Geordi Our Goldendoodle

Check Out My Doggles

2009-12-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

We live in an area with a very high UV sunlight rating, so in order to enjoy the long trails and walks we wanted Geordi to get used to Doggles (dog goggles). They come in various sizes and the straps are very flat, stretchy, and flexible. One strap goes behind the ears, and the other under the chin.

Today we tried them on him for the first time, with a lot of special treats we got them on for a minute or two. We'd say "Doggle" in a happy voice, touch them to his forehead lightly, and give him a treat. After doing this 5-10 times, we'd creepy the doggles closer onto his snout and forehead and keep feeding him treats as we eased them on. It worked.

Don't worry, we're going to take those lens stickers off. It looks good on him, no?

Baby Geordi Video 2: Fleece Tug Toy

2009-11-29T20:01:00.001-08:00

Baby Geordi Video 1: Whistling

2009-11-29T20:00:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

Geordi's first Thanksgiving was a success. He was very excited with all of the hullaballoo and the pots and pans and interesting smells. He received a special topping of canned pumpkin (plain), shredded turkey breast meat (no skin, no bones), and a tiny scoop of stuffing on his usual Blue Buffalo kibble.

We made sure to keep him away from the hot oven and stove while they were in use. Can't be too safe with a soft furry one in the house! It is a lot of hustle and utensils, not to mention us walking around with boiling water. Don't trip over the pup!

He ate all of his meal but did not beg for more, only sniffing around to see what I was carving up now and then. He is a good dog who is happy to be playing rather than begging. We ran him around with his favorite catch game and "hunt the hedgehog" stuffed animal. Now he is quite asleep. It was a nice Thanksgiving with Geordi.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

Geordi at 5 months

2009-10-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Geordi lost his first puppy tooth today. He is nearly 20 lbs and is a nipping a lot less (but not 100% nip-free just yet). He knows: Sit, Down, Wait, Come, Shake (paw), Fetch, Catch, Go Home (into crate), and Place (onto a designated rug in the kitchen). He loves to be combed, belly-rubbed, and often leans his head and furry warm body against our legs. When he comes out of his crate in the morning, he sleepily arches his back like a cat. He's always ready to play!

He likes to use my lap as a couch. He loves his Nylabone (wolf-version), steals socks and towels, and when he naps he looks like a sea lion on its side. He jumps triumphantly from the couch when we tell him to Get Off and loves to be chased. He is an expert going up and down the stairs at full speed. He has discovered wood and my hair. The dishwasher scared him for a day. He ate a piece off of the exercise bike foot pedal.

He often urinates on the people and/or pets he greets, because they are SOOOO exciting! They don't seem to mind, though. His paws are always active and grabbing and touching and oh so cute.

He smells lightly of corn flakes...Geordi is a good dog.

I Stole a Towel

2009-10-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

First Groom...Before and After. Agh Too Short!

2009-10-04T23:10:00.000-07:00

Geordi was due for his Frontline treatment soon and was soooo hairy that we decided it was time for a groom (nails were already done at vets a few weeks ago). Every time we went out, people would come from far off and dote on him and pet him and ask what breed he was. He was THAT CUTE! I can't tell you the number of men and women (who already had dogs) whose jaw dropped when they saw Geordi. (They didn't even mind when he excitedly peed on their shoes...)

And then we got him groomed...now mind you, it was OUR first grooming order, so next time we hvae some more ideas on what we want. I give a lot of credit to the groomer for dealing with an active new puppy, but she certainly didn't investigate a whole lot into what we may have wanted and was not very helpful in giving options.

We were pretty clear that we wanted to retain the 'teddy bear' doodle appearance, and that we just wanted a nice, cleaned up look with a sanitary cut in the rear (for poop purposes)...

What we got was a skinny mongrel Geordi who came out looking like a poodle (AGHHH!). Not being fans of poodles in the least, we were shocked and crestfallen, but oh well chalk it up to lack of experience. The positive is that Geordi will be nice and cool in this accursed 100 degrees+ weather. In the meantime, he looks ugly. Hah.

Owch...First Trip to the Emergency Vet!

2009-09-29T17:30:00.001-07:00

...ah. So it was quite the adventure this past weekend. We live in a desert preserve area, where the vegetation and wildlife are quite close. Rattlesnakes, scorpions, quails, and the like can all be seen fairly often in the neighborhood. The compromise, however, is that we have to keep a close eye on Geordi (and ourselves) during walks along the trails.

