My Pregnant Girlfriend
Raya’s First Pregnancy. She’s due June 19th, 2024, and was confirmed pregnant with more than one.
Raya’s First Litter of Puppies are Due June 19th!
Well, here we are! We’re within 2 weeks of our beloved little Ray of Sunshine delivering her first litter of puppies! We’re returning her to her breeder, Fox Creek Farm Goldendoodles & Bernedoodles in West Virginia on June 17th, and she’s due to deliver on June 19th. We’re so excited for her and for future owners of her pups. We think she’s excited too, if not a little confused. Tell me this isn’t a pregnancy glow right here, taken at a vet’s office while waiting to get her ultrasound done. She was sooo excited and happy TO BE AT A VET’S OFFICE!
Raya at the vet’s office on May 24th, all excited for her ultrasound!
The Signs Were Obvious
We knew well before her ultrasound that she had to be pregnant, because of how drastically her behavior changed almost overnight. She went from being a super energetic, playful, and active little girl, to a far more docile lap dog that has just wanted to chill, cuddle, sleep, and lay around and look cute all the time! After the past year and a half of trying to keep up with her going supersonic everywhere, we’ve been perfectly okay with this! A week into her presumed pregnancy, it’s almost like a switch was flipped and she knew that she was expecting, and to take it a bit easier. She also suddenly became an order of magnitude more clingy to me. She needs to be next to me at all times now, which is why I joke that she’s my pregnant girlfriend! It’s amazing how tuned in dog’s instincts are.
So Raya hasn’t been nearly as active as of late, and only cares for a tiny fraction of the physical activity and playtime she had before. She and Puffles have largely cooled it on their daily play time and zoomies with each other as well. “Buffles” was beefy and built almost like a gym bro from all of their play time and wrestling, but has actually gotten a bit “chomby” now. We think he knows too, as he seemingly scolds her not to run and to take it easy (“hey you’re pregnant take it easy!!!!”), and has been a little extra protective of her.
We also learned that pregnant dogs can have morning sickness and nausea just like a pregnant woman, so for a week or two it was tough to keep her fed but we figured it out. My wife made her a bunch of fresh cooked plain burger, pork, and some chicken mixed in with her regular food, and she managed to keep that down for the most part! In these last two weeks of her pregnancy, she’s eating about double what she normally would and wolfing down everything in sight. She’s definitely eating for more!
The biggest shocker of all has been that apparently a dog’s pregnancy pheromones can affect their humans as well, because both my wife and I have been cleaning up a storm. I’ve purged my home office of a ton of stuff, and my wife has been busy all around the house and in our bedroom, which has never been cleaner despite us not “expecting”. It’s Raya! And her puppies aren’t coming home with us! Crazy stuff, but finally de-cluttering the house a bit has been nice!
Baby’s First Ultrasound of Her Babies
Here’s some freeze frames of videos of her ultrasound, taken on May 24th. In one of the videos you can see a little heart beating, which is so cute. Other than that I have no idea what I’m looking at! The vet that did her ultrasound gave us a “confirmed” number and thought there might be more, but I’m not going to say how many baby puppies are in there. Nobody actually knows because it can be difficult to spot them all, but there’s for sure more than one. The only way to know for sure prior to delivery is to do x-ray cross-sections, but Fox Creek Farms doesn’t do that (and the radiation exposure probably isn’t good for the puppies either).
I would say that Raya has generally been enjoying her pregnancy, other than the week or so where she didn’t have much appetite and was nauseous. She’s been getting lots of extra love and attention from all of us, special meals from my wife, lots of extra cuddle time, long naps, and gets to sleep up in our bed with us most nights now too. She’s just so cute in everything she does, whether she’s going supersonic in the yard or around our house, or just laying around growing babies!
We sure are going to miss her for the six weeks she’ll be gone, but are super excited to see her become a mommy, and for her puppies to bring so much love to some lucky families out there. You’re going to get some truly amazing dogs!
ICYMI, click or tap this photo to get to the maternity shoot I did of Raya.
MALES STILL AVAILABLE IN HER FIRST LITTER!
Pretty Girls Are Trouble
As of June 5th on the Fox Creek Farm Available Puppies page, they’re still accepting 1-2 more applications for her first litter, but only for males and not females. It’s the same for the Harper & Bear, another petite litter a few days ahead of Raya & Hank. Apparently, a lot more people want female petite goldendoodles than males.
Raya & Hank litter status as of June 5th
ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?!?! :)
STOP.
Think about what you’re doing.
Ask anybody in my family and we’ll tell you, pretty girls are trouble! The moment I saw Raya it was over for me. Raya is so unbelievably cute, and she knows she’s so gosh darn cute and could just about get away with murder in our eyes! She literally could kill something, and we’d be like “omg baby that’s soooo cute!" as I grab my shovel from the garage and start digging a hole to bury the body in. She’s so irresistible and a total daddy killer. She owns me and everybody knows it, and trust me it wouldn’t be the same for a male!
How do you resist this?
So you want a petite princess goldendoodle, do ya? Do you really want something with that much power over you in your own house, and that’s perpetually going to look like a completely adorable baby princess puppy forever? It’s too late for me, but it’s not too late for you! Trust me, a “petite prince” male goldendoodle is going to be a fantastic dog also. Petites can hit above their weight for sure! It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog! :)
Maybe what I’m trying to say is that as much as we all love and adore Raya, her cuteness is already completely overwhelming to all of our brain circuitry. This is not predictive programming (or maybe it is), but if one day one of the puppies from Raya’s litters just happened to “land in my pocket” as I was bringing Raya home from West Virginia, it would have to be a male. We’ve barely survived one of these cute girls, and would absolutely not survive having two sweet petite princess baby girl goldendoodles in our house. I think I would just fall over and die from cuteness overload.
Puffles in May 2024
Just beware of what you’re getting yourselves into!
