I will cc this with no forwarding address to everyone who has a Doodle from this litter, Winnie and Cesar, March 3rd. 2013, and Robyn’s litter, and hope to hear from some of these litter’s families. When I get updates on my pups I like to share them with people who own littermates, it is very exciting for me to see pictures of them, hear how they are, and know what they weigh. This helps me know how I will breed. Gracy Mae is an F1 Labra Doodle and F1 Labra Doodle do shed with only a few exceptions, it is F1B are non shedding (although I have produced one that completely blew his baby coat and then quit shedding). Desta and Della will be bred to Einstein, my apricot Standard Poodle who only weighs 45 to 50 lbs. so this will offset the size of the pups I produce. Cesar has produced some sincerely big pups and I definitely didn’t see that coming.
Quite a few things cause dry skin, especially in winter, wood or electric heat (what I would advise for that is to have the dog sleep in a room with a humidifier going), not enough oil in the diet, a food allergy, it could be a number of things. I would try to remove one thing at a time, or add one thing at a time for a few weeks to see if there is a difference. A cod liver or salmon oil capsule a day, year round, will never hurt a dog and will make the coat nice and shiny, coconut butter is excellent.
I have a full sister to Gracy Mae here, Della, and an almost full sister from Robyn and Cesar, named Deeka, born Feb. 21st. 2013. Both are being bred to Einstein, hopefully this month, (as they are two now and have their head in the right place to be good mothers) to produce F1B Labra Doodles. They are both big girls, 80 lb. mark, both are minimal shedding but they are kept outdoors on straw, so I really wouldn’t notice it unless it fell out in handfuls, they produced a few tufts that turned into matts that I simply plucked off. Other than that they look just like Gracy Mae. They really went through a clumsy stage where they seemed to be all legs, when they were about a year old, but then they turned from ducklings to swans seemingly over night and now run like the wind when it is their turn to check out the farm. They have the Poodle grace and love to find things to jump over yet a 4 foot kennel fence contains them, they will stand with their front paws on the fence and look over but neither has ever attempted to climb over (which is wonderful because dogs that learn that are a breeders nightmare). I have two years invested into Della and Desta so I am getting excited to see the pups they have from Einstein.
Gracy Mae’s family wrote:
Gracy is the most beautiful smartest friend we ever had . In January, I had her at the vet. She was 89 lbs. I think I’ve trimmed her down a few lbs. Gracy is very affectionate. I have her on a raw food diet at 1 lb per day since 1 year old and a fish kibble every 3rd day. Sso far her health has been great. I’m still trying to control shedding and dry itchy areas. I give her a teaspoon a day coconut butter. I tried missing link supplements for skin and coat and fish gels don’t seem to work. Her skin is not red or scratched. I brush her almost every day and keep her nails short and filed. My daughter said it could be chicken in raw food diet. If you can share some remedies I can try that would be great.