Category: Blog

You’re getting a goldendoodle. Such an exciting, amazing time. You can’t wait to bring home that fluffy furball. But now you’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the perfect name. And naming is no easy undertaking. What is the best name for a goldendoodle? Here are some popular and creative doodle names that will hopefully help you land on just the perfect title to give your new family addition.

Months of the year

What month is your puppies birthday and what month is her gotchya day?

• Girl names: April, Junie, May/Mae are all great names for a sweet little girl
• Boy names: August (Gus for short) has more of a masculine ring

Characters

What are some of your favorite books, movies, and TV show? Are there any characters that might just have the perfect name for your new furry friend? When others ask your dog’s name, you’ll quickly learn whether they’re also fans! Here are names other puppy owners have chosen. Hopefully you’ll find one of them inspirational.

• Boaz (Bible)
• Chandler (Friends)
• Juno (Juno)
• Milo (Milo & Ottis)
• Moses (Bible)
• Nala (Lion King)
• Royal (Farmer Boy by Laura Ingles Wilder)
• Romeo (Shakespeare)
• Skye (Paw Patrol)
• Winnie (Winnie the Pooh)
• Zuzu (It’s a Wonderful Life)

Sports player’s name or team mascot

Cheer on your favorite team by naming your puppy after an amazing player or team mascot. Every time someone stops to ask your puppy’s name, you’ll get to talk about sports!

• Bernie (hockey player)
• Otto (school mascot)
• Zino (soccer player)

Nature names

Trees, flowers, the sky – nature has a relaxing presence and calming ambiance. Picking a nature name for your puppy will inevitably bring a smile to your lips every time you call your doggie.

• Daisy
• Ivy
• Luna
• Maple
• Oaklee
• Rosie
• Sunny

Travel names

Do you love to travel? What’s your most memorable trip or where do you go most often? Consider naming your puppy after a favorite state, city or even airport.

• Cali (California)
• Dublin (Ireland)
• Jax (airport code for Jacksonville International Airport)

Your favorite food or beverage

Maybe you’re a foodie who appreciates an exquisite meal. Or maybe you like nothing better than relaxing with a cool drink in your hand. Food and drink names such as “Mango” & “Woodford” can spark fun conversations when you take your dog out for a walk around the park. One family named their pup “Haricot Verts” (the fancy name for green bean) and they call her “Hari” for short. The name “Hari” immediately made our kiddos think of Harry the Dirty Dog!

People names

Sometime a quick glance at your family tree or flipping through a baby name book can provide you with some potential puppy names. Here are human names other owners have selected for their special pups:

Name reflecting a physical characteristic

Is your puppy’s color, size or markings notable? If so a name like “Penny” or “Ginger” might be an excellent choice for a dark apricot goldendoodle or “Blue” for an aussiedoode with blue eyes.

Cultural name or name from a different language with a special meaning

Consider choosing a name from a different language with a special meaning. Or perhaps a name that reflects your cultural heritage. One of our puppy owners chose the beautiful Hebrew name “Zara” for their sweet goldendoodle girl.

The best names for a goldendoodle

The best goldendoodle name is a name that fits your particular dog or a name that makes you smile every time you say it.

What name did you select for your doodle?

Comment below with your favorite doodle name!

When you begin your search for a goldendoodle puppy, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the shear volume of breeders. How do you identify a good, reputable breeder, especially when so many aren’t? Here are five questions you can ask to help you narrow down which breeders to consider.

1. What health testing have the parent dogs received and can I see the results?
2. What kinds of structured enrichment do your puppies receive?
3. In what ways do you seek to produce puppies who will live long, healthy lives? How do you promote longevity for your puppies? 
4. Have you ever removed a dog from your breeding program? If so, for what reasons?
5. When will we be able to meet the parents? How do you work to produce puppies with good temperaments?

We’ll walk through the answers you should expect to receive to each question in detail. We’ll also explore why the answer to these three common questions is a resounding NO!

• Are all GANA Blue ribbon breeders reputable? Nope!
• Does a health guarantee mean a breeder is reputable? Nope!
• I found a list of reputable doodle breeders. Can I trust the list? Nope!

Buckle up, you’re in for a detailed ride! By the end you’ll be well equipped to evaluate whether a breeder is ethical (and your eyes might also be a little tired- sorry about the length, there’s just so much to tell you!)

1. What health testing have the parent dogs received and can I see the results?

Choose a responsible breeder who health tests the parent dogs. You should expect to see hip results as well as genetic testing at a minimum. Heart, knees (patella luxation), eyes (CAER exam), and elbows are additional tests available that ideally should be done on both parents. Ask to see the health testing results. Just because a dog has undergone health testing doesn’t mean the dog passed the health testing. And a veterinarian checking hips and elbows for an obvious sign of dysplasia is not the same as having hip and elbow x-rays examined by canine orthopedic experts.

• Passing hip scores include: fair, good & excellent for OFA and DI <0.5 for both hips for the PennHip test (lower DI is better)
• Passing knee scores: no evidence of patella luxation (grade 1 patella luxation means the dog did NOT pass)
• CAER: both eyes should be “normal.” Sometimes the ophthalmologist will note something that isn’t hereditary, which is fine. Ideally, the test should be done within the past 2 years and ideally this eye exam is performed by an animal ophthalmologist

2. What kinds of structured enrichment do your puppies receive?

Enrichment is essential for producing stable, well-rounded dogs. Enrichment means introducing puppies to a variety of sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli. Puppies should also meet a variety of different people during their time with the breeder to help prepare them to be stable adults. Enrichment must be intentional and structured. Scary experiences can leave a lasting negative impact, so avoid a breeder who haphazardly includes puppies in daily activity and doesn’t appear to understand the stages of puppy development. Instead, pick a breeder who implements a structured and incremental enrichment based on the developmental level of the puppies. Some breeders follow a set program such as Puppy Culture and AviDog. Others have developed their own enrichment program. It’s great if a breeder does early neurological stimulation (aka ENS or super dog) with the puppies, but ENS does NOT qualify as or replace structured enrichment. You should avoid a breeder who haphazardly “socializes” puppies. For instance, allowing young children to play unsupervised with puppies or push puppies around in a baby stroller could accidentally permanently imprint puppies with a fear of children. Enrichment should be intentional and the breeder should have an understanding of the stages of puppy development.

Watch our YouTube videos and read through our litter updates to familiarize yourself with some of the components of intentional puppy rearing.

3. In what ways do you seek to produce puppies who will live long, healthy lives? How do you promote longevity for your puppies? 