Males are great. They’re your buddy. They’re your friend. They’re still going to be plenty energetic and cute (or handsome?), but won’t turn into diva monsters that could get away with murder, because you’re so helpless when everything they do is so cute.
Just ask our friends. All are overwhelmed by Raya’s cuteness, but our mini-male Puffles is the one they’d want to take home. He’s calm. He’s chill. He’s super well behaved. He loves to cuddle. And he’s not going to go out and murder something because he knows he could get away with it. Just as much love, but far less trouble. LOL. :)
It’s Hopeless EITHER WAY!!
I know this can work in the other direction as well, so not sure if I just helped more female or male puppies find homes. Either way, you will fall hopelessly in love with these dogs. Truly, God put them on this earth to give humans a small taste of what true love is supposed to be and feel like!
It’s surely going to be an exciting few weeks and months for Raya, and for all of us! I’ll share photos of her and her puppies on the blog once I have some passed to me and permission to share, but good photos probably won’t be until July. As I recall, it takes them a week or so just to open their eyes and develop a little after they’re born, and are typically not even an ounce in weight at birth! The go home date for the puppies in her first litter is mid-August.
Raya will be entirely in the caring and professional hands of Fox Creek Farm in West Virginia through the entire process (and no visitation by us, so that she can stay focused on her pups) so we’ll be out of the picture.
STAY TUNED!!!!!!!
Keeping Up With Raya
Our baby princess Raya is all grown, and currently expecting her first litter of puppies due June 19th. We’re so excited for her, and for the families who will take her puppies home!
Well, it’s hard to believe, but we’ve already had our beloved Raya (“Ray of Sunshine”) for nearly a year and a half! Where has the time gone? It’s certainly been way too long since I’ve had time to get a doggy blog together about her, but that’s another story!
We celebrated both of our doodles October birthdays last year (Puffles on October 10th and Raya on October 22nd) with an off-season beach trip. Yes, we go to the beach more for the dogs now than for our two teenaged children! They both love the beach so much and zooming around, especially off-season when it’s cooler and there aren’t too many people around. We also celebrated our first “gotcha day” anniversary with Raya on January 4th this year. In another blink of the eye, Raya has already had her second heat cycle, and is now expecting her first litter of puppies to arrive on June 19th! We’re so excited for her and for future owners of her puppies! (Fox Creek Farm Goldendoodles breeds their guardian program girls on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th heat cycles, skipping the first.)
Raya has earned a number of nicknames with us. There’s “Ray-Ray”, of course. Another is “Ray-roo” after a kangaroo, for how high she can jump when she’s really excited. I’m 6’3” tall and she can jump up to at least my chest or shoulder level, and can get face-to-face with other family members! Another is “Way-way” because of how little she is, like how a toddler might say her name. Her parents, Boodles and Jax, were 20 and 22 lbs, so we were expecting her to be a bit bigger. She’s topped out at a mere 15 pounds and is firmly in the petite range, and we love her just the way she is. She’ll forever be our little baby, even as she’s set to become a mommy for the first time. I love that I can still pick her up and hold her like she’s a puppy, even as a fully grown petite goldendoodle. :)
Raya is just beyond adorable. She’s so playful, loving, energetic, and silly. She has a great personality and is super smart, way too smart, and I’ll admit that she’s a daddy killer too. She’s cute and she knows it. Her overwhelming cuteness gets her a lot of attention which she loves, which is so tough to deny her because she’s so cute! It’s a vicious cycle that we all fall for. Not gonna lie, she owns me! She’s just so unbelievably cute and adorable in everything she does. She’s also a bit of a diva, and will let out cute little girly diva princess groans or sighs if she thinks you’re not paying enough attention to her. She was this way as soon as we got her, so don’t blame us! :) If I so much as put a hand on my wife, she’ll come over running and jump up on me while giving a little protest groan. “Hey, why you looking at her???” It’s so cute and funny, and both my wife and I laugh so hard all the time.
Raya had quite an exciting first year with us in 2023. We are big time road-trippers in case you didn’t know, so get around quite a bit. She got a first beach trip to Virginia Beach, VA in February, and then two trips to Rehoboth Beach, DE in June and October. She also got to come with us out to Ohio and Michigan, with stops at Sleeping Bear Dunes and then Mackinac Island. We ended the year with a trip to Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC, where Raya happened to run full speed into an 18-inch deep tidal pool after a seagull, in temperatures that were below 40F! She literally and figuratively froze and didn’t know what to do. Dad mode! I ran in after her in shoes and pants, promptly pulled her out within seconds, and wrapped her tightly in a towel and held her close until she dried and warmed up. She was just fine, but Raya has since been banned from being off leash at the beach! :)
If you’re considering a puppy from one of Raya’s litters, just know that you’re probably going to get some unbelievably cute, energetic, funny, loving, and silly little puppies just like Raya. They will love you so much, and provide you with endless smiles, love, laughter, and companionship that will brighten your homes in a more than manageable size. You’re also going to be exhausted! Just remember, all these little puppies know are their mommies and their litter mates for the first 8 weeks of their lives. And then they go to a new and unfamiliar home, and all they have is you. Raya is an absolute sweetie, but definitely needed a lot of time, love, attention, and engagement her first year, more so than Puffles did. She got everything she needed from us and more, which also explains doggy blogs and photo posts dropping off! We were too busy loving and playing with her, and having a blast while we were at it. Raya is a happy girl!
Raya’s first pregnancy has not yet been confirmed, but will be later in May. Based on what my wife and I have been observing so far though, there’s no way she isn’t pregnant with how she’s been eating and drinking up a storm! I’ve also been having really strange dreams a few nights in a row when I almost never have any, and my wife, Debbie, has been going on this crazy nesting instinct deep cleaning of the whole house rampage! Can doggy pregnancy hormones and pheromones affect their humans? We think so!
