My introduction

Many of you readers already know this, but my Mom was a lab person before she got all those poodles and other tiny dogs. She raised them and showed them for almost 40 years, and had many pretty famous ones along the way.
She got old, well, older, and stiffer and slower and those labs required much more exercise and work than she could provide so she got some poodles and that was that.
Well, that was that for many years BUT...along I came, BOL! Actually, along came my mother, Fanny. You see, Mom bred my mother's mother AND father and she was supposed to get a puppy from her when she was bred. Because my mother's pedigree has lots and lots of Mom's old, famous and beloved dogs in it, Mom decided the time was NOW!
Soo, she carefully researched and came up with my father, Cash, as a likely choice to breed with my mother. Cash is a young boy, so he hadn't had any litters yet, but Mom has watched him grow up and really likes him, especially his calm, sensible nature. His breeder is Mom's friend who has Lola, and she knew my grandfather and she was very happy to have him used with my mother.
Both my mother and my father have had ALL their testing, in fact, some of the testing was done by two separate methods as it turned out. My father is being shown now, in fact, Mom thinks he might have already finished his Canadian Championship but isn't sure. While my mother wasn't shown, she was, in Mom's opinion, a definite show prospect and a wonderful choice for MY mother.
Anyway, this was my mother's first litter, too, and, as sometimes happens, the first, BIG puppy got stuck so she had to have a c-section to get us out. Of course, I was that first, too big puppy, BOL!!! Fortunately, my breeder got mother to the vets right away and when she was examining her, I would suck on her finger, even though I was still stuck behind her pelvis, hehehe!
Because I was obviously still alive, the vet did that section immediately instead of waiting any longer so I am here now!
Of course, I am only four days old now so I won't be actually HERE for about eight more weeks, but I am sure Mom will have more photos and I will have more diary entries before I get home for real!

I see!!!

Today Mom came along to visit me again. This time she had Julia with her, but she also had someone else. It was "Gramma", my dad Cash's breeder/owner. It seems she came all the way to visit ME!!!
And, what a surprise...I have my eyes open so I could see them! Well, actually I still can't really see, but I will probably in a day or two.
Mom was happy to see my people uncle and aunt visiting me as well. They came all the way from Maine! Mom knows them because they had my Great Gramma, Moxie, another of Mom's favorite old labs. they took her in her "retirement" years.
Mom noticed we can now almost walk! Almost since we are still pretty stumbly. She said by next week we will all be running and playing already.
Hey...guess what I did!!! I pooped all over Julia's shirt and her foot, hehehe. Mom told her she was sure Julia would be getting that from me again before I grow up! Oops, sorry, Julia.

Three weeks and counting!

Mom came and visited us again today. We are three weeks old today and now we can see really good and we can hear AND we can walk and almost run! We can also make a HUGE mess of our box, BOL!
Mom felt in my mouth and she felt TEETH, too. We are going to get our first puppy food meal tonight!! We get some goats milk, too cuz we have GOATS at our place as well.
Of course, being a groomer, Mom took it upon herself to trim our nails. Let's see, nine puppies times 18 toes equals 162 NAILS to be trimmed! I was sure glad she did mine first, BOL!
Oh yeah, I decided not to poop on Julia today. Her Mom came and visited us, too, so she was holding me and I was totally relaxing with her. Mom was really happy to see me so relaxed cuz she wants me to be calm and collected like my Great Grampa Murphy was. Not a problem, Mom!
Good news, too. "Grammy" Jeanne, my dad's owner, is going to take my sister! So far she is liking the chocolate one, but she may decide on the black one. Who knows, it is still early!
Mom says she still likes me the best, whew! I am still the biggest, too, but that's okay, we should all be the right size. Funny cuz my chocolate sister is the biggest girl, too.
Well, gotta go now. Food is calling me. Next week we should be REALLY running around and probably even going outdoors!! Mom says ALL my brothers and sisters may be coming to stay here when we get older. That could be nice, too, except I am the ONLY one who will be sleeping on the warm waterbed with Toto and Beanie!!!!

My family tree...

