Puppies: A Formal Affair is 1 Week Old

It’s Boxing Day 2017 and Pippa’s mini labradoodle puppies are a week old. While we celebrated Christmas there were a number of changes in the pups since they arrived last Tuesday.

Vancouver Island, along with the Lower Mainland, Calgary and the Okanagan have all enjoyed a white Christmas. While Calgary and Kelowna are accustomed to a white Christmas it is a novelty for Victoria, Nanaimo, Courtenay, Comox and the Lower Mainland. Renald’s family is from Manitoba and his Mother reported a temperature of minus 42 with the wind chill in Winnipeg on Christmas morning. Pippa and her puppies are very happy they are on the comparatively balmy Vancouver Island.

All these mini labradoodles have pretty much doubled their birth weight which is exactly what the gold standard is for puppy development. Pippa has done a great job keeping them happy and healthy. We never hear many complaints from the pups in terms of being hungry. The little puppies sometimes do get out of place and can’t find their way back to the rest of their littermates and then we can hear their protests a mile away.

Like all puppies, labradoodle puppies are pretty much totally defenseless at this point in time.They are unable to keep themselves warm, see, hear or eliminate. We have the whelping room at 24 degrees (makes for a very sweaty workplace for the humans) as well as having heated discs in the box for them to lay on or near. Pippa does the rest. She stimulates the puppies to eliminate and consumes their waste products. This is an instinctual behaviour designed to mask the scent of the puppies to any predators.

Puppy Statistics

Puppy ID	Current Weight	Weight Gain	Notes/Comments
Blue Collar	427 g	209 g	First born. Solid black male.
Yellow Collar	321 g	137 g	Third born, the bruiser of the litter, solid black male
Light Blue Collar	503 g	251 g	Third born, the bruiser of the litter, solid black male
Purple Collar	434 g	214 g	Fourth born, solid black male with a white "T" on his chest
Pink Collar	385 kg	218 g	Fifth born, black phantom female with 2 white rear toes and a white blaze on her chest along with the phantom markings
Red Collar	404 kg	199 g	Sixth born, sable parti female

The Formal Affair Litter is sold out and all our litters into Spring 2018 are also sold, but if you want to make a greater commitment to the larger Van Isle extended family check out our Guardian Program for more information and possibilities of getting a puppy before the Summer of 2018.

Pippa is doing great and has been in wonderful condition throughout this pregnancy and now post-whelp. Pippa has maintained her weight, beautiful coat and sunny disposition. Pippa is happy, energetic and enthusiastic about her beautiful labradoodles. We are so pleased with this group of puppies and are enjoying watching them develop.

We have a range of sizes from one small mini labradoodle puppy in the litter who we predict will be Pippa’s size at maturity and a bruiser who will be larger than Pippa but still well within the Australian Labradoodle breed standard for a mini labradoodle.

Pippa’s litter is fully reserved with families throughout Vancouver Island, the Vancouver area and into Alberta, however, we hope to have a breeding quality female in the litter to retain as a prospect for the Van Isle Doodles team and are searching for a guardian for this little girl. Please refer to the GuardianProgram information on our website to see if you qualify for the pick of this litter of mini labradoodles.