Hey friends!
Okay, by popular demand, here’s a little update on how life has been about a month after adding a sweet, snuggly Harvey (4 months old currently) to the mix, plus I’ll try to answer a few frequently asked questions, too!  But first….AWWWWW!!!!

Okay, that’s out of my system.  😉

What breed is Harvey?

So Harvey is an F1b goldendoodle, which means mama was an F1 (first generation) goldendoodle, and his dad was a poodle.  Both of his parents are standard size, so he’s expected to be around 50-60lbs, give or take.  In these photos, he’s about 3 to 4 months of age, and he’s already such a big ol’ guy!  I’m interested to see just how big he grows over the next months.  (Read more specifics of goldendoodles HERE.)

Why did you choose goldendoodle?

In the past before we had children, we’ve adopted dogs from local shelters and had mixed luck as far as their personalities and temperament went, so this time around with four very young kiddos in the mix, we wanted to be a little more certain of what type of dog we’d be adding to the family (as far as you can tell just by breed standard, of course).  The more I read about goldendoodles, the more I was drawn to how smart and loyal they are, and the breed is known for being great with small children (and three fluffy kitties)!  Another factor for us was the little to no shedding from this hypoallergenic breed, especially when you go with an F1b (it’s basically 75% poodle at that point, which equals very little to no shedding).  These were the main factors behind our choice of breed for this particular season of life in our family!

How is Harvey doing with the kids, cats and human parents?

The girls LOVE him, and he loves them!  Kinda think that HE thinks they are his fellow puppy playmates, so if his puppy “zoomies” get a little nutty, my littlest two daughters seek shelter up high on the couch or chairs, ha!  He’s been very gentle with them, even allowing them to help train him on things like sitting, laying down and releasing something he isn’t supposed to chew.

The cats are slowly forgiving us for ruining their calm and quiet existence. 😉  They will now allow him the gift of their presence in the living room, and Tilly (our most gentle kitty) seems to want to play sometimes when Harvey is a bit more calm.  We don’t allow him to chase the cats or go crazy when he sees them (as best we can), and it seems like he’s sort of learning how to not lose his cool when one saunters through the room.

When it comes to being with me (or my husband…but especially mama😉), Harvey is just the biggest floppy, squishy, sweet baby boy.  He wants to sit in my lap any time I get down on the floor with him (he’s not allowed on the furniture), and he’ll even put his front paws up on my shoulders when we’re snuggling and “hug” me…GAH! 😍 He’s very gentle and knows to wait before exiting a door until I’ve walked through first, and he obeys commands so well so far…unless he’s got his outside zoomies. 😳😂

How’s training going for Harvey so far?

I kinda don’t want to jinx this by answering….but it’s going really well so far.  😅  Knock on wood!  I’m a pretty strict puppy mama, and I wanted to make sure we started out with his behaviors and boundaries in a way that would carry us into his adult years.  Plus…he’s gonna be a BIG BOY, and I need him to obey.  In the first week, he had learned to sit, lay down, stay and walk into his crate on his own, and now we are working on things like fetch, being calm in the presence of kitties and strangers, and ceasing to bark at the neighbor dog on command.  😏

As far as crate/house training goes, he seems to like being in his cozy spot (we draped his crate with blankets so it feels like a comfy little den), and he goes in willingly with a tiny treat bite as a bribe, although these days he’s just walking on it without it.  He’s had a couple of accidents when we weren’t paying attention like we should have been, but for the most part, Harvey has totally gotten the point of the little bell we hung by the back door and will ring it when he needs to go out to potty.  Of course…this also means he rings it whenEVER he wants to go out, and now the HUMANS are all trained to ruuunnnnnnn at the sound of the bell, ha!  😉  Overall, we have been very strict but very pleased at Harvey’s level of obedience and gentle spirit this month, and I hope that a tight ship while he’s a young puppy will result in a well-behaved dog later on!  Of course, he’s not perfect and has been known to chew on dirty undies and socks when no one is looking (DOGS ARE GROSS), but I guess that comes with the canine territory sometimes, ha!

This crazy cat lady still can’t believe how quickly a floppy doodle has stolen her heart…but she’s glad he did.  I love my sweet Harvey boy so stinking much!!  Thanks for always sending love when he shows up on Instagram…he has sure completed our family in a big way!
❤️ERIN