Mom put photos of my mother and grandmother on my page a few weeks ago. Tonight she remembered she had photos of my father and his father on her computer cuz she took them for my people "Aunti", so she just put those on now.
She thought it would be fun to make a whole copy of my pedigree with photos, assuming she can find them from so long ago, hehehe. She decided that might make a good Winter project. If she ever gets it done she will put a copy on my page, too.
Mom is having so much fun talking with all the people that are getting my brothers and sisters. It has been YEARS since she had any babies and lots of the people that had her labs years ago are now looking for another one. She says those are the bestest sales in the whole, wide world. She already knows the people and knows they will take care of the puppy and they already know what her lines are like and pretty much what they will be getting in a new puppy. In some cases, they still have an older lab to help raise the pup as well.
I guess Toto thinks he is going to raise me, BOL! I sure hope he realizes I will be outgrowing him almost as soon as I get here, hehehe! Mom says he did okay with my Aunt Alfie, I guess so cuz her people really LOVE her and she is awfully good with Mom's little grandniece! I suspect I will be meeting Alfie pretty soon, probably at Thanksgiving if not before then!
Mom and Toto were looking around the house last night and thinking about what they will have to change before I get here. Seems Mom has gotten pretty lax about leaving stuff around, stuff like brand new shoes on the floor and cameras on the desk with the straps hanging down the sides, and food on the table or the counter. I guess she was getting pretty nervous thinking about all the stuff I can and will reach that those poodles and crested and Frenchies never even sniff!
I suspect she is remembering all the stuff like tools and shoes and boots and coolers and hats and gloves and more that she found down in the lab pen left from my Uncle Clyde, who used to live here. Mom says he was unusually bad, but she hasn't seen me yet, BOL!
Maybe I will take after my grampa Remy and great-great grampa Murphy and his daughter, my Auntie Samba... they NEVER chewed up anything at all. And, Aunt Alfie was pretty darn good, too!
Oh yeah, I also forgot about great grampa Rocky... he lives with Hilda at her other house and he never does anything wrong, either. Of course he is OLD now, BOL!
Well, guess I better get back to eating my supper before my brothers and sisters eat it all!!!

Mom's weekly visit...

Gee, I missed Mom yesterday and was worried she wasn't coming! But, not to worry, she came today! Right off the bat she took ME and ME ALONE outside and put me in some green stuff. It was tickling my nose!! She took a few photos but there was a BRIGHT LIGHT shining on me and I was getting hot so she took me back in with my sisters and brothers.
Mom says she still likes me the best, but there is a chocolate brother that is a really nice looker, too! But, I am a social butterfly and she likes that, too.
My sister who is going to go live at dad Cash's house was showing off and playing with the toy so she got lots of photos, too! Mom had only Beanie with her but she made him stay up in the front yard so I still didn't meet him. Pretty soon, I guess.
Mom is trying to convince my human parents to take her Guineas. She said they live in an ideal place for them to hunt for ticks and insects. All the ticks at my new place are gone and Mom says she will get some more baby Guineas in the Spring so the pullets can have a Winter of peace and quiet.
Darn it all, I was hoping I would get to chase them around a bit. Last week Toto said that was lots of fun!!!
Only a few more weeks now and then I can come home for real and finally meet everyone. I can't wait! Beanie said I have lots of new toys waiting just for me!!!

Five weeks today!

Once again, Mom came over alone to visit us. Today we were all outside in a BIG pen, but it was hot so we were sleeping when she got there. Mom came in the pen and sat right down with us!
She said suddenly we are little labradors instead of nondiscript puppies. I should HOPE SO, Mother!!! We ARE labradors, BOL! Mom took a ton of photos of us all, and every once in a while one of us would wake up and zoom around, then fall back to sleep.
Finally, just as we were all waking up, Mom said she was done with the photos and left us alone. Hopefully, that means it is now lunch time!!!
Mom said next week Auntie Jeanne is coming again and so is someone who is taking my sister, Jetta. I guess we will have LOTS of visitors!
And, Mom is bringing some baby chickens to my human parents. We like chickens...they already have two and they run all around us and cluck at us. It will be exciting to see the baby ones! I even remember when they were born just 4 weeks ago!
I guess we aren't going to Mom's kennel since all of us now have new homes. Mom and Auntie Jeanne will come and get me and my sister and Jetta, my black sister will also come home with me cuz she is staying a couple of weeks longer than everyone else.
Only TWO more weeks until Mom takes me home!!! I can't wait! Beanie told me Mom has lots of toys just for me!

I am HOME!!!

