Just for fun

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Ok, So I'm curious if when you picked your puppy, you noticed certain physical characteristics such as your puppy having long thin legs so you assumed it would be tall or if they had shorter stockier legs you thought he/she would be heavier and shorter. I'm very curious if now your pup is an adolescent/adult, do those qualities still hold true? Wondering if there is a pattern. Looking forward to the responses:)

[Jordan & Daisy]

Thank you!!! :) 

[Kurt Gustafson]

Having raised two doodles and had a litter we followed for 9 years, there are patterns, but they may not be obvious unless you have closely observed a number of doodles. There are a lot of clues about coat development, but not all are what they would seem to be merely by looking for poodle qualities. We've had a runt of the litter we did not think would survive thrive to become as large as her littermates. We also had the largest of the litter grow into his monstrous 100 lb frame. One really needs to know about both parents and then make some *guesses* based upon that information and the characteristics of the other littermates (i.e. a narrow or wide frame is a relative thing).

[Christy&Riley]

Knowing nothing about dogs, I assumed (or more accurately feared) that Riley would be huge because she had big paws. Her Mom was a standard size GD and Dad a red standard poodle. Riley is 14 months and only weighs 36 pounds...which is perfect for us. I can't imagine any larger. Glad that I was wrong!

[DonMarie and Picco]

Picco has the poodle body with the long legs. He was very entertaining as a pup while learning to use those stilts! I called him my little giraffe!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lucy was one of the largest females of her litter (F1B Standard LD) and she held pretty true to what we expected, a very curly/wooly coated doodle of average Standard weight (58lbs). Here she is at 8 weeks:

And here she is at 10-1/2 weeks:

And 8-1/2 months:

Oscar was another story. We were told by his breeder he'd probably get no bigger than 40 lbs. He's a multi gen Standard LD. One thing we noticed from Day 1 of his arrival was that he had HUGE feet. It made us wonder. At 8 weeks he was heavier than Lucy at that same age. Here he is at 4 weeks old when we picked him out:

And at 8 weeks:

And at 15 months:

Believe it or not, he was still growing! He'll be 2 yrs old in September and of right now he's 68lbs and about 24-1/2" tall. So, he definitely was not what we thought we'd have in the end. Thinking back though through those early months, he moved and acted like a BIG dog... kind of slow and clumsy. To this day he's not at all as agile as Lucy and is very laid back and easy going. I love him just the way he is! 

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Debb, its amazing how alike both Lucy and Oscar look in their 8 week picture. They look identical!! They are both beautiful dogs! You are very blessed!  I pick up Gumbo Friday from airport. I'm so excited :) I'll be posting pics

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Thanks! Well, they probably look alike because they are related! Lucy is Oscar's 'half aunt'. When they're both cut the same length, at first glance I often get them mixed up, even though Oscar is much taller and stockier than Lucy.

Can't wait to see pics of Gumbo on Homecoming Day! I'm excited for you!