GUMBO COMES HOME FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Gumbo is coming home Friday!!!!  He is 8.5 weeks old and weighs a whopping 14 lbs!!!! Is this normal??? BIG BOY!!  YEA!!  Anyway,   His total travel time is over 7 hours. (4 hours of that is layover time). I have paid extra to have him taken out and walked etc... My breeder said he will not be fed that morning of the flight due to getting motion sickness. She said he was the only dog yesterday in the car to get sick. By the time he gets to me it will be 3:30 pm and I know the poor baby will be starving since his last meal was dinner the night before. Should I feed him right away at airport?  Or Wait another 45 minutes till I get home? Any recommendations?

[Laura & Sophie Doodle]

Wow! My standard sized doodle was only 8 lbs at 8 weeks! I would DEFINITELY not feed him until you get home. Motion sickness is common for doodles and since he already has a track record of motion sickness in the car I wouldn't risk it. Also, he will likely be rattled from traveling and probably wouldn't eat at the airport anyways. Sophie wouldn't eat much at all until she had adjusted to our home and got to settle in after at least a day and she only had to travel 45 min total from her breeder to our home.

Congrats on your new addition!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

I agree! hold off on food til you are home.  Congratulations on your new big boy! 

[Chelsea Herman]

AnnaBelle comes home Friday too!!  I'm absolutely dying to have her home....seriously counting the minutes. haha  Our pick up time is 4:00, so we should be getting our babies at about the same time. :-)  Gumbo is a BIG boy!  How big does your breeder anticipate him getting?  AnnaBelle is definitely on the small side for a standard right now- I think she is only about 5 lbs.  Our breeder says that the momma tends to have puppies that are smaller initially and catch up a few months later.   She's anticipating AnnaBelle to be around 50-60lbs full-grown...so I can only imagine how big Gumbo will be.  I'm a little jealous, to be honest.  We used to have 150lb Great Danes, and I love big dogs.   Not to scare you, but our danes were 16 and 18lbs when they came home at 8 weeks.  We chose a goldendoodle because we wanted to downsize a bit, but part of me is a bit sad at the thought of not having a giant dog.

Both of our danes flew to us.  I wouldn't try to feed him at the airport.  He will likely be a little stressed/overwhelmed and probably wouldn't eat anyways.  I would bring some water for him (our boys were both very thirsty when we got them), and then give him some food once he's settled in at your house.   

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Chelsea, how cool is that??? We should both post pics on here after we get home and settled. Look, when we made our pick, we chose the biggest boy bc we wanted a big dog. I had NO IDEA just how big he would grow in a few short weeks!!! I'm shocked actually.  That's crazy how big your Danes were, Gumbo doesn't seem too far behind. Hey, more to love right? LOL!! I've never had a dog in my life. Never. And I've always dreamed of a big ol giant Doodle. And now my wish is gonna come true!!!  I know the dad is 75 lbs and the mom 45. Soooo......we will see!!!! I bet you are so excited about AnnaBelle!!!!  I can hardly stand it!!!! I feel like my brain is mush from "over preparing, over analyzing EVERYTHING, researching, endless hours on the internet.... I just need to shut all the worrying and analyzing off and just relax now. BUT I CAN'T!!!! LOL!!!! I'm seriously trippin out right now!! I know you are too!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!  Good luck Friday!!!!! Post pics!!!

[Chelsea Herman]

I will definitely post pics, and I can't wait to see all of yours!  I have a pretty busy day tomorrow, so hopefully that will help it go by faster.  I've been over analyzing everything too!!  And buying WAY too much stuff- she seriously has so many toys.  Every time I pass a petstore I have to go in...and the last time it was buy 3 toys get 1 free. Can't pass that up!  This is my first female dog, so I'm totally going all out.  She has pink everything!  My husband thinks it's a little extreme. haha

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Chelsea,
Maci is my 9 week old doodle, first female for me too. I understand the pink ;-)

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

She is precious! I love the bow. 

[Chelsea Herman]

She looks like such a little princess here! :-)

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Chelsea- My guess would be that AnnaBelle will probably stay in the 40's if she is only 5 lbs now at almost 8 weeks. Ragley was 10.5 at 8 weeks and she was just over 50 lbs at her 9 month weigh-in (tall, but extremely lean). 

Congrats on Gumbo coming home!!! So exciting! I agree to hold off on food until you are home. 

[Chelsea Herman]

Yeah, I personally think it seems like a stretch for her to get over 50 lbs (I also think she'll likely be in the 40s). But, the breeder said the mom's last litter was with a miniature poodle, and all those puppies ended up over 40 lbs. This time the dad is a 68lb doodle, which is why she's expecting them to be larger.  Who knows?  We'll love her no matter what. :-)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Congratulations to both you and  Chelsea on getting your pups.  Gumbo's name makes me giggle every time you have posted something.  I LOVE it.

[Gail and Bailey]

Excited for both of you!!  Enjoy your new pups and show us tons of pictures!!