I was in the middle of kneeling down to pick up his latest poop and I heard Geordi yelp in pain and my husband groaning and clutching his leg. Apparently Geordi had decided he wanted to investigate a cactus on the ground (a really nasty-looking bugger, too) and it had spiked him in the face. He panicked and withdrew his head...flinging the cactus (about the size of a baseball) into the hubby's shin.

First things first...I had to 'catch' Geordi, who was running with pain and fear, spikes in his nose and upper lip. Both of them were dripping blood. Once I had the pup, I yanked out the cactus (with permission, of course) from hubby's leg. Then we limped to the car and...straight to the emergency vet. I'm glad we had their number on my cell phone...we asked directions while driving.

At the vet's, they took Geordi to the back room and hubby and I picked out (w/tweezers) all the debris and stubborn spikes from his shin and washed the wound, which had 50+ pinprick holes.

We got a bite to eat and came back to a sleepy Geordi and a huge vet bill. It was an easy extraction and he wasn't seriously injured, but they had had to completely knock him out to fully examine and remove every spine. We took him home with antibiotics (he was swaying and groggy) and watched him for another hour.

Geordi's a good pup. The vet even remarked how full of energy he was, wanting to 'play' with staff even with the cactus spines embedded in his face!

All's well that ends well.

Yay Last Vaccine...DONE!

2009-09-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

We had a very pleasant visit to our vet today. Geordi got his last shot and had four older vet employee dogs to play with; he was SO excited to romp with them, it took some help to get him still enough for the checkup!

What surprised us all was also how much he's grown in the last 3 weeks...another THREE pounds. He weighs over 12 pounds now...yipe!

He got his first Heartguard chewy bar tonight and his very first walk down the street in the warm desert night. A motorcycle passed by and he was just fine.

We've been brushing his teeth on and off, and he was a doll for his first nail trim today, so we're confident that next week or so grooming will be a piece of cake for our good boy. He is quite poofy now that sometimes we can't see his eyes.

The Sink and the Door Stopper

2009-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

It's funny how you get your pets a variety of chew toys and fun toys, yet they get the most enjoyment out of something you'd never expect them to even notice. For weeks now, Geordi has been obsessed with the door stoppers behind every door. He will roll into them, roll around them, teeth on them, and growl on and on. That stopped about this week, but now he has a new focus: the bathroom sink!

Since we're unable to groom him until 1 week after his last (third) set of vaccinations, he's getting quite fluffy and poofy, including his poop area. And since he's being treated for gastrointestinal problems, he occasionally will have diarrhea and lo and behold we need to hand-wash his little anus with warm water to remove...err...remnants.

I let him stand in the sink while I wash, or we let him stand in the bathtub. But he suddenly dove into the sink and rolled around, growling playfully and fitting quite adorably in the tiny space. Hence today's photo.

I Want In!

2009-09-10T18:01:00.001-07:00

I Love My Hippo

2009-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Swimming Practice

2009-09-01T20:57:00.001-07:00

Although we live in the desert, there are many places with swimming pools here. We want Geordi to be able to enjoy water and know how to swim and feel wet/splashed.

While he is small, we fill the big bathroom tub with lukewarm water and a rubber safety mat, then sit on the edges and guide Geordi to paddle and feel the buoyancy. He is remarkably good about it; he's not super scared, but only gets a little quiet and looks at us for direction and/or leverage to cling to with his paws. His paddling is improving, and he enjoys treats when he walks across (his feet always touch the bottom) to either of us.

Since Geordi gets nice and wet, we can end the session with gentle tear-stain cleaning, oatmeal shampoo, and quick look at his skin and nails. He looks incredibly different when wet..with the massive furry poof wetted down, he looks very scrawny indeed! Look at that "rat tail"!

Wetter Geordi

2009-08-27T10:53:00.001-07:00

Wet Geordi

2009-08-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Bah!

2009-08-27T10:29:00.001-07:00

So...Geordi has been having on and off diarrhea for the past 2 weeks. When we went in for Round 2 vaccinations, we found out that he has some canine parasites. It's depressing, because now he's barred from socializing with other dogs until he's all clear (minimum 1 month from now). Worst of all, we don't know where he got them from, since they are solely transmitted from dog to dog, and he's been quarantined in the house ever since we got him.

The positive is that Geordi is not symptomatic except for occasional diarrhea. The negative is that he keeps trying to eat it (and thus re-infect himself). So our tired vigilance is even tighter. Agh!

