Doodlequest Alumni

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Comment by Doug Kelsey on February 10, 2009 at 3:35pm

Snow has gone today. Went from 14 inches of snow on the ground
Saturday to bare ground today. Temp hit 62 degrees today which broke the record. Feels like spring but we will be bound to be hit by more snow before spring sets in in mid-april.

Sugar ran to the back of my property line this afternoon, and successfully got covered in burrs. I have let her coat grow this winter because of the cold weather. sooo... I have been spending the past 40 to 60 minutes brushing the burrs out of her coat. Any suggestions on how make this easier?

Comment by Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom on February 10, 2009 at 9:10am

Surprisingly, Beau is afraid of swimming....I have tried on numerous occasions to make it a non threatening, fun experience, and have given up. I even carried him in gently to the swimming pond they have at a local dog park at one one the summer doodle romps we attended. He swan for shore like a drowning man! LOL His little heart was beating so fast I didn;t have the heart to do it to him again. Mark Spitz he is not. Sometimes when he is sleepingm his tail wags or his legs are going.....I wonder what he is dreaming about! Sure wish we lived closer so that the two of them could meet.

Comment by Doug Kelsey on January 18, 2009 at 11:00am

Sug is a bit of a Tom Boy... she can be a bit shy when with a large number of dogs like when I take her over to daycare on occasion. But she socializes very well. Sugar loves kids loves to play with them as they do with her. My neighbors at my lake cottage have small children and when we are out during the summer she is generally in the water playing with the kids.

She doesn't lay with her legs out like a frog and is really quite modist. She does roll on the carpet but generally she lays on her back with her legs sticking straight up in the air.

I worked with her a lot as a puppy to get her used to loud noises and machinery so she is not intimidated by lawn mowers, snow blowers and construction equipment. The hardest was trying to keep her from attacking the electric sweeper.

Sugar is nutty for stuffed toys and balls, and will play fetch at the drop of a hat. I purchased a tennis ball slingshot that will shoot the balls out about 50 yards and she will play that until she is ready to collapse. I do get a kick out of her when the is an ad that has squeeks in it such as the Dyson Sweeper commercial, with the squeeking sweepers. Sugar can be sound asleep but when she hears the squeek she is up and right in front of the TV.

Another cute habit is whenever I am getting ready to go someplace or talking with strangers, Sugar will stand behind me and will poke her head out between my knees and then just stand there.

I crate trained Sugar and for the first two years she spent the night in her crate at night. She now sleeps up on my bed and there are times she trys to push me out of bed or trys to steal my blankets. If I have been gone all day Sugar will snuggle close to my feet or my back. But if we have spent the day working in the yard or playing she may just go to her crate and sleep.

Hope I didn't provide TMI but I do have a great time with her. Although I want to attribute human characteristics to her, she really enjoys being a Dog and does all the things I think are gross and only a dog can do.

Does Beau get into trouble? Sugar is very well behaved except she does have a tendancy to counter surf for food.

Comment by Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom on January 17, 2009 at 8:11am

another cute habit: does Sugar lie on the floor with her hind legs spread out like a frog?

Comment by Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom on January 17, 2009 at 8:04am

