I’d like you to meet Judge, the latest addition to the Cluth family. Judge is an eight-week-old Labradoodle puppy, and no, he isn’t the cutest thing you’d ever want to find, but he is a doll. Of course, he’s small now, being a puppy and all, but when he’s fully grown, Judge has the potential to be roughly the size of a Buick. His feet are HUGE, and they look more like pontoons than feet (and you know what they say about dogs with big feet….). Labradoodles can be upwards of 90 pounds when fully grown…yikes….
This whole scenario didn’t play out quite the way we’d been thinking it would, and it involved no small amount of heartache, but in the end we have a puppy, and Judge is a sweetheart. There were definitely some lessons learned, though. When Susan decided she wanted to get a dog, she met someone at a flea market who had a Labradoodle, and she fell in love. So, after doing her due diligence about the breed online, we were getting a Labadoodle, dude.
Susan found a breeder in Arkansas who was willing to sell her a puppy for $525. She even sent some pictures, and all seemed well. As time went on, though, we began to have our suspicisions about the honest and trustworthiness of the breeder. She became less communicative and solicitous, and once she had Susan’s money she basically ignored us.
Finally, Puppy Day arrived. Judge was flown in to Houston on Friday morning, and Susan went to pick her up at the airport. As soon as Susan saw Judge, she knew that she’d been taken. Susan had specifically requested a puppy that would have longer, kinky hair, and the pictures the breeder had sent us showed a puppy that seemed to have those qualities. What we received was a puppy who, while adorable, was nothing like the pictures we received. His hair is straight, and he looks more like a Labrador than anything else. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not what Susan wanted, and it’s certainly not what she was led to believe that she was getting.
This weekend was a heart-wrenching time for Susan. More than anything else, she was upset because she had been taken advantage of by a disreputable breeder who ultimately cared only about getting our money. It would have been one thing if Susan had purchased a t-shirt or a book, but this was a live animal that we were now stuck with. Personally, I had immediately fallen in love with Judge, so I was hoping against hope that Susan would ultimately decide to keep Judge, but I could understand her trepidation.
All day yesterday, she was adamant that she was going to sell the puppy, and who could blame her? She felt as if every time she would look at Judge she’d be reminded of how she was taken advantage of. Today, though, Susan came around and she decided that we’re going to keep Judge. I’m ecstatic, though I’m discovering that having a puppy is akin to having a newborn around the house- except that you can’t slap diapers on a puppy…and Judge is a PRODIGIOUS solid waste producer….
Adorable, isn’t he??