He is also very thirsty all the time from the water loss(?), so we give him water in limited sips (to prevent vomiting), Chilly Bone (a frozen wet dog toy), or ice cubes. The hubby also found that rolled up hand towels dipped in water and frozen make fun "ice 'hot dogs'" for Geordi to play with.

Anyway, Round 2 vaccinations went very smoothly; Geordi was incredibly interested in the vet's large and calm cat, which he licked and nosed vigorously while the vet slipped in with all the shots.

We hope Geordi gets all clear and healthy soon, because he has a whole world of walking and meeting to do!

Geordi at 12 Weeks

2009-08-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Cauliflower Head

2009-08-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Geordi's hair is growing really fast! He's developing what we call a "cauliflower head" with all the poofiness. He actually looks like he's fat, but nearly 1.5 inches all around is all fluffy hair! It's too bad we can't get him groomed until he's had all his shots; we want to be very careful that he doesn't get exposed to other dogs or other dog areas just yet.

I'm SO glad he doesn't shed (it's hair not fur). I'm pretty sure I shed a lot more than Geordi will ever will. Is he also getting a bit of hairy beard, too?

Sweet Doggy Cookies

2009-08-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law sent a delightful variety of pup cookies for Geordi. They smell just like a bag full of Nilla Wafers and Oreos...they make our human mouths water!

He only gets them as "jackpot" treats (the highest value) for training (along with grilled chicken), when he's being very good. There are so many shapes that I had to take a cute pic of them.

Dog specialty baked goods like these and bakeries like Three Dog are becoming very popular, and now we know why!

Brother and Sister of the Feline Kind

2009-08-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Just as we've recently welcomed Geordi into our home, my sister-in-law adopted 2 adorable kittens from the SPCA! The male (orange) is a fiery fierce personality, while the tabby girl is more relaxed. It's such a blessing to have fluffy new family members, no? Their soulful eyes, frisky tails, and soft fuzziness warm the heart.

Lots of Naps

2009-08-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Puppies need lots of naps. Initially, Geordi was allowed to sleep on the tiles in his safe area, but we want to focus a bit more on crate training, so now he gets a gentle "Go home" command when he's sleepily guided into his crate. He takes about 3 to 4 naps a day.

Usually he naps after the morning activities (walk/water/food/potty/play or training), in the early afternoon, late afternoon, and after dinner activities. We are grateful that he rests often, because we humans need food and playtime, too. More than 1 hour of Geordi dozing in his crate means bills get paid, dry cleaning gets picked up, emails are checked, etc. We also get a much-needed break from the hyper vigilance of watching for potty accidents!

Treats

2009-08-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Geordi has a good selection of treats that he sometimes gets during training or good behavior. We've read that, if you sometimes don't give the treat, it will help the dog learn faster and keep him guessing as to when he gets a treat.

We have vocal treating ("Good boy"), gentle petting on the back (pups think head patting is rough housing), chewy liver snacks, and crunchy peanut treats...

...and Bruno's mom (for Bruno's entry click here) made us a beautiful hand-decorated jar of homemade dog biscuits! It also came with hand-written dog treat recipes that she collected from the internet. Thanks, Bruno's mom!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

2009-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

This 2nd week with our new pup has been full of successes, confusions, and failures on top of the general tiredness. We're starting to dream about having a full uninterrupted night of sleep...

Geordi is a very good and smart pup, but with some personality showing through that we need to be attentive of. So far he's mastered "Sit" and he's darned good at "Down (Lie Down)", "Stay (10 seconds)", and "Watch Me (look up at us for 3 seconds)". I'm pretty sure he's nailed down his name, but we have to be careful to use it only for positive events.

The drawbacks are that he's developing some toe nipping, jumping, crate whining, and poop eating (coprophagia). We are studying several books and discussing with each other and adjusting our behavior and body language to begin correcting these behaviors in a good way!

It's tough going sometimes but there is some real progress. One awesome thing last night was that we only had to get up once! WooT!

Oh Noes

2009-08-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Doggy Diary,

My name is Geordi and I have recently discovered that my poo smells interesting and sometimes I like to taste it. When my parents fell asleep for half an hour today, I made a big poop and decided to eat it all up. I didn't feel well as my parents noticed what I had done.

An hour later, I was jumping up and down and suddenly vomited up all of my poo and some lunch onto the floor. It made a yucky brown mess everywhere and made Daddy gag.