At first this question may seem unnecessary after having already inquired about health testing. And yes, health testing is an important component of setting puppies up to live long, healthy lives. But for the most part, health testing only tests for orthopedic issues and autosomal recessive diseases. While you definitely want to seek out a breeder who invests the money to health testing parent dogs, there are many other factors that can sadly lead to a premature death. Those factors will vary from breed to breed, so spend time investigating the top causes of death for Bernese Mountain dogs, Labrador retrievers or border collies if you plan to purchase a bernedoodle, labradoodle or bordedoodle. For goldendoodles, cancer is the ugly beast we want to do our best to avoid. There are very high incidences of cancer among golden retrievers in America and sadly many die by age 8. A responsible breeder will make a conscious effort to promote longevity.Everyone wants their beloved dog to live a long, healthy life. A responsible breeder shares that same goal. Efforts to produce long lived puppies will look different from breeder to breeder but here are some examples:

• Researching dogs in the pedigree for longevity and cancer.
• Researching dogs in the pedigree for orthopedic issues (i.e. hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, patella luxation).
• Using older parent dogs. Breeding parents who are at least a few years old allows time for health problems to arise. Most 1 year old dogs are very healthy but by 5 years of age, health problems may have arisen. This doesn’t mean breeding a 9 year old mama! But it could mean breeding a 9 year old stud. In fact, some research indicates that using older studs can help puppies have a longer life expectancy.
• Choosing not to expose puppies to unnecessary radiation for a puppy count. There is no evidence that it’s safe to expose developing puppy fetuses to x-rays. Research indicates that exposing a developing human baby to x-rays could increase that baby’s risk of cancer, and it’s possible that the same applies to other mammals like dogs.
• Giving parent dogs wholesome care. Research indicates that the care and nutrition a mama receives both before and during pregnancy can impact the pups. Even giving a mama belly rubs during pregnancy can help her babies have more laid back temperaments.

This is not an exhaustive list of ways to promote longevity nor will any one breeder employ all of these strategies. A responsible breeder will consider longevity as a factor when choosing parent dogs. Ask a breeder you are considering about longevity and see whether a long life for their pups is a priority,

4. Have you ever removed a dog from your breeding program? If so, for what reasons?

The answer “yes” to this question is a good thing! If a someone has been breeding dogs for any length of time, they’ve undoubtedly encountered a dog who seemed hopeful as a puppy but didn’t mature into the kind of superior dog necessary for breeding. Avoid a breeder who says all of the dogs they produce are show or breeding quality. No breeder, no matter how experienced, consistently breeds perfect dogs. If fact, no dog is perfect. And any breeder who claims that their dogs are perfect is guilty of “kennel blindness” and should be avoided at all costs.

It’s normal for a breeder to remove a potential parent dog from their breeding program for reasons such as: failing health testing, undesirable personality traits or poor structure. Breeders invest much money and time in raising hopeful dogs with the goal of one day using them for breeding. An ethical breeder will not let this investment influence them into breeding a sub-par dog.

On the other hand, not every breeder who has not removed a dog from their breeding program should be avoided. A small breeder may have never have needed to make the difficulty decision to remove a dog. A large breeder with lots of breeding dogs likely will have encountered a dog who didn’t meet the high standard necessary for becoming a mama or papa.

5) When will we be able to meet the parents? How do you work to produce puppies with good temperaments?

I regularly receive emails from families who have taken home poodle-mix puppies from other breeders who turned out to be aggressive. A dog trainer friend called me a few weeks ago in frustration about the influx of aggressive doodles. Starting with good parent dogs is huge, and you should be able to meet at least the mama dog, but preferably both parents. It doesn’t hurt to meet both ahead of time before you commit to buying a puppy. If the breeder has a Facebook group, join and message different members to find out about their dog’s temperament and whether they’ve encountered any personality problems.

One mark you can look for in regards to temperament is the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) title. CGC is a temperament test that involves a variety of exercises such as the dog walking nicely past other dogs, allowing a stranger to pet it, etc. Several of our parent dogs have their Canine Good Citizen titles and the ones that don’t will get it eventually.

Other mark is for a good temperament is successful coexistence with small children. Abria, Moses, and Maple live in our home with four young children and ZuZu lives in our neighbor’s home with 3 children. While Canine Good Citizen is great, being able to handle constant poking, prodding hugging, coloring (our kids love to decorate our dogs with hair chalk), etc. from children is an even better testament of true character then a short one time evaluation like the Canine Good Citizen. You can find numerous pictures on our Instagram of our dogs with little people.

In addition to avoiding inbreeding and ensuring our parent dogs have good temperaments, we work with the puppies in a structured way, as discussed in question 2. I’ve talked to breeders who allow their 4 year old child to push puppies around in a toy grocery cart and call that socialization. That is NOT the kind of socialization you want because it can actually damage puppies. We want puppies to have intentional, safe, positive experiences. You don’t want puppies to be left to themselves in a pen for 8+ hours a day while no one is home. We works hard to expose the puppies to many different people, objects, sounds, experiences, etc. so they can mature into well rounded adults. But puppies only live with the breeder for 8-9 weeks. The continuation of the socialization process is left in the hands of the new families when the puppies leave our home. We encourage everyone to develop a puppy experience plan so you have a thought out process of how to continue exposing your puppy to different situations in a positive way. We also encourage several fun games that target creating positive emotional responses in the dog when you take something from their mouth and so forth. Better yet, join Baxter & Bella and they’ll hand you the puppy experience plan, give you educational games to play with your puppy, and provide you with a myriad of resources. If the current pandemic status allows for it, we also strongly encourage an in-person puppy socialization class.

No one can completely predict every dog’s temperament but please choose a breeder who works hard to set each puppy and each family up for a successful lifelong friendship. I encourage you to read through the blog post for one of our recent litters to get a feel for what we do with the puppies during their time with us and what education we provide to puppy buyers.

Selecting the right breeder

These 5 questions aren’t a fool-proof method for finding the perfect breeder. But asking these 5 questions will help you assess whether the breeder you are considering is ethical and responsible. If you have any hesitations, choose someone else. Don’t rush into putting down a deposit without being confident that the breeder employs breeding practices you want to support. A dog is a long-term commitment and you want to ensure your new furry family member is set up for the best potential in life. Likewise, you do not want to financially support a breeder who sees dogs as an income source and does not properly care for them. Please choose your breeder carefully!

FAQs

Are all GANA Blue Ribbon Breeders reputable breeders?

No! A blue ribbon from the Goldendoodle Association of North America (aka GANA) indicates that the breeder does health testing on parent dogs, but that’s as far as the blue ribbon status goes. GANA does not take any other factors into consideration. While doing health testing is phenomenal and should be performed by all breeders, that alone does not mean a breeder is truly reputable. Some “blue ribbon” may not investigate their lines or may not do structured enrichment with their puppies. It’s important to ask questions to determine whether a breeder is reputable. Do not just go solely off of a status the breeder claims or logo on their website.

