Seaside Estate Oodles

Edit 💙 these babies aren’t mine, they belong to a friend and all have lovely homes ❤️

Our beautiful boy Theodore (Teddy) proudly announces the arrival of 7 gorgeous girls, 3 weeks ago with his girlfriend Bonnie 🥰

He certainly produces beautiful babies 💙

Douglas and Matilda on an outing with us 🐾☀️

We try to give all of our babies individual time with us when we venture ♥️

Our beautiful boy continues to thrive. 💙

August truly is the strongest, most resilient little soul. After everything he has been through, seeing him happy, healing and getting stronger every day feels like the biggest gift. 🥹

On Friday, he has his stitches out…and I’m hoping he’s just as excited about finally having a proper groom as I am! 😂 Our scruffy little survivor is definitely ready for some pampering.

These days, August is generally no more than about 5cm away from me at all times… and I wouldn’t have it any other way. After coming so frighteningly close to losing him, every cuddle, every little shadow following me from room to room, and every moment with him feels that much more precious.

And from the bottom of our hearts, we will never be able to thank the incredible team at SASH enough. Thank you for caring for our beautiful boy as though he were your own, for fighting alongside him, and for giving us the greatest gift of all …bringing him home to us. There truly aren’t words big enough for the gratitude we feel. We will carry it with us forever. ❤️

I cherish every single snuggle with our beautiful boy.

Personal space? Never heard of her. 😂🐾

Apparently when you live with a house full of Oodles, your chair is their chair, your lap is their bed, and your personal space is… communal property. 😂

There are perfectly good beds, couches and an entire house available to them — but no. Every single one needs to be ON MUM. 🤦‍♀️❤️

And somehow I’m expected to sit here, use my iPad and pretend that having dogs on my lap, across my legs, climbing over me AND over each other is completely normal.

Would I change it though?

Not for the world. 🥹❤️🐾

My home is chaotic, cuddly, hairy and usually ridiculously overcrowded… but there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

They say dogs need boundaries.
Mine say I need a bigger chair. 😂

It was a hair tie that caused the obstruction 😭

And just like that… our baby boy is HOME. 🥹😭❤️

Safe in our arms, exactly where he belongs.

After the most terrifying few days, watching our beautiful August fight so incredibly hard, we finally got to bring him home. I don’t think I can put into words what it felt like to walk through our front door with him. 🐾

We are beyond grateful for the incredible healthcare he received, for every person who cared for him, fought alongside him and helped get our boy back to us. We will never, ever forget it.

He’s now in the care of our wonderful local vet as he continues his recovery… and in the very capable hands of his family, who plan on administering approximately one million cuddles, kisses and “we love yous” every single day. ❤️

There’s still healing to do, and we’ll be taking things gently, one day at a time.

But tonight, he’s home.

Our brave little fighter.
Our precious August.
To infinity and beyond, baby boy. 🚀💫

Home. Safe. Loved beyond measure. ❤️🐾

I just want to take a moment to say thank you. 💙

The messages, phone calls, prayers, thoughts, check-ins and the absolutely unbelievable kindness that has been shown to us while our beautiful August has been fighting have meant more than I could ever adequately put into words.

We may not have been able to reply to everyone. At times we have simply been too overwhelmed, exhausted, frightened and completely consumed by what has been happening with our little boy.

But please know this…

Not one bit of your kindness has gone unnoticed.

We have read your messages. We have felt your love. We have seen every comment and every person cheering August on from near and far. There have been moments when your words have made us cry, moments when they have given us hope, and moments when they have simply reminded us that we aren’t going through this alone.

To everyone who has prayed for him, thought of him, checked on us, sent a message, made a phone call, offered help or simply quietly hoped that our boy would keep fighting — thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.

The kindness people have shown us has honestly been overwhelming in the most beautiful way.

August still has some recovering to do, but our little fighter is heading in the right direction, and we cannot wait for the day we can tell you all that he is finally HOME. 🥹💙

Until then, please know how incredibly grateful we are for every single one of you.

Thank you for loving our little boy alongside us. 🐾💙

To infinity and beyond, Augie. 🚀💙

Our baby boy continues to make small but BIG improvements… and we can finally say the words we have been desperately hoping and praying for…

He’s going to be okay. 🥹💙

We are beyond thrilled. The relief is indescribable.

August has been through so much in such a short space of time. From becoming critically ill so suddenly, to emergency surgery to remove a foreign object, and then fighting his way through the days that followed in ICU.

His little body has needed so much support — continuous plasma transfusions, tube feeding, intravenous pain relief and multiple medications to support him while he heals. He has been so incredibly sick, and there have been moments when we have been absolutely terrified.

But our little fighter just keeps going. 💙

He is still in ICU and he still has recovering to do, but every day he is giving us something new to celebrate. Every little improvement in his blood results, his comfort, his strength and his ability to cope with everything his body has been through feels like the biggest victory in the world.