Mommy patted my head gently and rinsed my mouth out with warm water and gave me some water to drink. She spent a lot of time mopping and deodorizing the floor.

I was really tired from all the excitement! I felt a little better after I was cleaned and took a nap. Next time maybe I won't eat my poo after all.

The End.

Day 8: Being Consistent

2009-08-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine having a new [human] baby or being a single parent, because it must be waaaaaay more taxing than watching and training a new puppy! A nice cashier lady at Petsmart remarked today how she is potty training her son and that she sympathized. I thanked her and replied that it must be so much harder to potty train a little person, no?

But regardless, the hubby and I are harmoniously working through the daily cleaning, feeding, training, scrubbing, walking, introducing, etc., and it is very very tiring. Getting up in the middle of the night every 1 hour or 2 hours or 3 hours is exhausting.

We coax the puppy out of his crate, stagger downstairs (I almost tripped and fell to my death one night), and pet and praise him (or treat him during daytime) when he pees or poops in his designated area, lined with absorbent pads on a large pad holder. He's given a minute to lick himself [per the vet, puppies often have discharge in the genital area and its natural for them to lick], then it's back upstairs to crate him, pass out in bed, and set our phones for the next potty time.

So far, Geordi already knows to run to the 'potty area', but sometimes misses the pad by a few inches. He is very smart and catching on quickly; we just need to really firmly capture his good potty behavior.

Ahem...

2009-08-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Oh my sleepy pup

eyes are closing, soft fur still

tail now falls to rest.

Day 3: First Vet Appointment

2009-08-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Everything went quite well. Geordi was so calm he was drowsily napping in his crate. When the vet-tech picked him up for weighing, he paw-hugged her like a calm, little fuzzy koala. She remarked on how calm he was and how neat it was that she could hold him like a baby. The rectal temperature didn't even bother him the tiniest bit. The veterinarian also commented on how calm he was, and predicted that he will be smarter than most. His poo sample came back negative, and he got his first shot with only the slightest sound. What a great pup! He's right on schedule with all of his vaccinations. I also made a list of questions and everything was thoroughly answered. I'm thrilled that he's 100% declared clear and healthy!

While He's Asleep

2009-08-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Many of my posts will be off-date now, since I try to sneak into the den to use my computer only when he's napping. Geordi's naps are fairly deep, so I can usually accomplish 1 or 2 important chores when he's passed out in his "safe zone" behind the puppy gate.

I'm Such a Nerd

2009-08-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

The first time that Geordi licked his paws and did the "play-bow" where he crouches on his two front paws, I remarked aloud, "Hey! That's just like in Nintendogs!" My husband got me the DS game, because I really wanted a dog but couldn't get one at the time. I still play it from time to time, and having a real puppy now, I can't help but notice what a fantastic job they did in capturing many of the puppy behaviors and sounds! Yeah, I know. I'll stop now before the nerdiness gets out of hand.

Day 1: He's HERE!

2009-08-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. Geordi is extraodinarily smart and cute. He's very mellow and tolerant! It's been almost 3 days and boy, have they gone by fast! He already obeys "Sit" (Victoria method!), and we're diligently working on paper training. All of the toys so far are a big hit; he especially loves his fleece tug toy and Nylabone (puppy version).

He whimpers a little when we crate him for the night, but during the daytime he loves everything.

I wish I were more coherent to post more wonderful things about Geordi, but it's been pretty sleepless making sure he goes potty throughout the night, so will post more soon! Enjoy the cute photos.

You can see more photos and some videos if you click right here.

Pet Gate

2009-07-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

It took a couple of days to find a decent pet gate for our hallway. The first one was on sale in huge piles at the pet store and was made of rickety wood that bit your hands when you tried to open the gate. No good. Returned that one and started to ask around, but the best ones were a bit pricey. Or a sinister red color!

We turned our attention to BabiesRUs and looked at highly-rated baby gates and found the perfect one in white metal for less than 70 dollars. It's been installed and we've been pretty happy with how sturdy it is and how easy it is to open the gate. It also comes with two extensions for versatility. While at the BabiesRUs store, we also got a couple of safety wire covers from the baby-proofing gizmos section. Now our XBox is safer, hah.

He's the One!

2009-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Based on all of our preference and temperament and coat evaluations this week, we have been highly recommended this little fella. Coincidentally he's the one we've had our eye on, so it's a perfect match! The excitement is building..!