Saturday Mom and Auntie Jeanne and Julia came over to visit again. Mom brought some chickies, I think for us to chase, maybe???? Anyway, there were some other people that met Mom there, too. They are getting my sister Jetta and they already have Lucy, who is a full sister to our Mom.
I got to come out along with my black sisters and my chocolate sisters and my chocolate brother. For some silly reason, Mom was still considering HIM instead of me????
Mom and Auntie Jeanne got out a table and they were standing us up on the table and poking and prodding us and making us run up and down the driveway following either our mother OR Julia. The other people were just nicely placing with my black sisters!
Finally, after forever, Mom said she was keeping ME, and Auntie picked the original chocolate sister she had liked the first time she saw us. They both thought that maybe my chocolate brother might end up a little more "showy" than me, but Mom really wants a black one AND she said she is old now and "showy" is harder to live with. Cool, I AM the nicest one, just ask me!!!
Then, after the other people left Mom and Auntie had a discussion with my breeders and they decided that me and Gemma (my sister) could come home and live with Mom now. I was living way up on a hill in the country and didn't have enough visitors. Mom and Auntie were a bit worried cuz to be a show dog we need to be really socialized early. Since I came WITH my sister and Mom has lots and lots of older dogs to act as our mother, they decided it would be fine. Gemma will stay here with me until Auntie gets back from judging some shows in a few weeks, then she will go live with her and dad Cash and grampy Morgan.
Since Auntie Jeanne was spending the weekend with Mom and they were "relaxing", we stayed outside down in Mom's big yard ALL DAY LONG on Sunday. Even Julia stayed with us and played with us. We played with Toto and Beanie and Ali and Smokey the cat. Mom and Auntie were so lazy they even had Pizza delivered so they didn't have to do anything!!! We got to nap under the chairs and even got a picnic lunch AND dinner down there. We were so tired we slept all night long!!!
Today Mom put us in the puppy indoor/outdoor pen and is teaching us how to use the doggy door. So far I've got it but Gemma is a little slow!!! Next we are gonna go down in the lab pen with the other dogs. Lab pen...that sounds NICE!!!!

Playing our life away...

Well, so far this seems like a pretty good place to be!!! After playing with Mom, Julia and Auntie Jeanne all weekend (with an extra day, even!), Tuesday morning Mom dragged out of bed and fed us our breakfast. As soon as we finished, she put us in the poodles stroller and off we went!
We ended up at Mom's work where Julie had made a nice expen for us, complete with toys! At first we didn't spend too much time in the pen cuz all the girls were carrying us around, BOL! We got to go in the break room and play lots, we got to go out in the daycare pen and play lots, and we got to play lots in our pen.
When we got home from work Mom put us out in the yard with the BIG GUYS. She did say we better enjoy calling them the big guys cuz pretty soon we will be MUCH bigger than they are! They all played pretty nice with us and so Mom left us out with them until bed time.
Today we went off to work again, but Mom brought us home in the middle of the day. After lunch we took a nap, then later Mom took us all down in the lab pen. We had sooo much fun playing with the adult dogs and ALL of them were nice to us, too.
Now we are napping again. We like it here!!!

Kayaking AND Swimming!!!

Yesterday Mom was gonna take us kayaking but the weather was really BAD so we had to stay home. Today dawned clear and cool, PERFECT Fall weather so as soon as Mom got out of work, off we went!
I got to go with Julia and Mom took Gemma and Beanie. It was pretty fun, but it was windy and at first I was nervous. We didn't go too far, Mom stopped at the island and we all got out for lunch.
After Mom put Beanie and Gemma on land, she DUMPED HER KAYAK, with her in it, AND both her expensive cameras! She also had our lunch in there! Fortunately, the lunch floated, but both cameras sunk like lead. Mom was NOT HAPPY.
At first they both worked, but then one of them started just shooting photos on its own, over and over and over. Mom had to shut it off, BOL! the other one just totally quit working so now Mom is drying it out.
Anyway, after lunch, we did a hike over to the back side of the pond and then Julia took us swimming. It was GREAT!!! We had a ton of fun, and we learned lots today...now we can walk and trot and RUN on our leashes, we can swim and we can nap in the kayak. We also learned to lie down and be quiet in our crate.
And, I learned to mimic Julia when we take photos...that was fun, too, but Mom didn't put them all on my page...Julia wouldn't let her, BOL!!!
Anyway, now Gemma and I are resting. Resting, nope, we are totally crashed out sleeping, dead to the world!!

Almost another weekend already!

Today when Mom came home from work Julia was with her! It seems she is staying with us for the WHOLE weekend! Soo, tonight we went down into the lab pen and played for a LONG time! Mom took photos and said they would be my nine week photos since I am nine weeks tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are going kayaking again, at least I am going kayaking again. Maybe Gemma will have to stay home cuz Julia wants to take Cryssie. I will go with Momsie and Beanie or Toto, if Toto feels okay.
Today my brother Nimitz headed off to Austin, TX, to live. He is flying out to Houston. Tomorrow morning my sister Jetta is leaving, too. And, maybe Gemma is going to leave on Monday, but maybe she will be staying with me for a few more weeks cuz I am such a good influence on her, BOL! Mom has mixed feeling about that...she wants me to start sleeping in her room with her and, while Gemma is here we stay in the puppy pen with the in/out door. Mom says that is easier, because she doesn't have to keep watching me as much BUT she wants me to be learning about being a good house dog, too, and I am not learning much in that pen. Oh well, I am only a baby puppy for a little while and I am NOT learning bad stuff in that pen! Besides, I need to keep Gemma company for a little while!
Well, speaking of that pen, it is time for me and Gemma to head to bed now. We are very tired from running all over the place today!