Fox Creek Farm Goldendoodles & Bernedoodles on Facebook
As Raya’s guardian family, we sure are going to miss her for a few weeks this summer, but couldn’t be more excited for the love, joy, and happiness that her puppies will surely bring to their new owners and homes. We cannot wait to see them in person when we pick her up 6 weeks after delivery, and to be reunited with our little princess. It’s going to be an exciting summer!
Raya’s 1st Maternity Photo Shoot
I took the outdoor photos with my Canon R6 and RF 85mm f/2 Macro lens, and then switched to the RF 50mm f/1.8 for the indoor photos. I used the articulating screen to place the camera down at ground level outside so that I could get nice angles of her without having to lay on the ground myself. I’m still using Photo Mechanic for sorting and rating, and recently have been using Radiant Photo for editing.
Normally Raya is a bit bashful after a grooming (omg I’m naked!), but she was happy to be back home from the farm and with her family after breeding, and happy to have all of her excess fur off as it was getting hot.
I hope you enjoyed this blog! Raya’s dedicated page is below, along with the main doodles page where I post photos of both her and Puffles together.
Raya's First Grooming
We finally got Raya’s first grooming done at 17 weeks old, but don’t judge the results! It’s our fault.
We finally got Raya’s first grooming done at 17 weeks old, but don’t judge the results! It’s our fault. We’ve been so amazed at her perfectly straight low-maintenance coat that we hadn’t been brushing her, like at all. She really doesn’t need it. The problem of course is that when she needs to get groomed, she won’t be used to things in her hair or people handling her, so it didn’t go all that well.
The essentials were definitely taken care of at least! The poor baby couldn’t even see because her hair had grown completely over her eyes, so our groomer got her facial area cleaned up very nicely, took care of the privates and other essential areas and trimmed her nails, but couldn’t do much with the rest of her yet. The result is a nicely trimmed down face, but her hair across the rest of her is still quite long and now a bit bulgey looking. Her proportions are definitely “off” and not very princess like! LOL! No worries, her humans will correct their shortcomings and get the princess properly “brush trained,” so that she can get a more proper grooming next time. :)
She and Puffles continue to do great. They still love to play in our yard and chase each other for around an hour per day, 10-15 minutes at a time. Basically whenever they get back from a walk together, they have a little go in the yard. Raya’s Puppy Kindergarten class has been going well. She’s learning a lot of new skills and is getting much better at just chilling on her mat. We’re also working on her leashed walking skills, among other things. Recently she’s figured out that she can jump up onto couches, but she doesn’t yet know not to claw at them so that’s been an issue! I’ve had to put one of the fences out to block one of the more delicate couches, and we have to keep an eye on her. We’re also trying to teach the little princess proper manners! She has the cutest little diva princess groan if she’s not getting something that she wants, and will also bark! So we’re working on that too, and not rewarding bad behavior.
That’s all for now!
Raya's First Time At The Beach with Puffles
The only thing better than having a dog is having two dogs. And the only thing better than taking a dog to the beach is taking two dogs to the beach. :)
We love the occasional off-season beach trip. We typically can’t get to all of our favorite mid-Atlantic beaches that we’ve accumulated over the years in a single summer, so cue an off-season trip to the one we missed the previous season. Off-season beach trips are especially great for dogs, as the beaches are usually quite deserted and distraction free, and dog regulations far more lax if even enforced at all. And let’s be honest, we actually go to the beach more for our dogs at this point than our teenaged children. Our kids used to love Virginia Beach, VA and still do, but now are more like “muh WiFi need to login” whereas the dogs are like “YEEEEEEEEHAAAAW!!!!” In defense of our children, having now two dogs has increased their beach enthusiasm by quite a bit, because it’s pure joy seeing two dogs blast around a beach and having the time of their lives together. You can’t help but bask in their joy and enthusiasm, and be a part of that with them. I’ve said this many times, but dogs are a gift from God to teach us humans what pure love and joy is supposed to be like.
Believe it or not, this was the first time we had both Puffles and Raya in a car at the same time together, so what better way to test it out than a 4 hour road trip? I folded down the split right rear seat of the third row of my Suburban and let Raya’s crate peek through, so that she could stay crated or come out into the back seat if she wanted to. We actually kept her crated the whole way down and she was fine. On the way back up, we gave the dogs the whole rear seat and allowed her out of her crate, and they shared the space together very nicely and didn’t fight even once! We were impressed, to say the least. They’ll both be great road-trippers together.
But enough of the logistics. We kept saying “we’re going to da BEACH!” to Puffles and he knew exactly what we meant. He could smell it as soon as we got there, and pulled hard for us to take him there right away. Raya was like, beach? Huh? What? She learned fast!
Doggy beach photography with Canon EOS R6 and RF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.
So yeah, could you tell they had fun? :) They were both dead tired after blasting around the beach each day and slept very well at night. Poor Raya could barely even move for a final potty break one night, and had to be carried out. The weather was in the mid-50’s for most of our time there, which is just about perfect for these dogs to be able to blast around without getting overheated, which is actually another great reason for an off-season beach trip for dogs.
MOAR Photos
Fun fact. I took nearly 1,500 photos over the weekend, but only put 27 in the blog. If this wasn’t enough and you really need MOAR photos, click the link below to see an extended cut with triple the number of photos. I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of these two. Enjoy! :)
See More Doggy Pages Below
Crazy or Not? A Month With Two Dogs, Puffles and Raya
So a month with now two dogs. How did it go? Are we nuts? A lot of people we’ve talked to have said we’re crazy for getting another dog, but just remember there’s a fine line between genius and crazy! :)
Well, January 2023 was an interesting month in the Pake household to say the least, bringing another puppy home with less than 48 hours notice on January 4th. In case you missed it, we had just decided to get another puppy on January 2nd after getting back from our winter vacation. We had been thinking a late-Spring puppy and had previously checked in with our breeder, only to find out they had a completely adorable and absolutely perfect 10-week old female puppy available that was going to be part of their breeding program, that urgently needed to be re-homed for some reason. We picked her up that Wednesday, and the rest is history.
