Recommended Veterinarians
Evergreen Veterinary Hospital, Kirkland, WA – For eight years we have used Evergreen Vet Hospital in Kirkland. All thumbs and paws up on this one! We know families whose pets saw Dr. Douglas B. Iverson, Principal Vet at Evergreen, as a child, and now take their Australian Labradoodles to Evergreen now. I have liked every Vet there! The Vets at this practice rarely leave! Wait times are miniscule. They collaborate on difficult diagnoses, and I can tell that they actually loose sleep over those. Evergreen has never suggested not-so-necessary tests or treatments. They are no-nonsense and common sense Veterinarians. I love that. Other Vets on the East side of Seattle charge double or triple what Evergreen charges. I happily drive to them from Sammamish, and probably 50 of my Shedless in Seattle Labradoodle owners see them from Seattle, Kirkland, Bellevue, Woodinville and Redmond. Some of their staff I have known for years from other clinics, and they love working at Evergreen. Evergreen Vet Hosp. is three minutes to access from the 160th St. exit off I-405.
425.821.9040 14423 124th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA
Vaccines and Preventatives
In the past we all remember the annual visit to the vet for vaccine boosters. As a kid, I remember these visits with wonder and fascination, knowing we were protecting our pet against bad diseases. Vaccines are quite the wonder in our world. Thanks to ongoing research we can determine the frequency of vaccines that strikes the balance between responsible prevention and simple overkill. Now that I am the adult in charge of my dogs, I still look forward to those annual check-ups (I have never met a vet I did not like) but am grateful we do not need to vaccinate annually. I also suggest you do research before vaccinating your dog against the" not-necessary “vaccines and the CORE vaccines, which every dog owner should have. CORE vaccines are DHP or Distemper, Parvovirus, and which need to be done no more often than every three years. Please read this link for more detail. The optional vaccines are leptospirosis, lymes disease, etc. Some are needed regionally, and some are just not needed and may even prove to have long term serious health implications. Please do research! The same goes with giving monthly preventatives for fleas, ticks, heartworms. The Northwest does not experience a high incidence of leptospirosis, fleas and ticks, and heart worms are nearly non existent other than dogs who travel east of the cascades.” Find out which vaccines are recommended for your dog by the American Animal Hospital Association through their Canine Vaccination Guidelines.
Rescue Organizations
My entire life, I have owned rescue dogs. Until I met a Doodle, I never understood why someone would buy a purebred when there were such incredible friends available in shelters. The first dog I had in marriage, Chelsea (pictured on the left), was a jewel. I'll never forget my husband's first response when I pointed Chelsea out to him in the shelter: "Jan, you picked the ugliest dog in this shelter." Yet when in public with her over her twelve-year lifespan, I'm sure we received no less than 50 requests as to her origins! We still have a rescue dog, Cheddar, who came to us with a broken leg from the Humane Society, who so generously operated on him even without an owner lined up.
I write this to say, if you are not set on buying a Labradoodle puppy, consider a rescue dog at a local shelter or a national Web site. Or perhaps a rescue dog would make a perfect playmate for your new Doodle. It is the privilege of every dog lover to support dog rescue efforts in one way or another. I have found Labradoodle lovers to be very philanthropic.
To find a rescue dog, first check out Adopt a Pet, Petfinder, or Poodle-Mix Rescue Dogs. You might find a Doodle in need of a new family at Doods Needing Homes.