One small leap for a man, one giant leap for a Labradoodle

So it's been a busy 2 weeks since I last posted but on Sunday night my search for a four legged companion finally came to an end.

The months building up to this have not been smooth, Dog charities are very particular about the criteria to re-home a dog and whilst I am glad they do due diligence on the rare occasion I did get feedback on my applications I found the reasons somewhat disappointing. For example, I could not re-home one particular puppy because my neighbour had a dog. As a nation of dog lovers here in the UK, I would imagine it's quite hard to find a residential street without any other dogs but I do believe the charities do good work under difficult circumstances so maybe there was an underlying issue they hadn’t covered in his biography.

That said I am now the proud owner of a yet to be named 11 week old labradoodle puppy.

Now I have to admit I did buy him rather than adopt, principally because an opportunity presented unexpectedly and I had to move quickly before the last of the litter was gone.

I was visiting my parents for the weekend and on Sunday my father saw a local advert for Labradoodles available in their village. I was reluctant at first as I hadn’t given much thought to buying instead preferring to adopt as I had in the past but I was becoming disheartened by my search progress to date. Spurred on by my parents, how close by it was and the fully documented medical histories of both parents and puppy I decide to take a look.

The couple who were selling couldn’t haven’t been nicer working the same farm that had been in the family for multiple generations, horses in the neighbouring fields and a wall of horse show trophies in the kitchen it was clear these people knew and loved animals and meeting both mother and puppy they were obviously very well looked after. With my apprehension subsiding, furthered by every wag, lick and longing look, I decided my wait was over and I took the plunge and bought my new best friend.

Armed with puppy information sheets, veterinary records, a supply of his food and a blanket with his mother's scent I made my way back to my parents. Now I had my first obstacle I didn’t have a dog crate and its 7 pm on a Sunday evening so all the shops were closed. Luckily my dad has a lifetime of ‘just in case’ items stored in his garage and it wasn’t long before a very competently built reinforced cardboard box crate was constructed, and it was time to venture forth up the motorway this time with no one to aid me in keeping my new companion calm.

What I anticipated was going to be a slow and unsettling journey ended up being anything but, it seems that as long as he can see me or feel me he was ok and remained remarkably relaxed to say he was leaving his entire world behind. I don't know whether we just bonded immediately or if it's a testament to his character but this dog trusted me and as long as I was there with him he seemed happy to start this new adventure together.

Upon arriving home I had a new shadow he was never more than a pace away when I stopped he sat down at my feet, and when I moved he would weave between my legs never seeming to want to be in front or behind me for more than a moment. The rest of the evening was spent playing and bonding until eventually, I had worn him out, and I thought it time to go to bed.

My plan was to keep him downstairs in the breakfast room in an old collapsable animal playpen we had when we took our previous dogs on holiday with us. With the soft kitchen lights to avoid him becoming too scared I placed him on his mother's blanket in his dog bed inside the pen as he settled in to fall asleep. I had taken no more than 20 paces to the bottom of the stairs however before I heard a single deep bark followed by a thump and then the patter of tiny paws on the kitchen floor, he had already escaped to find me. After a few more failed attempts a new plan was needed. Despite not really wanting to have him up in the bedroom I reluctantly realised unless I moved his pen to me I wasn’t getting any sleep that night.

Knowing he could still escape and really not wanting him to pee on the floor or climb into my bed I hoped that his reaction during the car journey home would continue to hold true. Luckily it did, with a few adjustments, a swapping sides of the bed and a temporary 180 degree rotation I was in full view of his pen. If he woke and I wasn’t able to be seen a quick whimper to move back into view was all that was needed for him to settle again, he never once tried to climb out of his pen and explore.

A 5 am wake from me saw that no puppy accidents so I thought now was the best time to take him out. Almost immediately he did his business and we were off back to our beds. 6.30 am I woke to a new type of whimpering sound so again a quick trip to the garden had him doing his other business.

All in all, I think this was a very successful first night. I will finish off with a few more photos and hope someone can help suggest that perfect name.