Pick of the litter!

[Liz Proudfoot]

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new here. My doodle was born March 17th and will ready to take home May 12th. My husband and I have the pick of the litter so I'm looking for suggestions. I know I need to take personality into consideration, but I really want an apricot/red doodle. On looks alone, the pup on the far left is my favorite. Any suggestions/thoughts on how much lighter he will get? As you can tell, the litter has varying colors from light to dark. Thanks!

[Liz Proudfoot]

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Temperament is sooo much more important than color. No matter how beautiful a dog (or a person) might be, if you can't stand their personality, they're going to very hard to live with, lol. And just about all reds fade, some quite a lot, so unless you take the lightest one, you're most likely going to end up with an apricot dog whether you take the darkest one or not. Go for temperament.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree with Karen's advice. Most reds fade to apricot, either dark or light. The breeder should be able to advise you in regard to the puppies' temperaments but not until they are quite a bit older. Our breeder asked many questions about our life style and home life and matched a puppy to us that was perfect. It turned out to be the one I wanted too so perhaps the same will happen for you. Early on I had mentioned another puppy to her in passing and she said "NO, that one is not for you". A good breeder will try their best to match puppies to people so they end up in happy forever homes.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Oh, I also wanted to say how adorable the puppies are and congratulations on your new family member whoever it turns out to be. :)

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

They are so cute!! Congrats!! We also have a red Australian Labradoodle , and all I can tell you is that no matter how they look as puppies it will change with time. Cooper is 21 months old and he is really starting to get lighter ... especially on top of his head and tail. I can also see the lighter roots when I brush him. I don't think it is noticeable when this young....

( He was the darkest of the litter.)

Go with your feeling and the connection you make with the puppy!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Happy birthday to your new pup, from his birthday brothers, Ned and Clancy.  They were born March 17, 2008. Ned was an apricot a a puppy and has stayed apricot although he has lightened and lost the red on his ears. Some of the apricots in his litter faded to cream.  I wanted a red originally too but Ned's personality was the best fit for us.

[Liz Proudfoot]

Love that picture! I've been trying to think of St. Patrick's Day names for the pup but so far I'm empty handed!

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

Hi! Here's a few ideas :

Guinness

Charm

Bailey

Jade (green rock)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Well, Paddy, Patrick, Patty, Sean, Darby, McClean, Devon, Maeve, Dublin, Galway, Blarney, and, of course, Clancy!

Here are links to Irish names and their pronunciations:

http://www.babynamesofireland.com/aine

http://www.babynamesofireland.com/irish-boy-names

Let me know what you choose.

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

There wasn't really much temperament difference between Sierra and her litter mates, except one who was biting a lot and very hyper. The other one we were considering was a male, not red but apricot with white. He was very cute, but what we really liked about her was, that when you'd put her on her back, she'd just go to sleep like that.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea about color changes. Sierra was the darkest puppy in the first picture (almost a week old). In the next picture she's 3 1/2 weeks old, then 8 weeks when we picked her up. The last picture is from now, at 7 months.  Sometimes it's really tough to get her true coloring in a picture, because lighting plays a huge roll how it looks. The other day, for example, I took pictures of her and they looked way less red than she did just looking at her.

Good luck! Can't wait to see which one you picked.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Coat colors can continue fading for years. Silver Poodles, for example, are born black, and don't completely clear to silver until the dog is past two years old. The same is true for a lot of the reds.

[Liz Proudfoot]

Adorable!!! I know no matter how he fades over the years I will love him the same! Thanks for the pictures! She is so sweet!