Does a health guarantee indicate a reputable breeder?

Many breeders use a health guarantee to secure some additional income for themselves without truly providing protection to puppy buyers. A large number of goldendoodle breeders who offer a health guarantee:

• Only guarantee against life threatening illness and severe hip dysplasia (not mild dysplasia)
• Only refund the money if the dog is returned
• The guarantee is often contingent on the puppy owner feeding their dog NuVet or another supplement/food (i.e. Life’s Abundance, Paw Tree, etc.) for which the breeder receives compensation.

This arrangement gives puppy owners a false sense of security that truly isn’t there because it is unlikely that someone will actually return a puppy they’ve grown to love over the past year.

Also keep in mind that there is a difference between congenital and genetic. While congenital conditions are problems that puppies are born with, they’re not necessarily inherited but rather could be something that happened abnormally during development. Health guarantees usually only cover genetic issues and not congenital.

Look for a breeder that has puppies checked by a practicing licensed veterinarian. We have the puppies checked by Dr. Steffen at Companion Animal Medical Centre in Milford, OH. She checks for cardiac murmurs, listens to breath sounds, and so forth to find congenital issues that may be present, although others could potentially present themselves years down the road. Also look for a breeder who genetically test parents for diseases known to impact the breed.

I found a list of reputable doodle breeders. Can I trust the list? How do I know whether they truly are reputable?

Keep in mind that most lists of supposedly reputable breeders make money from people paying to be on that list. It’s paramount that you ask each breeder questions to determine whether they truly are reputable. The “reputable breeder lists” are out to make money and do not have the best interest of buyers in mind. You may find a great breeder on a list, but you also may find a terrible one who is using the traffic from paying to be on a list of “reputable goldendoodle breeders” to sell more puppies.

Guest Post by We Love Doodles

Because of Covid-19, many groomers have been shut down which forces pet owners to find a way to groom their own dogs — especially doodle dogs. Since doodles are mostly non-shedding, they grow hair instead of fur that regularly sheds which means that they need to be groomed in order to prevent the inevitable tangles and mattes.

For many dog owners, it’s unlikely that you have ever groomed your dog before. If you’re like most people, you usually drop them off at the groomers and pick them up a few hours later. Well, grooming your dog isn’t an easy task, and it’s likely that you’re going to struggle for a few hours until you develop a good grooming process. Today we will give you 10 dog grooming tips to make your experience a little bit easier!

10 Tips for Grooming Your Own Doodle

1. Patience is the key to a good grooming. If it’s your first time grooming your dog, understand that this isn’t a 30 minute undertaking. Budget at least 2 hours to groom your dog – and even that’s considered fast. Even though grooming is a several hour procedure, don’t feel like you need to get the entire haircut completed all in one sitting. Both you and your dog will benefit if you break it into several smaller sessions.
2. Brush your dog first. Brush out all the tangles before using hair clippers and before bathing. If you don’t brush out all the tangles and mattes before cutting the hair of your dog, the haircut will turn out uneven. In addition, it’s very difficult (and painful for your dog) to cut through thick mattes. Always brush your Goldendoodle before you cut her hair! And bathing a matted doodle can make the mattes even worse. Brushing must happen before anything else!
3. Bathe your dog. Prior to grooming and brushing, I like to bathe my dog to get rid of all the debris and loose hair within their fur. Bathing also helps make sure that your dog is clean and you won’t have to do bathe them during a separate session.
4. Clippers blades get HOT. If you’ve never groomed your dog before, know that the blade clippers will start to get hot after about 20 minutes of use. Sometimes you have to take a break or buy some blade coolant in order to prevent hurting your dog.
5. Ask a friend for help. If you have someone else in your household who is willing to help, ask for their assistance. It’s much easier to groom your dog with multiple hands. Someone can feed your dog treats or distract her while you cut her hair.
6. Mistakes will be made. Your dog’s hair will always grow back so don’t worry too much about the mistakes. It’s highly likely that you’re going to make a mistake because your dog likes to move around while you trim her hair. It’s okay, you’re still learning and even the best groomers make mistakes.
7. Nail trimming is part of grooming. While your dog is on her pet leash or grooming table, don’t forget to cut or dremel her nails. Most owners forgot to cut their dog’s nails and they tend to be overgrown. If dog nails get too long, they start to grow in a “C” pattern which can hurt the bottom of their paws.
8. Don’t forget about teeth brushing. Teeth brushing is arguably more important than dog grooming. If you don’t regularly brush your dog’s teeth, chances are they will need to have some type of oral surgery before the age of two. You can prevent oral surgery with regular teeth brushing. While you’re grooming, it’s a great time to brush your dog’s teeth.
9. Bring lots of treats. If it’s your first time grooming, the best way to distract your dog is with lots of treats. Whether it’s a bully stick or lots of chew treats, your dog will be more likely to let you groom them with treats.
10. Positive reinforcement. Grooming your dog is also a chance to train your dog. When she sits still and lets you trim her nails or cut her hair, you should be praising her! Your goal with your dog is to make every experience a positive one and grooming is no exception.  Positive reinforcement is the best way to train your dog and will make grooming your dog easier in the future.

Grooming your dog is tough, especially if it’s your first time. As you gain experience through practice and as your dog gets used to being groomed, the process not only becomes a lot easier but also a lot faster. For more dog tips and products, you can also check out Care Of My Dog. Remember to always have fun while grooming your dog. It’s going to be a good learning experience for both of you.

Ready to get started?

Here are a few helpful resources to check out before you begin:

• How to groom your goldendoodle’s face yourself: a step-by-step guide with pictures
• How to clip your goldendoodle’s nails
• Tools you need to groom your goldendoodle yourself
• Goldendoodle haircut pictures

Happy first birthday to Boaz & Abria’s 2019 litter! It’s so fun to see what all these sweet pups are up to!

Jacs

During this quarantine time, he has been the very best co-worker and constant companion ever!  Jacs is so very sweet. He is extremely athletic and loves to leap over things to get his toys and take long walks. He’s never met another animal or person he doesn’t like. He digs through his toy box every day to be sure he has at least a dozen toys laying around for easy access. He loves to chew his toys but has never (knock on wood) chewed anything he wasn’t supposed to. He really enjoys treat puzzles and figures them out fast. I really can’t say enough about this wonderful sweet boy and thank you for allowing us to bring him to our family.

Emmy

Emmy is 24 pounds. She loves playing fetch, playing “hide and seek” with the kids, and has never met another dog that she didn’t want to make friends with. She also loves any chew toy and lives for bully sticks. Happy birthday to all the puppies!

