Welcome to the World of Olympic Labradoodles!
- About me and my Family
- About Olympic Labradoodles
- What makes a Wonder Doodle Puppy
About Me and My Family
My name is Shari (pronounced Sha ah ree like Sorry with an H). I'm a Mom with 3 wonderful kids! A former software engineer with Boeing (BK Before Kids). A Dog Trainer for 25+ years.
I've been involved in a variety of activities all my life. Dog Competitions even Showing Cats! I grew up being competitive in a variety of sports! I've served on a number of boards: Civic Center where I started up our own Indoor Park Program, Chaired several charity events, and offered Dog Training classes. I have been on the PTA, Room Mom, Kids Gymnastics Board, and currently serve as Secretary of the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA). I've been working with 4H for over 12 years and have been the Dog Trainer Leader. My daughter and I share this interest as well as other dog interests like NADAC Agility, Flyball, and Dog Festivals. We also do Dog Therapy with our dogs and puppies.
I am a Certified Dog Trainer with the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and bring over 25 years of dog training and behaviorist skills, competing, and showing to my breeding program.
I'm also a Manager of Fibromyalgia along with my Co-Manager, My Service Dog. Andy my first Labradoodle Retired, and currently my second Labradoodle Joey (Melina x Walker Puppy). This is a condition that I have been battliing for the last 12 years. It is a condition that is unpredictable in how you will feel day to day and often means dealing with daily chronic pain. I work to manage it with the love of my family, my Service Dogs, diet and supplements, and when I can exercise.
I have 3 wonderful kids! Two grown boys in college, Eric and Jake. They are both former Gymnastic Competitors, soccer players, and video game addicts! Eric is currently studying to become a Physical Therapist. Jake is currently just starting college to be an engineer and has decided he wants to learn to play the drums.
I have a wonderful daughter, Marissa who is still in High School. She is my best Doodle Assistant and often helps with the puppies. She is involved in 4H and many other doggy activities we do. She was a former Champion Competitive Trampolinist, Soccer Player, Karate (for a short time so she could learn to beat up her older brothers), and most currently Diving.
My husband of 25 years, Bill, works as a Software Engineer at Boeing. He is a boat nut and yearns for those sunny days when he can take the boat out on the Sound. He is former Competitive Body Builder and has been involved in weight lifting all his life. He is the official Doggy Doodle Biscuit Handler.
About Olympic Labradoodles
Olympic Labradoodles has been breeding Labradoodles since 2004. I got my first Labradoodle, Andy, as my next Service Dog. I spent a year researching dog breeds and finally decided the Labradoodle was my #1 choice. Who knew that decision was the beginning of a new crossroads of my life! After having Andy for 6 months I went and got his sister, Kira and got into Breeding!
I'm a small home breeder. My puppies are raised in my home from the time they are born until they go home. I do not have any kennels. I have a special puppy room (my former formal dining room) off of the kitchen where the puppies are exposed to all the daily sounds of a busy household.
A big focus of my program is raising puppies that have the potential to be Service and Therapy Dogs, that have wonderful temperaments for working with Special Needs Kids, as well as being wonderful family members. I've spent the last 5 years studying early puppy development (pre-natal up to 6 months) as I was quite taken by how smart a very young puppy is and how receptive they are to such early training and socialization. Much of my program is based on Jerry Hope's how to raise a Super Star Puppy, The Puppy Prodigy Program, and my own growing experience in working with my puppies.
We start our program by choosing the right Moms and Dads. Excellent temperaments and personalities, empathic natures, people orientation, trainability and intelligence, and the ability to think. I take a very hands on approach to selecting my puppies and have even traveled to other breeders homes to select the right puppy. We look at the dogs shape and conformation and we health test to the highest level we can. I carefully choose my breeding pairs with care in mind in creating the best puppy I can. My goal to start my puppies on the very best paw I can!
