Zander Gets Socialized

Zander's Four Weeks Old!

Zander's four weeks old today. Isn't he adorable?! He's gotten so big already. We are ecstatic! We went to Petsmart and bought him a puppy Kong, a red adult Kong, and a kong biscuit ball. We went Kong CRAZY!!! Also, we went to Costco and bought him a huge brown and Gold bed that is verrrrrrrrrry comfortable, I know this from personal experience. :) We bought two current dog training books that both focus on the reward training method. We also bought Dr Ian Dunbar's video, Sirius Puppy Training. It is very informative and entertaining. (I'm a sucker for a British dog lover! LOL) It's times like these when I can't understand people who just leave their small, malnourished, overbreed Boston Terrier in a yard full of weeds without any love and attention. These people are the reason why there's a need for The American Society for the Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals.

Zander is Three Weeks Old

Zander turned three weeks old on Saturday. He has changed so much already. Just two weeks ago he looked like a little blind mouse, now he has his eyes open and he is running around and playing with his brothers and sisters. Our hearts are overflowing with love for him.

A lot of people have said that we're paying too much money for a dog. And that if a dog is truly good then he doesn't need to be trained. But we believe that you get what you pay for, and that you get out of a relationship what you put into it. So if this dog is going to be a part of our family for the better half of twenty years, then it is well worth both the time and the money that it takes to raise him properly.

It's funny. Once you've researched the good things and the bad things about every breed of dog and how to train them in a loving, but firm way. That says,"I still love you and want to be your best friend, but to make this relationship work you have to try hard too". You get a sick feeling knotted way down deep in your stomach when you see an ignorant dog owner. I discovered this Saturday night when we were shopping at Petsmart. My family was looking for a nylon dog collar, when I said in disgust, "Look at those choke chains, that one even has spikes on it to dig into the dogs neck when you pull on it". Just as I was saying that a woman with a chocolateLabrador puppy walked up and asked her children which choke chain they should get. This was likely the result of her lack of research on current dog training. In my next post I will further discuss the ignorance of dog owners.

The Puppy Song

I just found the perfect puppy song. And it's called just that "The Puppy Song." I first heard it on one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail. It talks about how if I could have a puppy I'd take him everywhere, and if only I had a friend who would stick with me to the end we'd be so happy together. This perfectly describes my feelings for Zander.

Being a Dog owner is a Lifetime Commitment

Here is a poem that every future dog owner should read. I stumbled acrossed it while on the Goldendoodle and Labradoodle Premium Breeders List. Read it with a box of tissues and an open heart. How Could You? By Jim Willis, 2001 When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?" -- but then you'd relent and roll me over for a belly rub. My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day. Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" -- still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a prisoner of love." As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch -- because your touch was now so infrequent -- and I would've defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway. There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf. Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed, "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?" They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind -- that this was all a bad dream... or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself --a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty. ---------------------------- A Note from the Author: ---------------------------- If "How Could You?" brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions of formerly "owned" pets who die each year in American and Canadian animal shelters. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a noncommercial purpose, as long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please use it to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shelter and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decision to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing, and encourage all spay and neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals. ~Jim Willis~

Zander Opened His Eyes

Isn't he adorable! After waiting for 2 weeks we finally get to see Zander's little peepers. My family is really excited because we will be able to interact with a goldendoodle when one of zander's cousins will be visiting us in February. This is truly an extraordinary breed.

Can't wait for our puppy!

We are absolutely bursting with excitement for our puppy's arrival! Considering our track record we didn't want to tell anyone that we were getting a puppy until we had him housetrained and we knew he wasn't aggressive or sick. It's kind of like when a woman has had three miscarriages and is pregnant again, so she won't tell any one she's expecting until she's at least in her fourth month. But it is physically impossible to keep good news to yourself, so we told our Grandparents. They are very excited and happy for us. Grandma was very happy when she found out that they come in medium and miniature sizes that would fit perfectly in her mobile home. That means that soon the pitter patter of little feet won't be coming from Grandpa anymore! (LOL);)

Yeah!! It's picture day!

