4 months of puppy growing

[Stacy]

You guys remember when I was afraid for some reason that she wouldn't grow? (Where are my laughing emojis?!) 

The funny part is that she's only 45 pounds, but I feel like she looks bigger. She takes up the whole bed! She's going to shrink next week though, when she goes for her first big girl haircut. I'm ready/not ready for this. I think she's going to come back looking like a totally different dog. She's so much lighter underneath. And I know her hair is never going to be like this puppy hair again, but I'm really excited to see what it will look like when she's a big girl. And she needs the hair on her chin trimmed. I've never seen a dog with such a drippy face. Someone is not a neat drinker.

I think I accidentally turned her nocturnal. She takes these long naps during the day and then she wakes me up 5 times in the middle of the night. We really need to work on that. And she's definitely turning into a teenager. She thinks she's so big, barking out the window. But she's such a sweet little girl. I just marvel looking at the pictures at how little she was. They grow so fast!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

They do grow so quickly!  She is so cute!

Riley is so big now when she gets up on the couch (before I ask her to get off lol) she takes up the entire couch!  We allow her a little cuddling on our bed in the evening and she is as long as the bed too.  It's crazy.

Look how little she was at 12w!

[Stacy]

I do love Riley. I think Willow still has some growing in her, but she's never going to be that big. She's still at least a couple inches shorter than Maggie and I don't think she will catch up. It wouldn't surprise me if she ends up weighing more than her though. They are built so different. Maggie is built more like a poodle. Willow is very stocky. And she's so funny, she's the heaviest 45 pound dog in the world when she plays floppy dog. When I pick Maggie up she kind of holds herself. Willow on the other hand is just like jelly. Dead weight. 

It blows my mind that someone would give Willow up. She's really the mellowest puppy. There was a 14 month old setter of some sort at our obedience class and her mom was shocked when I said Willow was only 7 months. I don't mind bragging on her a little bit. I really think she's going to be able to do anything. We're going to have so much fun together.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

She sounds like such a great puppy :)

I think there are some people that think they like the idea of a dog but really have no concept of how much work it is... so even an "easy" puppy like Willow seems like a monumental task.  You have lots of dog experience so an easy going puppy is "easy" to you but just having a pet in general is way too much work for some people.  

I think Riley is my cap on size though, I wouldn't want a dog that's any bigger and I think I'd have preferred if she'd stayed around 55-60 lbs.  She's a little too big for me to lift her without possibly hurting myself.  

She has also started doing little "protests" where she turns on her back if someone tries to move her... it's really hard to move a 70-lb dog who is doing a wet noodle impression on their back!

[Stacy]

I think that's exactly it. I think these people didn't have any concept of the difference between a 5 pound papillon and a 50 pound doodle. There's only so much damage a tiny little dog like that can do, and even a calm doodle puppy is still a wild child. 

I might have mentioned it before, but when I went to pick Willow up she was doing the puppy crazies and she launched herself at me and I caught her in mid air. She's never done it again. I really think she knew her mommy had arrived. It was love at first sight. 

I know what you mean about trying to move a 65 pound dog who has just gotten comfortable in her spot. That was Ava. I would push on her and tell her I needed 2 more inches so I didn't fall out of the bed, and she would huff and readjust and give me maybe 1 1/2 inches and tell me to make do with that. I still miss her every day. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jasper launched himself at Laurie (Fudge & Vern's mom) when she visited, lol, and she also caught him in mid-air. Puppies do seem to know who their friends are. :)
When it comes to people giving up doodles, I blame that mostly on the "teddy bear" hype. They are marketed as "perfect" dogs, "living teddy bears", and some people who don't have much experience with dogs actually seem to take that literally. They seem to believe that the puppy will sit there like a stuffed toy waiting for you to have time for them. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

She is adorable. It's amazing that someone gave her up. But then, someone gave Jack up, too. :)

Looking forward to seeing her "after" pictures next week. 

[Stacy]

It just blows your mind, doesn't it? I've been watching so many doodles out there who are looking for homes. It breaks my heart. If I had unlimited resources I would take at least a couple more. Bigger house, independently wealthy, bigger bed... I have enough love for all of them. I can't imagine ever letting one go. Willow's mom just had her third litter in 15 months. It makes me so sad. You know that can't be good for her physically. And I wonder how many of those puppies will end up eventually needing homes too.