INTRODUCING RAYA THE MINI GOLDENDOODLE (BOODLES/JAX 10/22/22)
So here’s all of the craziness from the month, starting with the bad.
Here’s What I’m NOT Going To Remember About Bringing Home Another Puppy
First things first, talking to your breeder late on a Monday about an available puppy, and agreeing to pick her up less than 48 hours later was absolutely nuts. I mean, if you have a deposit down or you’re expecting a human child, you have some time to plan measured in months. This was hardly even days but rather hours. Let’s just say that Tuesday was absolutely frantic, tearing through the house looking for all sorts of puppy related things, and then making a bee-line to the local pet store which was cleaned out from the holidays for the rest. Fortunately, I was able to find everything that I absolutely needed prior to pickup between our basement and the local pet store, and the couple of things that could wait arrived a few days later in the mail! If there’s anything that was crazy about all of this, that was it. Not sure I want to do that again, but Raya has been worth it! :)
I’m already forgetting about a month of sleep deprivation. Even though my son was mostly responsible for getting her out in the wee hours of the morning if she needed to go, my “dad hearing” still kicked in listening for my kids to be listening for the dog. I never slept past 4am for most of the month, and turned into a sleep deprived zombie. She typically needed to wake up and get out for a bathroom break just before 6am, and only a few times before that in the 2am timeframe. This is actually really good for a puppy, but I don’t remember much of the rest of January due to the sleep deprivation and overall really light sleeping with the “dad hearing” thing.
I’m also already forgetting Raya’s excessively bad nipping habit when we got her. All puppies nip, but it was really bad and might have been handled in a way by her previous family that made things worse. She was probably just too excited to finally be in a forever home, but we had to give her the tough love treatment of depriving her of attention whenever she nipped, which was a lot. I think it was more painful for us than for her because she’s just so cute, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do and it was 80% better in about a week, and after a full month with us her bite inhibition is now excellent.
I’m also already forgetting about her pea-sized bladder and needing to go out every 30 minutes to an hour in the middle of winter. This is why you might want to think twice about a “Christmas puppy,” but these fully professionally bred GANA blue ribbon Goldendoodles are wicked smart, and we think she might have been playing us for treats when she realized she could get a snack every time she had to go even the slightest bit! Crate training is teaching her to hold it, and as of this writing she can finally go down for bed at 9pm and make it past 7am until she needs to go! Woohoo!!!
Another quickly forgotten issue were her doggy diva meltdowns about being fenced off and always trying to bust down our pet fencing no matter how well reinforced, a few times successfully. The cutest thing she did after we put some fencing up just trying to keep her out of the kitchen, was this very aghast princessy look of horror at once again being fenced and not willing to stand for it, backing up a bit while closing her little eyes and mouth as tightly as she could, and then trying to ram through the fence again! It was so cute I couldn’t help but laugh, and then just picked her up and held her as we put the fence away.
So pet fencing doesn’t work for her. Puffes was okay with it when he was a puppy, but all dogs are different! We figured out she’s much happier and far more calm just being crated temporarily if she needs to be, or if someone can run interference and have her practice her recall and lie down commands for treats, so that she’s not hovering right next to our feet in the kitchen and in danger of getting stepped on. Fair enough!
Accidents in the house? Very few. Discounting the first few times she peed in the house, always on the mat next to the door to our garage because we suspect her previous keepers might have been training her to go on a pee mat, I can definitely count her accidents on two hands with fingers to spare.
One of the last accidents she had, my wife was “watching” her and jokingly called her ugly. Less than a minute later, princess Raya pooped on her exercise mat in protest, and that I will remember! Dog’s don’t necessarily know words, but they know tone of voice and expression, and I have no doubt this was a protest pooping right on my wife’s mat. The funny thing was my wife was on her exercise bike and clipped in, so she couldn’t just jump off in an instant to stop her! I wasn’t there, but it was hilarious!
What I AM Going To Remember About Bringing Home Another Puppy
She’s just so cute and so precious! I mean, who doesn’t love a puppy?
Everybody loves a puppy! Who doesn’t want to hold one? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a puppy that wasn’t cute, but Raya has a cuteness factor of 11 with her adorable little girly face, little mitten paws, white haired nose and chest, and white tail tip. You can’t hold her or even look at her and not feel incredibly uplifted and overwhelmed with love. I think puppies, and dogs in general, are God’s gift to humans to help show us what true unconditional love and dedication looks like. Imagine a world where everybody treats you with the same love, affection, and dedication that your dog does. I think we all need more of that! Stressed about the sorry state of the world that we live in? Feeling down, demoralized, or depressed? Get a puppy! (Pro tip: You also won’t have time to be depressed about anything while you’re busy caring for one!)
We had to give Raya a bath because she had gotten stinky from rolling around in the yard. It was a bit cool in the house and I noticed she was shivering, and the poor baby was seemingly panicked and didn’t know what to do with herself, or to go curl up in her doggy bed or blanket to warm up. Aww, poor baby! I was more than happy to grab her blanket for her and wrap her up in it, and then hold her tightly for 15 minutes until she warmed up. Best feeling ever.
Seeing my kids bond with another puppy has been heartwarming also. When we got Puffles, my daughter had been begging us for a dog for two years, but quickly realized she was in over her head. And then my son never really wanted a dog at the time because he was afraid of them, so Puffles became “our dog”. Does that at all sound familiar with kids and dogs?
Anyhow, they’re older now and know full well what’s involved, and giving them another chance to bond with a puppy that loves and adores them has been great. I think both of my children will have pets of their own as adults. They know now that they’re a lot of work, but also a source of endless love and affection. Our kids are getting old enough now to know that a lot of humans are just plain crazy. No human can love you like a dog will, and it’s such a special feeling to have such an affectionate breed of dog that bonds so closely with their humans. You’ll never be alone or lacking for love with a dog!
