Fitz & Henry's Page

I am so sorry you are going through this.  I do not understand why Henry cannot be around other dogs?  As you know I got my first one Charlie who is now 3 from ML and then got Beau who is now 1.5.  He did have giardia, and I was just vigil about picking up his feces and disinfecting the area.  Charlie never got it.  I think healthy dogs are less likely to get infected because their immune system is functionally correctly.   I thought it could only pass via feces (cysts from excrement).  I guess there could be a possibility the his water could become contaminated, but probably not likely unless it is standing water in the yard.  Charlie never did it and they were together and drank the same water.  I would have no issue with Charlie playing with you dog at my house!  However that all being said, I probably would not want to bring mine to your yard just in case there was something lurking there. However, with your winter, it has had to kill off everything! Yeah for that!  I wish you lived in the desert, the dryness would probably the ticket!

Hang in there I would think his immune system will be building up with the probiotics.  I am glad he is off meds right now.  He is so cute.  I can tell you love him to pieces! 

Just saw a photo of Henry and I remembered that you had a difficult time with giardia.  Does he have a clean bill of health now?  I hope so.  He is so darn cute.  I know you were extremely unhappy with ML, but you got to admit that have beautiful dogs.  Hope all is going well with little Henry!

Welcome to DoodleKisses - the best website around for doodle lovers everywhere.  You can find out so much here.  Just ask away and someone will have the answer for you.  My youngest doodle is an ALD and he definitely keeps us all busy.  What a fantastic dog.

I fell in love with a doodle I saw at a campground and had to have one - very little research done.  I ended up with a seventh generation ALD - by happenstance. His coat is very cottony.  He began matting at about 6 months and for at least a year got mats overnight - every night. When he was over two, I was able to quit brushing quite as often - still matted but not overnight.  Now at age 5 we can go one or even two weeks between brushing/combing, but it takes an hour or more.  We also get him groomed professionally every 4 - 6 weeks.  Some doodles, like Ned, mat a lot and the owners have to decide whether they want to spend hours  grooming or cut the coat short - we groom often.  Some doodles mat for about two minutes :-}  Some mat badly for a few months and then only get occasional mats.  It really depends upon the coat. The silky fleece tends to mat much less often.  Many doodles have a  curlier adult coat. I got our other doodle as a rescue as an adult.  We feel that he is a first generation goldendoodle.  He sheds quite a bit but rarely mats.  Join the grooming group and the nutrition group - the best groups for doodle owners. Here are the links:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/doodlegrooming

And the puppy group:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness

Neither Ned nor Clancy has a sensitive tummy and neither gets carsick.  As for the Giardia - from your posts, I see that you are already addressing that.  Mine haven't ever had it but it seems to be quite difficult to cure.  Are you giving your pup yogurt to help his tummy keep the 'good' bacteria?

I see that Karen gave you some links.  I would suggest to my friends that they join dk.  They do not have to have a doodle.  They can read lots of the stuff about doodles to make sure that they want one. They might adore yours but do they know generally about doodles - coat care, sensitive tummys, energy needs, intelligence? Yes, I think they are great and I adore my guys, but I was really ignorant about  the coat care. I was told by my breeder that Ned would need brushing a couple of times a week - well my idea of a couple of times a week was 5 minutes!  Was I dumb or what?  Many doodles are extremely high energy - mine aren't - but the entire reason we will never get a Springer Spaniel again is because of his high energy needs (even at 10 years old!) ins don't have sensitive tummys or get carsick, but it seems that lots of doodles do.

Here is an additional link: 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/australianlabradoodlepuppiesforsale?invitationRequestSent=yes

Karen's suggestion of seeing for yourself (or themselves) is the best recommendation yet.  Ned is an ALD and we saw his breeder and many puppies - we did not see his parents though - we picked him out ourselves and picked him up ourselves - about a 500 mile round trip - twice.  However it was that important to us.  My computer is acting stupid and I keep losing my curser so I need to add this before I lose it again.

You can still edit your discussion to say "please message me with recommendations".

I know that you also know that personal recommendations really don't mean very much. Everyone loves their doodle, and most don't want to admit, even to themselves, that the breeder may not have been so great. The thinking is, "my dog is great, so the breeder is great". Personally, I wouldn't take a breeder recommendation for any dog from anybody, without meeting the dog, visiting the breeder, and seeing the parents. 

Hi, I'm not a member of the Manor Lakes group but just wanted to let you know that there have been a ton of discussions on giardia and how to treat it. If you do a search you will find a ton of info and suggestions to help beat it. Now you will only get replies from people within your group but if you post on the main page you will get a lot more info and advice. It's possible that your doodle could be reinfecting himself. You need to clean the area where he poos with a mixture of water and bleach, this would work best if you potty in the same area and pick it up immediately. One person even resorted to slipping a paper plate under her puppy when he pooped.

At 3:40pm on October 20, 2013, Maryann,Roo  and Tigger said…   

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/profile/LFitzGibbon?xgac=1&xg_source=profiles_friendRequestsReceivedList#add_comment#ixzz2iIxtRV48

I can totally sympathize with you.  Tigger is still by one who gets diarrhea so easily and he is now five.  After reading quite a lot about giardia,   I have come to the conclusion that unless Tigger is having severe diarrhea  for more than 3 days ( even a half of a small burger will loosen his stool for two days) or other symptoms I will just go with the yearly stool check at the vets.  Roo, who has Addison's rarely has anything other than "perfect poop"  what a topic!

Anyway - giardia can live at low levels in dogs and never cause a problem or really be a health concern.  Some dogs just show symptoms more easily and/or giardia grows more readily in their intestinal tract.

I am not sure it is actually possible to eradicate giardia in the intestinal tract and keep it that way as it is so prevalent.  The treatment is hard on Tigger's digestive system, but Roo shows no effects from giardia treatment at all.  So I don't worry too much about it.

That said, I don't use the nearest dog park anymore because I think that is where Tigger picks it up - although Roo never does.  It is just me thinking and it seems easier to stay away.

I don't think I would use the SNAP test - mostly because I have a chem lab background and I know how easy it is to mess up a routine procedure and how much practice it takes to read "results" correctly.  I am a bit OCD about that though.

My sympathy is with you and I guess my best advice is don't go for "perfect poop" but look more at the whole dog and go for "passable poop".