My New Puppy is Home!

[MissMowgli]

I've been waiting on this (not-so) little guy since December. His name is Marlowe, he's a show-quality Curly Coated Retriever, and he's 9 weeks old today. He's going to be a monster: when the vet weighed him on Monday, he was already 17 lbs.

He's an absolute doll; he knows his name already, is working on sit and down, and has only tried to pee in the house once since I brought him home on Saturday. This morning, he got tired after we'd been playing for a while, so he trotted off to the bedroom and went into his crate all by himself. Such a good boy!

Thanks for looking! I'm so much in love with him!

[Geckos-by-Pam]

He is beautiful! His coat is so curly very nice you can tell he's show quality!

[ballpythonluvr]

Very gorgeous puppy!

[BuddhaLuv]

Oh my goodness he is adorable! He reminds me of a little baby wooly sheep

[Swingline0.0.1]

He is cute! Much larger than my new 4 pound mini wiener dog!

[FrostFell]

Now I don't know the CCR standard, but I DO know structure, and that is a gorgeous pup!

Are they supposed to be a very large breed? I think he will be near 100 lbs (by those feeties!)-- will you still be able to show him???

[Chocolate Muffin's]

Wow, he's cuter than many people I know. What a beautiful pup, congratulations!!!!

[MissMowgli]

Oh my goodness he is adorable! He reminds me of a little baby wooly sheep

Thanks! I call him my "wolf in sheep's clothing", lol. When he gets his adult coat, it'll be these really tight, crisp curls and he'll feel just like a really soft sheep.

Now I don't know the CCR standard, but I DO know structure, and that is a gorgeous pup!

Are they supposed to be a very large breed? I think he will be near 100 lbs (by those feeties!)-- will you still be able to show him???

Thanks! He's actually pick of the litter; the breeder didn't want another intact male around to cause drama, so she let us have him and said she "strongly encouraged" us to show him once he's mature. I've never done the purebred dog thing before, so I'm just going to enjoy him and see where it goes. He has grandparents on both sides with obedience and hunting titles, so I'm more excited about Rally-O or agility, but it would be kind of cool to put a Ch in front of his name as icing on the cake.

As far as the size, I love this breed because it's not popular enough for it to have separated into show vs. working lines, and the breed standard is much more open than in some other breeds. It says the males should be 25-27 inches at the withers, but "a clearly superior Curly falling outside of this range should not be penalized because of size." Same thing with the weight: "The degree of substance is sufficient to ensure strength and endurance without sacrificing grace. Bone and substance are neither spindly nor massive and should be in proportion with weight and height and balanced throughout." So, basically, he could get too big for the show ring, but it would be tough. Males typically weigh in between 70 and 90lbs, and his grandmother was enormous for a female, so I think he'll be on the high side of that.

Thanks everyone! It's so nice to show him off to people who don't think I'm crazy to be this excited over a dog.

[rebel750]

Awwe! Looks like a curly version of the lab we just had to put down. I like it. I have not personally ran across a curly retriever.