March « 2010 « Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles Blog

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Projects For Your Manor Lake Australian Labradoodle

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

We are always looking for articles that provide helpful information for us and our Manor Lake Australian Labradoodle dog/puppy families, we came across this article and thought it was informative in that it provides tips on how to keep your Australian Labradoodle busy while you’re away for a short time running errands!

Home Alone…DOG PROJECTS

Do you feel guilty when you leave your dog with nothing to do while you are at work all day?

Some people hate to leave their dogs alone at all, and opt to take them to “doggy daycare” facilities. This can be a problem too. You can end up with a dog that can never be left alone – ever!

While my dogs are young (generally 2 years and under) I leave them crated whenever I am not home. I like to leave them with some projects to keep them busy, though I REALLY think they just sleep when I’m not home.

Some ideas for “projects”

Different surfaces to chew, like hard Nylabones, soft Gumabones, Booda Bones (edible bones made of compressed cornstarch), etc. I try to leave several different choices. I DO NOT leave rawhide or rope bones in the crate unsupervised – or anything else that can be chewed up too quickly or torn apart.

My favorite thing to leave for lonely dogs are toys stuffed with goodies, like Kong or Tuffy toys (made by the Kong Company – choose an appropriate size) or a sturdy sterilized bone (which is the ONLY real bone I recommend). You stuff these items with something irresistible. Try peanut butter, “squeezy cheese” (the kind that comes in a can at your grocery store, DO NOT use hunks of cheese, the dog may choke on them), dog food, soft moist treats, goldfish crackers, bread, etc. For more “stuffing” recipes visit the Kong web site.

The most important considerations are: 1. The dog MORE than loves the treat you chose 2. It is a treat the dog does not get at any other time 3. Test a small portion first to make sure the treat does not cause diarrhea or vomiting.

Another alternative is to use a “Buster Cube”. These toys, which resemble plastic dice, are available at your local pet supply store. You fill them with dried dog food and teach your dog to tumble the cube around to get the food out. Since the treat is not messy, these can also be used when your dog is old enough to be left alone uncrated. Remember, this food is part of your dog’s daily intake, so feed less at mealtime. If you like, you can feed the whole meal from the cube.

Your dog will be less stressed or worried if you also confine him (just like you do when you leave) for random and variable times while you are at home. Then confinement doesn’t become a signal of being left alone. Watch for more on crate training and proper use of crates in an upcoming article.

Pam Young, LVT CDBC CPDT
Dog Gone Good LLC
Dog Behavior Consultant
Personal Dog Trainer

Click here to see the full article online

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Boutiques Unleashed: Fashions for Both Ends of the Leash in Portland, Oregon

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Here is another event posted by CityDog Magazine, it is in Portland, Oregon!

Boutiques Unleashed: Fashions for Both Ends of the Leash
April 9 • Portland, Ore. 7-11 p.m. at The Tiffany Center, 1410 SW Morrison. Come see the hippest hounds and humans around on the runway at Portland’s premier fashion event. Boutiques Unleashed offers a fun and sometimes hilarious look at the latest styles from local boutiques for people and pets. Enjoy hosted hors d’oeuvres & select cocktails, bid on items in a silent auction and mingle with some of Portland’s stylin’-est dogs and people. All proceeds to benefit the DoveLewis Pet Loss Support Program. boutiquesunleashed.com

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Australian Labradoodle Sizes – Which Size is Right For You?

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Australian Labradoodle Sizes – Which Size is Right For You?

Our Australian Labradoodles come in three sizes, miniature, medium and standard. Our miniature size is 15 to 27 pounds – 14 to 16 inches at the shoulder, medium is 30 to 45 pounds and 17 to 19 inches at the shoulder and standard is 45 pounds and over and 20 to 26 inches at the shoulder.

Below are some pictures of Manor Lake miniature, medium and standard Australian Labradoodles.

