Finally!  The days being counted down until we could go to pick out our new puppy had seemed endless.  I had been searching for a special mini goldendoodle puppy. Our chocolate Lab, Rusty, is over 7 years old and Luke, our mini goldendoodle, is 2 years old.  When we brought Luke home, Rusty took a good long look at Luke and then at me.  I sat on the floor, allowing Rusty to explore this blonde, wiggling bunch of fur.  After a few sniffs and nose touches, the bond was sealed.  Rusty became the mentor for Luke and taught him how the family dynamics operated.  Now that Luke was grown, it was time to add another member to our pack family.  In my search, I chanced upon a website that featured Golden Retrievers and Mini Goldendoodles,.  The puppies were so beautiful that I knew this would be where I would find the special puppy that would come into our family.   I scrolled thru the pictures of the litter of 8 females and 4 males, sired by Toby, a toy poodle and birthed by Golden Shepherd Mom, Dory.  I called and spoke to Mr. Bart Hainz, pet breeder and owner of the kennel.  There was no sales pitch or outlandish price for his puppies.  His fondness for all of the puppies and resident adult dogs was evident in his voice.  I expressed an interest in getting a female puppy from the litter born on May 29, 2014.  The puppy pick out and up date was July 26th, the very day of my birthday.  We sent our deposit in and were assigned a fourth pick slot for one of the 8 female puppies.  Each puppy had a different Velcro collar which allowed us to follow four female puppies that we thought might be the “One” for us.  [ www.heartlandgoldensanddoodles.com. ]   

We set off towards Yorktown, Indiana, on July 25th.  The estimated travel time was around 10 hours, but traffic delays made the trip more than 11 hours long.   We always plan for having a layover stop whenever we go over 6 hours of driving.  It makes the trip easier and more pleasant.  About 2 hours before arriving at our hotel, we stopped and had a delicious steak dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, in Beaver Creek, Ohio.  Mark and I enjoy having times like these because it is special.  Breaking out of a routine and going on a trip together is a reminder of how much we cherish taking these “honeymoon” type trips.   Our reservation was at a Best Western Plus Hotel, which had a three star rating with Triple A.   Yorktown was only about 11 miles from the hotel.  Indianapolis  is about an hour away.  When we arrived to check in, I saw that there were three hotels in the same area as ours.  We went to our lovely room and after a quick bed bug check, a rushed bath, brush and clean, it was off to sleep, with visions of little “Bella’s” in my head.

I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, then put my glasses on and looked again.  It was 7:30 am, almost time to go see the puppies!  Since I function better after a couple of cups of coffee, I headed off to the breakfast bar and, ” Wow”!  I left with waffles, eggs, biscuits and gravy, some fruit and yogurt and a bagel with cream cheese.  Mark and I had breakfast in our room and counted down the minutes until we could leave to go to Heartland’s kennel.  Even after taking time to check out and driving slowly to get there, we still arrived at our destination 30 minutes early.  Picture this in your mind.  You arrive at the address and there is this beautiful brick home sitting back from the drive, a lush green, seemingly endless carpet of grass and landscaped areas making the home pretty enough for a postcard.   As we got to the end of the drive, the kennel area was in close proximity to the home.  Clean concrete runs and a central housing area along with a covered open play area for the kennel residents made walking around and petting the resident adult dogs a pleasure.

It was all we could do to respect the privacy of the family ahead of us still making their selection.  I considered it an exercise in patience.  When someone is evaluating and choosing a pet, they do not need to have the puppies pulled away by another family coming too early and diverting the puppies from the family already there trying to choose.  Lord knows it is hard enough just to be there trying to choose.  At 9:50, Mr. Hainz gave us the nod to start our selection.  A lovely light blonde puppy had been selected by the family ahead of us.  Scratch one off of my list of four.  As we walked up to the puppies, out came a golden blur of fur that ran towards my husband  and preceded to a “hi, there!  glad you are here!” playfulness that involved a tumble and roll right up to rest upon the top of his shoes.  Mark knew nothing about my colored band list.  He just knew this puppy was a sweetheart.  I turned and went to her as well and she was all puppy kisses and wiggles and biting my hair.  What a darling puppy!  I looked at her band it was green, my last choice.  But she was so cute!  No, I stood up and went to look at pinky and orange.  Both were so sweet and orange came close, but little green, our “greeter”, she was our “Bella”.

As we were completing the paperwork for little Bella, I had a chance to talk with Mr. Hainz, who is just as pleasant and nice in person as he had sounded on the phone.   Bart, as he asked me to call him, had even remembered that this day was my birthday.  He gave me a card with a picture of a little “mini-Bella” on the front with a butterfly sitting on her nose.  He shared his reasons why and history of how he became interested in raising puppies and his love for Golden Retrievers, the English White Retrievers and Mini Goldendoodles.  Bella was micro-chipped and the chip scanned and activated.  We received a yellow letter-sized envelope containing copies of her parents’ AKC & CKC papers, the micro-chip packet, her Veterinarian report and first shots, health guarantee information and buyer’s contract.

Our Bella’s purchase price was $1,200.00.  As a comparison, our male Mini Goldendoodle’s purchase price was $1,300.00.  Our male came with a Veterinarian report, first shots and some info about his parents.  Both parents were there so that we could see them.  Our Luke is beautiful and smart, a true joy for our family.  Luke recently received his OFA certification for his hips.  As for Bella, there is no doubt that she will be Luke’s match in all areas.  After all, she has had a pet breeder who, in my opinion,  is dedicated in making sure that his resident dogs are well taken care of and healthy.  Mr. Hainz’s Golden and English Retriever and Mini Goldendoodle puppies are played with by both adults and children.  Bella’s brother and sisters were almost as awesome as she is, but hey, we are the ones she picked so our judgment might be a little biased.  After all, who are we to question Bella’s choice?

Another update on Bella will be posted this week.