Might be getting a Labradoodle and need info

[weezer]

Axle (my doodle) has the personality of a latin lover -- he woos everyone he meets with smiles and nuzzling.
We do not have children (all grown now) so he has never been around little ones much -- but today when I took hom for a walk in the park, he went in the water fountain with about 15 little kids --they all had a ball.

When we got him, we had a German Sherpherd who was about 7 years old,, she thought he was one of her pups! They are in-seperable.

If you can introduce your dog and your potential doodle somewhere OFF either of their turfs (a nice neutral park?) perhaps that would allow them to get to know each other... that is what we did.

Good Luck!
Louise

[doodleheaven]

Hi,

Congrats on your upcoming baby!! That is so exciting.

We lost our golden last summer and now have a labradoodle. The biggest difference I find is the shedding. Our labradoodle definitely sheds but not to the extreme degree that our golden did. Bailey is loving and very calm around the kids. He did do a lot of nipping as a puppy, but all dogs do. This was hard for the kids at first but he outgrew it quickly and the kids got used to it. He is their bestest little friend now and they fight over who gets to sleep with him at night.

If this is your first baby I would be a little hesitant to take on a new dog at this time. A first baby is so exhausting and I found with my first baby, my golden definitely took second seat to everything else. My husband had to take over many of the dog duties as I just didn't have the energy or patience for my dog. So for you to have a golden, a new baby and another new dog might be too much at once. After about a year or two our golden definitely became the centre of our family again, but I feel so bad about the first year of baby's life when my golden had to just back and take second seat. It was unfair to her because she was so used to being our one and only baby for so long.

On the other hand, everyone's experience is different and you may do very well with two dogs and a new baby - it was just my experience and it really took me by surprise that it happened at the time. I thought I could handle everything and was well prepared. I just really want you to be aware - I'm sure others handled the situation as such much better then I did.