and boy did they grow!
We’ve had four dogs over the last 43 years. Most of that time we were just normal dog owners. This time, with dog #4, we possibly overdid it. We decided that we’d get sibling puppies with our daughter Amy and friend Christina. And, for the first time, we chose to purchase from a breeder. All of our previous dogs were rescues, and all were wonderful. This time, Christina wanted to be sure that her dog could be a therapy dog, and we wanted a dog who could hike with us, and my daughter (well really all of us) wanted a dog that wouldn’t shed.
The universe laughed.
Together we settled on three siblings from a Mini Poodle and an Aussie Doodle. Do you see the size of those paws? The biggest of the litter chose me. Amy went home with the smallest of the litter, and Christina found a freckled boy. Barkley, Ada, and Hugo. They assured us that they’d range in size from 15-30 pounds. We were in love!
(Disclaimer – we’ve gotten some push back on good old facebook over not rescuing a dog this time, and for being one of those “doodle” people. So please, no hate. I get it, I do. But this is where we are now.)
Our ‘mini’ turned out not to be. Two of the siblings are small and more poodley but ours is now 47 pounds (!) and much more of an Aussie. Oh, and remember that non-shedding trait we were looking forward to? Yeah. Not so much. So, our non-mini, shedding, designer dog is now 17 months old.
Getting the biggest dog we’ve ever had in our mid-sixties with a 90 year old living with us was a bold move we didn’t completely know we were making. Hello, that’s why we asked for a mini! My biggest concern was how he would be when home alone with my mother-in-law, but he is a gentle giant and her reading buddy.
On Sundays we generally have all three dogs at our house and it is a zoo. Like most siblings they are not always well behaved when they are together but man do they have fun. We’ve weathered potty training, fights over toys, the destruction of my garden, rock eating, and health scares. If there’s a quiet week it probably means they are plotting more shenanigans. Slowly, slowly, things are calming down.
So maybe we are 1000% crazy to have done this, but we’re 1000% in love these these guys, so we’ll make it.
SNAPBYSNAP 