Dexter 09-210 [1]

Meet Dexter, a young male GoldenDoodle puppy (Golden Retriever/Poodle Mix).  He was born on March 7, 2009, so that makes him 12 weeks old.

He is 27 pounds.  He was surrendered from a breeder due to his having a heart murmur, and them unable to afford the ultrasound he needs to check it out.

Dexter went to the vet today and is up-to-date on shots until he is 16 weeks old.  The vet graded his murmur at 4/5 out of 6.  She recommended him to the U of M to get an ultrasound done.  His appointment is Wednesday, June 3rd.  I'll write again when I find out more.

You sure couldn't tell he has a murmur!  We took him to the cabin last weekend where he played non-stop with my mother-in-law's 8 month-old Shih Tzu puppy.  He ran around chewing on sticks, chasing kids and other dogs.  He even went in the lake.  The neighbor's lab was showing Dexter how to fetch a tennis ball in the water and he would follow.  He is very playful, he loves to play tug, and he enjoys fetching a tennis ball.

This weekend, we did some landscaping.  There was plenty of dirt for him to play in, which he loved.  He would run around and dig holes and then lay in them.  He can be one dirty dog!

He is well on his way to being house-trained.  He will go to the door and scratch or bark.  At the cabin, he even pushed open the screen door, let himself out, and went potty!  He still has his accidents, so isn't 100% yet.

He goes to bed around 10:00 pm, and will sleep until 7:00 am, which is wonderful!  He sleeps in a crate with a fan blowing lightly on him.