A Doodle Story on The Front Page of Our Paper This Morning

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

 

This story was in our paper this morning.  In many ways it's heartwarming that this couple is helping so many children with emotional handicaps through "Doodle Therapy".  I do worry though about how effectively they are able to manage the care and breeding of this many dogs.  And of course, the whole issue of health testing (which isn't mentioned).  The writer clearly spent time in this house in order to develop the story, so if there were obvious issues of care of the dogs, I'm sure that would have surfaced....but who knows.  What do you think?  Here's the link.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-troubled-kids-and-pups-1...

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Well my first reaction (when I saw the picture) was ahhhh puppies and children, my 2nd reaction was UGH puppies being raised by children.

I think 20 adult dogs and their puppies is probably NOT a good situation for children. They make it sound as if they ALL are in the "Big Victorian House". Either the article was written poorly or they are leaving way too much out. How did this couple happen to be approved to adopt so many children if they didn't have enough money. I am confused.

I do understand the human side of it but I don't necessarily agree with a couple of men raising troubled children, and let's face it, bringing dogs in to make money.

Not sure if I agree or am very happy for any of them.

[Lorraine Bromley]

I am sorry to disagree with your comment on a couple of men raising troubled children. I am sure they are loving people who went through  the adoption process. I hope some day my son has the chance to adopt a child with his partner. He has loved kids and babies his whole life and I hope being gay would not be a consideration in his suitability.

[BG and Gavin]

It give me a bad feeling too.  As a person with a great deal of experience treating these troubled kids, three adults are not enough to provide supervision and treatment to 13 kids, especially not with 20 plus dogs to care for.  Why not three special needs kids and four dogs?  I don't want to judge a situation with out first hand experience of it, but it just sounds pretty dicey to me.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

These people are irresponsible BYbs who are not just breeding labradoodles. Do a search for Puppy Love in Glastonbury. Here's one of their ads for Pug-a Poos:

 

Pug-A-Poo Puppies / Mini Size / Non-Shedding Non-Allergy
posted: November 20, 2010, 12:16 AM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pugs shed their fur making for a mess and cause allergy issues. The solution is a virtually non-shedding non-allergenic Pug+Mini-Poodle mix known as the Pug-A-Poo. Description of the Pug-A-Poo: Pug face, Pug personality, slightly smarter like a Poodle, easier to train, virtually non-shedding wavy hair, and no allergy issues. The hybrid-vigor mix (mutt) makes for a much healthier dog. Our family specializes in hybrid-vigor designer puppies like the Pug-A-Poo with the beautifully cute physical features you would expect. We take our family business of breeding very seriously with top quality and adorable puppies. Pug-A-Poo puppies are non-shedding & hypo-allergenic. We start house training at an early age for our Pug-A-Poo puppies for an easy adjustment to your home with instructions. We make certain our puppies are well socialized as they are family raised with our children. Our focus is on health with a loving & very calm temperament. All of our puppies come with a health warranty & all immunizations.

Puppy Love In Glastonbury prices are for male or female.
Colors Available: Black or Fawn colored.
Pug-A-Poo Puppies…......10-18 pound range, $800

Thank you for considering one of our puppies as your new family member. My family and I take great pride in our hard work and specialized techniques of raising and preparing puppies for their new homes.

Sincerely,
George & Family
Puppy Love In Glastonbury
Contact: [phone]
06033 google map | yahoo map



• Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut


Here's their labradoodle ad:


Posted by: Glastonbury_CT | View all ads
Profile: Registered user, Active since 09/2010

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Call [phone]





