# "52 Weeks of Mariah" ~ Seacoast, NH



## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

Welcome to "52 Weeks of Mariah" 

Mariah was born on August 20th, 2014 in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire! She is eight weeks old and now lives in the Seacoast area with her human parents and two big brothers, aged 10 and 13. She is very sweet and loved to pieces by her new family!

Here are pictures from Mariah's first day home, which was also her 8 week birthday!


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

What a beautiful color! Enjoy your pup - Claire


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

Asta's Mom said:


> What a beautiful color! Enjoy your pup - Claire


Thank you! I wish we knew what coat she was going to grow into. I'm hoping someone might have an older pup that looked like Mariah at this age and will be able to show me what he/she grew into!


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## kayfabulous6 (Nov 19, 2013)

What a good looking baby


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## Mahlon (Jun 8, 2014)

Oh my, isn't she stunning! She looks like she is a Brown Sable (and maybe more! I'm pretty sure she's got the E(m) allele for masking too!) and Quinn's litter had a few puppies like her in it, though they were phantoms born with markings. Can't wait to see more pics and hear more about her, she truly is beautiful! 

Dan & Quinn


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## Pamela (Sep 9, 2008)

ohhh she is so beautiful! what color is that? sable?


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

I am not sure! She's got beige, golden, and dark brown throughout her coat and a white spot on her chin, belly and the tip of one back paw! I am dying to know what she will grow into


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## Mahlon (Jun 8, 2014)

NH10023 said:


> I am not sure! She's got beige, golden, and dark brown throughout her coat and a white spot on her chin, belly and the tip of one back paw! I am dying to know what she will grow into


Do you have any pics of her parents, or do you know what their color/patterns are as adults? 

Figured I'd help explain some more of what I see she's got going on trait wise:



> 1) Brown - She has a liver nose, lighter eyes than normal, and no black.
> 
> 2) Sable - Dark brown tipping on her hair, once cut this does not usually come back. Sable also messes with the coloring and patterning a bit with things like phantom, or brindle.
> 
> ...


Whatever she is exactly she's beautiful, and can't wait to hear and read more about her and her color change, as well as info on her parents and the lines she comes from! 

Also I included a pic of Quinn's black belly which is part of her masking. The interesting thing is Quinn's mom has a full mask covering her entire head and neck, and she is a Brown & Cream Phantom as well. When cut short all over its hard to see, but as her hair grows out it is very very obvious! 

Dan & Quinn


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

Dan… You are AWESOME! I agree with everything you see! In the natural light, all of the color you see in the pictures is just slightly lighter. I, too, feel she will become more cream than anything. I wish they used a different term to describe her nose color. Liver is just "yucky"… I'm putting it right up there with the term "bitches"… ugh! LOL You have inspired me to write to my breeder and see if she could provide me with pictures/descriptions of her parents. I believe one parent is a phantom and the other is a parti, I just can't remember which is which. I was overwhelmed on the day of our visit, which came two weeks earlier than I expected! :O


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Oh my! She's just gorgeous!!! I love the more unusual Poodle colors! I see also that her tail is not docked. Can you share the name of the breeder? It's always fun to look at the dogs of different breeders!
Do keep up your 52 weeks thread so we can see how her color develops!!!


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

Absolutely! Mariah comes from Crabapple Downs in Colebrook, NH  The owner is a very wise woman who loves and cares so much for all of her puppies. 

I look forward to sharing our journey with you!


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

*Week 2: 9 weeks old today!*

We had a wonderful first week with Mariah! 

She is eating, drinking, sleeping and going potty like a champ. She loves to be rocked to sleep on my lap. She is such a LOVE!

Her teeth and claws have become VERY sharp! OUCH! She's a landshark!!!
Her whiskers have come in! 

She loves to run around free in our backyard, playing with everyone. She especially loves it when the leaves blow around! She even learned to climb the back steps on her own!

She takes lots of car rides to and from the boys' school each day and she attended her first football game! She loves people and people love her 

This week we've gotten to know each other and I've been doing lots of observation! Next week I hope to get into more a routine so I can stop looking like a sleep deprived, hectic and harried new mother! LOL

Have a wonderful week everyone!


