Choosing a veterinarian – it’s important to find the right one, as they will play an important role in your puppy’s life. If you haven’t chosen a vet for your puppy, now is the time to find one. Here are a few tips to help your vet visit go as smoothly as possible:

• Make all visits – especially the first one – a happy experience for your puppy.

• Arrive early, so you don’t feel rushed, and take time for your puppy to relax in the vet’s office.

• Take some small treats for the staff to give to your puppy to help start things off right.

• Discuss your puppy’s future health care – set up a vaccination schedule and stick to it… missing an appointment could compromise your puppy’s immunity.

• Ask a staff member if they can call or email reminders regarding upcoming appointment.

• Your vet may give you a health record to keep for your puppy. If not, start one for your puppy.

• Have your vet check for internal parasites (worms), or tests for congenital problems.

• Talk to your vet about the best time to spay or neuter your puppy.

Each outing to the veterinarian’s office is also a chance to monitor your puppy’s body language. Is he fearful of the new surroundings or is he just happy to meet new people? His body language will tell you a lot about himself!

Using labradoodles as service dogs is not a new idea, but I have definitely seen more interest in using them as such in recent years. I have seen some of the breeders here on this site convert their breeder business into labradoodle service dog businesses. I have seen TV reports about them and even saw this recent article about them.

The article talks about a labradoodle that will be given to a little boy named “Dante”. His family was given a check for over $4000 towards a labradoodle service dog by the Niagara Falls Lions Club and Knights of Columbus. Dante is six and is autistic, the new service dog will help Dante a great deal of things, especially his seizures. Autism service dogs are trained to keep children still, and stand on him/her if necessary. When they sense a seizure coming on, they will sit down to catch the parents’ attention. They will also calm a child down by diverting their attention from their surroundings

I personally think this is great. Labradoodles are a highly intelligent and a quick learning dog breed. The labradoodle breed was actually origionally conceived to be a service dog.

I will soon a new section talking about Labradoodles as Service Dogs.