Small Medium Chocolate Australian Labradoodle

Large Medium/Small Standard Chocolate Australian Labradoodle

Miniature Red Australian Labradoodle

Standard, Medium and Miniature Australian Labradoodles

Some things to keep in mind when you are thinking about which size of Australian Labradoodle would be:

- How much space to you have inside your home/apartment and outside your home?

- Do you want your dog to be able to jump in and out of the car or do you want to lift her/him in and out

- Activity level of your family

If you are really unsure about which size of Australian Labradoodle will work best for you, then a medium dog can work very well. A Medium Australian Labradoodle is not too big and not too small, can jump easily in and out of the car and are usually not too big to lift if you need to.

Small dogs are great for carrying around and wonderful on laps and in doggy carriers or dog purses. Keep in mind that usually smaller dogs need to be handled more carefully and can occasionally get colder. Also, if a dog is really small they can stepped on or tripped over. Our Australian Labradoodle miniatures are most often over 15 pounds, so they are not too small.

Large and very large dogs Australian Labradoodles do need a bit more space to run around. Something also to think about is “wag space”. A larger dog can occasionally knock over something on a coffee table with their “wag”. Another consideration is that larger dogs do eat more, so dog food and supplies can be more expensive than for smaller dogs.

Please remember, with all sizes of Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles, training is always important and keep in mind that your dogs’ behavior is a reflection on you!

Kim Kochman
Owner/Breeder
Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles
www.manorlakelabradoodles.com
Manor Lake Dog Boutique
www.manorlakedogboutique.com

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Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles Recommended Dog Books

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Below is a list of dog books we like and recommend to our Manor Lake Australian Labradoodle dog/puppy families. They provide good and helpful insight on how to prepare for a puppy, raise a puppy and training information.

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Australian Labradoodle Puppy Kisses

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Who doesn’t love puppy kisses?

Mollie and Emmie

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Introducing Tamaruke Sir William to Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

We are so excited to welcome Tamaruke Sir William to Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles! Right from the start he was friendly and excited to meet us. William has a super easy going temperament and has produced some amazing puppies! He stands 20″ inches at the shoulder and weighs 42lbs, and has a BVA score of 0 and a perfect wavy fleece coat. William is from Tamaruke Australian Labradoodles in Australia, and most recently was residing with our friends Gail at Prairie Doodles and Paige at Coulee Labradoodles.

Charlotte of Tamaruke had this to say about William:

“William is confident and outgoing. Given the opportunity he would excel at obedience or agility. He has a very willing nature. Due to being a young and healthy dog he loves nothing more than to run and play. He is very kind in nature and trustworthy. No aggression in any area. You can take food or bones from him he is lead and crate trained.”

Here is a picture of a puppy from one of William’s past litters

We are expecting a litter of puppies with William and our Jarrah that we have posted to our website, click HERE to learn more about the litter. We anticipate very nice looking puppies from the two of them with the awesome temperaments of both parents and are very excited for the litter. William throws strong for wavy fleece coats, so we should have mostly wavy fleece coats in the litter with also a few curly coats. Both William and Jarrah love to give hugs, so we expect that their puppies may like to do the same! Jarrah’s and Williams Australian Labradoodle puppies will be in the 42 to 55 pound range and 19 to 21 inches at the shoulder.

Thank you again Charlotte, Paige and Gail for this awesome boy! Pictures courtesy of Gail at Prairie Doodles and Paige at Coulee Labradoodles.

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Teaching Your Manor Lake Australian Labradoodle Fun Tricks

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Jason, our vet tech here at Manor Lake really enjoys working with our dogs, especially teaching them how to do tricks- right now he is working on “shake”. We thought we would also share this article with you on how to teach your Manor Lake Australian Labradoodle some fun tricks!

How to Teach Your Dog Tricks
From The Dog Training Guide online

The key to teaching your dog tricks is a lot of repetition and rewards. It is important to reward your dog with praises and/or treats when he is learning how to perform a new trick. Positive reinforcement is key. Only practice tricks for a few minutes at a time, your dog may become tired or frustrated because repeating tricks over and over may cause your dog’s muscles to become fatigued. After each session reward your dog with a fun play session.

