Hello from Louie

[bonnie Sullivan]

Hi there,
Just joined the group. I am adding pictures of Louie, a Spring Creek multiGen Labradoodle from Noble and Cherish. Louie is almost 4 months old, weighs 28.6 lbs, and goes to puppy kindergarten. He already knows a lot of commands from our work with him, but he is just learning to respond under the distraction of 6 other dogs! He is smart, sweet, and we think pretty calm for a puppy. We love Louie and he LOVES playing with our 2 year old grandson.

[Daryl and Cody]

Hello back from Cody
I just joined the group and have posted 3 pictures of Cody who is also an austrailian labradoodle from Spring creek. In fact, his mother is Cherish and father Noble which makes him Louie's brother from their first litter. He's about a year and a half old now and 60 pounds. Wonderful laid-back personality and acompanies me to work about 1/2 time and spends a fair amount of time at a doggy-day-care which he loves. Couldn't be happier with our guy as it sounds like you are with yours.

[bonnie Sullivan]

Wow, Cody is gorgeous, and looks just like Louie! I am glad to see he is still chocolate. We are wondering if Louie will get lighter as he gets older. He is 6 months now. He is still a bit crazy, but starting to calm down, so I look forward to him being laid back as he gets older:). Louie is already great with our grandchildren too. Thanks for sharing Cody.
Bonnie

[Fenway's Mom]

Hello from Fenway

Fenway is a Noble X Cherish puppy as well from their last litter so he is Louie's full brother. Fenway is 8 or so months old now and weights about 43 lbs. He has passed Obedience Level 2 and knows a bunch of commands including sit, down, stay, wait, leave it, heel, etc. The only problem is that Fenway is SOOOOOO happy to meet new people, that he often cannot contain his happiness when around them (like at dog school) and often breaks from what he is being asked to do. It is all out of utter complete happiness though and it is a joy to see him so happy. He truly believes everyone that comes over the house is there to see him. He loves hugs and kisses and cuddles. He is extremely mellow and remarkably calm and plays nicely on his own, yet is very social. He attends doggie daycare and has a blast with his dog friends. I have started therapy work with him already even though he is too young (and too "happy") to get certified yet. Twice a month we visit a nursing home nearby. He brings such joy to the elder folks there. If you look closely in the fireplace picture you will see Fenway snuggling his puppy blanket. He still has it! He bunches it up between his front paws, pulls on it to make a "puff" of blanket, then buries his head in it and snores. He carries it all around the house... It is very cute.

[bonnie Sullivan]

He is sooo cute! And Fenway has hair just like Louie's. We've never cut Louie's hair, except around the eyes/face, and he is always a big hit at the dog park. He just turned 9 months a few days ago, and weighs 56 lbs, but we wonder if some of it is his hair:). And Louie has the very same puppy blanket! Louie also is very very friendly at the dog park- he visits the people as much as the dogs. The biggest problem we have with him is that he chases our 15 year old cat whenever he can, so when the cat is around, we need to keep a leash on him. We have tried every possible training command to no avail- I guess he will have to grow out of it. Do you have a cat?
When we picked up Louie at the Portland airport, where we met Rochelle's siste, he was in a crate with another puppy the color of Fenway- I have to wonder if it was him!

[Fenway's Mom]

56lbs! wow! I thought Fenway was growing too fast so I cut down on his food. Maybe these are just big dogs in this litter. I'm surprised the puppy's are already the size of (and in your case bigger) than their parents.

Fenway thinks he's won the lottery every time a person comes over to the house or approaches on the street. He loves LOVES the attention and is so happy. But, at daycare, he doesn't request any people attention and only plays with the other dogs. Apparently there isn't a dog he doesn't get along with. Fenway has only met a cat once or twice and shows hesitant curiousity.

One thing I learned about trying not to cut his coat at all... sometimes the poop gets stuck near the butt and could clog him up... so lesson learned... and now I make sure the groomer shaves near his butt and leaves the rest of his fur curly and long. I too cut around the eyes and cut out any mats. How often do you have to bathe Louie? I have to bathe Fenway much more than I ever expected.

[bonnie Sullivan]

I don't know if I should admit it, but we haven't bathed Louie except twice. He doesn't smell nor does his hair look or feel dirty, even when I comb it-the comb doesn't get dirty. We plan to cut his hair when the summer comes. Also Rochelle said their adult coat will come in and they will need to be shaved. We groom him ourselves- we went to a groomer once and didn't like the way she cut his face hair. It is pretty easy to do it ourselves- we shave the bottom of his feet and cut around his butt (yes- we have had the same problem with poop there!). I comb him every few days/once a week and it seems to work fine. He hasn't had hardly any mats.
Does Fenway have tartar on his teeth? I was surprised that Louie developed some ALREADY, since he has only had his adult teeth a few months! The vet scraped it off and now I brush his teeth every day but he seems so young to have tartar. We feed him Chicken Soup dog food- I hope that isn't the issue. The vet didn't think so. He eats about 3 cups a day- sometimes less. I will be curious how much he weighs when he gets his hair cut! Maybe the vet scale was off:)
Is Fenway around little kids? We have grandchildren and Louie is getting better around them, but we still need to leash him in the house around them, and even outside he sometimes starts barking at the 2 year old as if he were another dog. But he is improving.
It's great to have someone from the same litter to compare notes. Let's keep in touch.
BTW, I am assuming you are in Boston with the name Fenway? We live in North Plains OR, just west of Portland.

