Hi Everyone!

It’s getting closer to puppy selection time with Chantel’s litter and I want to try something new!

Do you all have Periscope?  Do you know what it is?

I’m not an expert but I do know this…Periscope is a way for me to video the puppies and you all can watch live, while its happening, and ask questions and make comments in real time. 

I think this will be an amazing tool for puppy selection and I’m excited to try it this week. I’m considering the early evening hours, maybe around 5 pm (PST) on Thursday, March 17.  That is tomorrow!

My Periscope name is Grace Without Tears (for now) if you want to follow me and get the notification when the video begins. 

I have never done this before as the presenter, but I have taken part in Periscopes as someone watching and commenting. I expect it will be an adventure. 

I hope to see you all tomorrow night!  Chantel’s pups are 4 weeks old and starting to move around and play with each other!

I don’t understand why this lovely little dog is still here. 

  
He is 5 months old. He has been neutered. He has been handled a lot since he was a puppy. He has had a couple homes lined up that fell through. I know there is a family out there who will love Draper and give him the home he deserves. He will be a perfect match for someone. 

He is basically a “phase 2” Accelerated Puppy, yet without the full cost. He walks on a leash, does stairs with ease, sleeps in a crate, and is a gentle spirit and loves to cuddle. He loves the kids at school and he is a pleasant little guy to have around. He needs final potty training and that’s about it. 

He is from Abbey’s litter, born in Octover 2015. You can scroll back to read his story. 

He has a Health Certificate (his 3rd one), and he can go home any day. He was scheduled to fly to JFK this Friday, but plans had to change. 

  
(Before he was groomed last week)

His price is $1250 (1/2 the price of a phase 2 Accelerated Puppy), $300 for his neuter, and $425 for shipping if that is necessary. ($1975 total). This price is firm. 
Please call me if you would like to give Draper a forever home. 

509-936-2715

I’m writing to reach out to all of you that have sent an email in the past month regarding our puppies and our waiting list. 

I have done a poor job responding to all the emails and part of the reason is that I don’t have answers to your questions. 

Right now the waiting list has 18 families. The secondary waiting list has almost 10 families plus many of you who have said you’d like to be included. 

To try and be more efficient regarding this whole process, I’m going to ask that you call me and leave your name and phone number if you’d like to be added to the list. 

My number is 509-936-2715. I may be able to answer and talk with you, or you may need to leave a message. 

Please understand that the wait for one of our puppies may be quite long, like up to a year, but also there is nothing to lose by getting your name on the list. 

I will be responding to all emails with a general email in the next few days. Thanks again for your patience. 

We do have 2 litters now with a total of 7 puppies. We also have 2-3 more females that have been bred and should deliver puppies this spring. 

Hoping to hear from many of you via my cell phone. If you did already call, please try again. Thanks!!

I have a lot of emails in my inbox and I want to let you all know I will respond to them next Monday!!  I’m in charge of a fundraiser event Saturday night, involved in an extra curricular teaching activity most of Sunday, and then in charge of food for a dinner event Sunday night. I’m in survival mode for the next 3 days, but I will answer your emails soon!

I can give you a quick update about the new puppies!  Chantel’s litter is looking fabulous and we have 5 gorgeous Cavachon pups!!

I will post photos of them next week. 

I asked to hear from everyone on the waiting list and this is what I have so far. If the number is not marked in any way, it’s because I haven’t heard from that family yet. 

I just need to know if you might be ready for a puppy in April, or if you need to wait for a future litter. 

We have 2 black/white females, 1 gold female, 1 dark solid sable female, and 1 blenheim male. 

I’ll come up for air again on Monday!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

This adorable solid sable pup is still available. If you are on the pre waiting list, this could be your opportunity to get a pup sooner, rather than later. 

He is the last pup from Abbey’s litter and his name is Draper. You can scroll down the blog and read more about him. 

He has been health cleared by both of my vets and he is ready to go anytime!!  Please email if interested. 
silverpawcavachons@gmail.com

   
 
He’s the cutie on the right!!

I apologize for any typos.

We have new puppies that will be ready in April. If you see your name on this list, I need to know if the timeline of a puppy going home in April is going to work for you. 

  
Chantel’s litter will be 8 weeks old on April 13, and they will be 13 weeks old on May 18. The first step to puppy selection is deciding if the timeline works with your schedule. If it does, we want to know so we can circle the number by your name. We’ve already heard from two of you via FB, thank you for your quick response. 

We also need to hear from you if you will not be ready, so we can move down the list to the next person. I’d love to hear from all of you within the next couple days. 

I want to shout out to anyone who actually sent a deposit, but doesn’t see his/her name on this list. Let me know if any of you fall into that category and I will get things straightened out. 

And finally, some of you are on our pre-waiting list. This list does not require a deposit and I will be in touch with you when I’m ready for you to actually send a deposit. 

If you have any questions, please send an email to:

 silverpawcavachons@gmail.com

Thanks and I will post photos of the babies in a couple weeks. 

