Forest the Cavoodle
Our $7,000 dog
Rich and I have always had pets. We are dog people. When we met in 1985 and moved in together, we got our first dog. Her name was Shantelle and she was a full-blooded American Eskimo. She was the best dog and had to be put down at the age of nine with severe epilepsy.
Through the years we had other dogs come and go while we raised three children. The children all grew up and flew the coop and took their pets with them.
We had been petless for a few years and I think both of us were feeling the desire to have another companion. Everyone said we were crazy. Of course, those people were petless themselves, and most of them were not dog people. We have always enjoyed having a dog.
We started looking online at local animal shelters and websites. We found a local family who had Cavoodle puppies available for adoption. We drove to their farm on a cold, snowy day in February to look at them.
When we got there, we saw several fluffy eight-week-old poodle looking puppies jumping up and down at the gate and barking and whining to be picked up. We picked up a few of them, held them, and then put them back down, until Rich…
