After having him inside with me all week, and watching him struggle to survive, while staying soooooo sweet and loving, it will be hard to say goodbye next week.

Even at his sickest, he tried to drag himself to his pee pads, and now that he is running around, he is extra good at hitting them.  What a good boy. 

He is able to go on walks with the other pups, but mostly lives inside with us.  He has this playpen to sleep in, and it is so handy.  Huge and ugly, but handy.

We will use it in hotel rooms when we deliver puppies to the east coast, it folds up in seconds.

Thank you for all of your well wishes for this pup.  

And thank you, Randy for your support.  Sorry it was such a hectic, stressful visit.

A very good mama- but if you are squeamish, don't look

Sugar has proven to be an excellent mother.  Honey is all business and works hard with them while they are tiny, then helps clean both litters, and as they get bigger, wrestles and plays with them.

Sugar just snuggles and lays with them all and seems very loving with the babies.  When they were newborns, she would carefully wrap her body around them, and Honey would plop right down on hers.  I lost many nights of sleep from checking on Honey's litter and saving puppies she had laid on. 

Sugar has also dug a puppy sized hole for them to curl up in.

But this is a bit much. She carefully carried a vole that she'd dug up back to give to the pups.

With her golden retriever heritage, she was able to carry it gently without hurting it, to give to the pups as a toy to chase.

But we caught her in time, and I have to say that I was not as gentle as she was. I reached in her mouth and pulled the gross little varmit out and flung it over the fence.

It kinda looks happy there, doesn't it? Like it is cozy and enjoys being carried around? I doubt if it found the flight over the fence quite as much fun.

 

Baby Books for the Butterballs

I have almost finished the first litter’s baby books.  The finishing touches will be a photo on the front, and notes about the puppy on the inside.

As well as a 30 day free trial of insurance tucked into the back pocket of the book.

Now that the pups are older, I am telling them apart easier.  But that first week?  My head was spinning just trying to see who was who to get their weight charts started.

So, I had sketches and notes for each one.  Someone suggested that they would make good gifts for the new owners, and I agreed.  Since I needed to keep track of info about each pup, I decided to make the paintings into books.

I’ll have the weights and worming/shots schedule in there too.  

The paper features honey bees for the puppies’ mom, Honey.

I bought supplies to make them for The Sugarbabies too.  Hers has black and white hearts.

The books can be displayed with the painting showing like this.  And there is space for the new family to add photos too.  

My Autumn Mantel,(and the mess that surrounds it)

Before the Guncles came to visit, I switched up my mantel for a fall look.

I am glad I did, because I certainly would not have had time to do it now.

Because of this.

And this.

The mantel is about all that looks good in my house right now. We have gone to the dogs.

There is some remote learning going on too. Which takes up most of the downstairs.

And I’ve got my watercolors spread out to work on in here instead of out in the studio so I can be near the babies.

Which is where we all want to be.

During lockdown, it was important to me to keep my house serene and organized.  That helped me cope with some of the stress of the situation.

But I think 16 puppies, a homeschooler and a messy house is a pretty lively, fun way to handle a pandemic too. There is some stress for sure (checking on crying newborns throughout the night to make sure they are not cold or smothered, mama dogs needing go out to potty every couple of hours= no sleep, and that homeschooler likes to try to watch TikTok during class), but I can’t complain.  

Lively and Fun are two things I need right now.

Bye bye babies!

We had one puppy longer than the others, until his family could get him after a trip. The others left at 8 weeks. Here they are on the last night that we had most of them.  It was a sad night for me.

Keeping this little cuddler for an extra two weeks, sure made him dig even deeper into my heart.

Ryan watched him while we went to Florida, and his new people picked him up while we were away.

His family is happy to be getting him, and have been very thoughtful and appreciative about him staying longer.  They brought us biscotti!

A few times.

And it was delicious.

Another new owner, my pal, Shan, brought scones and coffee.

And the spotted girl’s mama sent flowers!

Keeping Wally longer was a mixed blessing.  It eased Sugar and me into the separation.  

But, having just one puppy is a lot more work than having a bunch of them.  He got lonely.  So, I spent extra time with him, and I fell even more in love.

They were a wonderful batch of babies.

I have raised a lot of dogs over the last thirty years and have never had a litter like this.  Some of it was the pure doodle-ness of the breed and the calm, sweet nature of both parents.

The rest was the fact that I started training them really early.  If we ever have pups again, I will be working on training from the very beginning.  It sure pays off.

Recently, we have had some major life changes, some good, some bad. We also went through some pretty rough times.

Trying to restore the other house and not lose too much money on it was grueling.  Knowing that these snugglers were waiting at home for me made the whole job easier.

No, that isn’t right.  That job was not easy in any way.  I think what I mean is these fellas gave me something to smile about when everything seemed hopeless.

I feel really good about the families they went to live with and I know those people realize they got very special dogs to love.  

 

 

 

 

Perfect patients

Our vet seemed very surprised by how calm the litter of puppies were during his exams last week.

They all sat quietly or napped while waiting their turns.

He mentioned more than once how quickly it was all going.  There wasn’t a wriggler in the whole bunch.  When he needed to look into their eyes, they looked right up at him.  They stood still for listening to their hearts and palpitating their tummies, or whatever that was.

The only issue I had was in hauling the seven pups in and out while they were poured into two crates.  Luckily, I had a helper who is probably stronger than I am.

In the last year, there have been many times that I have said, “I could not have done that without her help.”  Sugarwings has grown up to be someone I rely upon.

And how cute is this?  She didn’t know I was picking her up at school to go to the vet with me, yet she was wearing a shirt that said, “Trust me, I’m a Dogter.”

As a reward for being such good patients, and to stretch their legs after being stuffed into boxes, I took them out on the trails in the field.

 

 

 

 

A visit from one of the doodle babies

A few weeks ago, we had a visit from Pip.

He has changed a bit since he lived here with us!

This was our first litter of doodles and we weren't sure what to expect. 

Honey is about 63lbs, and the father was about the same size.

Sugar was the runt, and I figured she would be smaller than her mom, but already is taller.  Pip is edging up onto EIGHTY POUNDS, and is 7 months old.  

Ooops!

Where did that come from???  He is 77lbs now.

And every single ounce is filled with happy, joyful love. 

What a great dog.