Cavoodle Family Reunion

In the park today Butterscotch met up with his brother, half brother and cousin!

The dog in the top left photo is Pixie, Buddy's cousin (we are pretty sure their mums are sisters). On the bottom left is Cody, who is now 1 year old. Cody is a full brother to Buddy and they are very similar in colouring.

The black dog next to Cody is Pablo who is nearly 1 year old and a half brother to Buddy and Cody. Pablo, Cody and Buddy have the same dad and Pablo and Pixie have the same mum. (Which makes Pablo a cousin and a half brother to Buddy?)

The photo on the right has Buddy in front, Cody is standing behind and Ollie is the dog on the right. Ollie is a cavoodle too but no relation!

Butterscotch at 6 weeks of age

This is Buddy when he was about 6 weeks of age. He was a bit bigger when he came to live with us, about 8 weeks of age.

Some places will sell dogs this young, as little as 6 weeks of age. But that is one of the things we liked about Annie, that she keeps her pups a little longer, giving them extra time with their mum.

Being with their mum and littermates longer helps a pup to learn how to be a dog and helps them to learn social skills. Annie usually keeps the puppies with their mum until about 8 weeks.

Meeting a cavoodle

September 2006

At a Cafe one Saturday morning we noticed this adorable little guy. By the look of him, we thought he might be a cavoodle, so of course we had to say hello.

The kids fell in love with this gorgeous, friendly pup, and his owners put us in contact with Annie, the breeder.

Cody was so sweet, he was the best advertising a dog breeder could hope for! But I still wanted to check Annie out for myself. I emailed her many times and also phoned her several times. I wanted to feel confident that she was an ethical, responsible dog breeder.

I was more than happy when I spoke to her and felt that she had genuine a love for her dogs and would take good care of our puppy.

Choosing the right dog for us (part 2)

We did a few on-line surveys, including the one on Pet Net, to help us decide which kind of dog would be best for our family. The select a pet questionnaires kept telling us that a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel would be a good dog for us. And this lead us to consider getting a cavoodle.

In this photo you can see Butterscotch with his mum, Peggy, who is a cavalier. We think Buddy is the one closest to his mum's head in this picture. You can already see he is a beauty!

Choosing the right dog for us (part 1)

It took us a long time to decide we were ready for a dog. And while we were thinking it over we spent a lot of time researching what kind of dog would be best for our family.

We wanted a dog that was going to be good with children but that would happy inside most of the time and didn't need a lot of exercise. My hubby was also pretty keen on a low-shedding kind of dog, so we were attracted to the idea of a poodle-cross.

This photo is Peppy the poodle, he is Butterscotch's dad. We liked the idea of a poodle because they are so smart and the new poodle crosses (hybrid dogs) are supposed to be great with kids.

See Burke's Backyard website for his road test of various dog types:
Top Ten Dogs (both cavaliers and poodles get a mention)
Cavoodles (a dog that combines the best of two breeds ... we think so!)