Cavoodle Cuddle

UPDATE (160707): I’ve been receiving several enquiries about Blue and cavoodles in general. So, I thought I might as well collect some information and put them all in one page (see Cavoodles: All About This Dog Breed), since I find it difficult to reply to all the emails I’ve been receiving. Unfortunately, I can’t make specific recommendations when it comes to breeders, etc. So, I just encourage you to check with your local paper listings for ads, your animal centres and/or pet stores. Thanks for your interest. And yes, Blue’s doing just great! We love him dearly and we think he’s fantastic. We hardly trained him and yet he’s toilet trained, learned to sit and stay, plays well with kids and other dogs, behaves at the groomers and dog park, etc. We can’t have chosen a better dog. And, Blue and my boy are growing up well together. It’s all good.

Please excuse me, as I’m just absolutely smitten. Yep. Puppy love indeed.

Meet Blue — our newest baby in the family. He’s six weeks old. His colouring is blenheime (chestnut and white). And, he’s so tiny. We just got him today from a local breeder.

Blue is a “Cavoodle” - a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Miniature Poodle. It’s a mixed breed also known as ‘designer’ or ‘purpose-bred’ dogs. It’s meant to bring together the friendliness, gentleness and compliant temperament of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the intelligence and loyal nature of the Miniature Poodle.

While searching for information about this mixed breed, I didn’t really find a lot of resources online. So, I think I will need to do a bit more research to see how we can best care for our puppy.

Anyway, Blue has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Since I never bought a puppy before, it was the first time I had to face the decision of choosing just one out of a litter. And, I can’t believe how tough it was to make that choice.

Thankfully, when we arrived at the breeder’s today, one of the puppies started to follow my son Cam around. So, when we asked Cam which puppy he wanted, he said, “That one,” pointing at Blue. We asked him about 3 or 4 times, and he was consistent. So, the choice was made for us. Just as well. My husband and I were proving to be hopeless with our decision making skills when it came to choosing a puppy.

We also ended up consulting our two-year-old regarding the puppy’s name. Our ever-decisive toddler didn’t take long to say “Blue.” Named after the canine character from Blue’s Clues (one of Cam’s favourite TV shows), of course. Nice.

So yeah, Cam and Blue are getting along great so far. I think my boy’s beginning to learn to share his mum and dad’s attention and affection. And, he seems to be enjoying playing with Blue a lot.

Anyway, I created a Flickr photostream dedicated to Blue, our cute new Cavoodle. It’s where I’ll post Blue’s latest photos online.

Now, we just need to cope with puppy training — and all the rest of the challenges that come with having a new dog. Yay.