Riley the bernedoodle

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Hi,

We've chosen our next dog!  She's a 5-week old bernedoodle (Bernese mountain dog/standard poodle) - coming home in late September.  We wanted something really different from Luna (F1 mini goldendoodle) since our hearts are still broken from her passing.

I know Luna never had the tufts around her eyes and she was a flat-coated goldendoodle so I'm predicting at least "scruffy" for this little one.  I looked at some pictures of Bernese puppies and she only looks slightly fluffier than one of those so I don't think she will be curly.

What do you think?

*Updated up to 7 months!  Shaggy big bear!

4 weeks

6 weeks

8 weeks - 12.3 lbs / 5.6 kg

10 weeks - 14.7 lbs / 6.7 kg

14 weeks - 22 lbs / 10 kg

16 weeks - 30 lbs / 14 kg

20 weeks - 40 lbs / 18 kg 

7 months- 50 lbs / 23 kg

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

The big dogs grow so fast! I think about Willow's age Riley was gaining 2 pounds a week it was crazy.

[Stacy]

She'll eat as much as I give her and then go out and eat mud and dirt too, so apparently she's a growing machine!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Oh J! Riley is a beauty! What a fun montage of her pup to adult look. Thanks for sharing.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Riley is so beautiful. That long coat is gorgeous.  As long as you can maintain it is very wonderful. We keep going  shorter and shorter on Ned and Charlie because I can’t keep up any more. Charlie has an unbelievably thick coat ad looks like a fat, waddling bear if we let his body get very long. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

She definitely looks like a bear lol.  Her nickname these days is Rileybear.  A bit less fluffy now that her thick winter undercoat is mostly gone.

I think for now I'm going to stick with head, paw and sanitary trim and leave the rest alone and see how it goes.  I brush her daily and don't find that many mats (mainly under ears and on legs) so it's not too bad.

[Stacy]

I look forward to seeing how Riley's hair develops. I'm a little jealous. You are becoming quite the groomer. Every time I get the girls kind of long we have a grooming hiccup. And now it's really time for a summer cut. I don't know how you can survive spring and all the dirt and mud with all that hair. We're struggling. I can't keep them clean. After they dry they always look cleaner. Maggie's lower legs are just a slight shade of gray. But I know that's because all the dirt is in the carpet, my bed, the tile, me... I'm dirty too! No matter how much I clean I feel like it's a losing battle. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I'm trying, we will see how it turns out! I cut all the human hair in the house (including my own) may as well do the dog too lol.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Also.. the mud battle is a losing one here too :p right now DH walks Riley in the morning but other than that it's indoor play only.  Our yard isn't fenced yet and she keeps trying to dig and eat grass/sticks anyway (she has a tie out for pee breaks).  It seems like I'm constantly cleaning paw prints off the wood floors, they are fairly dark.

Will start walking her again myself when it's warmer and the roads are dry.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I trimmed her head a bit (the white "toupee" I call it), seems to help cut down on the scruffiness around her face.  Need to go back and use the thinning shears a bit, looks too blunt to me.

[DonMarie and Picco]

She is so darned cute and cuddly! Her white is always looks so bright too.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Thanks! I think it's because she has no pigment at all in her white parts, not just "blonde" like a lot of hair tends to be.  Luna had a white undercoat but it was never this white.  Probably partly the contrast against the black too.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Riley looks perfect. Great job!