Opal

Opal enjoys taking naps on our laps or sitting on our laps (at all times), playing with her neighbor puppy friends, and riding in the car with her head out the window. She hops up onto the bed and under the blanket and snuggles us in the morning or sits on top of our heads. Her favorite game she plays is when we put a towel or blanket over our head and she tries to save us by digging as fast as she can on top of the blanket. Opal loves chewing antler bones or cheese bones. She weighs 13.5 lbs.

Griffin

Griffin is full of energy and makes us laugh every day. He weighs in at 22 pounds on his 1st birthday. This boy loves to be outside taking a walk in the neighborhood or park, catching a frisbee, fetching a ball or wubba – or just laying in the grass taking in the sights and sounds, then perhaps taking a nap. Griffin loves water, whether it be a kiddie pool, snow, rain, a lawn sprinkler, and even a bath. He loves everyone he meets, both people and dogs. During this time of social distancing, he really misses getting together with other dogs and people. It’s difficult for puppies just as it is for us. In the evening he loves to settle down our lap and chew on an elk antler. We are so looking forward to future with this special boy.

Junie

Junie is 14 lbs. She is so sweet and loves snuggles. Her favorite toys are stuffed animals and she sometimes will sleep while hugging a stuffed animal in her arms (pic attached). She also loves playing ball and running outside. She is a little suspicious of her own reflection and will sometimes just stand around growling at the kitchen appliances, which makes us all laugh. We love her so much!

Mango

Mango is just under 15 pounds and is such a lover! She is a great listener and goes on many hikes. She is quite a hunter. Always looking for squirrels and birds. She is REALLY fast! She will often chase after 8-12 deer at a time!! Mango enjoys hiking up ski slopes and then running next to us as we ski down. She also loves belly rubs.

Harry

Harry accompanies me on my daily rounds at Fryburg Academy, and everyone on campus knows him. He weighs 25lbs, and he’s very sweet.

Guest post by Ashton Kent from Kent Family Farms

Hypoallergenic: Marketing Scheme or Truth?

This is the constant debate among breeders and the general public. Are Doodles hypoallergenic or it is just a big marketing scheme to sell more dogs?

Let’s start with the definition of Hypoallergenic. Hypoallergenic simply means it is less likely to cause an allergic reaction. “Hypo” meaning less or lower than. This is the place to start because many people are under the false idea that hypoallergenic means will not cause allergic reactions, when in fact it just means less likely to cause allergic reactions. When comparing a Goldendoodle to a Golden Retriever for instance, the Goldendoodle is absolutely hypoallergenic because it is less likely to cause an allergic reaction.

If you have allergies, talk to your breeder specifically about them, asking them to direct you to the litters that are more likely to be good for those with allergies. Many breeders do this by directing them to certain generations. This is also not entirely wrong, but there is a much larger picture to take into consideration that just generation. Allergies are affected by many different genes and some of those genes are not yet identified, but we do have some genes to go off of that are very helpful in directing us to the most likely to not cause allergies.

How to I find out my doodle’s genetics?

We’re going to walk though how furnishing, shedding, long hair & curl impact shedding. With one simple cheek swab, you can learn whether your goldendoodle is prone to shedding. Better yet, you can test a goldendoodle puppy and learn the results prior to bringing that cute fluff-ball home. Embark’s testing kits provide results for furnishing, shedding, long hair & curl. These kits can be purchased either through the Emkark website or on Amazon (it varies which is cheaper based on the current promotion).

The furnishing gene

The furnishing gene should always be our primary focus when it comes to allergies. Ideally if a family has allergies to dander you want to direct them to a dog with two furnishing genes.

Most Poodles carry two of these genes and all Golden Retrievers don’t carry the furnishing gene. Notice I said ‘most’. In rare cases we have seen some Poodles that only carry one furnishing gene. In these cases not only will they throw improper coats when bred to another dog that doesn’t carry two furnishing genes, but they are also more likely to shed, causing issues with allergy sufferers. We are going to assume any Poodle is tested and confirmed to have two furnishing genes for the following generations.

• F1 generation – all puppies will carry one furnishing gene, this is not generally recommend for families with allergies to dander.
• F1b generation – 50% will carry two furnishing genes, 50% will carry one furnishing gene, so if there is a moderate to severe allergy you can test the puppies to see which ones carry two furnishing genes. Families with mild allergies are usually okay with many F1b’s.

Once you have breeders that go past the F1b generation, it is essential that they are testing their dogs coats for whether they carry one or two furnishing genes, if they are going to be placing dogs in homes with allergies to dander. Paw Print Genetics provides more information about the furnishing gene.

Is a multigen goldendoodle good for people with allergies?

I hear quite often from families contacting me that they heard that a multi-generational doodle would be the best fit for their family because they have dander allergies. This is a bit misleading because if the breeder doesn’t coat test, a multigen could be a terrible shedder and could also be terrible for allergies. On the other hand if the breeder coat tests and only keeps back dogs that have two furnishing genes, you could have a litter where every single puppy has two copies of the furnishing gene and is a good option genetically for those with pet dander allergies. In fact, some multi gen litters may have two copies of the furnishing gene while still having the structure, temperament, coat, etc. that we see in earlier generations that don’t two furnishing genes . Learn more about which generation goldendoodle is best for allergies in a second post by Ashton Kent.

The shedding gene

The shedding locus is a new discovery that came out and it too can have an impact on allergies, but it has a lesser impact than that of the furnishing gene, as we do know that many Poodles carry two shedding genes, even though we don’t see shedding in those dogs. That being said with a family with severe allergies, this would be a gene I would take into consideration too. Paw Print Genetics provides more information about the shedding gene.

The curl gene

There is a lot of debate as to whether curl has an impact on allergies. Many believe that the curlier the Doodle the less shedding and the less allergies. From what we have seen a dog can have no curl gene and still be good for those with allergies, having little to no shedding. That being said, this is something that even geneticists are not 100% sure on because they do see some correlation with curl and shedding in many breeds. It is possible that the curl is just catching more of the dander that is causing allergy issues or it has no impact at all, but there is another gene that happens to be in dogs with curl that is causing the variation in dander and allergies. I personally would not take this gene into consideration when placing a puppy in a home with allergies at this point until we have more information to go on. Paw Print Genetics provides more information about the curl gene.

Long hair gene

For breeds that carry a short hair gene, such a Labrador Retrievers, not having two long hair genes can also contribute to not only wirehaired coats instead of the traditional Doodle coat, but we have seen through breeder experience that if a dog does not have two long hair genes, there is an increased amount of shedding and potential for allergy issues. When breeding Doodles that start with a short haired dog, you also need to take into consideration the long hair gene and test dogs for this gene to try to eliminate it in future generations. It is important to note, that this is also based off breeder experience and I do not have a science based article to back that claim up. Breeder experience is very useful and should be taken into consideration and used, but is not as accurate as genetic proof of a claim. Paw Print Genetics has more information about the long hair gene.