From Only Doggy Child To Big Brother
What’s happened with Puffles has been the most amazing thing of all. The first few days were definitely awkward. There were more than a few angry barks, chasing her into corners and a bit of rough-housing, but he never hurt her and we stayed out of it as suggested! Most if not all of the initial hostility was done after the second full day, and he and Raya started bonding thereafter. Puffles quickly turned into a great big brother and started doing half of our work for us. He’s been great at disciplining Raya and showing her the ropes, scolding her and keeping her out of things she shouldn’t be into, and burning off tons of her energy for us after they started playing together in our yard on the third day we had her.
Letting them meet for the first time in the neutral territory of our yard definitely helped. Walking them together, treating them together while they sat or lied down also helped. Play time in the yard also really helped. I think Puffles was taking out some aggression in the yard at first, but quickly realized how much fun he was having with his new companion, and now they love to run and play in the yard together after getting back from every walk. A few puppy ice cream socials definitely helped also, but most of all just time! I’ve never heard of two goldendoodles co-habiting and not getting along. Puffles still likes his space and some alone time, but they’re getting along just fine in our home now, and have the best times together in our yard and now on road-trips.
Are They Fighting or Playing?
I’ve never seen Puffles having more fun than he has with now with his new baby sister. They love chasing and wrestling each other in the yard for an hour or more per day 10-15 minutes at a time. Puffles didn’t even really know how to play with dogs before and never had much interest in other dogs, but he loves playing with Raya and has a blast.
I grew up with a dog, but not two dogs, so this has all been new for me too. It’s tough to tell if dogs are fighting or playing if you’re not familiar, but managed to find this really helpful blog and chart below. There was really only one or two mildly hostile moments by Puffles the first time or two they played which I had to step in to referee, but after that it’s all been good natured fun and exercise for both of them!
From Puffles to “Buffles”
Puffles has gotten so BUFF from all of the exercise and play time that he wasn’t getting before, that we’re calling him “BUFFLES” now. He’s seriously transformed into one big hunk of muscle, and has probably gained a few pounds in muscle mass and a fair amount of girth too. We’re not kidding about this at all. We’ve all noticed the difference when we have to pick him up and carry him somewhere! He’s like one of those gym bros that has to walk with a wider stance or with their arms sticking out a bit, because their muscles are so big!
Raya was so energetic when we brought her home and when they first started playing, that she seemed to be getting the better of Puffles, and was able to out-play and out-maneuver him, and was shockingly quick. She caught him off-guard, but he quickly developed and doesn’t get taken advantage of nearly as much. It’s been hilarious seeing her “buzz his tower” and pulling moves straight out of Top Gun when she “hits the brakes and he flies right by”. LOL
It’s been a shocking physical transformation for Puffles, and underneath all of that fluff, Raya is a solid bit of muscle too! All of the physical activity and play is so great for both of them.
Verdict?
We’re all exhausted, but totally in love with our new addition to the family. Two dogs are great and just a natural thing, especially two of the same breed that will be similar in size to each other. Absolutely no regrets here. Crazy? Not at all. Just seeing how much fun Puffles is having that he never would have been having without Raya is reason enough for me. He deserves a furry companion to go through life with, and now he has one.
There’s also something really special about caring for a breeder’s litter pick as a Guardian family. In case you missed this little tidbit also, Raya isn’t actually our dog, she’s our breeder’s dog that we’re caring for (although she’ll eventually be ours fully). So Raya isn’t just cream of the crop, but cream of the cream, and hopefully the future mommy of a dozen or more other adorable little puppies that will bring so much joy and happiness to so many other families. It’s not about not having to shell out $4000 for one of these fully professionally bred and genetically tested out the wazoo dogs, although that’s nice too. It’s about being a part of the journey as “Raya’s family,” seeing her become a mommy, and hopefully bringing so much more joy into the world.
And the only thing better than one super loving dog excited to come greet you when you come home with their tail wagging furiously, are TWO dogs greeting you and two sets of wagging tails. Best feeling ever! :)
Puffles and Raya are a great pair, and we all couldn’t be happier.
Keep up with the latest on Puffles and Raya at their dedicated Doggos page below.
Raya Unleashed
There’s nothing like letting a puppy off leash in an open field for the first time. But before you even think about doing that, you have to know that you can trust them.
There’s nothing like letting a puppy off leash in an open field for the first time. It’s exhilarating to them seeing all of the open space, and wanting to see how fast they can go! But before you even think about doing that, you have to know that you can trust them.
With dogs it’s all about trust, and at 14 weeks old Raya is quickly proving herself to be a very trustworthy dog. Given how promptly and reliably she responds to recall commands with or without treats, inside or out of the house in our fenced in yard, I decided to take her to the large fields at our local neighborhood park over the weekend to see how she’d do with Puffles and some high-value treats at the ready (sliced non-preserved ham).
We’re very blessed to have one of the few properties in our densely packed neighborhood with a fenced in yard that’s just big enough for smaller to mid-sized dogs to get up to speed and run in a bit, but it still doesn’t compare to an open field.
Canon EOS R6 and EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
Lots of photos below. This blog best viewed on a large screen.
February 5, 2023
Although the weather was nicer for the dead of winter and in the mid-50’s, luckily the fields and the park were still virtually empty and distraction free. Raya did not disappoint! Just like Puffles when he was a puppy, she never wanted to stray too far from us. She only got a bit too far away or close to the street once, and immediately recalled with a “come!” command with that high-value reward, and when we needed to re-leash her if other dogs were approaching.
Both she and Puffles had fun blasting around the fields, chasing each other and being chased, and for Raya, exploring more of her area. Puffles hasn’t had much interest in going to this park in recent years, but he’ll be more interested now with a new little adopted sister to chase around, especially as the weather starts warming up.
