Puppy Love

As many of you will know by now, we have had a wonderful holiday visiting family and friends in California (between Los Angeles and Laguna Beach).

As you can tell from the heading of my ‘blog’, I wanted to introduce you to ‘Chance’, my nephews Goldendoodle!

I’m not a dog owner and since March 2020, I was never interested in animals in terms of having one for myself. 

At the beginning of March 2020, just before lockdown, my nephew, who lives in Los Angeles got a dog, a beautiful Goldendoodle with a feisty temperament and we all fell in love with him (me from afar).  He was named Chance, because he was our second chance after his brother, whom should have been on his way over to my nephew, sadly passed away, due to ill health, before he arrived to LA.

Covid hit the world late March 2020 and the lockdown kicked in.  Chance was a life saviour for my nephew, Karlo, as he was for all of us, as we slowly got to know him on our weekly family ‘lockdown’ zoom calls.

Fast forward to November 2021, as soon as the borders opened up to the USA, my mum and I made our way over to LA at which point we got to meet and fall in love with Chance in the flesh. 

He was a sweet small bundle of joy, classed as a Goldendoodle miniature (there are 3 sizes: toy, miniature and standard) , always jumping on us, running around and keeping us entertained as well as spreading his unconditional love around to the whole of the family.  Because it was the first time I met him and wanted to spend time with him before we came back to the UK in 4 weeks’ time, my nephew kindly offered for us to keep him as we were staying with my sister in Laguna Beach.

During this time that we had him, I was his main carer and I fell in love with him and needless to say, I think the feeling was mutual as he became my shadow (or stalker at times)!  I call him my ‘little bear’ and looked after him like he was my own and to be honest never felt such love for an animal before. I even didn’t mind cleaning up his mess, which I would never have dreamed of doing prior to this - I guess that’s what love does!

Being a vegan for over 8 years, and hosting many vegan festivals and being exposed to businesses and charities that supported animals, animal welfare, animal products, animal health and wellbeing, although I had a liking for animals, I was never enthusiastic enough to have one of my own, simply because of a busy lifestyle and being a carer for my mother, who has many allergens and lung condition that wouldn’t be able to house animals with ‘hair’.

However, Chance is a Goldendoodle and they are hypo-allergenic dogs which means that they do not shed their hair which makes them much healthier choice for those who suffer with allergies. So during our time in the States, my mum also enjoyed the company of Chance without having any reactions to him.

During our last trip (now), I made as much time for Chance as possible and bonded with him further.  I started to take photos and videos of him.  Then one day my nephew mentioned making fresh food for Chance and I said, ‘yes why not, I am a chef after all’!

I did some research on the internet to find out what they could enjoy and items that were restricted and got to planning meals for Chance that included all the essential ingredients (protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals) and provided him with healthy and nutritious meals.

Basically, his base was Organic Basmati rice with a variety of beans and vegetables.  This is truly his favourite meal and as you will see from a video I will share later, he laps it all up in record time so as the famous saying goes, ‘the proof is in the pudding’. For his snacks, I fed him pieces of fresh cucumber, carrots, apples, to name but a few and to date, he remains a healthy bouncy young pup!

So this is some of my learnings and sharing’s during this trip away in the States and as our holiday is coming to an end and it will soon be time to hug Chance and say goodbye, I will look forward to the next time we share our time together and continue to make wonderful memories together (as well as handing over the cooking of Chance’s meals to my nephew and sister)!