Predicting whether a goldendoodle will cause allergy problems

Allergies are one of those things that breeders cannot at all guarantee. Every person is individual in how their allergies work and even if breeders use every resource at their disposal, they still cannot guarantee that someone will not react to a dog. It is important that everyone understands that. That being said breeders do have wonderful resources to help in directing people to puppies that will be better for allergies. Knowing each dog’s furnishing and shedding results, paired with the actual shedding we see in the parents of puppies, can give a very good indication as to what puppies will be best suited for each family.

It is important to also note that this is all referring to people that have a dander allergy, not a saliva allergy. Saliva allergies are not affected by the coats of a dog, but instead every breed will cause allergy issues with someone allergic to saliva.

Before your buy a puppy

Ask lots of questions of your breeder (you should always do this, but especially if you have allergies). Educate yourself on what to look for. Don’t fall for marketing schemes. You will know after asking a breeder lots of pointed questions whether they know what they are talking about or not.

Also consider testing a puppy prior to bringing her home. Embark’s testing kits provide results for furnishing, shedding, long hair & curl. These kits can be purchased either through the Emkark website or on Amazon (it varies which is cheaper based on the current promotion). Paw Print Genetics provides quicker results, however tests are purchased individually, making it more expensive if you plan to conduct multiple tests. Use the promo code BRCA20 for a discount with Paw Print Genetics. Learn more about the difference between Emkark and Paw Print Genetics in our detailed post comparing the two companies.

What breeders should consider about goldendoodles and allergies

If you are going to use the term “hypoallergenic,” no problem – just make sure you explain what you mean by that and that it doesn’t necessarily mean that the puppy will be good for those with allergies. If you are selling to those with allergies, please do yourself and them a favour and coat test your dogs (or allow the buyers to purchase testing and you’ll collect the specimens). It is worth the piece of mind to know that you have done everything in your power to avoid any allergy issues. Consider using terms like “better for allergies” and “allergy friendly” for the generations that are tested better for allergies, instead of just saying all your dogs are hypoallergenic. For the litters you know aren’t going to be good for allergies, make sure you are clear in your advertising and talking with families on that. Honesty as a breeder is of the utmost importance and being upfront from the beginning is going to be best for your puppies, best for the families buying your puppies, best for you and best for your long term success as a breeder.

Guest post by Ashton Kent from Kent Family Farms

Goldendoodles & Allergies

This is a commonly misunderstood topic when talking about Goldendoodles. I do not like the term “Hypoallergenic,” as it is misleading. Many state that even the Poodle is not hypoallergenic. There are different types of allergies to dogs. The first thing to figure out is what type of allergy that you have. There are allergies to dander (flakes of skin), saliva and urine. Most allergies are to dog dander. Different dogs shed dander less than others. A poodle sheds very little dander, much less frequently than a Golden Retriever does, which makes the Poodle more allergy friendly, not hypoallergenic.

Which goldendoodle generation is best for people with allergies?

Overall, non-shedding and allergy friendly dogs are very possible in Goldendoodles, you just need to know what to look for and make sure you have a breeder that understands their genetics.

When talking about allergies and shedding with Goldendoodles, it is important to understand the generations of Goldendoodles and make sure you get one that fits your situation best. An F1 generation is probably not the best choice for a person with dander allergies, as there will be some in this generation that a low-shedding and therefore shed dander as well. It is recommended that if you have an allergy that you look for an F1b, F3 or multi-gen Goldendoodle, that is tested for improper coat (IC) (aka furnishings).

Improper Coat & Furnishings

The furnishing gene should always be our primary focus when it comes to allergies and shedding. Ideally if a family member has allergies to dander, you want to seek out a puppy with two furnishing genes (genetically F/F rather than F/IC or IC/IC). Improper Coat is the gene that causes the Golden Retriever coat to shed. Golden Retrievers have two copies of this gene (they are genetically IC/IC; no Golden Retriever carries the furnishing gene). Poodles usually do not have any copies of this gene. Instead, most Poodles carry two furnishing genes (and no improper coat genes). Notice I said ‘most’. In rare cases we have seen some Poodles that only carry one furnishing gene. In these cases not only will they throw improper coats when bred to another dog that doesn’t carry two furnishing genes, but they are also more likely to shed, causing issues with allergy sufferers.

This is why it is essential for breeders to test for IC when breeding above an F1b generation. A goldendoodle puppy with two copies of the improper coat gene will inherit a shedding coats like the Golden Retriever. So, if you are someone with an allergy and are looking at a any generation beyond F1b, make sure that your breeders tests for IC.

Genetics and Goldendoodle Shedding

If you already own a goldendoodle and are wondering why your sweet puppy is shedding, you can learn her genetic makeup with one simple cheek swab. Embark’s genetic testing kits will give you insight about a number of genes impacting your doodle’s shedding such as furnishings/improper coat, the shedding gene, and the long hard gene. These canine genetic test kits can be purchased either through the Emkark website or on Amazon (it varies which is cheaper based on the current promotion). Learn more about the genetics behind goldendoodle shedding in Ashton Kent’s second article.

These sweet babies will be ready to go to their forever homes March 8-14th.

happy birthday

Abria & Boaz are the proud parents of give gorgeous new babies. They are absolutely precious. Our two preschoolers have named them: Gingie (aka Ginger), Skye (after Skye from Paw Patrol), Emmy (yes, this is our fourth puppy named Emmy. If you find a good name, reuse it), Blue Blue (what else would you name a blue collared puppy?), and Annie (after the neighbor girl down the street). These two have been thinking about puppy names for weeks. They’re only a slightly excited that these puppies arrived 🙂

Abria is an amazing mom and hardly leaves her puppies’ side. When puppies are first born, they depend heavily on their mama. They can’t yet walk. Their eyes and ears are closed. They can’t go to the bathroom on their own. And they can’t maintain their own body temperature. Fortunately God gave puppies a natural instinct to pile together for warmth. EEGs have revealed that the brain activity of infant puppies is the same when asleep and awake. But these little pups are busy eating, growing, and developing. Abria’s puppies twitch and pop in their sleep, as all healthy newborn puppies should. This activated sleep helps them build muscle tone.

Notice how all of the puppies have fairly smooth coats on their backs and you’ll notice in the picture below that no one has evidence of little waves on their foreheads. This indicates that everyone will likely have loosely curly coats rather than tight curls like a poodle. We’ll be able to tell more about their coats in the upcoming weeks.