I can’t tell you what a joy it’s been seeing Puffles and Raya play so much together. They both love their play time and have so much fun together. Letting them loose in a much more wide open field was a sight to behold. They were both super tired after this and slept well that night!
Canon EOS R6 and Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.
February 8, 2023
Got them out again. I thought the warm weather was just a single day thing. Nope! It will actually be in the 60’s for the next few days, so have been cutting out of work a tad early making sure to get both Raya and Puffles out to the park to play.
Today was even more of a challenge for Raya with TONS of people and other dogs out to distract, but she still did great and was always responsive to recall commands. They’re both really enjoying the weather, wide open spaces, and play time.
(Note: From the photos I did happen to spot the bit of something-or-other sticky bit of gunk that happened to get stuck in her teeth, and managed to remove it after a bit of wrestling.)
Introducing Raya the Mini Goldendoodle (Boodles/Jax 10/22/22)
We adopted an adorable mini Goldendoodle with less than 48 hours notice on January 4th, 2023. Come meet the new addition to our family!
Meet Raya! (“Ray of Sunshine”)
“Lavender Girl” from THE Boodles-Jax 10/22 LITTER finally landed AT her furever home WITH US IN MARYLAND oN JANUARY 4th, 2023.
Raya’s 6-week puppy portrait from River Falls Goldendoodles.
We adopted Raya (“Ray of Sunshine”), a 10 week old petite-mini Goldendoodle, on January 4th, 2023 with less than 48 hours notice. She was “lavender” girl” from the Boodles/Jax litter born 10/22/22 at River Falls Goldendoodles in South Carolina. We adopted her by way of Fox Creek Farm Goldendoodles, in Berkeley Springs, WV, where we got our 5 year old mini-Goldendoodle, Puffles, from.
Confused yet? Read on…
But first…
Wait! What? The Pake’s Got Another Dog???
Yes we did! Truth be told, I had always kinda wanted another dog, just because I know dogs are really better off if they have another canine buddy to go through life with, but had never really been pushing for it, and didn’t expect it to ever happen. As much as dogs love their humans and vice versa, their humans often aren’t around or are busy, and it gets really lonely for them once kids are out of the house, which will be in the blink of an eye for us with two teenagers.
The week before Christmas, I happened to show my wife a picture of an available puppy from Fox Creek Farm Goldendoodles, not really being serious and not expecting much of a reaction. From that point forward, the entire family wouldn’t stop talking about getting another puppy, with my wife having the biggest crocodile tears of them all. Everybody wanted another puppy for their own reasons, and we spent half of our winter break road trip to Orlando and back talking about another dog and arguing about names for another dog, that I myself hadn’t truly commit to getting yet, because you know who will ultimately be responsible for another dog! ME!!!
We rolled back into town from Orlando on Monday, January 2nd, weary from our travels, with all of us having reached agreement to get another puppy. I had already touched base with Fox Creek Farm the week before Christmas about future mini litters for the spring and was ready to put a deposit down, and that’s when I saw her.
Oh dear God in heaven, a little princess needed rescuing!
I emailed Kelsey because she was absolutely adorable and the perfect size for us, and in less than 48 hours we picked her up in West Virginia.
So… not exactly unplanned, but definitely spur of the moment with only a single full day to prepare for her arrival before we brought her home.
Cue some of that “ToXiC mAsCuLiNTy”, madly tearing through the basement looking for gates, fences, crates, dividers, ramps, and other puppy items, while cleaning up the house and rearranging some furniture (and cleaning my guns), and then making a bee-line to the local pet store, road raging around idiot drivers who just needed to get out of my way. I’M COMING FOR YOU, BABY PRINCESS!!!!
Raya’s Whirlwind First Few Weeks Out In The World
I didn’t know much about her prior to agreeing to come pick her up, where she came from or who her doggy parents were, or why she was 10 weeks old and not 8, but at this level of fully professional genetically tested blue ribbon GANA bred puppies typically costing $3500-4500, you need not worry about the dog! It wasn’t until the day before we picked her up that I learned that she had already been adopted by a family that just wasn’t going to work out for some reason, and that we were actually re-homing her. Oh no… the poor baby!!!
As it turned out, Raya was Fox Creek Farm’s litter pick from River Falls Goldendoodle’s Boodles-Jax 10/22/22 litter, to use as a potential dam (mommy) for future puppy litters to be bred. So she’s actually Fox Creek Farm’s dog and we’ve become her Guardian family, as is common practice for GANA breeders. So Raya had travelled by car from South Carolina with a puppy travel nanny up to West Virginia, was placed with an area family presumably around Christmas time that just didn’t work out, was returned to West Virginia and Fox Creek Farm, and then finally went home with us to her furever home in Maryland on January 4th.
The plan for Raya is for her to deliver 4 litters of puppies over the next 4-5 years for future Fox Creek Farm dog owners, after which time she’ll officially be “retired” and signed over to us with full ownership. While she’s FREE to us, we cover all normal dog expenses including vet visits, Fox Creek Farm will cover everything relating to pregnancies, we especially need to learn about and watch out for “girl dog stuff”, and we have to get her back to West Virginia two dozen or so times over the next few years. It’s above and beyond normal dog ownership, but Raya is a very special dog and we’re very much looking forward to it! The best part of the whole deal is that we get to play with all of her puppies when we come to pick her up after she delivers a litter! How cool is that!?!?
Raya is a “petite-mini” and is expected to top out at around 20 lbs like Boodles and Jax, so she’ll be a little bit smaller than Puffles. We think the name Raya was given to her by her originally adoptive family. We had numerous other ideas in mind for a name, but ended up liking the name so much that we decided to keep it for her, and to at least give her a little bit of continuity. It was going to be on her paperwork either way, so why not?
Raya is as cute as can be with her wavy brown abstract coat, with four super cute and adorable white mitten paws, and then white fur on her chest, above and below her nose and on her neck, a little bit on top of her head, and then a white tail tip. She’s completely adorable and clearly princess grade, so yes, the world absolutely needs more dogs like her, and hopefully she’ll be able to provide some! :)
Why Did Baby Raya Need To Be Re-Homed?