We have already found a good vet with excellent reviews that is close by and has emergency hours access. We also went out and purchased more toys, hygiene supplies, and treats. We're going to try out Blue Buffalo brand dry and wet food in combination with homemade food using a recipe our breeder has provided. The house has been given some good cleaning and dog-proofing, but this final last week I plan to clean even more so that our home is comfortable and safe for our new little pup! He has his own notebook for us to keep records in. Lastly, we took care of payment and contract signing.

It's a relieving and exciting to finally settle on a pup's face and know that we're expecting him! We love him already.

Newest Photos!

2009-07-07T20:02:00.001-07:00

Here are the newest photos of the boy pups that we are selecting from. Aren't they beautiful? Haha one of the creme boys looks a bit serious.

Basic "Fun" Buys

2009-07-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

Okay. I know that some of the other essentials still need to be purchased, but here is what we have so far: 1) double-sided dog pillow/bed, 2) food bowls with sturdy rubber base, 3) teething toy, 4) puppy shampoo, 5) mini poop pick-up baggies, and 6) carpet de-odorizing cleaner for accidents. I know that we still need a ton of things for starters, such as puppy pads, grooming & hygiene supplies, and dog food (including treats).

As my friend pointed out, a huge supply of paper towels is also a good idea.

I'm very happy with the dog pillow/bed that I picked up today, because for $15 it's a steal; it's huge and has a washable cover with a fuzzy warming side (for fall/winter) and a cooling fabric side (for when it's hot). You just flip it over for whichever side is best for the current weather. It's important that we keep our dog cool, especially since we live in the desert.

Three More Weeks

2009-07-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

The pups are 6 weeks old this week, so they will receive temperament and coat evaluations before they are selected by families like us to take home. At 8 weeks, Geordi will be able to be formally adopted into our home. There are a handful of things we've been preparing. First, we're in the process of cleaning up or removing everything at a dog's eye-level or lower. We've gotten new shelves, cleaned up the den and living room, and have put away anything on the floor that can possibly be put away (such as paper, shoes, extra wires, crafts, books, etc). My crafts are being slowly organized into lock-tight tupperware boxes. After this week, the carpets and tile floors will get a thorough sweeping and vacuuming. I'm also inspecting all nooks and crannies around the common areas for insects or spiderwebs. We're considering getting trash cans with lids. Hooks have been stuck on the walls for our hats. Old cardboard boxes (possibly chewable) have been cut down and will be discarded with recycling this weekend. We're also still reading the several dog books we have.

A Friend for a Future Play Date!

2009-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

One of my friends has recently gotten a very cute bulldog named Bruno, and we're both excited about having play dates with them in the future to dog parks and such (of course, after they are fully vaccinated, etc etc).

I believe he is just about 16 weeks old. Isn't he a cutie? She says he is currently teething like crazy, so lots of toys are in order! +)

YouTube Goldendoodles: Sam

2009-06-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Some amazing training from this very cute doodle in a very enjoyable video. I wonder what treat they are giving him? It sounds very crunchy.

New pic of the dogs

2009-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Now with their eyes open!

The breeder just posted up a small pic of the litter we are interested in. Looks like a few of them have curly coats? The one in the middle (creme) and the one on the far right look like they have the straightest coats, but it's hard to tell by the photo.

In other news, we've been slowly dog-proofing our home. We're about ready to buy a shelf for our family room to get all of our DVDs out of reach of the puppy.

Four more weeks to go!

Chubby Bone Toy

2009-06-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

This week was a little stressful, so I decided to mess around with some fun crochet and came up with this toy for our puppy. It's made from 100% Lilly brand cotton worsted yarn and stuffed with soft fleece strips. I stitched it really tough, but wanted to make sure that, in case it does come apart from chewing or pulling, the only contents will be fleece (and not doll stuffing/fiberfill). It took about 2 days to make, in-between work and other things. What do you think? Maybe I'll come up with some more interesting shapes of cotton toys soon.

YouTube Goldendoodles: Sounds Like Chewbacca?

2009-06-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

This makes me laugh every time! This dog looks so content and sounds so adorable! He looks shaggy and happy. Check out the cool growls at 0:14 and 1:42! Lol.

