Monopoly Labradoodle Story « Manor Lake Australian Labradoodles Blog

Move over, Rover: Hybrid labradoodle replaces Scottish terrier token
USA TODAY

The labradoodle makes a token appearance in Monopoly’s new version.

By Julie Ward, USA TODAY
The Scottish terrier has always been among the most popular Monopoly game tokens, according to Matt Collins, vice president of marketing for Hasbro Games. So there was no doubt a dog would be among the icons for the special edition Monopoly: Here & Now.
“In research over the years, the dog was one of the most heartfelt tokens,” Collins says.

A labradoodle got the nod as representative of the growing number of hybrid dogs. A cross between a Labrador retriever and poodle, the labradoodle has recently become popular in the USA after first being bred in Australia as a guide dog.

Tiger Woods is among those owning a labradoodle. Woods got a puppy after winning the PGA Championship last month. The puppy, named Yogi, joined Taz, a border collie, in the Woods’ household in Florida.

Writing about the dogs in his website newsletter, Woods said, “They’ll definitely keep us on our toes.”

Labradoodles are very intelligent, easy to train and are very sociable, says Ken Fischer, general manager of the Australian Labradoodle Association of America.

“They can open doors, even sliding doors, pop open baby gates … having that poodle in them means they use their front paws like hands,” Fischer says.

The cost of a labradoodle ranges from $ 2,000 to $ 3,000. Part of the dog’s popularity stems from its appeal to allergy sufferers because its curly coat is less prone to shedding.

Says Fischer: “We bought the dogs because they weren’t well known. For whatever reason, they’ve become extremely popular and are everywhere, and I’m not sure that is always a good thing.”

Fischer, who lives in Cincinnati, has four labradoodles and also runs a dog rescue website.

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The Story of How I Got My Pen Name

Image from http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/34600000/I-write-my-heart-on-a-paper-writing-34664949-1600-1067.jpg

You may be wondering about how I got my pen name. Or maybe not. But still. When I started my first blog, I decided that I didn’t want to use my real name on the internet. So, with the help of one of my friends, I developed a pen name, or, if you prefer, a pseudonym: Sabrina Wolfheart.

Back then I thought it was a pretty awesome name. Okay, let me backtrack. When I was seven or eight years old, my friends and I would play pretend. Pretend vet clinic, pretend zoo, pretend pet school. Yeah, we were pretty crazy about animals. Well, we always picked fake names, and I loved the name Sabrina back then. The Wolfheart bit didn’t come about until later, but, because of my old affinity for Sabrina, it was the obvious choice for a first name. It, among other things, was reminiscent of my past, and I liked that.

–OKAY, quick story–

I’m big on clinging to the past. I just can’t seem to let go. When I moved from elementary school to middle school, it took me TWO YEARS to leave that school behind and just start enjoying middle school for what it was, wholeheartedly. It wasn’t as if I didn’t enjoy middle school before, but if it took me two years to adjust to middle school, then how am I supposed to let go of my favorite childhood name? You know what, I’ll just get back to the topic.

Image from http://admin.emanuelnyc.org
/sps/var/images/image_lg_1807.jpg

Now the Wolfheart bit–my favorite animal is a wolf. Technically, it would be a dog, but I don’t really think they’re fierce enough. Even if they look scary and growly and all that, they have a soft spot for someone. But wolves, they aren’t like that. They’re smart, fast, and fend for themselves. They’re loyal, but they’re also capable of thinking. And new scientific research shows that they are loyal to their pack because their pack is their FAMILY, not because some top wolf is going to kill them if they don’t bring back enough from the hunt.

So anyways. How to translate my favorite animal, the wolf, into a last name? Well, my friend suggested adding “heart” to the end, and so I did. I stopped liking it a bit, but, hey, you can’t change your name, can you? And you can’t change your pen name either. So I kept it. And, well, I think it’s pretty cool now. I’ve thought of changing it, but Sabrina Wolfheart has grown to fit me, and I can’t really change my pen name now without changing who I am. And so that’s the story of how I got my pen name.

- S