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Oh my gosh, I seriously can not wait until this weekend. We are heading about 1.5 hours away to pickup our puppy from Lonestar Doodles (take a look at their Facebook pages – the cutest doodle pictures ever).
Matt and I have been discussing a dog for years, but he has always resisted. A lot of his arguments made sense through the years, which is why I never pushed hard. After all, I didn’t want to potty-train a toddler at the same time I potty-trained a puppy either. And mostly, I knew I would need him on board with me for it to be a good experience for the family. With my baby boy off to Kindergarten this year and moving to our new house that has an enormous yard, the timing was feeling better. Amidst our discussions of our “future” dog, Matt surprised me for my birthday with a Goldendoodle puppy.
At first the breeders were planning on keeping one of the puppies from themselves, so the puppy picture they sent early on only included 3 girls. This picture is all we had for a while, and I hung it up in my kitchen to constantly look at adoringly.
It is finally time to pickup our baby in 6 days! We are counting down. The kids keep going back and forth between counting down to Halloween and counting down to the puppy. Izzy told me yesterday that her dilemma is “I’m not sure what I’m more excited about.”Ā (Isn’t childhood amazing? Your big concern is not knowing what to be more excited about?!)
Everything about the adoption day is ultra-organized by the breeders, because they’ve got people flying in to adopt puppies and they want to have all puppy-siblings go home on the same day. So, there are very specific time slots to get 8 puppies adopted on the same day. We are the second time-slot of the day and get to pick from this group of girls below (one of them will be picked by the people before us). It’s an impossible decision, because we think they are each perfect.
Who would you pick?
And HOW did you pick a favorite???
My older girls and I have been reading this Goldendoodle Handbook, but if you have any dog or doodle advice from experience, hit me with it. We feel like such newbies to the whole dog thing. We’ve got lots of love, but not a lot of know-how.
From my home to yours,
Mary
**Disclaimer about not adopting a rescue, because I know I’ll get comments and emails about it: I love dogs, and I am so happy there are people willing to adopt rescues. Unfortunately that is not something we can do. I have terrible, awful allergies of so.many.things, and unfortunately, many dogs fall into that category. Goldendoodles have the hypoallergenic trait of poodles, and I grew up with a poodle, so I know I’m okay with those. We are adopting from a well-known breeder that is known to not have cruel breeding practices. And when I say “grew up with a poodle” – I mean my mom did all the work and I played with a dog. This is why I can love dogs, but still not know how to really take care of them!**
Congratulations!!! They are all so adorable. I wouldn’t know which one to choose. Whichever one you do pick, she will be a lucky dog to live in such a loving home. My only advice is to be consistent and train her early. Also, I just started feeding my dog bil jac dog food. It comes frozen and is a bit pricey, but dog breeders use it and she loves it. I think it’s worth it. Have fun!
Thank you! The breeders told us the brand the puppy is used to, so I think we’ll use that for a while to make it an easy transition. I’ll take a look at the food you suggest though, it sounds like something a dog would like. Maybe I’ll keep it for when we need to hide medicine in food. š
We have a mini golden doodle who is s year old. She was the best thing weāve done in a long while! Sheās a great family dog. Our breeder did a similar thingā we got second pick, too. š She was my second choice of the picture, but Iām oh so glad it was her that we gotā you will be too, whichever one you end up with! Youāll just know. š
We have done rescue dogs with good results (pre-kids) in the past and tried again from a no kill shelter this time. We had one for four months, and he kept biting my kids without provocation. After one particularly bad bloody bite to my five year old with my husband right next to him supervising, I was done trying to make it work. We wanted a dog to be a friend to my kids, and they were scared of him. The second try we never even got the dogā after he got his shots, there was kid aggression with someone else, so they wouldnāt let us take him home. My kids were crushed. At that point, I was tired of the ups and downs for my kids, and we got a puppyā Iām SO glad we did that.
Rescues were good for us adults, and 1/3 of our rescues would have been great with kids, but you just never know. When our kids are older, we may go the rescue route again, but our doodle has grown up with our kids and is such a wonderful family dog. Our kids still remember the other one and have said a few times how much more they love Sophie (our doodle). They can love on her and pet her anytime they want, and sheās fantastic with them. Thereās no shame in choosing a puppyā especially for novice dog owners who may not be equipped to deal with rescue behavior issues, etc.
Puppies are a lot of work at first, but ours house trained within a few weeks, and now sheās one of the best potty trained dogs Iāve ever had and one of the best all around dogs as well. Doodles are smart good dogsā I hope you have a wonderful experience!!
P.S. I like the top two!!
I love hearing how much you love your doodle! I only ever hear amazing things about them!!! We are so excited.
I think you did more than your part to try to help a rescue, but you were right to protect your children and part with a violent dog. Thanks for sharing your story!!
I don’t think you can pick from a picture. They are all cute. You just have to wait until you get there and interact with them and see which one seems to warm up to you the best. At least, that’s been my experience. š Have fun!
That’s what so many friends are telling us, but it feels like I’m waiting for “magic” … my logical brain is trying to be ready with decisions. Probably, my emotional side will take over in the moment and we’ll pick the dog that picks us too. š
My goldendoodle will be 6 tomorrow. She’s the best dog! It takes about 5 years to grow out of the puppy stage. Be consistent with potty training and don’t let them jump up on you – it’s cute when they are puppies, but not when they are full grown. Our doodle is also the best and she is so full of love. She thinks everyone who enters our house is just there for her. They are great with kids and other animals. Have so much fun falling in love with your new family member.
We’ve had our baby for 4 days now and the puppy phase has some tough aspects (the biting! and potty training accidents!), but I love every adorable inch of her!! I’ll do a blog post soon with pictures!!
Aww they are all so cute! How has the pup been doing so far? I’ve actually never had a puppy, always adopted older dogs. Would love to get one but like you, I’m waiting for when we’re in a better place in life (not apartment living!).
Puppy life has not been super easy. We LOVE her, but dog-training is stretching my sanity a bit. Good thing we bought a used house with used carpets this summer, or I’d be having a hard time with the carpets being so broken in… š
I completely understand with the carpets. We have 3 cats who have destroyed our carpets. Luckily we live in an apartment so it’s a temporary place. Once we buy a house, no more carpets!! Good luck with everything. It’s all worth the work š
Hello, I just happily stumbled across your blog. Congratulations on your sweet pup, I am excited to see pictures. I am a major dog lover and a dog mama to two goldendoodlesā¦..Archie and Georgia. Puppyhood is not easy, Georgia will be 5 months old soon and things are just now starting to calm a little. Before that your life revolves around a stove timer set ever 20-30 minutes taking them out. The crate never worked for us, we finally gave up for our own mental health. I feel the same about our carpets and fantasize about replacement, but for now I’ll deal. Unfortunately, you just have to watch constantly. My pup is actually starting obedience training today, so I am pretty excited about that. Having two dogs that listen will be a game changer!
We probably need obedience training. We have been trying, but it is hard to be consistent! They are so sweet and cuddly when they are being good!
Wondering if you chose a b c or d
d! You can see a more recent picture of her in the Christmas letter post. š