Meet Darby And Tigger

“A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life.” If one dog can make your life wonderful, what could be better? Four dogs is quadruple the fun!

Joy and Teddy aren’t the only dogs in our family. We have two more, our retired breeding pair, Darby and Tigger, who have been part of our family since most of the children are old enough to remember.

You see, our family had a problem, and it was allergies, combined with severe asthma for one. Owning or adopting most dogs seemed impossible. But then we discovered that certain breeds of dogs are hypoallergenic, meaning they cause no allergic reaction. In addition, most of these breeds are also non-shedding. Hallelujah! Many of these breeds are poodle mixes, such as the Yorkiepoo, the Labradoodle, or the Bernadoodle. The poodle is naturally hypoallergenic and shed-free. In order to transmit these desirable qualities to another breed, a poodle is bred to a member of that breed. The resulting puppies are ‘hybrids’ or ‘designer dogs’. In the first generation (the puppies with poodle mother, father of X other breed, say a Lab) many puppies may not have inherited the desirable coat of a poodle. So the breeder chooses the pups with the best coats and breeds them to other poodles. The resulting pups are second-generation. When those are bred to poodles, you finally have (generally) a perfect breed mix.

Darby and Tigger are both Labradoodles. Darby was our very first, a beautiful chocolate-brown Labradoodle just like a big teddy bear. Darby was so wonderful, such a good personality and so loyal and good with children, that we thought she was just the perfect dog to breed from. After a good deal of thought and research, we decided to become Labradoodle breeders! But we wanted to ensure our puppies would have two good parents, so we wanted to make the father a part of our family too. Enter Tigger! Tigger looks precisely like a yellow lab, only transformed into a teddy bear with his curly long coat. He is unquestionably a gorgeous dog with a very loving and loyal personality. They were such good parents that we were reluctant to retire them, but did so even a bit early to insure that their health (Darby’s in particular) might last far into their golden years. And so, they have become our adored pets and honorary godparents to Joy and Teddy’s puppies. They are so wonderful and interesting that we wanted to give you a chance to know them, too.

Both of their names come from a cartoon the children loved, My Friends Tigger And Pooh, featuring all the beloved Winnie the Pooh characters plus one more, Darby, who was Christopher Robin’s cousin. Darby was smart, friendly, and loved to solve mysteries. Tigger was “Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!”. Our two favorite characters became the dog’s names. And funnily enough, their personalities matched them perfectly.

Darby, our chocolate labradoodle, is indeed a very clever dog. From a early age, she figured out how to manipulate simple gate closures and doors. She was also remarkably good with children. Once, a child of around two proceeded to hit Darby over and over with a stick. We promptly stopped him when we discovered Darby patiently sitting there for us to come to her rescue. She also was quite willing to be a pretend horse for stuffed animals and dolls. Her personality was so wonderful and she was so trustworthy that she slept in the children’s bed at night ‘protecting them from monsters’. She went with us to stores that allowed dogs, gaining many admirers who asked for her to do her tricks. In 2020, she earned her AKC Canine Good Citizen Award. She was also a wonderful mother who raised her puppies to be as respectful and loving towards humans as she. Indeed, a puppy buyer once said, “My, these dogs are good with children!” When she visited to find eight puppies who were happy to be picked up and played with by young children and, even at only eight weeks, never bit, not even in play. She was such a good mother that she once adopted two puppies whose mother, unfortunately, had a rare condition that made her unable to nurse them. Darby will be ten years old on March 27th of this year, and is still healthy and vigorous. Most people are surprised to learn she is ten, because, despite her grey hairs, she is as playful and vigorous as ever.

Darby

Tigger was named after another Winnie The Pooh, character, this time a bouncy, loveable, and fun-loving one. And indeed, our naming was right on the mark yet again! In the movie, Tigger had his own theme song, which declares, “Tiggers are cuddly fellas, Tiggers are awfully sweet.” And “Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs! They are bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! The wonderfullest thing about Tiggers is, I’m the only one, I’m the only one!”

Tigger so fitted his name that the children would break into the theme song as he demonstrated his similarity to their favorite character. Tigger was indeed a ‘cuddly fella.’ If he got scared by the vacuum, he liked to sit with the living room curtains draped over his head. He loved to snuggle under a blanket with a pillow under his fluffy head. He lay next to the children when they did schoolwork and liked to sit with his head in our laps during movie night.

Tigger being a cuddly fella

His bouncing was legendary, as he once nearly bounced himself over a six-foot fence and frightened himself. When company was over and Tigger needed to wait outside during dinner, he bounced up and down in the window to get our attention, puzzled as to why he wasn’t invited. Tigger is the happiest dog. He’s happy-go-lucky and sees no point in being serious when there is fun to be had! Of course, the pursuit of fun had occasionally been carried a bit too far (such as running into a fence chasing a trespassing squirrel) or dashing right smack into a (perhaps too well cleaned) sliding glass door in his eagerness to greet friends.

There was always one thing Tigger was always serious about, and that was protecting his family, especially the children. We have never had a break-in and I think one reason why might be that any burglar casing the house soon discovered he would confronted with a vengeful teddy bear if he attempted any such thing.

Tigger will be nine years old January fifth of this year. He looks his age even less than Darby does, because, thanks to his blond curls, has no detectable grey hairs yet. I don’t think he knows he’s nine. He certainly has never considered slowing down! God willing, we hope to have both our dear dogs for many years to come, and we aim to break the record for longest-living labradoodles. Surely Joy and Teddy’s puppies would be missing out on a wonderful part of their lives without having such good Godparents!