New to forums - trying to post PICTURES here!

[jgoaring]

Well, let's see if I have figured this out or not!

I set up and avatar so want to see if that works and will try a photo. Our new doodle is 5 months old and we have had him for 1 month exactly today!



Sammy's is "technically" my seven year old's dog But I think we all know that kids and dogs can be buddies but the dog knows who really does all the work around here!



This is after his first bath. So shiny!


One more in our yard today... trying to get the hang of sizing these too. We'll see how it turns out.

Jen G.
-new to the world of dog ownership and very happy to have found this forum!!

[kirama]

he's gorgeous! What a lovely coat he has.

[KingstonTodd]

Welcome to the forum. I hope you find it informative and us a little fun. Your doodle is very handsome and you did a nice job photographing him. Not always so easy with a black dog.

[Jac]

Oh, he is beautiful! I love the shine in his beautiful black coat! Nice avatar!!
And your seven year old is adorable! What a great picture of the two of them! Congratultions, and welcome!

[jgoaring]

I guess I could have said a little bit more about myself also -- I was hesitant to write much because I wasn't sure how active the intro forums were and also wasn't sure if my picture links would really work right! Happy to see they look good.

So I am a, let's say 30-something , mom to 4 boys (now 5 if you include Sammy the pup!) ages 11, 7, 7, and 2.5. Quinn (in the picture in the previous post) is one of my twins and the one who really wanted a dog... he asked over a year ago but I wasn't willing to take on a puppy with a 1 year old and was pretty sure I wanted to try out the puppy thing rather than get an older dog. As it turns out we ended up with a slightly older puppy -- instead of getting him at 8-9 weeks like many of the breeders do, we got him at 4 months. He is an Australian Multigenerational Labradoodle with fancy papers and such... his parents are medium sized, but I have no idea what size he will end up at. He seems like a biggish puppy to me, but I know very little about it all.

I grew up with dogs in my family -- my parents raised and bred shetland sheepdogs when I was a child and then have always had about two dogs at a time including golden retrievers, an irish setter, a standard poodle and many shelties. But as an adult, having a dog that is my own is totally new to me and labradoodles are new to me and training a dog is a new thing also. My dad is a great help as he is great with dogs and has trained his and my parents have both had dogs get ribbons and awards in obedience so they definitely have a good background in all that.

I work full time, nights as a labor & delivery nurse. I have found it really challenging trying to manage the puppy while I also need to get sleep during the day. I end up sleeping down on the couch so I am near him and he does pretty good with that but I don't sleep well. His crate is down in the family room and I don't really want a second one upstairs -- nor does he really enjoy sleeping in it during the day anyhow... he naps on the floor near me. I get that he could sleep on the floor near the bed (though the bed is high) but I don't necessarily want to be that far away from the back door as I don't trust that he is 100% house trained yet.

Guess this is enough rambling for now.

Jen G.

[Jac]

Jen, thanks for that wonderful introduction! It is nice to meet you.
Gosh, you are a busy woman! Sounds like you have an active, but very happy, household!
Where are you from?
You lucky girl! All of that help to train your pup...it will be fun to see what your dad thinks of training a Doodle. Usually they are very easy to train because they are so smart and they want so much to please.
I think that you are going to love being a Doodle Mom!

[jgoaring]

We live in Ridgefield, WA near Vancouver, WA / Portland, OR. My dad has a standard poodle now that is quite well trained -- though his social skills are less than desirable when it comes to other dogs so the puppy has yet to meet him. My dad can walk in the house and get Sammy to do whatever we are working on in puppy class without any lures or treats right away... *I* can't get quite the same response out of him though! Kind of annoying... but yes, he does seem to be easy to train. The trainer keeps uses him as an example when she is introducing something new in puppy class and I am always so amazed that he just does exactly what she wants... wish I was a bit better at it all, though I think I do and OK job of it.

