Rye is in the first stage of labor, but her water hasn’t broken yet. There is indeed only one puppy as the ultrasound previously showed. A big snow storm just dumped lots of snow today (I’m missing Texas), and that could cause some issues for driving to the vet if she can’t get this massive baby out on her own. Toffee should go into heat sometime in February, so we hope to open deposits for AKC Limited Registration sometime in March or April, and we hope to breed Rye again in about 6 months as well. We hope everyone had wonderful holidays, and we pray that 2022 will be full of joy and memories!

Rye had an ultrasound this morning, and only one puppy showed up. We are heart broken because we have been so excited for her first litter, and we were thrilled with her pairing with Tank. We planned to keep at least 3 pups from this litter in guardian homes, and we hoped to keep a stud for the future too. We were incredibly blessed and overwhelmed by Astraea’s huge litters last year, but breeding has definite highs and lows, and we are still thankful in the lows. My heart hurts because I know so many families were just as excited as we were for this litter. I wish we had more control, but we just aren’t God. These are part of the growing pains of breeding and attempting to expand and better our program. We plan to drive her to Tank on her next heat cycle so we have the best shot at more pups. We did a fresh chilled shipment for artificial insemination this time, so we will attempt a live cover instead around June. Thank you to those of you who have been gracious and kind in our journey to bless more families and grow.

Rye went into heat, and we’ve tested progesterone and inseminated with Tank from Ponderay Goldens. We will be completing an ultrasound after Thanksgiving. We have a backup list from the last litter waiting for limited registration deposits to open that we will text first and then we will text the rest of our approved applicants 24 hours later if there are any deposits left. Please understand that we wish we could let everyone have one of the pups from this possible litter, but we simply cannot. If you are desperate for a puppy as soon as possible, you will need to consider paying the Full registration price. We will jump from having 2-3 litters a year in 2022 to hopefully having over 5 litters from our girls in our guardian homes in 2023, and we will continue to expand in the next few years. We love providing the joy and love of a puppy to families, and we’re excited to meet more needs soon.

We have been in the process of adding another female to Carmel Bliss. She went into heat, and she has finished her preliminary tests, but there were some complications with arranging the breeding. The female’s owner could not get her to the stud in time. The next litter planned will be Rye’s. We will be attempting to pair her with Tank from Ponderay Goldens, but Whiskey will be the backup. She will hopefully go into heat in November. It doesn’t look like any pups will be born this fall, but hopefully we will have at least 1 successful breeding take place. Toffee will hopefully be bred in about 6 months. Thank you to the families who are following along and waiting patiently for a pup.

One of our favorite guardian dogs, Honeyed Lemonade (Banksy), went into heat for the first time. We just think this girl is gorgeous, and her guardian family loves her well. It will be at least another year before she is ready to have pups, but we’re so excited and proud of this big milestone. We are also adding a girl named “Toffee” soon. Pictures and details will to come about her!

We got Rye in for an ultrasound, and the vet couldn’t find any puppies. We will attempt to get her with Tank in the Fall. We still don’t have pictures of the female we might be adding, but I must say that she is beautiful! We will continue to accept applications, but we will not be opening normal puppy deposits until a pregnancy is confirmed with an ultrasound. We will only accept full registration and guardianship deposits if those clients are determined to wait until the next available pregnancy.

We are done with finding specific homes (guardians, full registration, and pets) for this litter. We may be adding another older girl to the program (Carmel’s half sister) from another owner. We will be finishing her health tests and getting some pictures of her this summer. We have not opened deposits on Rye’s litter yet. We’re going to wait for the ultrasound which will be in a couple weeks. We started area training the pups, and it’s going fairly well. We’re loving our new space!

The current litter is doing very well! We’ve gotten new feeding stations that are making our lives much smoother. At some point in all the craziness with the move and the birth and the round the clock feedings, Rye went into heat, and was free with Whiskey. They had fun while we were distracted, but we aren’t sure how much fun. This means that our planned litter with Tank will not happen this cycle (but will happen eventually). Whiskey is the only dog we will be giving grace to on orthopedic testing because he was born before his bones were fully calcified, and we are confident in his pedigree. We will know if Rye is pregnant in a few weeks. We will be waiting to open deposits until we know if she is pregnant. If she isn’t, we will proceed with getting her together with Tank on her next cycle. We have 1 Guardianship spot available for Astraea’s litter.

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We have had a busy weekend! Astraea had 17 puppies via c-section Saturday the 15th. We lost a very small runt boy on Sunday, but the rest seem stable (8 boys and 8 girls). We’re so proud of this mama! She’s getting all the love, liver, peanut butter, and satin balls that she will eat! Congratulations to our families who have reserved these pups. We have 1 guardianship space and 1 full registration female space available. The backup list for normal pet puppy families is full.

Astraea had an X-ray on Tuesday, and there are at least 16 pups in this litter (possibly 18). She may have entered the first stage of labor today, but that’s difficult to determine. We are in the process of interviewing a few potential guardian families, but we still have guardian spots left open for those interested. Hopefully we will have a smooth birth sometime in the next couple days!