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Details forLabrador Retriever Pups /Standard-Mini /Non-Shedding Hypo-Allergenic Address:Glastonbury, CT 06033 (map) Date Posted:11/10/10Description Labrador Retrievers shed their fur making for a mess and cause allergy issues. The solution is a non-shedding hypo-allergenic Lab+Poodle mix known as the LabraDoodle. Description of the LabraDoodle: Lab face, Lab personality, slightly smarter like a Poodle, easier to train, non-shedding wavy hair that comes in many colors, and hypo-allergenic. The hybrid-vigor mix (mutt) makes for a much healthier dog. Our family specializes in hybrid-vigor designer puppies like the LabraDoodle with the beautifully cute physical features you would expect. We take our family business of breeding very seriously with top quality and adorable puppies. Our puppies are non-shedding & hypo-allergenic. We completely house train our puppies for an easy quick 2 day adjustment to your home with instructions. We make certain our puppies are well socialized as they are family raised with our children. Our focus is on health with a loving & very calm temperament. All puppies come with a health warranty & all immunizations.

Puppy Love In Glastonbury prices are for F1 or F1b puppies, male or female.
Many Colors Available: Black, Chocolate, Red, Golden, Cream, & White.
LabraDoodles…….…40 or 50 pound ranges, $1,200
Mini-LabraDoodles….20 or 30 pound ranges, $1,800

Thank you for considering one of our LabraDoodle puppies as your new family member. My family and I take great pride in our hard work and specialized techniques of raising and preparing puppies for their new homes.

Sincerely,


Read more: http://hartford.ebayclassifieds.com/dogs-puppies/glastonbury/labrad...

43 dogs in a house with 13 people. That alone seems irresponsible to me. These people may be doing a great thing for these children, but they are not doing a great thing for these dogs. They are also misrepresenting and making false claims about these dogs, which we know all too well leads to doodles being rehomed. Shame on them. Let them find something else to sell to make some money, and get two or three pets to help their children with their issues.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I"d bet that their business will be "booming" after this article.  People with kids will think that these are the "perfect" puppies for them, since they were "socialized" by kids (actually raised by them).

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I love their 40-50 lb size range claims for the standards, too, especially this month, after we've had two adorable sweet doodles lose their homes because they were too big. "The breeder said he'd only be about 50 lbs".....

[BG and Gavin]

This jumped out at me too.  40-50 huh!  Try 65-80+!  Lots of promises about shedding and allergy friendliness too.  Double huh!!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree the ad reads like fiction. Despicable...

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

This story left me feeling ill in regard to the dogs. From the little information we actually got about the dogs it sounds horrible. A few lines caught my attention:

 "MORE than 20 mothers...", 

 "kennel in the CELLAR and grounds outside" 

 "After each litter is born, a child is assigned to a mother dog and participates in all decisions about her care — veterinary visits, feeding and the care of her puppies. "

 

This could potentially be a terrible situation for these dogs especially the breeding dogs. No mention of exercise or play time for them as part of the "care" they get from the children.  Whos is caring for the dogs when they don't have puppies?  Kennels in the CELLAR!?? This breaks my heart. I know I am going on very little information but you can easily read between the lines here. This is not good.

 

Karen, I just read the info you provided that confirms my suspicions! 

 

 The children may be improving but at what cost? I agree that fewer dogs could have accomplished the same end for the children. I think money is a big motivating factor here and the press has tried to create a warm fuzzy Christmas story where there is none if one looks at the entire situation.

[BG and Gavin]

FWIW I doubt that a situation like what is described is good for the kids either.   That really saddens me.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I think I might have had to send a Letter to the Editor of the paper and tried to help to educate people who might have read this article and been informed.  Although this story tugs at the heart strings of the unknowing public - these dogs are not in a good situation, sad, sad story.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree. I'm tempted to write to the paper. But when I've done that in the past, I've got responses that sound like they're addressed to a PETA fanatic or a developmentally challenged person. Many people who write for the papers aren't usually very well-versed in dog breeding, puppy mills, health testing, etc. Our local paper ran a big article about a huge pet store that opened in our town- Puppy Palace- and when I wrote to protest, someone called me and gave me a lecture about how dangerous it can be to adopt a dog from a shelter, and how families with children need to be able to buy puppies who won't pose a threat to their children's safety. Turned out, she had purchased her own dog from a pet store. It never seems to do much good to try to educate these people.