ADOPTING AN AUSTRALIAN LABRADOODLE
If you are already preparing for a puppy to arrive we have some suggestions for preparing your household on our Welcoming Puppy Page.
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO A LABRADOODLE PUPPY
Time To Spend With Your Puppy
A young puppy needs somebody at home. It is possible to leave a puppy at home in an exercise pen or other safe area for several hours a day but a puppy is like a baby. He is a social creature who learns and grows from interaction.
A puppy will need walks when he is fully immunized and can go out in the world. He will need to attend puppy classes and meet people and other dogs to become a well socialized individual. This all takes time out of a busy life.
Can you make plans for him when the day is going to be unusually long and busy? He won’t understand a work schedule that is immediately followed by ballet class and a hockey game unless of course he can come.
Can you make provision for a puppy sitter if puppy is to be left alone? How many places will he be allowed to go with you?
Do You Have a Place For Your Puppy To Be?
When the puppy has to go to the bathroom he will need a safely fenced area. No puppy should ever be loose and off leash where he can take a notion to run very fast and get into trouble. No acreage is big enough not to have a fenced area if the puppy or dog is going to be left outside on his own even for short periods of time.
If you live in an apartment where there is no outdoor space your puppy will need an indoor spot or other safe place to pee until he is fully immunized and can walk in the street.
If you do have a fenced yard your puppy won't care to be left in it while you leave the house for work or other long periods of time. No dog is happy left alone in the yard all day. Isolation quickly makes a dog a barker and an anxious individual most likely disliked by the neighbors.
How Much Money Does Raising A Labradoodle Cost?
Like children, puppies cost money. An Australian Labradoodle will need regular grooming and veterinary care. Good quality food is essential. Food found in the supermarket is not high quality. Most of the money these companies spend goes to advertising. We are feeding a food called Horizon Legacy. There are many high quality foods to be found at specialty pet shops. To see what lies inside your kibble go to the Dog Food Annalysis Website at www.dogfoodannalysis.com.
There is also the cost of occasional boarding when you want to take a vacation without puppy. There is the cost of ongoing puppy and dog classes, which he needs to become a good canine citizen that everybody will love and admire.
Perhaps if you would like a clear idea about the costs of adding a puppy to the family, check out the average costs of things like grooming and vaccines with your local groomer and Veterinarian.
Although a wonderful puppy growing into a wonderful dog will give you much more than he will cost in time and money for many families these things do need to be taken into consideration.
IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE READY TO ADOPT A PUPPY WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Call Jean.
We don’t have an application form, just these ideas to consider before you bring a puppy into your home. We like to talk to our puppy families either on the phone or in person. By talking to each other you can get some idea of what we do and we can get to know your needs a little better.
Which Puppy?
Puppy photos are cute. Although black puppies often don’t photograph as well as blonde puppies they make just as charming, lovable companions. Often we are certain we want a specific color or sex. However we have learned that boy dogs are faithful and as sweet as girl dogs, particularly if they have been neutered at a young age. The most important consideration is the puppy’s personality. You want dog that fits in with your family.
Some families want a quiet, small dog to walk around the block, cuddle at tea time and enjoy going in the camper for vacations. Other families want a more active dog that wants to play with teenage kids and go for hikes in the snow. Some puppies seem like delicate flowers and we want to place them with perhaps an only child or a retired couple. Some dogs are confident and quiet while others are playful and affectionate. We want to be as careful as we can to place a puppy in the right family. Puppies, we are sure, have dream families just as surely as families have dream dogs.
One puppy owner told me she loved walking her Maggie “because she trots along like knows she’s fine!’ Maggie is a fabulous girl who struts down the street and enjoys meeting everybody. I think perhaps Maggie is definitely more of a Bette Midler than a Mary Poppins.
It really does take living with a puppy to notice what the puppy is truly like.
Eight Week Evaluations
We have a professional evaluating team come in when the puppies are eight weeks old. They use the Pat Hastings Method of Puppy Evaluation. The experienced team looks at temperament qualities as well as physical qualities to best predict the sort of dog she will become. Did you know that the neck’s structure can determine how fond of swimming the dog could be? Some dogs are built for agility others are not and so won’t care for it much. We pay for the evaluation so hopefully you will have the dog of your dreams.
We love it when people choose the darling little boy with the white ruff around his neck but we hope that families will understand if after the evaluation we tell them that this puppy will fit in better with a quiet life and you could find each other boring. We like to be able to discuss the puppies with families and work with them so that everybody is happy.
DEPOSITS AND MONEY
An Australian Labradoodle puppy is $2500. If you decide on a puppy from Over The Moon the nonrefundable deposit is $500.
Our Breeding Dogs
We breed or buy the finest quality Australian Labradoodles. They are true Australian Labradoodles from Austalian stock. These were the dogs that became so popular everybody wanted to copy them and 'doodles" became the flavor of the month.
Lilyanna's mother was the first Australian Labradoodle in North America to give birth to a litter of puppies. LIlyanna was from Tassi's last litter before she retired.When we raise a dog to become a breeding dog we put a great deal of time and money into dna and health testing. We want to make sure the parents are the best possible pair to produce strong, healthy puppies. Sometimes we raise parents for the better part of two years, test them, love them and find they are not good breeding candidates at which point we spay or neuter and start again.
Health Testing
We first evalutate potential parents to see if their coats and their structure will improve on our ongoing Australian Labradoodle breeding program.
When the potential stud or dam is a year old we have hips and elbows x-rayed to make sure the they will not pass on the presisposition for leg problems or hip displasia.
