Curly Top Labradoodles

We feed our dogs the high quality Kirkland brand Chicken and Rice formual dry dog food found at any Costco. It has an A+ rating based on it's ingredients and placement on it's ingredients list. It is also reasonally priced at under $25 for a fourty pound bag. Our dogs do great on it. We send home a few days supply with every puppy.

Depending on how old they are, our puppies go home with atleast their first two shots given by us. We feel that it is important to get them started early to fight against harmful illnesses. We can demostrate how to deliver the vaccine and if you live close by we will do it for you at no additional charge. We cannot stress enough the importance of getting the series done before your puppy is allowed to walk on the ground off your property. it is a matter of a healthy life for your puppy or a possible painful death! A yearly booster is required.

Rabies shots are done at four to five months by your vet and are a required by your city and county to license your dog. Also required to enter dog parks. The vaccine booster is done one year later and then every three years there after. 

Want to take your puppy/dog to the local dog park to play? They don't allow unvaccinated dogs in.

Puppies are born with worms. They are pass from their mother to the puppies before they are born. We start de-worming at two weeks, then every two week after.

We remove dew claws when the puppies are two days old. At this age the appendage is like cartliage and removal is easy. If it isn't done this early it is considered by most to be too late and would require surgery to have them removed. Do they need to be removed? No, they can be left intact and never be an issue for the dog it's whole life. We choose to do this for the "just in case" factor. It is possible for the dew claw to be caught on something resulting in injury. This has happened to our Fritz and the nail was completely torn away, we were lucky, it could have been worse.

Many different breeds of dogs have hair that continually  grows in their ear canal. It is very important to remove the ear hair. Otherwise, your dogs ears can become infected. You can remove the hair yourself or have a groomer do it for you. A groomer will do this as part of the grooming process. Removal is simple, just reach into the ear canal and pull a few hairs out at a time. It doesn't hurt the dog like someone may think, at worst you may pull on a sensitive hair and your dog will pull away. If you have trouble gripping the hair you can sprinkle a little bit of dog ear powered on to the area and go from there. I don't recommend using any type of griping tool in the ear canal like tweezers, your dog could suddenly shake its head and get injured. Leave that for the groomers. We usually do this automatically while petting our dogs so they enjoy the experience and allow you to do this for them. Also the ear can be wiped with a paper towel around the ear canal opening and don't let water enter the canal while bathing. Labradoodles have heavy ears that lay close to their heads if water gets in the ear canal, it may not dry quickly causing infections. I also keep the hear trimmed under the ear canal area to help keep the area clean and allow airflow. If it seems like your dog is having ear problems (you may notice their ears have a bad smell) check out the blue eye power link on my links page. This treatment works great, I use it myself on our dogs. If there is a runny, greenish/yellow discharge coming out of your dogs ears, I recommend taking your dog to your vet right away, it's a sure sign that your pet's are infected. Other signs your pet is having ear problems is repeated head shaking and excessive scratching at the ears.

Hip dysplasia is an abnormal formation of the hip socket that, in its more severe form, can eventually cause crippling lameness and painful arthristis of the joints. It is a polygenic trait, that is affected by enviromental factors in the production of the final phenotype. It can be found in many animals and occasionally in humans, but is most commonly associated with dogs, and is common in many dog breeds, particularly the larger breeds.

Hip dysplasia is one of the most studied veterinary conditions in dogs, and the most common single cause of arthritis of the hips.

The Kirland dog food has in it's ingredience preventatives for HD. We also never allow our dogs to run hard or full out, or encourage high flying jumping activities so as not to place too much stress on their joints.

 The technical name for bloat is "Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus" ("GDV").  Bloating of the stomach is often related to swallowed air (although food and fluid can also be present).  It usually happens when there's an abnormal accumulation of air, fluid, and/or foam in the stomach ("gastric dilatation").    Stress can be a significant contributing factor also.  Bloat can occur with or without "volvulus" (twisting).  As the stomach swells, it may rotate 90° to 360°, twisting between its fixed attachments at the esophagus (food tube) and at the duodenum (the upper intestine).  The twisting stomach traps air, food, and water in the stomach.  The bloated stomach obstructs veins in the abdomen, leading to low blood pressure, shock, and damage to internal organs.  The combined effect can quickly kill a dog. Talk to you vet to see if you dog is at risk for bloat. It mostly effects larger dog breeds that have deep chests. It is recommended to keep "Gas X" on hand as a precaution, but I would consult the dogs vet before administering it. The easyist way to keep it from happening is not to elevate your dog's food dish and never allow him to run or play hard soon after eating. Think of it as a swimmer getting stomach cramps.