Losing Crystal

I have struggled for a long time to write this post.   It has been about 6 months since we lost our beloved Crystal  and the memories of this terrible tragedy are just so hard to reflect on that I have not been able to find the words to write about it.  However, this blog is also an important part of remembering my dogs, and so is important for me to say good bye and share a few photo memories.

I will be brief about what happened.  Crystal was bitten by a Copperhead snake in August, two weeks before her last litter, and although the veterinary did everything he could for her.  He could not save her.  Her decline came so quickly and we were totally unprepared for her loss.

Crystal at 8 weeks old

Anyone who knew Crystal, knew that she was a special dog.  She had the most amazing personality I have ever seen in a dog.   She was just so incredibly sweet and loving to everyone she met, whether they were family or stranger.   She just LOVED everyone so much.   

When we had visitors she would jump in their lap and throw herself back in their arms like a baby and fall fast asleep.   It was so endearing.  Everyone wanted to take her home!

When she left this earth, she had not yet reached her 3rd birthday.  Although her time with us was short she touched our hearts.  We will always treasure the memory of Crystal! 

UK Kennel Club now restricting Registration of Merle dogs

Today I came across an article in the Canine Chronical that
"The Kennel Club has announced that it will no longer accept registration application for merle-colored dogs in breeds where there is no documented evidence of the color having been well established over a sustained period."

I am glad that this British Registry is getting stricter on poor breeding practices.  This will help to discourage bad breeders from introducing the merle genes into their breeding lines in breeds, like the Schnauzer and poodle, that do not carry merle in its genetic background.

The puppy pictured above is not a Schnauzer.  The merle pattern indicates that it has Australian Shepherd in its geneology.

In other words, there is no such thing as a Merle Schnauzer or Poodle.   If someone has a Schnauzer with blue eyes, then it has another breed mixed into its lineage.  For instance some Schnauzer breeders breed in Australian Shepherd into their breeding lines to get the Merle look.  The same goes for blue eyed poodles or poodles with the merle patterned coat (see photo above)

What a terrible gene is the Merle!   What good breeder would want their dogs to carry this gene?  "the effects of the merle allele (M) are not confined to coat patterning and it is known that there can be an increased risk of impaired hearing and sight associated with it.  Particularly in dogs that are homozygous for M (dogs that carry two copies of the M allele)

Dr Tom Lewis, Genetics and Research Manager of the Kennel Club, added:  "The causal merle variant is dominant, so shows itself whenever it is present - even as a single copy.   Therefore, in most breeds, we know it cannot have been present 'under the radar', as can be the case for some recessive variants.  As a result, merle cannot suddenly 'emerge' in a breed after many years.  This is why the Kennel Club is able to take this position in relation to merle as the situation is relatively straight forward, unlike the vast majority of other colors"

So many Schnoodle buyers looking for a unique puppy are fascinated by the blue eyes or mottled coat of the merle puppy.   They do not know that the puppy is not a simple Schnauzer Poodle mix...rather that it has some other breed(s) mixed in.  When buying a Schnoodle people may be less careful about the parentage of the dogs that the puppy was bred from.   The problem is that the merle is a dangerous gene and is being bred through unscrupulous breeding practices.  So merle traits should be a RED flag to any puppy buyer.

Read more at 
CanineChronicle.com article

Christmas Morning with our Dogs

When Winnie was a puppy her favorite game with Annie was playing with her PIG toy. But over the years the Pig disappeared somewhere in the woods.   This year Annie gifted Winnie another PIG and Winnie was thrilled to play this game again. 

First kiss

Merry Christmas to you!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 
The best part of breeding puppies is the JOY of owning such lovely dogs!

We always have a Whtie Christmas!

Left to Right:   Winnie, Angel (4 months),  Snowy and Bianca

Update on LIa at 11 months old

This is Lia the Schnoodle who lives in Miami, FL.   She is from Winnie and Ricky's litter.   Her owner has this to say, "Best decision we ever made.  She is fantastic!"    Isn't Lia super cute!   She has Winnie's face....looks very much like sister Ginger.   Lia was the lightest puppy in her litter.   Isn't she a pretty champagne color! 

Black Schnoodle puppy

This is what the puppy below will look like at 3 months of age.  This is a puppy from Phantasia & Ricky  litter 2018

    UPDATE:   This Puppy has found his forever home!

Phantasia's boy puppy at 8 weeks of age

This little fellow is the sweetest little puppy you will ever meet.   Full of love, playfulness, and personality.   He takes after his mother, Phantasia, who is exceptionally sweet and loving.  She is very special and her puppies share that exceptional personality..  The blue photo above is his 8 week photo.

This Schnoodle puppy is SOLD.  He comes from quality breeding lines.  His Mother, Phantasia, is an AKC  Black and Silver Schnauzer. Phantasia's parents were OFA certified for Heart and Knees.   Ricky, the AKC registered Poodle father, had the recommended genetic testing for PRA, which is specific for Poodles.   Both of the parents are exceptionally healthy dogs with wondeful friendly temperaments.

The orange photos below are the 6 week photos.
Contact me today at GrowingPuppies@gmail.com if you would like to find out more about this lovely little male Schnoodle puppy.

Boy Schnoodle 6 weeks of age.

 

Are Schnoodles Good for Allergies?

