My son has been wanting a dog forever,  while I think that my husband and I have never gotten over the loss of our Borzoi, “Cyrano” fifteen whole years ago.   Now that my son is old enough to start learning some responsibility we decided to take the plunge.  We’ve been looking at several different breeds for months and fell in love with a chocolate Labradoodle.  We found our amazing breeder “Riverbend Labradoodles” in Ohio.  They have been breeding champion English Style Labrador Retrievers for over 20 years,  winning awards and even have attended the Westminster Kennel Club Show 2 years in a row.  They started breeding Labradoodles in 2003 as the combination of these two great breeds produce a dog with high intelligence, a sweet disposition, willingness to please and make perfect family companions.  I had a Standard Poodle as a child and can attest to their incredible intelligence.  So we bought a second generation (75% Poodle-25% Labrador) chocolate Labradoodle and named him “Ellis”.  It was love at first sight when we picked him up at the airport.  We just had our vet check up yesterday and he’s doubled in size since he came home.  I’m working on the potty training and frankly can’t wait to get through that stage.  It seems that puppies have no real control over their bladders until 12-14 weeks old.  Needless to say, every rug has been pulled up and I am either running outside or mopping constantly.  As challenging as a new puppy is,  I feel like we have a new baby in the house and we are all smitten!  Welcome home “Ellis”!

We’ve been swimming in the River several times and it’s true that even small puppies know how to do the dog paddle!