I cannot begin to even figure out a way to tell you how funny, loving and just pure joy this little cutie brings to us each day.  Bella is a wonderful example of  what a puppy owner can expect when he or she puts in the time, love and energy to help their puppy nestle into their family.   I am a firm believer in making sure that the puppy fits the family and the family fits the puppy.   Going to see the puppy that you think you might want is to me, important.  There are kennel families and there are families like ours.  Luke, our male mini-goldendoodle, sleeps on the left bottom side of our bed.  Bella is my cuddle bunny.  She likes to sleep next to me and sometimes winds up sleeping on my shoulder and part of my pillow.  We do watch TV together and she does have her own favorite movie.  There is something about the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance” that she really likes to see.  I think it might be the golf clubs and golf courses, plus lots of movement in the scenes.

I am happy to say that Bella is now potty trained to the outdoors.  It was not convenient to help her reach that point but well worth the current results.   She developed a special bark that lets me know, “hey, I want to go out”.”  If I don’t go right then, she comes to my chair and barks again.  I know it is time for us  to take the walk.  For those of you who have been following Bella on our blog website, you know that we did the every two hours, then every three hours and finally got to five hours by the time she was three months old.  Bella, after the first few weeks,  would actually wake me up by pulling on my hair and making a little growl bark.  So far Bella has learned how to “give me five”,  sit on command, come when called and “speak”.   Fetch is running about  50/50 on retrieving and bringing back.

We are now working on “hold”, “down-stay” and “scoot”.  I am also using hand movements with some of the commands.  Scoot” is a good one for us.  Using a forward wave of my fingers and the command to “scoot”, moves her to her place to sit.  It also lets her know that I sit in the center of the chair and she has her place beside me.  By teaching her routine commands and a few fun commands allows her to know that I am the one in charge and she follows my lead.  I have seen friends that have had puppies that were “soooo cute!!!” doing little aggressive territory things.  However, those same actions were not so cute once they had gotten older and the cute growl was now a threatening bark.

I know that I mentioned at the first of my article that our dogs each have their own special sleeping place.   Bella does have her own crate or kennel, as some of us call it.  It is in the corner of our family room and is left open so that she can go in and out during the day.  She does have a mandatory kennel naptime every afternoon and it lasts for about two hours.  She does also go there on her own to nap during the day.   Evenings are more of a time for all of us to hang out together.  As I am writing this now, Bella is sleeping on the foot part of my recliner next to my leg.  The weather is getting cooler now and her warm little body feels really good against me.  Luke is asleep on the couch with Mark and Rusty, our chocolate lab, is on his rug next to the air vent.  The three of them are play pals and yes, Bella does get an occasional attitude tweak from Rusty.  He can take his paw and hold her down on the floor.  He is not hurting her but he is letting her know to quit biting on his ears.  She turns over and starts licking his face.  That’s it.  She’s up and away.

Oh and just an update about Bella’s once broken leg.  The break is now healed over with a nice hard seal and she is as fit as a fiddle.  Every once in a while, her funny little walk kicks in and she does the ” hoppy toad” two step that she would do to run to catch up with Luke.  Bella now weighs 13 pounds. Last week she finished up all of her puppy shots and got her first year rabies shot.  She, along with our other two, are taking monthly Iverhart heartworm medicine and a chewable flea and tick preventative.  I really like Iverhart because in addition to heartworms, round worms and hook works, Iverhart also kills tapeworms.   If you are going to be sharing sleeping quarters, monthly grooming, worming and flea and tick meds are a must.

Oh and as an FYI, last month, we took our two year + old male mini goldendoodle in for a teeth cleaning and x-rayed for hip certification.  According to our vet, Dr. Manning, Luke’s hips looked great.  We sent of a copy of the x-rays and did get his certification from the OFA.  Great news all the way around in this newsletter!