Need advice on an awkward situation...

[Melissa Hazlip]

All during the wait to bring Luna home I confirmed multiple times with our breeder that Luna was a standard size doodle. I told her multiple times we wanted a big dog, and asked her to clarify because her website said "mini medium" on one part of her litter, but standard on the other.

She told me many times they were full size doodles.

Yesterday, I saw her comment on another litter mates parents facebook page about how their litter was mini medium. My husband and I are both confused on what to do. Obviously, we aren't going to give Luna up, we have had her since December and everyone has started to bond. However, we are also a little disappointed because she wont grow to be the size we just paid a lot of money for.

Do I even bother talking to the breeder, who is a friend? I feel like it's not going to change anything, and yet my frustration at knowing we just paid for her and our breeder didn't listen is also bothering me.

I am not sure what the right thing to do is.

Thanks!

[Jen Fischer]

Hi!

I just poked around on the website (printed on your 6-week photo of Luna) and learned that Mom, Diva, is an F1 goldendoodle who weighs 48 pounds and Dad, Ryder, is a red mini Moyan poodle who weighs 30 pounds. Diva looks tall, and if Luna take more after her mother then I think you will have a standard sized doodle! Hopefully the breeder could recognize the differences in pups, because I am no expert. It may be worth a phone call to her.

Good luck!

Jen

[Dawn B. Roy]

Hello,

Luna is gorgeous and still may very well be a good sized girl.  A Moyen poodle is not a standard poodle, but not a mini either.  Our golden had a standard father and we are hoping to see 65 lbs out of her at maturity.  Most people that I talk with think that 35 to 45 lbs is a big dog.  That may be the same with your breeder.  I would assume this to be a mis-communication issue rather than a one of integrity and consider it a learning experience.  A Doodle is a blessing regardless of the size and I hope your family has years and years of Doodle love from Luna just the same.

Best of luck to all!

Dawn

 

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

I agree that Luna is adorable. But both of her parents are definitely not large. Mom Diva at 48 pounds is a large medium, or a small standard. So if she was bred with a small medium (30 lbs), then it is unlikely that you would end up with a large dog. Did your breeder tell you there was a different sire?

If they did show the history of both parents to you, then you might not be able to get your money back since neither parent is large. It could just be an interpretation issue with the breeder that Luna would take after the larger parent.

My niece's Goldendoodle is 110 pounds at 14 months. She loves him dearly and would never give him back, but she was expecting a 60 to 70 pound standard size. He far surpassed both of his parents in height and size. Her comment to me was "I knew he was going to be big, but I didn't know he was going to be so "in-your-face" big!" So you might end up being very happy if Luna only ends up being 40 pounds. Enjoy her funny little doodle face!

[Kristi and Mickey Finn]

You have a very cute pup in Luna. I would love her! You guys love her I can tell.

From all my researching prior to getting my Golden Doodle I have found that a Moyen Poodle is a Medium size Poodle. Our puppies Daddy is a Moyen and he is 30 pounds as well. Did you ever get the height of the parents? I did see on a French site that the word "Moyen" translates to "medium" in English. I would clarify the conversations to the breeder and whatever the out come of that you can see what the future of your friendship might be. 

[Melissa Hazlip]

Thank you all for your feedback! I honestly think it helped just talking it out and hearing that it is understandable to feel this way.

I have met Luna's mom, and she is a great size, but I never actually got to see her dad in person. You are right, though, I should have double checked his weight. I guess I just trusted the conversations I was having with our breeder. However, I do think it was a miscommunication, and not intentional.

At this point, I'm not sure if I will say anything. We aren't close friends. More like, we met when we started shopping for a breeder, and became friends through the process. We don't get together, we just email and keep in touch. If I find that it keeps nagging at me I will talk to her. But I feel like processing here helped.

For people asking, Luna is 20lbs at 4 months. This is our first doodle, so does anyone know how that shapes up for the rest of her growth? I've always had small dogs, this "was/is" my first big dog.

Thanks again for processing with me!!

[Bonne Bouche]

One of the "formulas" for adult weight is 2x weight at 4months +10lbs.  Its great that Luna is at 4 months now, so this would suggest Luna will get to be about 50lbs, plus or minus a little. I think its a perfect sized doodle! ;-]

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

From my limited experience it sounds like Luna will be on the large side of medium or on the small side of standard if she is already 20 pounds at four months. My Kona was 15 pounds at four months and her parents were 40 pounds and 20 pounds. My vet predicts that he might actually reach 40 pounds at the rate he is growing so your Luna will probably be over 40 pounds. (I was hoping Kona would be smaller since I live in a tiny house, but I love him madly so it doesn't matter). My breeder chose him for me based on his funny sweet temperament and that he was the tiny runt of the litter (3.5 pounds at 8 weeks while his litter mates were 7 pounds at that age.)

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

And by the way I would still say something to the breeder and let her know that you saw the Facebook post and were concerned to read that the sire was a mini /medium and not a standard like she had led you to believe in all of your conversations.

[Kyoko]

Charlie was about 22lb at 16 weeks. She reached about 42 lb at 7~ 8 months old and stay the same ever since then. Even though she is only 42 lb, she does not look like  little or medium size dog. I think it is OK to let her know your disappointment, and lack of honesty. Seems like this breeder is telling the client who wants a big dog that the puppy is going to be big, and other client who wants smaller dog that puppy is going to be medium size. It is disappointing not about Luna's size, but mostly about being lied to....

Regardless, she is beautiful, though...

[Jen and Annie]

I've read that a pup can grow into any size in the 'line' of breeding.  Annie's mother was 60 lbs, her father was 48 lbs - and at 8 1/2 months, Annie is already 66 lbs! 

Something about how if there is a large dog anywhere in the lines, those genes can translate down into the puppies.  For example, if Annie's grandfather was a 75 lb standard poodle - although her father is only 48 lbs - she has a large poodle in her genetic lines, which means she has the potential to be a larger dog. 

I used the weight formula for puppies when Annie was smaller - Annie was 30 lbs at 4 months - so with the formula, she has the potential to be a 70 lb dog, although at this point I think she may end up even bigger than her projected weight, she's only 4 pounds off of her projected 'adult' weight...

Also, MY breeder sometimes has two litters at once.  So she could have medium goldendoodles growing up at the same time as standard labradoodles, etc.  I wonder if the miscommunication could be due to multiple litters coming into the world at the same time, thus they are 'littermates' ?  Might be a stretch, but something I thought about?

[Adina P]

Hi Jen, my Rosco was about 10 lbs per month until he hit 8 1/2 months.  Then he leveled off at that same weight for a very long time.  Now as a 7 year old he's a handful of pounds 'heavy' at 90 lbs.

[Jen and Annie]

Oh good, so she may be on the slowdown then. I think she might be bulking up for a growth spurt. She was only 60 lbs three weeks ago. She still has those knobby front legs, so I think she has some height to grow.

I love Rosco's face. He looks like such a sweet boy... plus, I'm partial to labradoodles so....