Paw
This is a fairly easy trick to teach your dog. The paw trick is your dog shaking your hand. Start by having your dog sit and simply reach your hand out and take hold of your dog’s paw while saying “Paw”. After a while all you have to do is reach out your hand and say “Paw” and your dog will put his paw in your hand.

Kiss
This is a fairly simple trick where you get your dog to lick you on command. Simply say “Kiss me” anytime your dog licks you. As an incentive you can put peanut butter on your face for him to lick off and say “Kiss me” while he is licking it off. After a while your dog will “kiss” you anytime you give the “Kiss me” command.

Catch
Catch is probaly one of the easiest tricks you can teach since it’ll come naturally to most dogs. Simply toss a treat (small enough so that they won’t choke on it and big enough for them to see it) into the air and when your dog sees it they will grab it before it can hit the ground. This may take a little while for your dog to get this trick so keep on practicing by tossing up treats.

Fetch
Fetch is another trick that comes naturally for most dogs. Simply throw a ball or another object that you want your dog to retrieve and he’ll go get it and return it to you. If you dog doesn’t fetch the object, throw the ball and run with your dog to retrieve the object. Give your dog a treat every time you retrieve the object (you can cut a slit into a ball, place treats inside the ball and take them out of the ball when retrieved for a stronger association with the ball and the treats). After a while you can throw the ball and your dog will automatically go after the ball and return it to you in order to get the treat. After a while slowly wean your dog off the treats by only giving them a treat every other retrieval, then every 3 retrievals and so on.

Beg
This is one of the more advanced tricks, your dog stands up on their hind legs to beg. Start by having your dog sit and hold a treat at his nose and bring it above your dog’s head at a height where they have to stand on their hind legs to reach the treat. While doing this say “Beg” and give him the treat when he is standing on his hind legs. You can help your dog stand up by holding his paws for support. Each successive time you perform this trick, wait a little longer before giving him the treat.

Speak
Try to get your dog to bark by finding an activity or game that gets your dog excited and talk to him in an upbeat tone of voice. Once your dog starts barking say “Speak”. Reward him by playing the game or doing that activity which got him to speak and/or reward him with a treat. After a while your dog will learn to bark whenever you give the “Speak” command.

Bow
This trick is where your dog looks like he is taking a bow by bringing his head to the floor. To start out with get your dog in a standing position. Hold a treat in front of your dog’s nose and bring it downward, his head should follow the treat while his body should stay off the ground (if he lays down simply place your hand underneath your dog to keep him from laying down and continue with the trick) and give him the treat after a couple seconds and say bow. After a while your dog will learn to bow whenever you give the “Bow” command.

From The Dog Training Guide- dogtraininguide.com
To see the article on their website click here

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Manor Lake Posh on a Tractor

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

We thought these would be fun to post and share with everyone. Chris had our Manor Lake Posh on for a ride on our four wheeler and tractor today- Posh hopped right up and was ready to drive. Enjoy!

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Upcoming events in the greater Seattle Area

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

If you don’t subscribe to it already you should definitely check out City Dog Magazine- they always post fun interesting articles and publish events in the greater Seattle area for animal lovers. We frequent their website too, http://citydogmagazine.com, there they post upcoming events for the greater Seattle area. Thought we would share a couple that were coming up!

Wine, Wags & Whiskers
March 20 • Silverdale, Wash. 6 – 9 p.m. at the Silverdale Beach Hotel. Kitsap Humane Society presents this gala event to benefit the homeless, abandoned and unwanted animals of the Kitsap Peninsula. Enjoy food parings with local wine and beer, silent auction, music and more. Kitsap-humane.org.

Have Fun! Get Fit! Let Loose!
March 20 • Woodinville, Wash. 10:30 a.m.-noon at Homecourt, 18600 Woodinville-Snohomish Rd. Nia, a well-being fitness and lifestyle practice, is sponsoring a special fundraising event for Homeward Pet. For more info call Sarah Love at 426.985.8653 or visit homewardpet.org.

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