Beau is 25 pounds of pure love. He's very affectionate and sweet natured, and gets scared easily.....jumps at a loud noise. My vet is also very pleased with Beau's health, so we (including him!)were shocked to hear about the beginnings of a cataract. Kathy was very alarmed and asked me to keep her posted. Also, she was thrilled to hear about the good results from the NuVet vitamins. I am anxious to hear the vet's analysis,,but I personally can see a positive difference in his vitality. I had no complaints about vitality before his taking them, but he is just a stronger dog now I believe. Some of the local breeders here in Florida actually make people sign a contract that they will give their dogs these NuVet vitamins, or their warranty is null and void. Anyway, enough of that, I sound like a commercial!! LOL Now, about habits: does Sugar roll on her back and snort like a horse? It's such a riot to see Beau do that, because he is usually such a graceful, delicate little guy. He does it only on carpeting, so I think he's trying to scratch his back. Does Sugar sleep wth you? Beau sleeps at my feet, or on the bathroom floor, near the shower for some reason. He slept on th floor on a sheepskin rug next to my bed for his first year or two. Oh! I should let you know that Old Navy just yesterday marked down their adorable quilted jackets for the dogs to $3.49!! It's a steal.....I even got one for Beau in red and orange.. Sounds to me like Sugar might like the pink one that they have. Their Old Navy Dog Supply stuff is very well made, for dog things....well above and beyond what you find at Petco or Petsmart. Do you know any other Doodlequest owners we could invite to join this reunion group? I know of two, who I invited yesterday.....Beau's littermate who lives in Atlanta, and his half sister (same Daddy, Yankee) who lives in Milwakuee.

Comment by Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom on January 17, 2009 at 6:00am

I would love for Beau to be eating the dry food because I know it is best for him. However, I have to admit I am a pushover for his puppy dog eyes, and I can see he doesn't enjoy it. I kept him on the Canidae for his entire first year. I started cooking for him when all that dog food was getting recalled and the dogs were dying left and right a couple of years ago. He gets boiled chicken breasts and rice in the morning and a bowl of whatever I am eating at night (steak, chicken, turkey, chopped sirloin, doesnt like fish however), mixed with rice or sweet potato, some mixed vegetables, a little vegetable oil, and the NuVet vitamin crumbled into the mixture. I leave a bowl of the dried food for him to nibble on if he gets hungry, but I guess he figures why should I eat that stuff if I can get her to give me STEAK? LOL It's usually very warm here in South Florida and we go to the dog park every couple of days. We also have Doodle Romps here about once a month, where he gets to see a lot of his "brethren". Beau's Mom was Rebekah, a 10 pound poodle, and his Dad was Yankee, one of Kathy's golden doodles, so he is a small F1B. He is usually one of the smallest doodles at the romp, but he sees himself as a big dog I think.

Comment by Doug Kelsey on January 16, 2009 at 4:39pm

No I don't have Sugar on any vitamins. I take her regularly to the vet and there are no problems with her eyes. In fact the vet is very please with how health Sugar is...

However, I think she has had enough of winter. The temp in Michigan has been below zero this week. Yesterdays High hit 5 degrees and todays hit 11degrees. The lows at night dropped to -15. Sugar is not staying outside any longer than to do her business and head indoors.

As far as food is concerned, I feed Sugar "Wellness" dog food and she loves it. I mix it up moving her from the chicken blend to the lamb blend. I do not feed her the whitfish as she really smells like fish when she eats this.

Hope all is well.

Comment by Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom on January 16, 2009 at 1:03pm

Hi Doug! So glad that you and Sugar joined us!! We live on the beach in Miami. Beau was born at Doodlequest just a few months after Sugar, In November of 2005. Do you have her on those NuVet vitamins that Kathy recommended? I had not bothered to get them, until about three months ago, when the vet scared me into it. He told me that my gorgeous baby was starting to get a CATARACT. If you can beleive this, I think the cloud has lifted from his affected eye in the three months since we started with these NuVet things once a day. I'm going to verify it with the vet, but I think these vitamins are fabulous...expensive, but wiorth every penny IMHO. Sugar is just beauriful

Comment by Doug Kelsey on January 6, 2009 at 5:44pm

Sugar is an F1 Goldendoodle born on July 13, 2005 at Doodlequest in Nickolasville, KY. Sugar's mother is a Golden named Breathless and the Father is a Standard bred poodle named Legs. Originally, I had agreed with Kathy Burgess to a guardianship status with Sugar. Unfortunately, when Sugar was undergoing her physical to breed she did not pass the kneecap test. Her right rear kneecap was a grade one and therefore she could not continue on in the breeding program.

I give high marks to Kathy in her decision on this matter. She was more interested in creating quality off spring for future generations of Golden Doodles.

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