When people contact me to purchase a Schnoodle it seems that most of my customers are coming to me because they have heard that Schnoodles are good for allergies.    Although I cannot guarantee the results for each individual person, I can at least tell you that none of my customers have reported a problem with any of the puppies from my litters.  So I asked several of my customers to fill out a survey to give me some feedback about their experience with allergies and Schnoodles.  Here are the responses....

RESPONSE #1
1)  Do you or another family member have allergies to dogs.   If so is it an adult or child (age of child) 

 I do have allergies, but I have not had a problem with my Schnoodle.

]2)  What symptoms does the allergic individual normally have around the typical dog.  Please be as detailed as you are able.  

Mine is mostly nasal congestion and Sinus problems.

3)  What symptoms does the allergic individual experience around your Schnoodle dog from Growing Puppies?  (Please be as detailed as possible.  Or state none if there are no symptoms)

None

4)  Would you recommend a Schnoodle to a friend who as allergies?

Absolutely

5)  What other comments would you like to share with people that have allergies?

When my boys were growing up we had a poodle.  The allergist said that the dog isn't always the problem but that dust can be carried in the dogs fur.  I have not had any problems with Bear.

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RESPONSE #2

   Hi, Mary!  Hope you are doing well.  The answers to the survey questions are below.  George is continuing to be such an awesome puppy.  He completed 3 weeks of puppy obedience school, and is such a joy to be around!  The care you put into choosing the right kind of dogs to breed is very evident in George’s temperament and intelligence.

1.  1)  Do you or another family member have allergies to dogs.   If so is it an adult or child?   Yes; my 11-year-old son is allergic to dogs

2. What symptoms does the allergic individual normally have around the typical dog?  
 He breaks out in hives if certain dogs lick him; the dander of other dogs bothers him enough to cause hives.

3.  What symptoms does the allergic individual experience around your Schnoodle dog from Growing Puppies?  None!

4.   Would you recommend a Schnoodle to a friend who as allergies?  We would definitely recommend a Schnoodle

5.  What other comments would you like to share with people that have allergies?
 We have had no problems with allergies since we brought our Schnoodle home.  My son is able to roll around with him, cuddle with him, let him lick him, and have him in his bed without any allergic symptoms.

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 RESPONSE #3

 

We'd be glad to share with you our experience with our schnoodle, Ginger.  Our son is our allergic child.  He is 8 years old (he was 7 when we got Ginger).  His typical reaction to dogs of many different kinds was swelling/watering eyes, sneezing, extremely stuffy nose, sometimes hives and asthma attacks.  With Ginger, if he has any reactions at all, it has been much milder... like, an itchy eye and maybe a little stuffiness or sneezing.  But, even this has seemed to only happen with facial contact with her fur or saliva (when he wrestles or snuggles with her).  He doesn't seem to have any problems with her being in the house, on the furniture, or with petting her with his hands.  We have had better success by keeping her hair groomed on the shorter side and by brushing and bathing her regularly (I think this basically just helps with any environmental allergens/pollen that may attach to her fur when she's outside).  

We have loved Ginger!  She's been a lively and fun addition to our family, especially good at snuggling by the fireplace this time of year, and we feel like we've made no sacrifices on the allergy/health front either!

Thanks for contacting us!

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RESPONSE #4

1)  Do you or another family member have allergies to dogs? 

Adult.  I have allergies

2) What symptoms does the allergic individual normally have around the typical dog?

Typical symptoms are runny nose and watery eyes, which is generally made worse by being scratched.

3) What symptoms does the allergic individual experience around your Schnoodle?

I have not experienced any allergic symptoms around Wrigley and when I am around other dogs, I still have symptoms.

4) If you have allergic symptoms, what do you find helps reduce the symptoms?  N/A

5) Would you recommend a Schnoodle to a friend who as allergies?

Absolutely!  I picked this breed because I had a dog that I was allergic to my entire childhood.

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Thanks you to all of you who responded to this survey!  Please feel free to keep my updated on your experience with owning a Schnoodle especially as it relates to your allergies.  This information will help future people to know if a Schnoodle is good for them.

Woody Update!

I took this photo of Woody (Zoey's May 2017 litter) over the weekend and just wanted to share ❤️ He's adorable and has been an amazing family member since the day we brought him home!

Some updates from Crystals puppies

If you haven't joined our Growing Puppies Schnoodles page on Facebook, you really should.   All I ask is that if you are not one of my puppy customers that you refrain from posting your doggy photos.  This group is to share updates from our Schnoodle puppies for our customers or future customers. 

Anyway, I browsed the Facebook page and found a bunch of photo updates from Crystals litter and decided to share them now.

Below:
A re-schnunion of Schnoodle siblings - L-R: Asta (Winnie’s December ‘18 litter) Nigel and brother Lafitte (Crystal’s July ‘18 litter) - Lafitte is visiting the Barkshires for two weeks and they all play each evening w/ a very understanding older schnoodle buddy Ollie.

Asta (Winnie's litter),  Nigel (Crystals litter), and Lafitte (Crystal's litter) enjoy a play date in MA.

(Below) Don’t want to leave Ollie out of this schnoodle-canoodle!

Mushka

(Below)  Lilly in her Easter dress (Crystals litter) 

Lilly at 4 months old

(Below)  We are so grateful that the weather is finally warming up here in CT so we can take her out more. She is 5 months now and doing great. She’ll be graduating from her puppy class this week. She’s super smart and caught on very quickly. As you can see, she’s a happy puppy

Penny in CT

Ginny

Ginny at 7 months is the sweetest pup!  (Ginny lives in Ontario)