Kith & Kin

Lexie A breeder once told me about the basic difference between a goldendoodle (golden retriever + poodle) and a labradoodle (Labrador retriever + poodle): The goldendoodle is like that guy in your high school class who everybody loved and who loved everybody. The class clown. Not too concerned about grades, just wanting to have a good time with everyone. The labradoodle, though, would be the person who was elected class president—the guy whom everybody liked and respected, who was responsible, the guy who, if there was a problem, wanted to work to solve it. So, for example, when you take a goldendoodle for a walk, she’s loving life—interested in everything, excited about other dogs she sees, just as happy as she can be. The labradoodle will be happy too, but he will be most happy if he can feel he’s accomplishing something during the walk. So he might carry a stick the whole time. “We’re not here just to have fun—we have a job to do!” That’s a labradoodle. Lovely Lexie relaxing ...

The other day I was trying to remember all the dogs I’ve ever owned. The first was Ella , short for “Cinderella,” a medium-sized black mix who barked incessantly. This was back in the era when a dog stayed outside, chained to her doghouse, and that was where she lived. No one thought of it as a cruel arrangement. But, as I s ay, she was a nonstop barker. In fact, one of the first phrases my little brother Eric learned to say—shouting at her from the kitchen window—was, “Ella! Be kawock!”   Which was his version of what he heard other family members shouting from the same location: “Ella! Be quiet!” We never bonded in any way (Ella and me, not Eric and me), and one day she was gone. This was also back in the era when you could call the dog catcher to remove your canine. Is that what happened to her? I don’t know, but I hope her next owner didn’t keep her chained to a doghouse. Our next dog was Missy . She was about the size of a chihuahua—no doubt she had some chihuahua blood mixe...