We got a new picture of our puppy! Zander looks so cute. We're glad we chose him because he has the curliest hair out of all the puppies in his litter. That means that he is going to shed very little. This is great considering our allergies. He has already grown so much. I can't believe we have to wait another two whole months before he can come home. To help prepare for his arrival we have been reading a lot of dog training books. It is important that these books are current because training methods have changed so much just in the past three years. For example, owners were taught to roll their puppy over on his back and stare him down because this was thought to show him who was boss. But now they're finding out that all this does is tell your dog that you are challenging him to be the alpha dog. So instead of building a strong loving bond between you two, you are telling your dog that you are his adversary. One of my favorite dog training books is "Dog-Friendly Dog Training", by Andrea Arden. It tells you the proper way to train your dog, and then supplies you with the tools that you need to do so. There are also a lot of funny illustrations that make it interesting for those of us with short attention spans. So it is our hope that by doing thorough research and preparing we will be fully equipped to train zander to be our life long companion. (That is french for I hope he will not chew anything, poop in the house, or die!)

Zander

For the past week we have been searching and searching for the perfect name for our little boy. We wanted something that was original, cute, easy to say, and meant something. We liked a lot of names, but we didn't really love any of them. Yesterday we found a name we all loved. Alexzander Macallister Jett. It means defender of mankind. For short we will call him Zander and Zandy.

Puppy Cravings

Now that we have chosen a dog and a breeder, all that's left to do is wait until our puppy is eight weeks old and can be flown here. Let me tell you, this is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, it's probably one of the hardest things we've had to do. We are so in love with our dog that we're running over to the computer every five minutes to see if Dyanne emailed new pictures of our puppy. I guess we'll just have to console ourselves with looking at pictures of some of the dogs on her website. This picture is one of moms favorites. She said he looks like he's conquering the world. We hope this is what our puppy will look like full grown. Although it's kind of hard to tell considering he is only five days old.(LOL)

The Goldendoodle

We stumbled upon the Goldendoodle one day when we were online searching for,(what else?), a dog. According to www.goldendoodles.com the Goldendoodle is a hybrid cross between an AKC standard poodle and an AKC Golden Retriever. The result is a very intelligent, loving, adorable dog that doesn't shed. They are very large, but gentle giants. So now that we had found the right breed, we had to find the right breeder. Because these dogs are in such high demand, there are a lot of breeders, some that are respectable and others that aren't. We came upon www.goldendoodle-labradoodle.org/, which contains a list of premium goldendoodle breeders. After going down the list, we decided to go with Dyanne Ricker from Hey dood Goldendoodles in Montana. She is by far the most knowledgeable and helpful breeder we have ever been in contact with. After emailing her and asking for some references she put me in contact with a lot her clients. Everyone who replied had nothing but wonderful things to say. ( I would like to give a special thanks to Steve and Winnie, Larry and Zack, and Ron and Kai. Your correspondence has been so helpful.) On January 1st sire Simba and dam Madison gave birth to 8 healthy, chubby puppies. We will be purchasing one of the two males. There pictures are on this page. The puppies are four days old.

Reasons

The reason we are creating this blog is to provide us with a complete history of the arrival of our new Doodlebug. We have been down many bad roads, as regards to Dogs. We will fill you in later about all of our "dog issues", but for now lets stay on subject. We have searched for a good family dog for about 10 years now. It's not that we haven't found dogs that we liked, or thought were cute. We accomplished the cute quotient every time we saw an Iams commercial, or walked past a pet store. The reason was that we never found a dog that fit all of our criteria. We shall list the criteria here:

1. No shedding.
2. No drooling.
3. Must be somewhat appealing to the eyes.
4. Easy on our allergies.
5. Fun.
6. Not too energetic.
7. Still likes to play.

As you can tell this is not a small order to fill. Fortunately for us, we finally found our Dog.

Now if only we could think of a name?????