Victoria Stilwell's Book

2009-06-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

One of the first things we are concerned about is how to properly train our dog so that it's relaxed and happy and safe. After browsing several commonly recommended books, we found out that most were vague overviews with lots of photos that weren't related to the text (i.e. mostly "cute" type photos). We're big fans of the show It's Me or the Dog, so I looked up on Victoria Stilwell's fan site (see our blog links) and ordered her book How to Have the Perfect Dog. Just received it yesterday in the mail, and I love it so far! Mrs. Stilwell writes about her own experiences, and every chapter has tons of practical information. In many cases, more than one training method/sequence is given, in case the other doesn't work out. She lays out how a dog may understand or think; for example, if a dog has peed on the carpet and you come in the front door and see it and yell at the dog, it will only associate your arrival (from then on) with anxiety, since whenever you come through the door you yell. She says that dogs will only link words/commands/actions if they are within 1 second of each other. That is really helpful. There is a great chapter on dog food content, too. All in all, I'm riveted to every single word so far.

Why Geordi?

2009-06-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

We went through a ton of names for our dog in the past year. Particularly if we went on a weekend drive, that's all we'd talk about. It's funny how most names you'd think of are attributed to people you already know. We wanted a unique name that none of our friends or family had, and we certainly didn't want our dog to be named after something like tobacco (e.g. Winston) or an evil hobbit (friends suggested Smeagol). It was also important that our dog had a name unique enough that it wouldn't be confused with an everyday word.

Our top names ended up being Chewie, Doug, Wilson (volleyball from Castaway?), and Geordi (for boy dogs) and Daphne (for a female dog). Geordi was by far our favorite name. I guess the only person with the same name would be the friendly chief engineer Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We're cool with that.

YouTube Goldendoodles: Roly Poly Puppy

2009-06-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

I want to share some of our favorite YouTube home videos of very cute and intelligent goldendoodles. Here is one of a family's new puppy happily playing with them.

Deposit Done!

2009-06-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

After a flurry of phone calls and emails (some breeders take emails only), we gave up on getting a dood from California, mainly because the litter availability dates did not correspond with the timeframe we wanted; all previous summer litters were spoken for. We thought of the alternate of getting a labradoodle, but decided we liked the goldendoodle coat better.

I'm relieved and excited to say that we're in line for an early choice on some beautiful F1b puppies from Texas! We've put in a preference for an apricot or creme boy (pic), the third up from the right. They haven't opened their eyes yet! Sometimes they remind me of walruses dozing on the beach.

The breeder is Cheyenne Labradoodles and Goldendoodles; they were very nice on the phone, and the website was well organized and easy to navigate, with a good amount of photos (updated often). The site also has vet references and Paypal, among other useful features. Although a boy pup being available made this breeder our top interest, Cheyenne's website was a huge plus. Other sites were sprawling, disorganized bits of photos and notes that took much longer to navigate, and sometimes were updated long after the "available" puppies had already been taken. The response time also varied highly; some would get back to me within 30 minutes of a phone call, and others still haven't called me after two or more messages. It's crazy out there finding a puppy!

Sending in the puppy application and having it approved along with the deposit felt really good; now we have to continue researching and dog-proofing our home. It really feels like it's finally happening, and that we're really going to have another member in the family. It's going to be tons of work, but I think that's part of the excitement and anxiety during the wait.

Websites, Emails, and the Like

2009-06-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

We've always wanted a dog; it was just a matter of which breed and when. It took us a few months to do some background research to whittle down some of the tempting choices out there.

I was honestly surprised at the amount of willpower it takes to give up on "the type of dog you like most" in exchange for more realistic options. How many folks fall in love with a pretty face and want to take it home, right? In any case, my husband and I talked it over for months and months and have narrowed it down to a dog that is medium-sized (about 30-45 pounds), easier to train, allergy-friendly, and more independent, among other features. Hence the goldendoodle (golden retriever + poodle). As this breed comes in 3 sizes (standard, mini/medium, and toy), we'd really like to take home a mini/medium puppy to be a part of our family.

We've been looking into several breeder sites, such as Goldendoodles.com, and delving into private websites from individual family breeders. There have been a couple of disappointments (e.g. puppy we wanted was already sold), but we're learning.

It's going to be interesting in meeting our goals this summer: 1) finding a reputable, caring breeder within a few hours' driving distance radius, 2) finding a litter of pups that will be 8 weeks old by the time my summer job ends, 3) finding in said litter a male, apricot, mini/medium pup, 4) socializing the puppy early to our pet birds, 5) educating ourselves about puppy feeding/care/training, and 6) making initial vet appointments. There is a ton to think about, and we're expecting a couple of email inquiries to return this week, but I couldn't help twisting up a soft fleece tug-toy for our future pup (pic). So here's to finding the right dood for us!