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

Hmmm… my pictures would not upload  I will need to check into this later as we have to go pick up the boys from school. Darn technology! LOL


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## Mahlon (Jun 8, 2014)

Wonderful pictures! She's such a doll, and your update reminds me so much where Quinn and I were not to long ago. It sounds like you are forming a plan and getting ready to put it into action, and that's awesome. Puppies sure are a lot of work, and you need some R&R too! Remember you are mother nature for your pup, you decide when to wake up, when to sleep, when to drink, when to eat, when to play etc. Which also influences and determines the other things like when they poop and pee. Use that to your advantage as much as possible, and give yourself some room to breathe! 

Looking forward to more pics and updates of your beautiful Mariah!

-Dan & Quinn


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## Suddenly (Aug 8, 2013)

She's a real beauty. You are going to have so much fun on this journey. Enjoy your delicious little pup.


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

*Week 3: 10 weeks old yesterday!*

Mariah is growing like a weed and keeping us busy! It's been a challenging week, trying to figure out a schedule, what to do and what not to do. We are still trying to figure out what works best for our family. My biggest concern right now is that since I am at home full-time and am basically with her 24/7, that she will develop separation anxiety. She HATES her crate and only wants to go in there on her terms (if there is food or a food stuffed toy treat, which she gobbles up in minutes and wants out). She barks, cries, whimpers and whines on end in her crate - it's AWFUL! Her favorite place to nap is in front of our side door entrance, in our office. We want to follow our breeder's advice and free feed, but she doesn't seem to have self-control and overeats. According to our scale, she gained almost 10 pounds her first week with us! She was having terrible gas, which didn't seem to bother her, and endless energy and toilet needs. Obviously, this is something we cannot live with, but now it seems we've created a kibble monster. We've started schedule feeding and stuffing chew toys, but now she gobbles them down so fast she ends up throwing up! This doesn't work for us either. So… that's where we're at!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I'm absolutely in love with her face! Sooooo beautiful and expressive!


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Well, there are plenty of slow feed bowls on the market now that will prevent Mariah from eating too fast. They aren't that expensive either, so I recommend ordering a couple different types and seeing what best meets your needs. You could always donate the ones you don't like to your local humane society or animal rescue group. Freezing the Kong with the kibble in it will slow down Mariah's ability to gobble her treats, too. Not sure if this would work with your pup or not, but when we had fast eaters that were gaining weight too quickly we added water to their kibble. They took longer to eat because they had to lap up the water to get to the food. You can use the slow feed bowls with kibble and water, too. One other thing, please keep Mariah seeing a vet regularly, as the kennel she is from does not post any records of health testing.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

You can also measure some of her kibble and use it for training treats. That way she has to work for it At Mariah's age I was worried that Buck wasn't eating enough and didn't seem to like the kibble. I think I'd rather have a gobbler. Some folks have had success with a cookie sheet, to slow down a fast eater. She sure is cute!


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

*Mfmst*… Thank you very much for the suggestions. We have been doing a combination of: in a bowl in the crate, in a stuffed toy in the crate and from the hand for training. I have not tried a cookie sheet


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

*Charmed*… Thank you for the feeding bowl recommendations 

I have all of her papers, including her vet records straight from the very well-known and highly regarded breeder that we got her from. Her next scheduled visit is at 12 weeks when she is due for her next shot. Am I missing something? This is the first puppy we've owned (as adults) so I'm not sure what you mean when you say…



Charmed said:


> One other thing, please keep Mariah seeing a vet regularly, as the kennel she is from does not post any records of health testing.


Thanks again


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I am referring to health testing of her breeding stock. OFA records, genetic testing such as hip x-rays, CERF, heart, thyroid, etc. There is a website, I believe it is called Poodle Health Registry, that lists poodles by registered names and you can see what tests they have had and the results of those tests. Not all breeder list their dogs, however. I have a bad cold right now and am not thinking too clearly. Perhaps another forum member will step in and explain this better. When I was researching pups I did look at your breeder but she either did not do much testing or did not publish the results, so I moved on. Pleas do not think that this means there is something wrong with Mariah... just be sure she has regular checkups... and if I were you, I would get pet insurance.


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## Wren (Jul 2, 2013)

*Kong Wobbler*

To keep your pup from gobbling food look for a Kong Wobbler. You can fill it with kibble and the pup has to push/knock it around to get the food out. The kibble will come out a little at a time. Smaller kibble comes out quicker and in larger amounts, but larger kibble will come out 2-4 kibbles at a time and sometimes she will have to knock it around several times to get any kibble. This really slows down gobbling and gives the pup a good interactive workout at the same time. 

