Meet Sheldon Gryffindor Rockhill....

Well the day has finally arrived. We are the proud new parents of a standard poodle puppy that we have named Sheldon Gryffindor Rockhill. He is the son of the all-time winning champion poodle Reeba who is a beautiful mommy, who has fabulous poodle lineage. I am generally an advocate of animal rescue and adoptions, however, John has allergies and Poodles are generally non-allergenic dogs because they have hair and not fur. At any rate, we bought our poodle from an excellent breeder who really respects the breed and does an excellent job caring for and raising puppies. I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend Candy who referred me to the breeder. She promised she'd find me one of the best poodle breeders in the country and she was right! Naming a pet is never easy for me. I start making lists way in advance and walk around saying the names out loud, trying to see what I like. Then once the new pet is in my home it's all about the personality and character. I can tell you that I had several other names on the list that I thought I liked more, but in the end he just seems like a Sheldon to us. I added his middle name of Gryffindor because that was my second choice.

above: at the risk of sounding like a Harry Potter nerd, here is the shield of the House of Gryffindor. I just liked the sound of it as a middle name for Sheldon.

above: you can get a sense of his size from these photos. Sheldon is 10 weeks old and weighs about 15 pounds or so.

above: Going for a stroll in the garden

Sheldon meets the other kids...

above: Koshimi was snoozing when Sheldon first burst onto the scene. Owen walked over with some trepidation.

above: The Three Amigos

above: Owen decides that Sheldon is alright and pats his new brother on the shoulder. Sheldon will be bigger than Owen in no time...

above: here you can really see Sheldon's size in comparison to Koshimi. Shimi is about 18 pounds and is an old man. Sheldon is 15 pounds at just 10 weeks old.

above: Shimi teaches his new younger brother how to go for a walk. Sheldon did fairly well for his first time on the lead.
-Rick Rockhill