Things that might normally seem tiny are HUGE to us right now.

We wait for every update from his incredible team with our hearts in our mouths, and hearing that he has taken another little step forward is the best news imaginable.

We love and miss him more than words can possibly say. Our home feels so strange without him here, and we cannot wait for the day we get to walk through those doors and bring our beautiful boy home where he belongs.

His veterinary bill is now well into the tens of thousands of dollars, and it continues to climb while he remains in ICU. It is a staggering amount of money, but there was never a decision to make. We simply cannot put a price on getting to keep our beautiful boy forever. 💙 We would do it all again in a heartbeat if it means August gets his chance to come home and live the long, loved and ridiculously spoiled life he deserves.

And spoiled he will be. 😂💙

We also want to say a huge thank you to the incredible team at SASH for the care, compassion and love they have shown August through all of this. Knowing our precious boy is in such wonderful hands means more to us than we could ever put into words.

We are so incredibly proud of you, Augie. Keep making those little leaps and bounds. We are right here waiting for you.

To infinity and beyond, baby boy. 🚀💙

We love you forever and ever. 🐾💙

I haven’t shared this until now because we’ve simply been trying to process what has happened and focus all our energy on our beautiful boy. ❤️‍🩹

Yesterday, our precious August suddenly became extremely unwell.

He began vomiting and had diarrhoea, and his condition deteriorated frighteningly quickly. His blood pressure became dangerously low and he was admitted for emergency care. Investigations discovered a foreign object, and our little boy needed emergency surgery.

August made it through the surgery, but he remains critically unwell in intensive care.

He is receiving around-the-clock treatment, including a continuous plasma transfusion and tube feeding, while his incredible veterinary team does absolutely everything possible to support his little body.

And our boy is still fighting. ❤️

We are absolutely heartbroken being without him. Anyone who knows August’s story knows just how incredibly special this little boy is to us. He was our little Woody from the Toy Story litter, born with congenital abnormalities in his hind feet. We knew he needed to stay with us, and somewhere along the way he completely and utterly stole our hearts.

We never imagined that yesterday morning we would have our little boy at home and that, within hours, we would be fighting for his life.

The cost of his emergency surgery and intensive care has already reached a staggering amount, and continues to climb with every hour he remains in critical care. But there is no decision to make for us. We will do whatever we need to do for August. As long as our little boy is fighting and there is hope, we will fight right alongside him and give him every possible chance.

Money can be replaced. Our Augie cannot. ❤️

We miss him terribly. The house feels wrong without him here. We miss his little face, his cuddles and simply having him under our feet.

For now, all we can do is wait, hope, love him and let his amazing veterinary team continue to care for him.

Please send every bit of love, strength and healing you can to our beautiful boy.

Come on Augie. Keep fighting, darling. ❤️‍🩹🐾

🐾 LICKI MATS — SIMPLE ENRICHMENT FOR HAPPY PUPPIES 🐾

One of our favourite enrichment activities for puppies is the humble licki mat! 💕

Licking is a natural, soothing behaviour for dogs. A licki mat can encourage puppies to slow down, settle and focus, while giving their busy little brains something to do. They’re wonderful during quiet time, grooming, crate or pen training, or simply when you’d like your puppy happily occupied for a while.

So… what can you put on one? 👇

🥣 Plain Greek or natural yoghurt — unsweetened and xylitol-free
🎃 Cooked mashed pumpkin
🍌 Mashed banana
🥜 A tiny amount of peanut butter — xylitol-free only
🐶 Your puppy’s wet food
🥩 Minced or finely shredded cooked meat
🐟 Mashed sardines in spring water
🥚 Mashed or scrambled egg — plain
🥕 Puréed cooked carrot or sweet potato
🍎 Unsweetened apple purée — no seeds
🫐 Mashed blueberries
🧀 A little cottage cheese, if tolerated
🍗 Soaked and mashed puppy kibble
🥛 A little puppy-safe goat’s milk mixed with their food

✨ Make it interesting!
You don’t need to cover the whole mat in one ingredient. Add little sections of different puppy-safe foods for different tastes, smells and textures.

❄️ And our favourite trick — FREEZE IT!
A frozen licki mat lasts much longer and can be especially lovely for teething puppies.

Remember that enrichment doesn’t need to mean lots of extra calories. You can use part of your puppy’s normal meal on the mat, and new foods should always be introduced in small amounts.

Always supervise your puppy with their licki mat, especially while they’re still learning that the mat is for licking, not chewing! 😂

Little activities like this are such an easy way to encourage calmness, independence and positive alone-time skills — all while making life a little more interesting for those clever puppy brains. 🐶🧠💕

Enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated — sometimes a licki mat and five quiet minutes is a win! 🌊🐾