I still feed my 6 mo. spoo his breakfast in the kong wobbler. They do come in different sizes, but I have a medium size I think and I just fill it twice.

My pup learned how to operate the wobbler the first time I showed him when he was about 10 weeks old.

We love the Kong Wobbler.


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## Ciscley (Jul 16, 2013)

*Kong tips*

Gobbling has never been an issue for me with poodles but definitely with the lab pups. We are still doing 4 meals a day at 10 wks old: breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. I usually make lunch the training meal and use that food throughout the day as rewards. Each meal is small enough that even when gobbled it shouldn't cause vomiting. 

That said, your little one definitely sounds ready for you to start experimenting with the kong to make it last longer. 

Once a pup is good enough at getting the plain dry food out of the kong, I usually use white bread as the next step - putting the dry food in and then plugging the opening with bits of white bread. It gets stickier the more the pup licks and if you wedge it in really well it is a good intermediate level. I don't like to give human food, but white bread is pretty tame and you're only using maybe 1/2 to 1 slice.

Next level I use 1/2 wet food and 1/2 dry food. Either canned food or dry food I soak in hot water and then mash up or food process. Once the pup is a master of getting all of that out (and until they are, be sure to clean the old food out every time) then you are ready to move on to freezing the kongs. 

I've had mixed luck with other slow feeding solutions, but the kong is pretty much fool proof once you progress them to the frozen stage. So long as you have the appropriate size / color combo kong for your pup, it should take them 30 mins to eat a frozen kong.


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## NH10023 (Oct 16, 2014)

*re: KONG toys*



NH10023 said:


> We've started schedule feeding and stuffing chew toys, but now she gobbles them down so fast she ends up throwing up! This doesn't work for us either. So… that's where we're at!


The chew toy we have been stuffing is a KONG toy. She gets very worked up and hyper trying to get the food out. She runs around her crate flinging it around and scurrying for the kibble that comes out. I'm wondering if she's getting so worked up that she's taking in too much air? She threw up shortly after one of those crate eating episodes. All that came up was the undigested and very wet kibble. Regardless, this doesn't seem like a healthy way for her to eat, in my opinion. I suppose it's just a case of not all human babies are alike, so why would fur babies all be alike, right? When I read about the dogs eating meals from the chew toys (KONG, etc.) I envisioned this happy, content pup sitting/lying down and actually "chewing and revelling" in her meal! LOL 

The one thing I have not tried is freezing the food in the KONG (oh my goodness, that word drives me crazy!). That is on my list of TO-DO's as well as purchasing a slow-feeder…

Thanks, again, for your suggestions! I'll keep you posted


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## Ciscley (Jul 16, 2013)

*First you have to teach a puppy how to eat calmly*

What you're describing doesn't sound like a simple case of a fast eater. Poodles have deep chests and are a breed that can bloat, so the vomiting and gas / burping is definitely something to take seriously. I'm just confused by some of the things you're describing.

A spoo puppy that young should be getting @ 1/2 cup of food at most per meal. If you're feeding more per meal that could be contributing to the stomach upset.

The crate should be small enough that the dog can only stand up and turn around. Definitely shouldn't be able to toss a kong in the air and bounce around after it. If the crate is too large, use a divider to shorten it until the puppy grows into the larger size.

The puppy should be calm while eating. Gobbling food quickly does not equate with eating while panting and playing. It sounds more like your pup is excited while eating vs. just eating quickly. It seems like splitting a hair in your situation but dog breeds with large mouths can literally inhale a bowl of food in one or two gulps and still be stone cold calm while doing it. 

Luckily calming the dog down around food is definitely easier to fix than slowing down a fast eater. It's just most of the things you'd do for the fast eater (making the food harder to get to with a toy, slow bowl or puzzle feeder) will actually cause the puppy to get more excited, which isn't what you want.

Using those things are certainly worth a try, but it sounds like you need to back up a couple of steps and go back to exclusively hand feeding, one piece of food at a time. 

We usually stop hand feed around 10 weeks, but like you said, it's all about how quickly the individual fur baby is progressing. Eating kibble is not a natural thing for a dog and you have to teach the puppy that despite what they think (eat it all, eat it as fast as you can before someone else does), that only the calm puppy gets the food and the calmer the puppy is the faster the food comes.


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## Poodlerunner (Jul 4, 2014)

My puppy ate so fast when I first got her and she has not slowed down any so I hand feed her.


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