Its a Dog's Life

If you read my previous blog, you may know that I am the owner of a Goldendoodle puppy named Lulu. A “Goldendoodle” is an expensive mutt, a mix between a standard poodle and a Golden Retriever. The breed is desirable because it is meant to combine the family friendly personality traits of a Golden Retriever with the non-shedding coat of a poodle. My dog does not shed, and that is absolutely wonderful, because my last dog, Cody, who was a Lab-Shepard mix shed CONSTANTLY.

Lulu has a very loving personality. She loves to cuddle, and will play fetch all day long if you throw a toy for her, these I think are her Golden Retriever traits coming through. She is also a jumper, and this has to be pure poodle. She just loves to jump into the air, onto chairs, pounce on her toys, and up into your lap. I want to get a hula-hoop and train her to jump through it.

Lulu has been a bright sun these past few months that I’ve had her in my life. It is a great stress relieve to come home from work and toss the tennis ball or Frisbee in the yard for her for a while. I enjoy taking her to the pet store, and the mall outdoor mall near my home that allows dogs. Last weekend we went to an art fair together. The first time I took her out in public, I was not prepared for the amount of attention that Lulu draws. At what I call “The Dog Mall” we can’t go more than five minutes without someone stopping us to ask if they can pet her, or asking what type of dog she is. I appreciate the compliments, but it also makes me nervous because Lulu likes to jump, as I said, so I have to hold her tight. Taking her in public is my attempt to get her more socialized to the outside world, but as with any puppy, or child, she has a few manners she needs to work on.

And at home, she has a few more too. She lost all of her baby teeth last month, but the chewing, had only just begun…

So far this is a tally of all of the items of mine that my puppy has chewed up or destroyed in some manner since she joined my household in June. For some reason she likes my things in particular.

A silk head band
My favorite pair of Haviana flip flops
My replacement pair of Treva flip flops (that I only wore three times)
A pair of leather dress shoes I’d had since I was 16
A roll of expensive Kodak film containing pictures I took at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival this year
Two photos of herself!
Countless tomatoes off the tomato plants

And this weekend was her sneakiest accomplishment yet! She destroyed a FOURTH pair of my shoes, a pair of leopard print ballet flats that I had specifically hidden from her in my bedroom, or so I thought. She found them in the two minutes I had left the door open and the room unattended, and chewed through the toes. I have been outsmarted by a six month old puppy. Good thing she’s so cute, and I love her so much!

These things so far, are pale in comparison to that amount of destruction that my previous dog, Cody accomplished. He destroyed a couch, first by chewing a blue ink pen on it and turning himself, and the couch into a Dalmatian, then he just tore up the couch.  He dug up and chewed through the cable wire at least twice. He ate shoes, and the leather band to my Fossil watch. He also had a special taste for entire loaves of bread, which he would steal off of the kitchen table, and later we would find the torn shreds of plastic bag hidden away. So, I know Lulu has only just begun, and so has my new shoe shopping.