The double entendres of dog-hunting

Our son has begged us for a dog for several months now.  At first I thought his case was hopeless but now… I’m not so sure.

In any case, I have been researching dogs.  Not that I am new to dogs.  At one time, in our house of wood, my family had four dogs.  What I am new to is the hunt for a suitable dog.  We want a non-shedder.  We want it not too big.  We want it family friendly.  I have accosted strangers in parks to ask them about their pooches.  I have looked at websites.  I have googled breeds.

What I have learned is this:   You can pay $5000 for a poodle or $6000 for a cavoodle.   If you get a poodle crossed with a cocker spaniel, some people call it a cockerpoo and others call it a spoodle.  But a man in the park called his springer spaniel crossed with a poodle a spoodle.  According to google that is a springerdoodle (heaven forbid).

Google poodle. Hunt the lawn for cockerpoo, scan the sky for cockatoo. Pure poodle, hair like noodles, great for a cavort or quiet cavoodle.  Do not unleash that springerdoodle.

Gosh, no self-respecting man in a park would say “Meet Tilly, my springerdoodle.”  I see now that spoodle is by far the preferable term, even if it is confusing.  So move over cockerpoos – stop hogging two names.

Now all these oodles of poodle-crosses are what are termed “designer breeds”.  There is actually an association which decides which breeds get labelled “designer”.   Does that not make anybody else giggle and then moan?  Seriously…  we are sewing up breeds (and crazy names for them) like we’re the new wave of factory owners in the industrial revolution.

Anyway,  having reflected on all this for a bit,  I have come to the conclusion that we are not in the market to pay thousands of dollars (I never paid that much for a horse!) for a dog with poo in its name.  Nor do I know which breeders to trust.

So, hello RSPCA.  If we decide we definitely will get a dog,  we will join the pot-luck of second-handies.  We will be proud adopters of a designer mutt.  As P so elegantly put it “our dog was engineered from the available components.”