I honestly have no idea, and it’s actually confidential. The impression I got was that our breeder might might have had some reservations about the family she was being placed with, but hoped it would work out and didn’t. I have no reason to believe the family was anything but loving and well-intentioned. I suspect they might have been first time dog owners and just had no idea what they were getting themselves into, or maybe they just weren’t going to be able to meet the obligations of the Guardian program. I really don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Either way, I’m glad the decision was made to return her from whatever the less than ideal situation was, and that she’s found a great home with us now.
Adjusting to Another New Place
Raya was beyond happy to be with her new family, and played with us for 30-40 minutes at Fox Creek Farm before we departed for home. She was definitely on the anxious side being in yet another new place, and especially about being fenced into a contained area for the first time. The poor baby princess panicked, but it had to be done to keep her safe during the day while we all go to work and school.
I took some time sitting with her inside the fence, holding her and talking to her before putting her inside, giving her some treats rewarding her for being there, and then sitting on the couch working just outside of her fenced area for her to be comfortable. The same with crate training, and her new Snuggle Puppy has been working great for puppies suffering separation anxiety. Dogs have absolutely amazing internal clocks, so a few days of getting to know our routine, and that we’ll be back to let her out and give her all of the attention she needs, has really helped her to feel a lot more comfortable.
She was also quite an aggressive nipper when we got her, but a few days of solid family-wide puppy biting inhibition countermeasures, and I’d say the issue is 75-80% better, and probably no different than any other puppy around 10-12 weeks of age at this point. All puppies nip as it’s all they know to do, and it takes time for them to learn that human beings don’t like to be nipped and to reprogram themselves, so long as they’re getting the proper responses to nipping from their humans. Hint: screaming “no!” isn’t it, and is likely to actually make things worse, which is what I suspect might have been happening.
Puffles and Raya
Our biggest concern about getting another dog was how well Puffles would do with another dog in the house, when he’s always been very dog shy, and never really wanted much if anything to do with other dogs! Even at his puppy training class when he was Raya’s age, he never really wanted to socialize with the other dogs, and just hid under our chairs or between our legs, and the same at dog parks. I was reassured by Amy Lane at Fox Creek Farm that it would be a huge benefit for him, and I can already see that. Plus, never in my life had I ever heard of doodles living together not getting along!
The first few days were definitely awkward, but the suggestions on the Fox Creek Farm Owners Group were great, to let them first meet in neutral territory in our yard before bringing her inside, and then so long as nobody was getting hurt to just let them work it out! There was definitely some angry barking by Puffles and chasing her into corners the first two days, and he’s semi-tackled her a few times also without hurting her, but after that they were fine! By Day 3-4 they were playing with each other in our yard, and I’ll let some of the photos do the talking on that.
Walking them together has helped a lot, along with treating them together while they sit inside, going to play outside, and a puppy ice cream social might have helped too. They’re still not exactly buddy-buddy inside, but they’re getting used to having the other around.
Welcome Home, Raya!
Overall we’re completely exhausted at this point, but couldn’t be happier after having her for a week. I still can’t believe that I went from making an initial inquiry with our breeder about another mini goldendoodle the week before Christmas, to bringing this sweet little angel home with less than 48 hours notice, all within a 2 week period. We had only made the final decision to get another dog the day it was announced she was available, and in less than 48 hours we had her.
I sense the hand of God at work, and that we were meant to have her for a reason! This is going to be quite an amazing journey being her Guardian family, and we’re all very much looking forward to it.
Other Boodles/Jax Litter Dog Owners?
Per my understanding, Boodles and Jax were quite busy in 2022 and actually had two litters together that year! If you have another Boodles/Jax dog, I would love to hear from you.
Raya Gotcha Week Photo Albums
Click on the album link below, or enjoy the slide show further down.
Raya’s and Puffles’ Pages
At one point I had a doggy Instagram for Puffles, but I just didn’t have the time for it and deleted it. Social media platforms are becoming more de-centralized, and with so many people on one platform or another, or not on any at all, I’ve gone back to good old-fashioned web-central doggy photo sharing.
Check out these pages below!
Happy 1st Birthday Puffles
Is it October 10th already? Yes it is! When we heard from Amy Lane at Fox Creek Farm that our puppy had been born on October 10th, we knew it was fate and that we were meant to have him, because October 10th (ten-ten) is also National Taiwan Day every year, and we’re a Taiwanese family.
Happy 1st Birthday to our amazing, adorable,
and beloved mini goldendoodle, Puffles!
Is it October 10th already? Yes it is! When we heard from Amy Lane at Fox Creek Farm that our puppy had been born on October 10th, we knew it was fate and that we were meant to have him, because October 10th (ten-ten) is also National Taiwan Day every year, and we’re a Taiwanese family. By the way, a “Puffle” is a tasty Asian egg waffle ice cream treat, which given his fluffy and “puffy” coat and birth on National Taiwan Day, all just made for the perfect name for him.
While I’m at it, here’s some recent photos of Puffles along with us on the 3 mile hike around Hawksbill Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. He did great and loved the hike!
It sure has been a lot of work becoming a dog family, but Puffles is the absolute perfect doggy in every way. He’s so unbelievably smart, playful, and energetic, yet still so cuddly and happy to roll over on his back for some belly rubs all the same. He has such a wonderful personality, and its such a blessing to have him in our lives. He’s made us all better humans, too.
We ended up celebrating his birthday a day early on the 9th, because our daughter Katie had a special school trip of a few days to go on starting on the 10th. I got him out to the park twice, once over lunch and then right after I got home from work and let him chase his favorite ball around off leash. He’s not very tall, so he always loves it when the grass has just been mowed, and always has the biggest smile on his face when I’m about to let him off leash to go run at maximum speed. We still remember when he was just a tiny little puppy and most of us could outrun him, but not anymore! He’s super fast now, and had such a great time at the park.
