No more doodles just yet!!!

[Heather and Rocky]

I can not get anotherr dog.  I absolutley can NOT get another dog.  We are so lucky that Rocky is so amazingly sweet - whose to say we would be that lucky again??  I have a three year old who is right in Rocky's face every other minute - you know??  What other dog would possibly tolerate that??  Also - I can't afford it - there is some financial responsibility to dog ownership and I need a teaching job to add more income around here - not another dog to have groomed at 93 dollars a session! 

 

Ok - so I have got to stop looking at Petfinder!  I need to just resolve myself that we will wait until I'm working and Gracie is a few years older to add another dog to our house.  Right?  Right.  Except there is this doodle named Harley on Petfinder that I keep looking at longingly.  Sigh... and he's the one that is near me - there are others - a puppy named Hayden in Wisconsin that has the most amazing expression on his face...  I could just love him all up!   Someone talk some sense into me please!!!  Sympathy will make me feel better too... lol. 

[Leslie Kimbrell]

Well Heather - I am not the person who should be trying to answer your question, trying to talk you out of getting another puppy or talking you into getting another puppy. When I got my first labradoodle - I just wanted a female puppy - I had a resuce baby at home that was so depressed after my beautiful Golden retriever and her best friend died suddenly from a heart condition no one knew he had. I tried to wait her out with a lot of TLC but it was a no go. She was hardly eating 3 weeks later. So to help her and me,  I came home with two - a sister and brother - Jazz and Cody. Cody was the last of the litter and I could tell he needed medical care - kennel cough - I could not leave him there. So instead of one puppy, I came home with two.  That was seven years ago. My rescue baby died in October of last year - what a great puppy - she defied all odds and gave me 10 wonderful years - 5 more than the vet said she would. That got me down to just the labradoodles. Now my mother had been living with me for the last 3 1/2 years after she had a stroke. She passed away this Feb and we were not expecting it. I was so heart broken....the house was so quiet even with two babies - I think they knew she was gone because they were not doing their normal "partners in crime" antics.

After Mom died, I was depressed, laid on the couch more than normal and watching mindless TV. I never realized how may ASPCA commericals were on during the day. Those are heart break commericals. That led me to Pet Finder and boom, I have a 9 week old goldendoodle that came from All God's Creatures. I didn't need another dog. I thought I would just enjoy my labradoodles, heal emotionally and just rest from a horrible ordeal. We now are back up to 3 puppies - I call all dogs puppies regardless of age.

 

He is a joy and so darn cute however, my labradoodles are not happy at the moment. At first, they were freaked out by this little 4.5lb mini Goldendoodle and hid every time they saw him - never saw that coming. I thought they would take to the new puppy and all would be great friends. I would have fabulous pictures of all three together. The older puppies loving the baby puppy and life would come back into this house.  Maybe someday but not now. They will get around him now but I don't trust them at the moment - they are sending mixed signals - wagging  tails but mean sounding growling and will snap at him - They don't connect but they get close so I am always on guard until he gets big enough to hold his own or they finally accept him. So the house is slighty dysfunctional right now.

 

Even though I would never give him back because I love that little guy but I should have asked myself a lot of questions.

Did I get him to fill the hole left in my heart from losing my mother?

Did I get him because I saw so much suffering on those commericals?

Did I get him simply because I wanted to?

Probably all of the above....but I look into those beautiful brown eyes, smell the puppy breath, love the licks that are telling me - thank you for adopting me and that makes all of this worth it. Jazz and Cody will come around. Cooper will grow and become potty trained ;) and maybe I will have a Christmas picture of all three sitting there together.  

 

Good luck on your decision - I KNOW how easy it is to get one more. ;)

 

Edit - As Bonnie said - more vet bills etc etc and there are problems with the other dogs at the moment - lol

 

[Gail+Kathleen,(Sydney+Olivia:)]

Even with all of the issues we have been having with Sydney, we also look at Petfinder.   Kathy always finds one or two she wants to adopt.  We keep saying that if we win the lottery we will get a third Doodle and it will be a rescue!!!!!!!!  We never realized how expensive, how much time is involed and how much you give up when you have a dog (then 2x with 2 Doodles).  But they sure do give us unconditional love!

[Leslie Kimbrell]

 I am staying off Petfinders for a while ;)  I can't trust myself anymore. So many puppies that need homes!!!  AND there are so many doodles in rescue now. Of course I am not surprised since everyone thought they would make a fortune breeding labs to poodles, goldens to poodles. I know the good breeders are getting 2 to 3,000 for their golden doodle puppies. It cost $950.00 for my little rescue boy. I was shocked at first but then realized that the money will go for so much more in helping All God's Creatures. A puppy mill in North Dakota was raided and 65 dogs came to AGC - most were pregnant - now they have 150.

Gail, so sorry that your babies have allergies. Nothing is harder than watching your babies being uncomfortable. I hope you find something to help them. Have you researched alternative remedies - worth a shot.

[Leslie Kimbrell]

I found a link of natural alternatives - can I put the link up?  Not sure what the rules are about doing it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Unfortunately, there are no "remedies" for allergies, it is a genetic disease of the immune system and can be managed but not cured. There are very few treatment options, and the one that most of us with allergic dogs use is immunotherapy, which is very homeopathic in nature, so I guess you could say it's "alternative", lol.

[Donna K & Quincy]

No help here, I love Teddy, I also loved all the puppies and Elmo, who just got a new home. I love to see when the doodles are adopted and I know DRC does an amazing job of finding them the right home. I am retiring in less than a year and I want to buy an RV, my DH says the only reason I want it is so we can tour the US adopting doodles along the way. Sounds like a good plan to me.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Donna, you can be a one-woman Doodle Train!

[Heather and Rocky]

I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one!  And, I also see that a lot of you all caved and got another one - lol.  Thanks y'all for all the responses!  We are going to try and wait a while!  Maybe if I get a job next year we could get one NEXT summer vacation!  I can't promise not to look anymore - especially since it's on the opening DK page - ha ha.  I can't resist scrolling through those each time. 

 Oh, and I too have been watching Elmo - and I'm so glad to hear that he is here on DK!  He's just gorgeous!!  I can't wait to hear about him.