Hi Everyone!

It’s time to give you all some updates on what is happening here at Silver Paw Cavachons. 

I’m just going to post a simple numbered list. Here we go…

1.  There are 2 available Cavachon puppies from Abbey’s litter and I just uploaded 3 videos of them on our Facebook page. I have one family to hear back from on the waiting list, but after that, they are available to the general public. 

Please be sure you scroll down in this blog and read about their medical history. All is well and they have been given a clear bill of health from my 2 vets, but I want all potential buyers to be  informed regarding their medical history. 

  
The golden pup on the left is a female, and the solid sable male on the right is “Draper”.

2.  Chantel is pregnant and in the nursery. She is due around February 21st and we are really hoping for a litter with no complications!  I’ll keep you updated as she progresses.   She is bred to a black/tan male Cavalier so we could get any color of puppies. 

3.  The Waiting List is basically full. We have 20 deposits in hand and I don’t want to collect any more money until a litter is born and puppies are matched to their families. 

Because we still have such a strong interest in our puppies, I have started an informal waiting list that does not require a deposit. Send me an email if you’d like more info regarding this informal list. 

I will post a photo of the official waiting list soon. 

4.  Available Male Bichons. We still have 2 male Bichons looking for new homes. These boys are very playful, friendly, and they are ready to go any time!  They come from AKC parents, but I did not register the litters, so these pups will be sold without papers. 

5.  If you have emailed us recently and not received a response it is because we have no new puppies at this time and a very long waiting list with only one litter on the horizon. It is possible that we will have several litters born in late spring and ready to go home early summer, but those are only guestimates, and you never know exactly what will happen. Plus, we already have 20 families waiting. At this time we are only accepting names for our secondary waiting list and we don’t have an estimated wait time for when puppies will be available to those just getting on the waiting list now. 

Please send questions to our email at silverpawcavachons@gmail.com, or give us a call at 509-936-2715. Thanks for your interest in our puppies!

We have a gorgeous male Bichon puppy available for adoption. He is 14 weeks old, current on all shots and worming, almost crate trained, and ready to go home. 

He is playful and attentive, and he loves to snuggle and be loved. Please email if you are interested. 

He’s the guy in the front of all these photos!

A lot has happened here at Silver Paw Cavachons over the Christmas vacation and New Year, some happy news, and some not so happy news. 

The happy news is that Abbey, Justyne, and Roxy puppies have been going home during and after the holidays with 4 more scheduled to leave this coming week. 
All of our fall litters have been matched except for 2 puppies that I will talk about in another post. 

My email is bursting with inquiries, so if I haven’t responded to your email, I will soon. Our waiting list is jam packed and the estimated wait time for a puppy is at least 3-6 months or more.  A few changes will be happening here at SPC this year, including a cap on the waiting list. We will only be holding 20 deposits at any one time, so there are just 2 spaces left until puppies are born and people make their selections, opening up more spaces. 

As much as we’d love to have all the puppies available to feed the demand, we are also keenly aware of their social needs and too many puppies at one time is overwhelming for us and not good for their socialization needs. 

I just took some time to update the list, including the details about color preferences and ideal timeline choices, but please understand that people do change their minds, choose other colors, or accelerate their timeline if they see just the right puppy born and available.

Since I snapped this photo, we have received another deposit from Nancy R., so she is #18.  

If your name is on this list and you have had any changes in your timeline or ability to bring a pup home, please do let me know so I can update the list immediately. 

Some of you have asked about the upcoming litters, so I’d like to share with you what you can expect this spring/summer. 
Because dogs are living creatures, we are at the mercy of nature and sometimes not everything goes as planned. We have experienced some sad events the past few weeks, and the term “when it rains, it pours” has sadly been our experience. 

Our first hurdle was with the Abbey litter. But that will actually be my next blog post because it’s a whole story all on its own. 

Some of you may remember that Jazzy delivered puppies back in December. We are very sad to let you know that we have lost that litter due to aspirating pneumonia. We unexpectedly found the golden male puppy dead one morning and the next morning the sable/white female was also gone. After speaking with my vet at length, we determined that the probable cause was pneumonia due to the puppies accidentally breathing in milk from the mother dog. We are devestated and hate to have to give this type of news. 

Shortly after losing Jazzy’s pups, Paige gave birth to 3 babies. Due to complications during their birth, we lost her litter as well. 

We can’t remember a time when we have experienced back to back complications like this, but both experiences were out of our hands and there was very little we could have done to intervene. The sad truth is that things do not always go as planned and nature does not always follow the rules in the book we’d like to write. 

This has left us with no new puppies right now, which will delay our ability to provide spring 2016 puppies. 

We did have a mating with Chantel, so if all goes well, we should have a new litter born in March and ready to go home in May. Litter size is usually 3-6 pups, so we still won’t make a very big dent in the waiting list. 

We have a couple young females that are of breeding age, but we have not seen any activity yet and they have never had puppies before, so we have no timeline to work with to anticipate future litters. If anything develops, I’ll be sure to let you all know. 

