This is so dead on that I had to put this up so if you ever decide to venture into this field of work. You will have this dialog probably about 3 times daily give or take.
Labradoodle “inventor” regrets decision
Man who ‘invented’ the labradoodle regrets decision to breed world’s first designer dog
BY Rosemary Black
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Original article found on NYDailynews.com
Wednesday, May 5th 2010, 1:57 PM
Kazmierski/Getty
Labradoodles, a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle, have become a popular ‘designer’ breed for pet owners.
The creator of the popular labradoodle wonders if he was barking up the wrong tree when he came up with the idea for the world’s first designer dog.
The 81-year-old Australian man says he’s not sure he made the right decision to cross a poodle with a Labrador retriever back in the late 1980s. Since then, designer mixed-breed dogs have proliferated, giving pet owners the choice among groodles, snoodles and spoodles, among others.
”Today I am internationally credited as the first person to breed the labradoodle,” 81-year-old Australian resident Wally Conran told The Australian. “But I wonder, in my retirement, whether we bred a designer dog – or a disaster.”
While working for the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia in the early 1980s, Conran was contacted by a vision-impaired woman in Hawaii. She needed an allergy-free guide dog since her husband had allergies to dogs. Though no breed is completely hypoallergenic, Conran decided to try crossing a poodle with a lab. Once he found a trainable poodle with a good temperament, he mated it to the lab and three puppies were born. The vision-impaired woman’s husband learned that just one puppy was allergy free.
The new crossbred dog was a good fit for allergy sufferers who were vision-impaired, but the world’s first designer dog didn’t really catch on until Conran came up with a great marketing idea.
“I decided to stop mentioning the word crossbreed and introduced the term ‘labradoodle’ instead to describe my new allergy-free guide-dog pups,” he wrote.
The name caught on and interest in the labradoodle soared, but he began to worry about “backyard breeders producing supposedly allergy-free dogs for profit,” Conran wrote. He felt that he had opened up a Pandora’s box.
“Were breeders bothering to check their sires and bitches for hereditary faults, or were they simply caught up in delivering to hungry customers the next status symbol?” he wrote.
And, Conran added, “It’s not something I’m proud of. I wish I could turn the clock back.”
No such thing as”teacup” dogs
The word teacup is something that makes me immediately think scam and heartache to those who are not familiar. Very small dogs sold under the term “teacup” are usually sold to people that have no idea that the term is made up and a great marketing strategy which can bring in $$$. If a breeder says they specialize in “teacups” RUN, RUN, RUN ! “TEACUP” puppies are in reality premature puppies SOMETIMES purposely being separated early from mom earlier than 8 weeks to promote stunted growth which can be very dangerous with improper development but bring in $$$ from uninformed owners.
The word “Teacup” has been used to merely describe the size of a puppy, meaning it is very small and will probably be under the standard size which is 4 to 7 pounds. Their bones are VERY fragile and can be broken by jumping off of a couch, falling off of a bed, being stepped on or worse.
Some of the problems that may be encountered are both genetic and congenital in these pups.
The risk of open fontanels (soft spot from the cranial bone not forming), portosystemic shunts (PSS- abnormal vessel that allows blood to bypass the liver. As a result the blood is not cleansed by one of the bodies filters: the liver.), hypoglycemia, cardiac problems, collapsing trachea, luxating patellas, Leggs Calves Perthes disease, seizures, hydroencephaly, blindness and digestive problems can be increased.
Problems such as respiratory problems can remain or worsen throughout their lives. These pups are so fragile that they do not live more than a few years. There is no such thing as a “tea cup” Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Poodle, or ANY other breed for that matter. They simply do not exist. “Tea-cup” is just a marketing ploy given by unethical and unscrupulous breeders to drive up the price of their puppies!
Do your homework and if you are looking for a toy breed, don’t fall for the scam of “teacup” anything. Toy breeds each have their own guidelines and reputable clubs that work hard to educate and preserve. Unfortunately I know more horror stories than good ones in regards to people buying online without any physical meeting.
Check with AKC.org to see what is appropriate for the dog of your choice.
Canine clothing
Dog clothing may be a necessity for those that shiver when its cold. Dog clothing is not for everyone however some dogs cannot do well with the cold. Our dog is sensitive to heat and cold. I always carry a dog sweater in my car for those chilly nights when we are out dining at a patio. Dog clothing can be quite silly and ugly. It’s hard to find likeable dog clothes. Here is a list of great clothes.
Londonrex.com–I met the owner at the SF dog show and I loved that she made these herself out of vintage clothing at thrift stores. She had a sophisticated selection with lots of unique patterns and styles. She does custom orders and sizing.
Londonrex.com
Londonrex.com
Chiwowwow.com–offers a variety of clothing everything from canine rock jackets to Marvel comic canine clothing.
Chiwowwow.com for boys
chiwowwow.com for girls
Earthdoggy.com–Earth friendly dog store with a variety of warm wear.
Poor puppy!
Today I got a real shocker. I had a 8-9 month yorkie who had little experience grooming or any behavior training. I knew it was a challenge but never did I think I would see what I saw today. I tried safely to complete the grooming but with no luck. With the yorkie bucking like a horse, biting and acting like a shark in a frenzy, scissors near the pet is a dangerous combination. I knew for sure this was out of my hands. I hoped that with the owner’s help that the puppy would calm down at least to get some requested nails trimmed.
As the owner was holding, the puppy was acting out of control once again. Then the shocker, she brought a “special” flip flop to scare the dog by acting as if she was going to hit its head/face to stay still in fear. I couldn’t believe it!!! It became all too clear on why the dog was a biter, every time I got near the yorkie it thought I was going to hit it and tried to bite. The pet associated people near its head/face with negative actions or scolding so now that its time to do real grooming work, the pet won’t allow it.
Nothing was accomplished and when I let the owner know that the behavior was caused by her flip flop hitting actions. She overlooked the idea and claimed its the only thing that works and that if she didn’t do her shoe method the dog would run her house. Now the only option is taking the dog to the vet to get sedated for grooming, at such a young age which is costly and totally avoidable with proper introduction to grooming training.
Hurt dogs hurt people. It’s sad that those cards are dealt for that poor puppy. I can’t get the image out of my head. She never actually hit the pet but the whole scenario is still frightening.
I had no idea how to approach this. If I saw a dog on the street about to get hit by a person with a shoe, I’d be right there intervening. However when a client does it, I found myself set back on becoming confrontational not out of fear but out of shock.
This situation was a real bummer.