Enjoy these little pink noses while you can because they’ll soon darken up and the puppies will have beautiful black noses and foot pads. You can see how some of the puppies’ noses have already started darkening even at just a few hours old.

Right now the puppies spend all of their time eating, sleeping, and growing – And I’m happy to say that everyone is doing a great job at these three activities! The little ones all weighed between 8.5-10.5oz at birth – yes, they’re less than one pound. But they’ll soon be packing on the pounds!

four days new

weekly puppy tip

Think about a napping place – The puppies spend most of their lives sleeping now, but did you know that your new furbaby is going to need lots of sleep when you bring her home, too? Puppies, just like small children, require naps throughout the day. When your puppy is sleeping, try to allow her to rest undisturbed. This may mean that you need to guide her to a different spot than the one she’s initially chosen. AKC gives some helpful insight into the importance of puppy sleep:

Although puppies may seem like little bundles of energy, in fact, they sleep 15-20 hours a day. One minute your puppy may be a miniature tornado, and the next he’s fallen soundly asleep, almost mid-activity. Sleep is essential to healthy growth: during sleep his central nervous system, brain, immune system, and muscles are developing. All of that sleep also helps him rest up during growth spurts… household members, especially children, should leave your puppy alone while he is sleeping. Plan his day so that active time is followed by quiet time for sleep. He’ll most likely be ready for a nap after playtime or a walk, sleep for a while and then wake up ready for anything. Your puppy may nap every hour or so, sleeping from 30 minutes to as long as two hours. All of this sleep is perfectly normal.

Jan Reisen from the American Kennel Club (AKC)

You can read the rest of the article here.

1 week

These puppies may still seem incredibly small but in just one short week they’ve already doubled their birth weights. They’ve each crossed over the one pound mark. These sweet little pumpkins continue to dedicate their entire lives to eating and sleeping. They twitch and pop involuntarily during their sleep, developing muscle tone for the near future. This phenomenon is known as “activated sleep” (Hopefully you were able to enjoy the brief video of them twitching in popping in our Instagram story on Sunday). The puppies received daily doses of petting, stroking, holding, and kisses. We’ve also started doing early neurological stimulation (aka ENS) with them. ENS involves stressing the puppies just slightly in very specific ways in order to improve their physiological response to stress in the future

In addition to growing, the sweet little dumplings have also started wagging their tails while they nurse! It’s fun to watch all the happy little tail wags while they greedily fill their bellies.

hello world.

These cuddly little sausages have started opening their eyes! As you can see here, their eyes are just barely open at the moment. Eye opening is a process that takes several days. It’s so fun to see these little eyes for the very first time.

weekly puppy tip

Make a puppy experience plan – Compile a list of places you want to take your puppy and experiences you want your puppy to encounter. We’ve already started introducing your puppy to new smells. With these little eyes now ready to soak up the sites, we’ll now start introducing the puppies to items that differ in appearance. We have a thought out socialization plan, working hard to expose your puppy to as much as possible during her time with us. When you take your puppy home, that responsibility then shifts to you as you continue the socialization process. Exposing your puppy to new people, situations, sounds, smells, textures, etc. is extremely important. Give your new puppy a few days to adjust to her new home and new routine. Then begin giving her short, positive experiences (yummy treats make everything more positive!). Don’t try to do too much in one day, as you don’t want to overwhelm or stress her. Start developing ideas of how to want to socialize your new puppy.

Your goal is for your puppy to meet a minimum of 100 different people by the time she’s six months old. Dr. Ian Dunbar, a puppy socialization expert, raises the bar even higher by recommending that puppies meet 100+ people during the first month at home. So make a plan about how you will start introducing your puppy to new people right away. Try to let her meet a variety of people such as children, elderly persons, people wearing hats, hoods or sunglasses, people using crutches, walkers or wheelchairs, people of different ethnicities, tall people, short people, etc. Meeting people is just come component. Consider what safe dogs you can introduce your puppy to (dogs who are predictable, friendly, healthy, and will model good behavior for your pup). Remember, adult dogs aren’t always fond of puppies so be sure to monitor them together. Do you know someone with a friendly cat or rabbit? Do you know anyone with a woods or creek where you can take your puppy for a short romp? Remember, you want every experience to be POSITIVE. Making a plan now, before you bring your puppy home, will help ensure that you follow through with a variety of positive exposures once you have your new little fluff ball at your side.

Check out AviDog’s free e-book for more ideas about what to add to your puppy experience plan.

2 weeks

The puppies eyes are opened (this means that they’ve entered the transitional period)! It’s fun to these little nuggets looking back at us! And now that they can see where they’re going, they’ve started climbing out of their whelping box. Even though the puppies’ eyes are peering back at us, their ears haven’t yet opened. All of that dedicated sleeping, eating, and growing is paying off. Their chunky bellies are adorable. It’s truly amazing how much they’ve grown in just two short weeks. These little sausages still spend most of the day sleeping and continue to have activated sleep, building their muscles in preparation for the running and exploring they’ll be doing shortly. We intentionally have the floor of their whelping box covered with a surface that gives them good traction to aid their developing muscles and bones. The puppies already take wobbly steps around their whelping area and crawl all over each other as they attempt to find the coziest sleeping nook in the puppy pile. These munchkins even starting to sit up a little. They’ve started the transition from the tiny guinea pigs they were at birth to beginning to look like little dogs. We continue to hold, cuddle, and pet them daily – and we love every minute of it.

weekly puppy tip

Glance over Puppy Culture’s exercise chart. Familiarize yourself with what sorts of activities are appropriate for your puppy at different stages of development. You want to give your puppy a variety of unique positive experiences, but your puppy is still growing & developing, so you don’t want to push your puppy too far. For instance, climbing up one to two stairs is an appropriate challenge but climbing a flight of stairs is not a good idea for a young puppy (a study done on 500 dogs showed that puppies allowed to climb a flight of stairs before 3 months old were more likely to develop hip dysplasia). Remember, free running and playing is a great option because your puppy can rest whenever she feels the need to. If you’d like to read more about puppy exercise, check out AviDog’s puppy exercise guidelines. This article from AKC also gives some helpful puppy exercise tips.

