Hi Carol,

  

Just took some photos of Starlet this morning as we were out walking around.  She has become the little farm manager here.  : )  Oversees everything going on, and makes sure it is all running smoothly.  : )  She is so easy.  She is one of the few we can just let out the door to be outside without supervision.  She'll hang out in the barn, check out property, lay on the deck, visit the dogs in the fenced part of the yard (she can still jump anything) and then waits patiently to come back inside.  She no longer sleeps in a crate, just in my room or in my son's room on the floor.  She is really my dog though and follows me everywhere.  Such a sweetheart.  I kind of like her with her coat this length.  I'll probably keep it on the shorter side of things simply because she enjoys running in the woods and it's too hard to keep the burrs out. 

  

Hope all is well and you are having a great holiday weekend!

  

                     

  

Rochelle

www.springcreeklabradoodles.com

  

We have only had Rufus in his new home for five days and things are progressing so fast that I couldn’t find time to write until now.  The trip home went smoothly.  There were a few barks and whimpers but all I had to do was stick my hand inside his travel bag to quiet him.  Once we were on the plane, the Delta cabin crew was interested in meeting him so they allowed him to stick his head out of the bag to see what was going on.  That started everyone around us to coo and pet him so he relaxed and enjoyed the attention.   After a slightly wild cab ride from the airport (hey, this is NYC so he has to get used to it) we fed and watered him.  While he ate everything in his bowl, Cecilia started placing out the wee-wee pads.  Rufus finished his meal, walked over to the pads and promptly did his business.  Except for a couple of accidents when he first explored new rooms in our apartment, Rufus has continued to use the pads (mostly).  He’s not quite nine weeks old and he already has the basics of house training.  What an amazing dog!

I have set up space for his bowl, crate and play area in our living room.  He loves to crawl under one of our couches and sleep by my feet while I sit there.  For now, Cecilia and I have been sleeping on that couch to stay close during the night for Bathroom Breaks.  Last night he stayed in his crate all night for the first time, and he barked when he needed to “read the papers.”  I opened the crate and led him to the appropriate spot asking him to “do your business.”  He promptly did just that and after I gave him profuse praise, he allowed me to place him back in the crate without a whimper.  Did I say what an amazing dog he is?

On Monday Rufus had his first visit to the vet.  She definitely has a good dog-bed side manner and he snuggled with her while she scratched and petted him into a sleepy ball of fur.  He had a few fleas (after all, he was living on a farm) so she gave him a pill that kills them.  She also checked and the remaining testicle has still not dropped but she said it’s not a serious issue since we are not going to breed him.  Otherwise, he is in excellent heath.  Dr. Rosenthal has six other Labradoodle clients and says he is one of the best looking (but we knew that already). 

Until Rufus has his Rabies and final Distemper/Parvo shots in a few weeks, he cannot walk around the city streets.  However, Dr. Rosenthal did say he could meet any dog with all shots as long as we stay inside and off the street so I have started introducing him to some of the other dogs in the building.  Last night he met the thirteen year old female Lab next door (she was gentle but slightly afraid of him) and later today he has a play date with a nine month old German Sheppard who live above us.  In the meantime, we are taking him for walks inside his travel bag so he can get used to the sights, sounds and smells of the city.  Rufus is absolutely not intimated by anything around him.  He perks up when he sees another dog and he really is quite interested in the pigeons, but traffic, sirens, jack hammers, etc. don’t seem to bother him at all.  He’s going to be a real City Dog when he gets to leave the travel bag and walk on his own.

I’ve included a few photos to show how he’s doing.  He seems to be growing, maturing and gaining confidence every day.  I’ll send more photos later to keep you in the loop as he becomes a sophisticated dog-about-town.

Thanks for giving us such joy!                 George and Cecilia

Hi Carol,

Pink Girl (Teeka) is doing great!!  We had quite an adventure getting home – she was in my lap by the time we got to the end of your road and then had to pull over off of I-20 to avoid driving into bad storms. It did not phase her one bit. Did you get bad weather?  Everyone has bonded with her and she is always so excited to see the kids and they do not like it when she is sleeping.  They want to play with her all of the time.  She has been really good.  She only has accidents when Ron is watching her.  She is already letting me know when she’s gotta go and she’s going about 4 hour stretches at night.  She sleeps next to my side of the bed and does not cry anymore.  She definitely doesn’t like the crate, but goes in when I have to be gone for a little time.  She’s walking on a leash pretty good and is sitting and coming when we call her name.  We just love her!!  She went to the vet yesterday and did great.  She’s 12.5 pounds and will go back near the end of the month for her second shots.  The doc did not see tapes in her stool, but is treating her just in case.  He’s great and all of the girls went wild over how cute and well behaved she was.  The name of the doctor is Dr. Daniell at the Villa Rica Animal Hospital.  She’s met all kinds of neighbor kids and is just the sweetest.  

 Hope you and your family are doing well and we look forward to seeing you again in the future.  There’s one picture attached out of the many that we have taken so far.  I swear she’s grown 2” taller since we brought her home.

 

              

-Suzanne

Hi Carol!

 

Thank you so much for the great "Doodle" sticker!  We love it!  And we are having a ball with our Finn.  I just had him out for a long walk and play time.  He loves puppy kindergarten (training time) and is VERY motivated by treats! He goes bonkos, even if I'm just giving him pieces of his dog food.  Finn's eager to learn and easy to train.  He's learning COME, SIT, DOWN, and STAY.   Loves being outside, and spends quite a bit of time out there every day with us.  And our other dog, Bentley, has started wrestling with him off and on--great way to burn up some of that endless puppy energy!  Bentley was such a coach-potato before we got Finn.

 

His vet checks have all been great.  No problems there.  Finn's so laid back, he fell asleep on the exam table when the vet had to go out of the room for a minute.

 

People always comment on his extremely large feet--not sure if we should get another dog leash or a harness and bit for him!  He's growing so fast!

 

We have a sweet groomer who comes to pick up all the dogs (5-6) in our cul-de-sac once a month and then brings them back later in the day.  We're not sending Finn, may later though.  But we asked her about pulling the hairs out of his ears.  I'm afraid I'll hurt him--sounds painful.  But I know it helps their ears stay dry and healthy.  She said it may bother them at first, but they get used to it.  Do you do that to your dogs?

 

His latest antic was when I walked out of the kitchen, Finn jumped up onto the open dishwasher door--all 4 paws!- and put his head all the way in and proceeded to clean the plates!  Very funny site.

 

I've attached a few pictures.  We learned real fast it's harder to take a picture of a black dog than it is a white dog!  So many pictures come out all black where you can't tell what his features look like.    Dana

 

 

 

Loyalty