[Fenway's Mom]

HI Bonnie

I seem to need to bathe Fenway after he has spent considerable time at his daycare. He comes home smelling like a kennel and apparently he likes to roll in the dirt (which seems to have poop in it) and it clings to his fur. The smell is overbearing. I know you aren't supposed to bathe doodles much do to the oil in their hair, but I feel I have to. I bring him to the groomer only cause he is too big to hold on the shower and too much hair to rinse off in the tub... I hate how the groomer cuts around his face too... I probably brush him twice a month. He is getting more and more matts now. Probably from romping with the other dogs all day and partially cause I think his adult coat is starting to come in. I just cut them out if I can't brush them out.

Fenway is a superstar around children (although it isn't often he is around toddlers), adults, eldery folks, and all animals. He is not a barker at all. For the longest time we didn't know if he had a voice. He uses his bark sparingly and usually when he is playing hard. But it is very rare. He is so quiet you don't usually know when he comes into a room.

Fenway is on Chicken Soup for the DOG Lover's Soul. I thought the puppy formula was getting him to grow too fast so I put him on regular aduly food when he was 6 months old. I gave him three cups a day (1 cup each meal) until very recently when I stopped feeding the lunch meal. So now he's down to 2 cups. His teeth and fantastically white. No tartar. That may be because I feed zero mushy dog food, no people food, and he knaws on bleached natural bones when in his crate and on his dog bed. You can get those at the pet store. They usually have a filling in them and they last literally, forever. Fenway loves his bones. Only thing is when he drops it, it scratches the finish on the hardwood floors. SO I'm teaching him to eat it on his bed.

Yes! I live in MA. And I am a HUGE Red Sox fan. See attached picture of Fenway during a Halloween parade.

Tara

[bonnie Sullivan]

I went to Simmons College (a long time ago! ) and grew up in Conn., so I am very familiar with Boston and the Red Sox. My Father died at 96, and lived to FINALLY see them win a World Series. Small world.
Louie is on the same food as Fenway. We also switched him to adult food at 6 months. Not sure why Louie gets tartar- we don't feed him ANYTHING else but the dog food. A few treats for training, but not much. He chews on the big white non-edible, hard Nylabones- sounds like the same thing Fenway has. Anyway, its a good habit to brush his teeth, and really not a lot of trouble.
Louie likes to bark at dogs in the dog park when the mood strikes him- usually when they are wrestling-, and out of the blue at our 2 year old grandson, but only sometimes. Then again he won't necessary bark at the UPS man. I have heard that young dogs treat children different than adults. Louie was better with our 5 year old granddaughter- maybe she is "big" enough for him to distinguish her as an adult. Who knows the mind of a dog!
I love the costume on Fenway! Louie wouldn't wear this hat at XMAS, so he carried it around (see attached). I have a bunch of other Louie pix on the chocolate doodle group site.

[Fenway's Mom]

Does Louie get eye boogies? Fenway gets nasty ones and I have to go get um every single day. Kinda gross.

That is a very cute Christmas picture!

I give Fenway natural (real) animal bones. They are harder than a nylabone (which shockingly Fenway can chew through). I swore by these bones with my last dog, a Lab, who never had tarter in 12 years. I have no idea if it was the bone, but I suspect it had something to do with it.

Too bad you're on the other side of the country. It could have been cool to get the dogs together. I actually visited another breeder here in MA with Fenway. Our dogs Mom, Cherish, was from this breeder. And it turns out the father, Noble, is the full brother to this breeder's stud. So Fenway, the cousin, was invited to a doodle reunion at her place. It was loads of fun.

[bonnie Sullivan]

Yes, I pick at Louie's eyes every day too. Maybe it's the poodle in them... What is the brand/ name of the bones you give Fenway?
Yes, it really is too bad we are across the country. The boys would love to play! Rochelle has several guardian families in this area, but their names are confidential, and I haven't made any other efforts to try to get the dogs together. Maybe I will post something on the Spring Creek site. It would also be nice to have a network of people where we could swap babysitting for emergencies or vacations.

[Fenway's Mom]

I was expecting the eye boogies, but I've gotten kinda used it... after learning my lesson by neglecting them and a trip to the vet.

Does Louie jump on people? Fenway jumps up on people, quite delicately, but jumps nonetheless, which is a very undesirable trait for a soon-to-be therapy dog. When I visited the other Doodles, they all seem to jump.

[bonnie Sullivan]

Louie is pretty good about not jumping. He "visits" all the people at the dog park and doesn't jump. Every once in a big while he will jump on us, but really very seldom. I wouldn't say this is a problem at all with him.
How about ear hair? Louie had a ton and the vet pulled it out. He told us there are no nerve endings in the ear, so it didn't hurt Louie at all. We plan to do it at home now. You just have to be careful not to pull the hair around the ears.
Does Fenway grab things he shouldn't and run away? Louie will grab a throw pillow, or piece of paper out of recycling and turn it into a (aggravating) game where we can't catch him. Drop it, water squirts, etc won't make him drop it and we have to corner him and take it away. Besides chasing our cat, it is the most annoying thing he does in the house- now all the pillows are put away:). He thinks it is a great game, but I'd like to try to teach him to stop. I guess they have so much energy at this age they just want to play, and sometimes they get into trouble. Probably if Fenway goes to doggie daycare, he is more tired than Louie. We do exercise him pretty vigorously 3x/day, but still he has a lot of energy!