3 weeks

Aren’t they getting cuter and cuter each week?! These sweet dumplings are getting so big! They’ve all crossed over the 2lb mark and are well on their way towards 3lbs. The changes puppies go through in the first couple weeks of life is outstanding. While the puppies still spend a lot of the time sleeping, they’re now toddling about, playing with each other, and exploring (hopefully you caught the video of them playing in our Instagram story on Sunday). They’re even going to the bathroom on their own now. We give the puppies a new item each day to look at and investigate. It’s so fun to see their little eyes taking in the sights. The pups are starting to let out little barks (much to my kids’ delight). They’ve added a variety of little squeaks and squeals to their repertoire. Sometimes the sounds that come out of their mouths seems to surprise the puppies themselves!

weekly puppy tip

Get ready to play educational games with your puppy! – Did you know that there are fun games you can play with your puppy that teach her beneficial skills? It’s great to incorporate regular educational games into your puppy’s routine, so read through these suggestions, add any needed supplies to your puppy shopping list, and get ready for puppy playtime!

• Ball On The Wall – Encourages retrieving
  • Supplies: A ball that your puppy can carry in her mouth
  • How to play: Sit on the floor about 1-5’ from a wall. Put your legs in a “V” and sit facing the wall with your puppy between you and the wall. Toss the ball at the wall, encouraging your puppy to go after it. Give your puppy lots of praise when she brings the ball back!
  • Variation: Once you’ve mastered Ball On The Wall, try playing retrieve in a hallway with all the doors closed (so your puppy can’t run away from you with the ball).
• Toy Trade – Prevents resource guarding
  • Supplies: A toy that your puppy likes but doesn’t highly value and a high value treat
  • How to play: Briefly play with your puppy using the toy. Ask your puppy for the toy by offering her a high value treat. Reward & praise her for giving you the toy, and give the toy back to her as soon as she finishes chewing. Gradually work on having her give you objects of higher value (i.e. a bone).
  • Variation: Work on teaching your puppy the command “give” and ask her to drop the toy/bone on command in exchange for the high value treat.
• Hide & Seek – Encourages recall
  • Supplies: Yummy treats
  • How to play: Run away from your puppy, hide behind a corner, tree, couch or other object, and call your puppy to encourage her to find you. When she does, give her lots of praise and a yummy treat.
  • Variation: Have a partner play with you and take turns hiding. While the first person is rewarding the puppy for coming, the second person hides.

4 weeks

The puppies are really beginning to look and act like little dogs. Their teeth have started coming in, which means nursing will soon become uncomfortable for Abria. The puppies enjoy lapping fresh goat milk from a bowl and licking it off each other. Shout out to D & L Meadows for supplying us with fresh, local goat milk for these little pups to enjoy. The pups think warm goat milk is AMAZING, but they’re not completely sure which end actually does the eating, so they frequently end up with various body parts in the bowl. Abria is happy to help lap up any mess the puppies make during their mealtimes and she lovingly licks the goat milk off of each puppy once they’ve finished filling their little round bellies. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the videos in our Instagram story of these sweeties lapping up milk. The sound they make when eating is precious. As you probably also saw in the story videos, Abria continues to nurse them, which the pups also thoroughly enjoy. Since their teeth are starting to poke through, soften kibble isn’t far away.

The puppies have started listening to their habituation CD, which is aimed at helping them become accustomed to various sounds. We continue to introduce new items in the puppy pen for the pups to explore. We play them daily, and their little tails wag and wag. They love human attention! Now that they’re more proficient in their legs, they’re not quite as snuggly as they used to be because they have things to explore. But they still do enjoy snuggling, especially once they tire a little. Now that the pups are so mobile, pictures are a little challenging because no one really wants to sit still, so no group photos this week.

While these little nuggets all weigh under 4lbs, they’ve done a tremendous amount of growing in just a few short weeks. They’ve graduated from ric rack ribbons to mini puppy collars, which we’ve had to loosen several times to accommodate for all the growing. And those puppies nails have grown a lot, too. The pups have now had their nails clipped for the second time. When you take your puppy home, it’s important that you continue to regularly trim her nails. Right now we trim the puppies’ nails with human baby nail clippers. For our adult dogs, we use a dremel to keep their nails short.

weekly puppy tip

Bonding Exercises – Do this every night with your puppy just before putting her in her crate for bed. Puppies benefit from a routine plus everyone benefits from a puppy learning that you’re the leader and that you are allowed to touch her anywhere and everywhere. The this video shows bonding exercises being done for the first time with a new puppy. Yes, your puppy will resist and squirm at first. Eventually, your puppy will come to LOVE and EXPECT you doing bonding exercises with her. Take 30 seconds each night and do it. You’ll be thankful that you did (and so will your vet and groomer!). There’s a second video of bonding exercises being done with an older pup here at the bottom of the post (notice how much he has grown to enjoy doing bonding exercises). It’s easy to periodically incorporate parts of grooming into bonding exercise time, trimming nails one night and cleaning ears a different night.

https://youtu.be/uaL8xcjPVvw

5 weeks

Five weeks is such a fun age! These puppies are cuter every day! Their individual personalities are showing through. The puppies are walking about, exploring the world around them. They enjoy playing with the different toys in their pen, and they enjoy playing with each other, too. In between their short bursts of energy, they still spend much of their time sleeping. If you sit on the floor, you’re sure to have a lap full of puppies! The pups don’t sit still for long, except for when they’re on your lap or sleeping, so pictures are challenging!

The puppies have transitioned from milk to a softened kibble/milk blend. Your little one will be accustomed to eating TLC puppy food. You should be receiving an email directly from TLC in the next week.

Remember that trade game in week 3? Once your new fluffball is adjusted to your home, you can periodically use your puppy’s dinner bowl to play the game, working on preventing resource guarding. Neither Abria or Boaz display food aggression and neither one greedily inhale their food (in fact, it’s not uncommon for them to  leave some kibble in their bowls after eating their fill), so likely your puppy naturally won’t either. Even so, taking a few minutes to work with your puppy while she’s young can go a long way in preventing unwanted behavior. Pick up a pack of hot dogs or other delicious treat and occasionally pick up your pup’s bowl while she’s eating, exchanging her kibble for a sliver of hot dog, and then returning her food bowl to her (see the trade game from week 3).

weekly puppy tip

Pick out and sign up for a puppy class – A puppy class is essential both for socialization and manners. Look for a class that emphasizes positive reinforcement, as learning & training should be a fun game at this point. Clicker training is a plus. This article from AKC gives some pointers about what to look for in a puppy class. Many dog training facilities will allow your new friend join their puppy class around 12 weeks of age, once she has received her second set of immunizations. Allison Camp from Pups Unleashed offers a local puppy class. She’ll be temperament testing the puppies next week and assisting with matching. Temperament testing always an exciting day!

6 weeks

It’s been another busy week for the puppies! The weather has finally been warm and dry enough that they’ve been able to play outside, which they absolutely love! They went outside for the first time early in the week and immediately took to being in nature with zero hesitation. The pups have a blast exploring the great outdoors. It’s fun to watch them pick up leaves, squeeze under bushes, and frolic through the grass. They’re so lively!