I’m very sorry to have to share these experiences, but life is not perfect and things go wrong in spite of careful planning and attentive care to details. 

We do have a golden female and a solid sable male yet from Abbey’s litter. I will tell their story next!

As I mentioned in the last post, the whirlwind of stress actually began with the Abbey litter a couple of weeks before Christmas.  One afternoon, when updating photos and videos, I noticed that something was not right with the face of the darkest golden female.  I immediately took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with Puppy Strangles.  I’ll let you Google this to learn more about it.

(Goldie after treatment when I was meeting her family coming to pick her up)

 The symptoms on our little girl were a swollen face, discharge coming from the eyes, and hardness around the lips and mouth. She did not have open sores and we learned that we had actually caught her condition early, thankfully!  As we had never even heard of this before, we were quite alarmed. She was immediately given an aggressive treatment of medication twice daily and we kept her and the rest of the litter under a very close watch. While this condition is not contagious, we were on alert with the rest of the litter hoping desperately that this would be an isolated situation that would affect only 1 puppy. 

Ten days later, a second puppy in the litter (“Draper”, the solid sable male with more white on his face) also developed a swollen face and had very hardened lips around his mouth. I was devastated as Draper had a family (Goldie had not been chosen yet) and was planned to be a Christmas Eve delivery. Having to make that phone call was one of those stomach ache experiences that every breeder dreads going through.

Draper and Goldie became partners in treatment, and by this time, Goldie was actually feeling pretty good, but Draper wanted to just relax!  The other puppies in the litter seemed fine and while the condition is a serious one if not treated, it is not fatal, rarely comes back, and just required consistent treatment, and we were already seeing major improvement in Goldie.

We continued to eagle eye the rest of the puppies in the litter, checking daily for any signs of the same condition, but they all seemed to be clear.  Three of the litter mates were matched with forever families  and it was soon time for them to travel and get their health certificates.

But we did not get good news at the vet visit. While the remaining puppies in the litter did not show any symptoms at all, it was found that their lymph nodes were just beginning to swell.  This is the first symptom of Puppy Strangles, so they were not allowed to fly, and all three of them were also put on the aggressive treatment plan for this condition. More phone calls had to be made and this was a very low time that hit us hard over the Christmas holidays. Here is my planner keeping track of all the meds during the peak of having 5 puppies under treatment, multiple vet visits, and everything else that was happening with the dogs–plus it was Christmas week!!!

The middle of the column helped me keep track of all the details during this time.

As difficult as this experience was, I was extremely thankful for one thing. I was and am SO GLAD this happened BEFORE any of the puppies went home. I can’t imagine the nightmare of 5 families receiving what would have seemed like a perfectly healthy puppy, just to have it develop these very scary and weird symptoms, and have to go through the expense (major) of treating their precious new family member, and the emotional turmoil that would have surrounded that. While there was still some major turmoil and tough decisions made by a few families, I’m so glad that I was the one who could absorb all of this stress and deal with all the details of getting these puppies through this, to a place of healing and good health. I am truly grateful that it all happened with me, and not scattered all over the USA.

I am happy to report now, that 2 puppies have gone home from the Abbey litter, (Goldie pictured above, the first diagnosed with the condition, and the Blenheim male who never got the condition) and two more (both with only the swollen lymph nodes) are scheduled to leave this coming Friday. We have completed their medication and they will get their final clear bill of health this coming Thursday!!

And this brings me to the two available puppies I mentioned on my FB page the other day. Both Draper and the lighter gold female from Abbey’s litter are still looking for forever homes, and both should be ready to travel soon. Draper was the 2nd puppy diagnosed and he did have swelling in his face and lips. The golden girl never developed symptoms.

I’m disclosing all of this because I want you to be informed about the medical history of these puppies. In the litter, 5/6 puppies developed Puppy Strangles and we are being careful to not breed the parent dogs together again. Some families decided to still get their chosen puppy in spite of this experience and other families decided to pass. This is a personal decision that each will need to make after doing research and talking with their veterinarians.

I just posted a couple of videos of Draper on my Facebook page, Silver Paw Kennels (link in right side column of this blog), and I will try to post some pictures of both Draper and the light golden female here on the blog in the next couple of days.  Those on the waiting list have first choice at these puppies, so if you have any interest at all, please contact me ASAP.  If you are not on the waiting list, but are also interested in one of these puppies, please send me an email with any questions you might still have.  I am not an expert on Puppy Strangles, so please research the condition online, but I can tell you exactly what we went through, how the puppies responded to treatment, and what they are like today.

I hope everyone understands my somewhat poor communication during this time.  We were pretty swamped over our “vacation” time, not only with quite a few puppies that were ready to go home, but with a “sick” litter, and the two other litters that did not make it.  We are hoping everything will get back to normal now, and puppies that will be born later this spring and summer with be healthy and without major complications!

Thanks again for being part of the Silver Paw family!  ❤ Kristy