We spoiled him with a special doggy birthday cake from Okra & Molly, which he loved! After having two pieces of it and licking up the crumbs, he stood at attention looking at all of us and just looked so happy and content. We’re so glad he loves his family! He’s so worth it, and brings so much love and joy to all of us. What a special soul to have in our lives.
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY PUFFLES! :)
More about Puffles
SEE ALSO: Our Mini Goldendoodle, Puffles
Puffles Main Page: PUFFLES
Puffles Latest Photos: PUFFLES LATEST
Our Mini Goldendoodle, Puffles
After living in our crammed townhome for 10 years, we finally upgraded to a single family home with a nice sized yard last year, and got a dog to go along with it. It's been a pretty big transition for all of us to become "dog people" and we're still getting there, but Puffles has been awesome and the perfect dog for us. Puffles was born on October 10th, 2017, and we picked him up and brought him home on December 5th.
After living in our crammed townhome for 10 years, we finally upgraded to a single family home with a nice sized yard last year, and got a dog to go along with it. It's been a pretty big transition for all of us to become "dog people" and we're still getting there, but Puffles has been awesome and the perfect dog for us. Puffles was born on October 10th, 2017, and we picked him up and brought him home on December 5th.
Our son, William, actually has terrible dog allergies, so we specifically bought a multi-gen Goldendoodle from Fox Creek Farm in West Virginia. A Goldendoodle is a Golden Retriever and Poodle mix, and Fox Creek Farm breeds multi-gen Goldendoodles, which are 100% hypoallergenic. We went to check out the dogs in the Fall of 2017 and had William pet them, and then had him rub his face and eyes and he had no issues at all, so we felt safe buying a dog from them. You have to be careful with some goldendoodle breeders. F1 breeds (first crossing of a Golden Retriever and a Poodle) only have a 50/50 chance of being hypoallergenic, but F1b (bred back to a Poodle, so 75% poodle), or F2/F2b, or multigens like what Fox Creek Farm breeds, are all pretty safe for those with allergies. Puffles does not shed at all! You can get Goldendoodles in all sizes, but we went for a Mini (15-30 lbs) as we thought it'd be a good and manageable size for us, and it looks like Puffles is going to top out at right around 20 lbs.
Puffles is the perfect little doggy. He's exceptionally smart and can easily figure most things out on his own, and is very easy to train, and took to his crate very well. He's also very well behaved in that he doesn't get scared or have any anxiety, even when he's left at home for awhile. We just happened to start a major kitchen renovation (a complete gutting) in the spring after we got Puffles, and he was not even the least bit skittish or alarmed with all of the noise, and does just fine with vacuum cleaners too. He's also very cuddly and playful, and he has a great temperament and personality overall. It was definitely tough picking up a new dog in December, but we've all gotten to know him, he's all gotten to know us, and he's a great addition to our family.
I'm lucky enough to work about 5 minutes from home, so we never had to leave him in his crate for too long even when he was a puppy. He's never had an accident in his crate at all, and to date, we can probably count on our two hands the number of times he's had an accident in our house, and most all of the time it's because he wasn't managed properly by his humans (we don't count the times he pees on the floor a little because he's so excited to see us! LOL) Now that he's just about full-sized, we fence off a small area around his crate for him to play in so that he doesn't have to be stuck in his crate all day, and leave some classical music running on the TV and he does just fine. If I can't make it home to let him out over lunch or if I'm away on a business trip, Debbie's brother, who is disabled and lives with us full time, can let him out and take him for a walk too. So Puffles is pretty spoiled in that he never has to be crated or left in his fenced off area for more than about 3-4 hours at a time.
There's nothing cuter than this little fur ball coming at you at full speed! :)
I'll be completely honest. Debbie and I have had one too many crazy, neurotic, abusive, self-destructive, or otherwise toxic people in our lives, and I think we're just plain burned out from other human beings to the point that we've become almost totally anti-social, and hardly want anything to do with anyone else these days. It feels sad to even be saying anything like that, but if you know you know and you'll totally get it, and if you don't know, don't ask!! The simple and uncomplicated love of a dog has really been a breathe of fresh air for us, and we've all fallen in love with Puffles. Coming home from our day and seeing this little fur ball charge at us at full speed so that he can jump on us and give us all sloppy wet kisses while wagging his tail is the highlight of our day. He's such a sweet and perfect little dog. He's a blessing in our lives, and we're so glad he's ours because we really needed him. :)
Don't let all of the pictures of him with our daughter, Katie, fool you. He's totally a mama's boy!!!!!! He follows Debbie all around the house, and has to be close to her all the time. He can't get enough of her, despite the fact that she has zero responsibility for his care! Go figure!!! And smart boy!!! Lol! Of course Debbie secretly loves it, even if she's annoyed that he's constantly following her and stalking her at all times. She loves the attention too, and Puffles will never grow up or talk back to her either! He'll be her baby forever! LOL!
I needed to pick Puffles up a minute after this so that Debbie could get off of her hammock, and he actually growled at me! Doesn't want to leave his mama! LOL!
Although I do have a doggy Instagram setup for Puffles (@PrincePuffles), I just don't have the time, patience, or the energy for social media these days, so the very best place to keep up with Puffles is on his dedicated web pages! I have a main page that indexes all of his photo albums, and then a "Latest" page which is like a highlight reel. As his Latest page is now, you can see highlights from his entire first year with us from the time he was a little puppy until now. It's really cute. You can also navigate there from my home page menu at StevePake.com > Fun Stuff > Puffles. Be sure to check it out! :)
If you're a Goldendoodle owner and happen to be in the Washington, DC area, or better yet in Montgomery County, MD (we live in Rockville) and would like to get in touch or meet up for a doggy play date, you can get in touch with us at the button below. :)