The puppies also went on several road trips in the last week. We know they each have a lifetime of car rides ahead of them, so we want to make sure they’re familiar with the feeling of being in a moving automobile. Plus we want to expose them to new and different places. The pups all piled together into a crate and cruised around town. We recently purchased several acres (which you may already know if you follow Paul on Instagram), and this is the first litter of puppies to visit our new farm, which was very special. We hope to share our farm with many more puppies in the future.

These puppies are just darling! They are playful, friendly, affectionate, and they bounce around like little fluff balls. Whenever we enter the puppy pen, we’re instantly covered with excited, happy kisses and nibbles. It’s such a privilege and joy to share our home with these sweet pups.

weekly puppy tip

Get ready to groom! – Your puppy has had her nails clipped and hair trimmed during her time with us, so she has already had her initial introduction to her lifetime of being groomed. Take her to the groomer for a puppy clip after her 16-week immunizations. The groomer will bathe her, trim the hair out of her eyes, give her a sanitary clip, and trim her nails. Since she will need regular grooming throughout her life, both she and her groomer will benefit if she becomes accustomed to being groomed from a young age, even before she’s ready for a full haircut.

When should she have her first big girl haircut? The wavy, curly adult coat will start replacing the soft, fluffy puppy coat around 5-6 months of age. You’ll notice the new hair coming in is kinkier than the pure fluff on top. Waiting to cut the hair until the adult coat makes its debut beneath the layers of puppy plush helps ensure that the adult coat remains soft. Many poodle groomers and poodle fanciers claim that shaving a poodle or goldendoodle down before her adult coat starts coming in could damage the adult coat, affecting the texture. While there isn’t any substantiated evidence that this is true, it’s worth avoiding just in case. That doesn’t mean that your puppy might not benefit from a puppy clip in the meantime! Don’t let your puppy’s hair get out of control! As aforementioned, take her to the groomer for a puppy clip after her 16-week immunizations. When the time comes, check out the grooming section on our website for a variety of goldendoodle haircut pictures. Learn more about your Goldendoodle puppy’s first trip to the groomer.

Waiting until 6 months for the first full big girl clip does not mean you’re off the hook for grooming at home! You should regularly groom your puppy: brushing her hair, cleaning her ears, brushing her teeth, clipping her toenails, and checking her for any anomalies (i.e. ticks, cuts, etc.). You want your puppy to become accustomed to being brushed and handled all over from a young age. It’s easy to incorporate different parts of grooming into your nightly bonding exercises. We have a plethora of haircut resources under the “grooming” tab in the main menu bar.

seven weeks

The puppies had a busy day today! First they went on a road trip to visit Allison Camp from Pups Unleashed dog training for their temperament testing (I hope you’ve checked your email to learn about your puppy’s testing results!). This evening, the puppies visited Dr. Steffen at Companion Animal Medical Centre. They are all sound asleep early tonight! I am please to report that they all received a clean bill of health! All of the staff received puppy kisses 🙂 The puppies received their first of three doses of the DHLPP vaccine. You should schedule an appointment with your vet for her to receive her second dose when she is around 12 weeks of age and third dose at 16 weeks of age. The DHLPP vaccination protects your puppy from:

• Distemper – a disease affecting the lungs, intestines, and brain
• Hepatitis – a disease affecting the liver
• Leptospirosis – a disease affecting the kidneys
• Parainfluenza – a lung disease affecting the bronchi
• Parvoviris – a disease affecting the intestines

In addition to immunizations, your puppy will also need a monthly parasite preventative that covers a range of parasites as well as fleas to help keep her healthy. Your puppy received one dose of Interceptor today. Be sure to administer heart worm medication with a meal, as the medication can be hard on your puppy’s stomach.

weekly puppy tip

Fostering the children/dog relationship – Goldendoodles are family dogs by nature, but there are a few steps you can take to help set your puppy and your kids up for a lifetime of friendship:

1. When your puppy is sleeping, let her sleep – your puppy is growing & developing and she NEEDS that sleep. Teach your children to respect a sleeping puppy by not interrupting her. Your puppy’s crate should be her safe retreat. When she’s in her crate, allow her to enjoy safe, undisturbed quiet time.
2. Involve your children in daily puppy care – allowing your children to participate in caring for the puppy will help grow the bond between them and their furry friend. It also helps the puppy learn associate good things with little people and helps her see the children as above her in the pack order. Younger children particularly love being helpers. Our kids enjoy (aka fight over) feeding the dogs, letting them out of their crates, opening the back door to let the dogs in/out, etc. We let them help brush the dogs with much supervision (remember, we want all puppy experiences to be POSITIVE!). Our children also love holding leashes on walks (children should only take your dog on a walk with adult supervision). If you don’t trust your puppy to not pull a young child over, you can attach two short leashes to one dog so both you & your child have a leash to hold. Be cognizant of your child’s age and maturity level. Older children can be more actively involved and younger children can be involved in smaller ways.
3. Encourage your children to play with the puppy – puppy nips and jumps can be intimidating for some children. Teaching children how to act calmly around a puppy and how to play intentional games such as fetch and educational games (see some suggestions under week 3) can help both the children and the puppy learn how to interact with each other. Explain to your children that your puppy isn’t trying to hurt them when she’s nipping – she’s asking them to play with her.
4. Include your children in puppy training – when you enroll your puppy in a puppy kindergarten class, ask about bringing your child along (assuming he’s old enough and mature enough to participate). Our children enjoy practicing sits and downs with our dogs, dolling out hotdog slivers to the eager participants. Our dogs think it’s great! Be sure to always supervise children/puppy training sessions.
5. Teach your children to respect the puppy – sometimes it’s challenging for children, especially young ones, to distinguish between their favorite stuffie and a real-life fluffy puppy. Many children need to be patiently taught to be gentle and kind with animals. “No hugging dogs” is a rule in our home because a preschooler bear hug around the neck is too much our small dogs (our dogs don’t mind but we’re afraid they might accidentally get hurt since they’re significantly smaller than the ones dolling out the hugs). If there are times when you aren’t able to supervise your children’s interaction with your puppy, it might be best (and safest) to put your puppy in her crate. Remember, that crate should be your puppy’s safe place. This article by AKC has more helpful tips about teaching children to respect dogs.

getting ready for your puppy

We’ve created a puppy shopping list to help guide you as you prepare to bring your new pup home!

meet the parents

Learn more about Abria & Boaz by visiting our parent dog page. Want to see pictures of Abria’s past litters? You can find those on Abria’s personal page. There’s also are videos of their past puppies if you’re curious what this litter will look like in a few weeks. Don’t forget to check out Instagram for more pictures of the parents, past puppies, and this current litter.