We raise our Doodles in our home they are not kept in kennels. They sleep on beds and are a part of our daily life, they love going in the car, and spending time following us all around. We are very involved in dog type of activities and get our dogs out doing lots of fun things. We are extensively involved in 4H as participants and a leader. We compete in agility taking local lessons and competing in fun matches and competitions. We love doing local dog festivals and can often be found there with a number of our Doodles participating in the games, activities, and costume contests. We love to go to the park, the beach, and our vacation property on the Sound. My daughter and I even attended Dog Camp! Our newest activities are Flyball and Dog Carting! Our Dogs are family members and very much loved and spoiled.
What Makes a Wonder Doodle Puppy!! ?
When the time is right we plan a Doodle Honeymoon! We do not breed every time but think about the timing, the puppies I have, our family activities, and so we do not always have puppies available. I believe in Quality over Quantity. We carefully think out our Honey moon plans and start our early puppy development then. We monitor the Hopeful Mom's diet, appropriate exercise, and providing a stress free calm loving environment.
After 30 days we can listen for puppy heart beats and know if we had a successful Honeymoon. At that time we start our Prenatal Puppy Care. Studies have shown that puppies can be interacted with in womb and by doing so produces puppies that are calmer and more receptive to being held. We spend extra time petting and cuddling our Mommy Doodles, stroking their tummies, and doing dog massage and TTouch. This activates the parasympathetic system of the puppies and can start early relaxation, socialization, and even emotional attachment.
We are very involved in the birthing of our puppies and are there for the Mommy Doodle and new born puppies through the whole birthing process. We adminster the Biotinus Testing to evaluate puppies moments after they are born. This combined with all other socializations and activities with the puppies, over the time they are with us, helps us evaluate their personalities and temperaments. This helps us select the best puppy for your individual family.
As Day 2 to around Day 15 we do the Military's Developed Program of Exercises called, "Bio Sensor Exercises." http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.php These exercises stimulates early brain development creating more neuro synapses. This early stimulation produces puppies that have improved performance as well as the ability to handle stress later in life.
After these exercises we continue with creating a human to puppy bond. We handle our puppies daily, we provide stimulation through articles of scent, through toys (puppy toys and interactive pre-school toys), sound (special sound DVD's, music, and TV), and touch (providing different texture materials). This is important as the puppies imprint through 10 weeks of age, so every thing they learn and are exposed to become a permanent part of who they are. When the puppies eyes start to open we make a special effort to be there so one of the first things they see is a human face. We then provide sight stimulation through the use of lights and the TV.
We continue with our puppy socialization with handling and touch conditioning (paws, mouth, ears, tail) and early grooming. This early handling helps to desenstize the puppy and create low body sensitivity. It also helps to teach the puppy to relax when being handled. We start early puppy training such as bite inhibition work, basic obedience like the sits and taking treats nicely. We work with our puppies in teaching them to solve problems like learning to step up and down a step, go through a tunnel, handle having a blanket put over them, etc. We introduce new items into their puppy room and start to carry them around the house, and we try and introduce new people.
At 3 weeks we introduce the Potty Pool and start to teach out puppies to go potty in a designated spot. Starting early coincides with their natural urge to not soil their den area and to seek out a potty spot. We continue with their early potty training expanding their free area as they become more consistent with using the potty pool. As they mature we will move the potty pool to their puppy deck and encourage them to go "Outside" to go potty.
As the puppy matures we continue to add to their socialization, training, and grooming training. We introduce the crate and start crate training. We start night time training around 8-9 weeks where we get up with the puppies at night, take them out to go potty, and put them back to bed. By around 10 weeks puppies are sleeping through the night. We try and get them out to places, like outside, in the car, and if we can arrange puppy visits to the Nursing Home.
We have a very structured program that is always expanding and learning as we grow and learn with our puppies and our program. We also offer extra training camps for families that wish their puppy to get more one on one training and/or to get a puppy that is older and trained.