The big dogs, part 3 in a series

Time passes and now, RedTeddy is mostly Poodles, but not all Poodles! Somewhere along the line, we saw a Fox Red Labrador retriever, and well, we could not resist, because we are RED Teddy, and at the time, maybe a little foolish because, really, honestly, there is very little similarities between a real life Lab and a Poodle, other than they are both dogs. One is a big curious goof ball who pretends to listen but doesn’t, a stubborn counter-surfing, high-jumping, 60-pound muffin who wants to be but cannot be (due to size) a lap dog, and the other is a Poodle. But we did not know that then. We also did not realize that a Golden Doodle would most likely grow to be at least fifty pounds, no matter what the breeder tells you, even and maybe especially, if the breeder swears to you that this puppy only looks big but will never grow to be over fifteen pounds, twenty at the most. You can count on it.

Our Fox Red Labrador Retriever, Sara (Saratoga Red), and her best friend, Sparky, the Golden Doodle, actually have an important role here introducing the baby puppies to big dogs, and generally leading the pack in all kinds of fun games such as "Chase," "Catch me if you can!" and "Who's got the biggest bone?" The baby puppies play, "Lets chew on the big dogs' tails and see what happens" (nothing if it is Sara’s; a wookey howl if it is Sparky’s). Sara and Sparky keep our property relatively safe from strangers, both the human and animal kind!

Because the larger dogs can go into the big woods behind the house, Sara and Sparky have nearly eliminated the deer who used to eat our plants and bushes. The little dogs may not appreciate it, but RedTeddy humans like that there is less deer poop around for the Poodles to, um, eat.  There have also been fewer skunks, raccoons, possums, and even fewer squirrels, in our big yard...but not because the big dogs don’t want them around; they love to play with fast moving critters, and it is the varmints themselves that seem less inclined to make nests where two 50-60 pound dogs and a crew of Miniature and Toy Poodles are chasing them. Apparently, that's not an appealing place to forage and raise their young!