I still think I'm going to be able to do most of Willow's grooming, but I'm not brave to cut her hair myself. But if it stays the way it is right now she's going to be long and shaggy. So far she's easy to comb and brush, but some of that puppy hair needs to go. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

DRC rescued 5 doodles Friday; two of them were pulled from kill shelters, and one of those was scheduled to be euthanized at noon on Saturday. First thing he did when he got into the car with his savior was put his head on her shoulder. Two others were taken from a neglect situation, and the 5th one is a puppy given up to rescue because she has MegaE. There are also several still with the relinquishing owners, who are giving them up for various non-reasons. And then there is the puppy we took whose leg we are trying to save; broken twice and not properly treated because the owner had no time/money, and now there is an infection in the bone. None of these dogs forced anyone to acquire them. 

Willow is going to look adorable no matter what you do with her hair, lol. 

[Stacy]

I am so glad that you guys are able to help these babies. I really do want to bring them all home. I don't know if it's my imagination, but it seems like recently there are more doodles in rescue than I've seen before. I know that the shelters in my area are taking in record numbers of dogs this year. There's even a doodle at one of our local rescues. They do a really good job placing their dogs, so I'm not worried about him, but I just can't imagine having any problem finding him a home.

What I don't understand is where all the pit bull type dogs are coming from. Any time I look at the rescue groups it seems like they're 90% bully breeds. The areas around me have overwhelmingly had breed bans for the last 20 years that are slowly being repealed, but who is breeding all of these dogs that end up in rescue? I just don't understand why there are so many of them. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I believe that the owners are just not spaying or neutering their pitbulls and the dogs are just reproducing. A lot (I didn't say all, I said a lot) of the people who are attracted to the breed are not the same kind of dog owners as most of us here. 

(And I tried really hard to word that last sentence as nicely as possible, lol.) 

[Stacy]

It's too bad what people have done to pit bulls. I've learned that not all pit bulls and pit bull owners are bad. There is a married couple at the training club, and they are very highly involved with the club and their dogs are just wonderful. Not at all aggressive. Happy and responsive and just nice dogs. Still not the right dogs for me, but they really changed my opinion about what a Pit Bull is supposed to be, and can be with the right breeding and the right owner. It's the Akita who is a diabetic alert dog, who randomly attacks other dogs that makes me nervous and who I give a wide berth. But while I don't let the girls play with the pit bulls, they don't make me nervous at all. 

I spent some time after Willow's beginner class thinking about the number of people who get dogs who are totally unsuitable for their personality and lifestyle. I felt like I saw a lot of that in this class. There was the pit bull - who didn't seem like a bad dog, but he's an 80 pound dog in a 20 pound body - seriously, that dogs neck is as big around as my waist. And the girl was training it for her mom. The instructor kept saying, "you need to walk him faster." And she kept saying, "but my mom walks really slow." I saw the mom, and she seems to be in reasonable health, but I wonder why that dog? Why not a nice small dog who would be happy to walk slow and wouldn't pull her over if he saw something exciting? I saw a lot of people with the wrong dog in that class. That's probably why we went from 12 people down to 5 over the course of 6 weeks. 

It would be like me with a Malinois. Cool dog, wrong owner. I guess I'm just surprised that people don't take their personality and lifestyle into account when they pick their dog. I feel like there's a breed out there that meets the needs of just about any person, but people get the wrong dog and they make their lives harder than they need to be. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And unfortunately, that includes some of the people who get doodles. :(
I don't like pitbulls, and I just will never understand why anyone does. But I don't understand people who have snakes for pets, either. 

I wish people would look at breed history when they consider a particular type of dog. There are certain qualities that are hardwired, and the most responsible, dedicated owner in the world isn't going to be able to change those things. Herding dogs herd, retrievers retrieve, guard dogs guard, etc. You can channel those instincts into other areas, but you can't erase them. I don't know why anyone wants a dog whose main reason for existing is to fight other animals.