First Litter

Collette and Fala's litter, after they were weaned from their mothers. These puppies were litter box trained by the two runty siblings when they left their cat family and returned to their real brothers and sisters.
We set up a play pen in the kitchen, next to the washer and dryer. One of the biggest males used to like to climb to the top of the playpen to watch me mix up their meals in the big brownie pan.




Fala, Collette and the six puppies. I lobbied hard to be able to keep the littlest girl, and for a while I got my way. I named her Susie. Fala was such a happy dog. If you made eye contact with him, he'd sit up on his haunches and wave his front paws. He was doing this in the photograph.

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Now that Mom found her pedigreed Poodle, she now needed to find a male to breed it to. Mom really did not like male dogs. She said they lifted their legs everywhere and couldn't be housetrained. so she set out about the neighborhood looking for a male willing to be of a few days service to Collette.

Turns out, there was a cute little black poodle just around the corner. His name was Buffer and he didn't have any papers. But he was good enough for a first litter. Collette had two little babies from that breeding. A boy and a girl. They were pure black. I don't remember getting too attached to them, because they were sold by the time they turned 6 weeks old. Mom didn't get all that much for them, because they didn't have AKC registration. But, it was a good test breeding. Collette was a great mother and the puppies were healthy.

One Saturday, Mom was going through the Heartland News when she came upon an ad for a charcoal-colored toy male poodle for sale. He had his papers, and he wasn't neutered. She rushed out and bought him for $25. I fell in love with this dog immediately. His name was Fala Brandi-B-Bomb. During the time Fala was with us, I made him my pet. He was so obedient, he didn't need a leash. When we kids walked up to the market to get a candy bar, Fala waited patiently outside for us to make our purchase and return to him. He also knew my school schedule. Around 2:30 every day, he scratched at the door. Mom let him outside, and he walked to the corner, sat down, and waited for the 3:00 school bell to ring. My school was 3 blocks away, and I could see that little dog waiting for me as I headed towards home. Fala was the ideal pal. And he never once peed in the house.

When the time came, he was bred to Collette. She had 6 puppies from that breeding. There were 4 boys and 2 girls. Two of these puppies were the ones raised by Fudder our cat.

I shouldn't have become so attached to Falla. Mom sold him the same time she sold his six litterbox trained puppies. The puppies (4 of them) were growing too large to be sold as Toys, and Mom didn't want to raise Miniatures, so Fala had to be replaced by a smaller male. Plus, my dad, who didn't want a houseful of dogs, didn't really want him around either. I was heartbroken. It wouldn't be the last time I would have to say goodbye to a really wonderful pet.