I am always told (at work, via e-mail from friends, on facebook) that I must be a "very busy mom" or "very busy person" but I just don't know anything different than this! It is just life for us. I can't really imagine having less kids or less to do or not always having something fun or new to learn or work on (at the moment it is doodle training!) I am happiest when I am busy and productive and have new things to learn.

Thanks for the warm welcomes on this forum and the replies -- I appreciate it! I finally found out how to get to the photo gallery -- how fun! Still don't really get how to post to it and wish that people posting pics would include details like the age of the dog, the size, etc. because I think that would be fun and helpful... but oh well

Jen G.

[Jac]

There are quite a few Doodle families in your neck of the woods! You should be able to find some Doodle Romps to attend this summer!
Thanks for the glimpse into your life...it is so nice to get to know you.
Sammy is such a doll baby and his training will be fun to follow.
The gallery is fun ... nice to compare pictures. Many of the gallery photos are quite old and most of those who posted have moved on, but it would be a good idea to get the newbies to post more info on their downloaded pics. Great idea!

[CindynEarl]

Welcome to the city, Sammy. If you ever get a chance, I'd like to meet you in person. I live near Seattle, WA (Bellevue to be exact). We go boating at Jarrels Cove (Hartstein Island) and Kingston, and Docton (Near Olympia). If you are ever close that way in the summer months, Cruiser would like to meet you and my boys ages 5 1/2 and 8 would like to meet your kids. Keep in touch. Sammy is cute.

[jgoaring]

What a cute picture of Cruiser!! I am not usually up near Bellevue for any reason -- but we could always try to find a park at a halfway point or something and meet and have the kids and dogs run around. Sounds like fun! I do have cousins up near Seattle actually... but again, don't generally have a reason to head that way. But we'll see

So I have never heard of a doodle romp? I keep thinking I should look around for some off leash dog parks in the area and check it out... but at the moment I don't think I would trust Sammy off lead. He loves the play time during puppy class, but it is in a contained room.

We got another puppy trim yesterday and the didn't do a great job around his face... kinda bummed. And they had him brushed out really straight and fluffy which sort of looked funny though made him really soft. He looks better today now that he has tromped around outside and gotten most of his curl back!

He is really settling in nicely. I dare to say he is fully housebroken as I think we have gone a week with no accidents. My mom was here yesterday to watch the kids while I went to work since my husband was working also and she went to take Sammy for a walk for the first time, and when she gets to the front door and opens it he just calmly sits and waits for her signal and I say "You have to say "OK" to let him know he can go through the door" -- She was so impressed! He also has been taught to sit at each curb and wait for a release command before crossing the street. I am hoping he will be able to get where even with no leash he will not cross the road without permission. I haven't tested it much off leash yet... will try to set that up one of these days with a drag lead on and see how it goes.

Gotta go walk this dude soon! Nice to hear from another NW doodle owner!

Jen G.

[MaxandMe]

HI JEN.........so nice to meet YOU and I love reading about your intro aka real life story.

It reminded me of when my kids were younger and we had dogs, cats, fish, etc.......BUSY i didn't think of that word
as to me like you stated it's your normal daily life. NOW that my kids are almost grown i am sitting here going
"how the heck does JEN do all of this: raising kids, work, doodle puppy to train and more" WOW!!!

Honey you are busy but I like your attitude and how you have a positive mental outlook.......you sound like you have a loving life
THAT NOW has an awesome cute doodle that given time you'll have trained

Doodles can be trained like your dad's poodle without treats---------------------that's how i trained MAX as he had digestive issues
that are now gone

WELCOME TO THE FORUM..........so glad you joined and waiting to her more stories and SEE MORE PICS (we LOVE PICS)

[tuffystar]

Welcome Jen. My mom was a nurse all my life and worked midnights the whole time. My mom let us have dogs and guess who did all of the training... yup mom! What a saint you moms are! You have a gorgeous pup enjoy!