Aubrey, the labradoodle puppy
January 15th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Yesterday, we took a trip to visit some friends and to meet their new labradoodle puppy, Aubrey.
These friends had been on our waiting list, for the litter we had planned to have with Grey.
When we decided not to breed her, they faced the difficulties of finding another litter in the UK from stock which were free of health problems in their lines.
What appealed to them the most about the SRHP was their physical appearance, and their good temperament with people and other dogs. They wanted a ‘family pet’ and had no intention of competing in any dog sport with their dog.
We managed to dissuade them from the SRHP as a breed. I recommended they consider a labradoodle from a responsible breeder – with all health-tests carried out – and a first-generation crossbreed, to ensure maximum genetic diversity and a low COI.
They did a lot of research to find a good breeder and in October, they travelled to Northamptonshire to bring home Aubrey – a chocolate labradoodle, with a standard poodle father and a show-bred labrador mother.
Aubrey is now 20wks old and is a very happy, laid-back yet energetic puppy who takes things in his stride. The family are enjoying a dog which wants to stay in the general vicinity of them on walks naturally, and without any training: Labradors are bred to walk at heel and not to hunt, in front of the handler. Poodles were originally retrievers also. Neither breed have been bred to hunt and find game before the shot. (As SRHPs have been bred.)
And, on arriving home from our walk, Aubrey was quite happy to be tied up outside for a short period of time without protest, whilst we put the kettle on. Later in the evening, he was silent when shut out in another room at dinner time. I couldn’t imagine a SRHP silently and non-vocally accepting these things without considerable training. Such is Aubrey’s laid-back nature…
SRHPs may look like grey labradoodles – but, inside, they are a different kettle of fish, as a HPR breed.
Walk on the beach with Mokey
December 22nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
We met up with a friend, Hannah, who owns Slate’s sister (Mokey), for a walk on the beach today.
Mokey is from a repeat mating, so she is Slate’s full sister, but 18mnths younger and not Slate’s litter mate.
We looked after Mokey for 3 weeks when she was 14-16wks old: We had just Slate at the time. It was really good to trial having 2 dogs before we had Grey.
Slate and Mokey had a few disagreements today, when we first met, then they decided to do their own separate things.
walks at the weekend
March 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
As we’re in the process of house-hunting at the moment, the dogs come with us on trips to various parts of the south-east at weekends, and we have great fun exploring new walks.
This weekend saw us going to Stonegate in East Sussex on Saturday, followed by the Devil’s Punch Bowl near Guildford today.
The house at the Devil’s Punch Bowl (Gnome Cottage) was in a lovely setting and had immediate access to the National Trust land of the Devil’s Punch Bowl. But the house itself was just too small: No bigger than our current house and perhaps a little smaller, too.
So the house-hunt goes on.
And, after a walk and your dinner, you need to retire for your after-dinner cigar…. I mean, bone:
