As the days get closer to the new pup...

[Cory Reali]

... I sit here and think about what led up to getting our first Dood Molly. 

When I was a child growing up, we weren't able to have any pets other than Hamsters or Guinea Pigs. My mom was extremely allergic to both cats and dogs. Turned out that she wasn't the only one. My brother is allergic to cats, and I'm allergic to both.

When I met my husband, his family had a mutt named Shadow, and I couldn't be near her without sneezing, and being super itchy. It broke my heart because while we couldn't have one, I LOVED animals and wanted a dog SOOOO BAD. So Matt and I talked and talked about what we could possibly do to have a dog, even if I was miserable, and having to take meds to make it happen. 

We tried adopting a dog from the ASPCA when we lived in SC, as we were finally in a place of our own, while it was military housing that was pet friendly. That turned out HORRIBLY! He was over 3 years old, and had obviously been abused and was very female unfriendly. We tried our hardest to love him anyways, and did our best. Until I had knee surgery, was home with him and my oldest, who was our only at that time. I had to take him outside and he close-lined me, broke 3 toes and knocked me off my feet. I couldn't get up on my own. My best friend, who happened to live next door heard me yelling and was able to help me up, but that was it for us. I couldn't trust him not to hurt me again, and I could have been even more hurt than I was at that point. The hardest thing ever was returning him to the ASPCA and letting them know that it wasn't a good match.

Then we were given a dog from our childcare provider that she needed out of her house. She had 5 dogs of her own and then took in Bailey to help a friend who couldn't take care of her anymore. She was an elderly lady and just couldn't give the attention Bailey needed. I was pregnant with my middle daughter at the time, and all was well, or so it seemed. When my Brynn was 3 weeks old, I was holding her sitting up on my lap and unprovoked, Bailey came and grabbed her arm and bit her. I was devastated. How do you know what to do when you have your child and the furry footed one you love, but the one hurts the other? We had to call the aspca and let them know she bit my child. I knew that was a BAD thing but I was one upset mama. 

That ended our having a dog for almost 5 years. We moved to San Diego, lived in military housing that wasn't pet friendly so things weren't an issue as it wasn't ok anyways.

In 2010, when we knew we were going to be moving again, and live in our OWN house, we began thinking about trying to become pet parents again. We knew we had 3 kids then, and wanted something from a puppy, that I wouldn't be having allergy issues daily with. Lots of research was to be had. My sister in law works as a Doggy Daycare place, as a manager, and told us to look into doodles. She told us that would be what she would get, and so off we went trying to find out as much as possible about the Labradoodle breed. We decided that we wanted a doodle. So once decided on the breed, became the hardest part. Finding a breeder near us, that we could trust. I found the place we got Molly at about 3 weeks into my breeder search. I called the breeder, she was available to talk immediately and was so patient with me. I am a HUGE question person. I ask a LOT. She took all the time in the world to answer questions and help me with the big decision. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go MEET the puppies before picking one, so she gave me a lot of info about the puppies she had available. I took a look at the website and fell in LOVE with Molly via her picture. Just happened to be GREAT that she was all we were looking for as well as loving how she looked. 

We met about 45 minutes away from our house, as she was driving some puppies down to another possible family and got our pup! She stole our hearts from the first look into our eyes. Made us feel that we made the right decision. Our own 9 week old puppy! Our first couple weeks with her were VERY DIFFICULT because the people that used to live here had dogs and they didn't clean up the backyard after their dogs and we were here in the middle of winter so there was always snow and we had no idea. So Molly got Giardia IMMEDIATELY and it took a solid 6 months to get it to go completely away. We wanted to do the best for her, which would then be the best for us. Our girls LOVE her to death, they get to grow up together and we've been so lucky to have this amazing doodle as ours. 

Molly turns 2 in December and we knew we were ready to get another one. I'd been browsing the breeders website every month or 2, looking at the available litters and never was called to any of them. UNTIL NOW. I was watching AGT and saw the act with most of the doodles and thought it was time to browse again and BAM there was this picture of Teddy. He just called to my heart. I loved the markings on him, his color and the fact that he was a SMALL/MINI, and we had said if we were to get another, we wanted a smaller dog. I called the breeder immediately (11pm! SORRY) and asked if he was still available. YES! He is a little older than Molly was when we got her. He's about 16 weeks now. Him and his brother are the only ones available from that litter now, also has the partial white mask, but not anywhere near as pronounced. He wasn't picked because of his coloring. THEIR LOSS MY GAIN! So we made a plan, sent in the deposit and the forms needed filled out, and planned to get him at the end of the month. 

Waiting on getting him has been one of the hardest things ever! We have 5 days to go and it just can't get here quick enough!! Gotta make sure my camera is charged, my memory card is empty and I will be taking so many pictures of him!

[kristine & Auggie]

Congrats on your nw puppy.  We have until jan. before we get ours, t seems like forever.

What is Giardia?

 

[Cory Reali]

Sorry Ginny, yeah it is a long story, once I got to typing, it just poured out.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Whew--that is a long story--but it leads to Teddy, who I am sure is going to fit right in! have fun with him! Counting down the days!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I can't wait to see pictures of Teddy.  I am going to check your page in case you have posted some.  Congratulations.