How to Celebrate a 1st Birthday
We first met our labradoodle puppy Max last September 4th, when he was just ten weeks young. He came to this world together with five brothers and one sister. On June 28th, all seven of them turned one. Since his siblings live in the Bay Area, I decided to commemorate this momentous event, and to organize a celebration and family reunion. Two of his brothers and his sister, along with their “parents”/owners and children gathered at Stern Grove Park by the picnic area at Pine Lake. We hoped their breeder Melinda Leahy would join us as well, but she just had 20 new labradoodle puppies born from two different mothers. That means that twenty more families will have the joy and challenges of taking care of their new “babies”.
In my book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”, I write about how we ended up getting Max. My wife Elfa said when we are ready to have a new dog, she wants a labradoodle. For a while I checked different dog shelters, but since this breed is very popular, I ended up finding a breeder, who would have new puppies at the time of our return from the 50thwedding anniversary celebratory trip.
The labradoodle became known in 1988, when Australian Breeder Wally Conron crossed the Labrador retriever with the Standard Poodle. His aim was to combine the low-shedding coat of a poodle with the gentleness and trainability of a Labrador retriever, and to provide a guide dog suitable for people with allergies to dogs’ fur. Max is an Australian Labradoodle, and his breeder Melinda is very conscious about preserving the lineage. Doodles are not considered a BREED, but rather a hybrid, which means they are a mix of more than one purebred dog. To my huge surprise, on dogbreedinfo.com, I learned that there are 112 different dog mixes with poodles. Wow! They’re sometimes called Hybrid Dogs; Designer Dogs; Poos; or simply Doodles. Whatever you call them, they are dogs who need to be loved, fed, sheltered and trained. Some people do not think, or forget about the importance of training their dogs. This is one of the reasons why close to 4 million enter dog shelters nationwide, annually. About 1.5 million of those dogs are euthanized (killed) every year. After I finished working on “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”, I decided to use my book to promote awareness of how to become your dog’s best friend. The first step is to donate 10% from the sale of the book on behalf of the buyers, to various dog shelters. I also started Facebook page, “Max and Manny” where I share my experiences with Max. As time progresses you will learn more about my readers’ and my activities.
The book is going to be available after the 15thof August. You will be able to order it on Amazon.com or you can pre-order at encounterspublishing.com.
P.S. These four images are from Max and his siblings’ birthday party. You see Truman with his “mom” Norma, Ziggy on the hand of his “Dad” Shawn, Rosy after indulging in birthday cake, and all four of them after deciding birthday cake can be even too much for a dog. Please check out the Max and Manny Facebook Page.
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Cheers,