We dna the potential breeder to test for the commonly passed on genetic disorders including early blindness and Von Wildebrand Disease. We give every breeding dog an eye exam with a veterinary ophthalmologist each year as well as a veternary exam before breeding.
What Your Money Buys
Our puppies are spayed, neutered, have had at least two sets of vaccines as well as Bordatella vaccine. They have a vet exam before they leave us. This is between five and six hudred dollars worth of Veternary care.
We allow our mothers to wean naturally and keep them with the puppies until the puppies are nine or ten weeks old. Nobody can teach a growing puppy manners like mum. We are not in a hurry to get the babies out of the house and into their new homes. Beginning lessons like bite inhibition and when no means no are best taught by the mother dog. We just continue the lessons.
We have the puppies in our kitchen after they leave the whelping room which is next to our bedroom. Puppies are always with us and our other dogs.
We buy each puppy a crate when they are five weeks old and this is their real estate. It is included in the pet puppy price. The puppies fly or travel in their own crate.
We register each puppy with the International Australian Labradoodle Association.
We make arrangements for professional training if the family wishes it. We either make travel arrangements for the puppy after the training, or bring her back here to be picked up and to meet with the family and Kathy Novokshonoff, CPTD.
We welcome families here and love it when they visit us and pick up their puppy.
If your puppy is going to fly we drive him to either Kelowna B.C. or Spokane Washington and put him on the plane.
After You Have Made A Deposit
We keep in touch with you with puppy photos and updates. If you decide to have your puppy professionally trained we book her time with Kathy Novokshonoff.
The $500 and the Pet Insurance fee is payable before your puppy packs his bags to leave us and go to Kathy. The balance of $2000 to Over The Moon is payable before we make travel arrangements.
After you decide on a puppy we will hold him for one business day in order to give you time to make a bank deposit.
Tom Tom and the Cat
Hmmmm Sleeping cat.
Up you get
Come dog, over here
ooof
First I bow
We both bow
So let's dance
Tango!
Nice Move
And completing my spin!
We're both pretty smooth
Let's spin together
yahoooooooooo
Where'd you go??
Thank goodness. I'm so done.
Thank you. We must do it again soon.
She's crazy about me
PUPPY FINDS A HOME
A TRUE TALE OF A TAIL FOR SALE, BY JEAN
There once was a puppy named Jonah who was 16 weeks old. His brothers and sisters had already traveled to their homes but Jonah was still in his original home with his doggie mum and four other big dogs. Jonah spent mornings chasing the dogs in a field and afternoons sleeping under the computer while his big mum sat in a chair. Life was pretty good.
His big mum however wondered why nobody had chosen Jonah. Nobody, in his sixteen weeks of life had even asked about the little brown puppy with the rosey nose. One morning a nice lady, Marjorie called and was so excited that Jonah was still available. She was going to talk to her husband and make a deposit on Jonah. We talked at length and I told her that it seemed to me she would be the perfect mum for Jonah. That evening when Marjorie was supposed to call the telephone was silent.
The next afternoon Steven called. He lived in Texas and had just seen Jonah on our website. He thought Jonah was the sweetest puppy. He would just chat to his wife about him and call me back. Marjorie called that evening and asked more questions about Jonah. They were good questions and we had another nice talk. I mentioned to her that Steven was also interested in Jonah. Marjorie said she would get back to me quickly. I smiled as I went to sleep. Nobody had been interested in Jonah and now two nice families were looking at him.
At nine o’clock the next morning Allison telephoned from Lethbridge. She had seen Jonah on our website. He was not the colour they wanted but perhaps he would work for their family. Allison had two children, a fenced yard and had done a lot of Labradoodle research. At the end of the conversation Allison decided that Jonah was the dog for her. She said she would make a bank deposit that day and could I arrange a flight for Jonah.
Of course, not twenty minutes later Marjorie called to tell me she did in fact want Jonah. I had to explain that I had promised him to Allison only twenty minutes earlier and that Allison had the day to make the bank deposit. Marjorie was so upset. She was so upset that she yelled at me. Steven phoned at seven o’clock in the evening. He wanted Jonah too.
“Gee Jonah, you are Mr. Popular today.”
Jonah kept chewing on his bone at my feet, obviously unconcerned.
By noon the next day there was still no bank deposit from Allison.
By the following morning there was still no bank deposit from Allison.
I telephoned and she said her husband just didn’t want a dog with a rose nose and she was sorry she didn’t let me know.
“Oh my Jonah.”
I telephoned Marjorie. Marjorie was excited but had to talk once more with her husband who was out of town. I explained to her that there was a gentleman interested and I couldn’t hold Jonah for her. However, Steven could have bought a Texas Pomeranian by now.
I telephoned Steven. He told me he would have the deposit in my bank by online banking within the hour.
He did.
Marjorie was not pleased.
An hour later Allison called. She was on her way to the bank. They really did want Jonah after all. I explained he was going to Texas. Allison cried.
I have received several photos of Jonah in his cowboy hat. He has a summer house in the Florida Keys and life is good for him.
The End
Not only is this tale of Jonah true it happens in some way every puppy season and with every puppy breeder. Most of the families that contact us are wonderful. They have done research and they have made ample provision for a dog in their lives. Jonah would have been a lucky boy to have gone to any one of these families.
Choosing a puppy is a big decision for families. However you can see from this story that until there is a deposit in the bank the puppy cannot be held.
After a family decides on a puppy we will hold him for one business day in order to give them time to make a bank deposit.
Contact information: Over the Moon Australian Labradoodles
phone: 250 442 0065. We are at 2675 - 65th Avenue, Grand Forks, BC Canada
email: ourlabradoodles@yahoo.com
alternative email: moonlab@telus.net