My name is RYKER!

Ryker is a blue neutered Standard Poodle puppy (born April 29, 2015), is a BIG BOY who stands at 27″ tall (measuring from the floor to his shoulders) and weighs a healthy 62 pounds. He comes to us from a breeder as his previous loving family were unable to continue with the care of him due to his various health issues.

I will go into more detail about those “health issues”, but first you need to know that this is a very nice Standard Poodles puppy who has quickly captured the hearts and love of Mike, our children, grand-children and me. In all of our 18 years with Poodles, Ryker is one of the best Standard Poodle we have met. Even my handler and groomer both told us “… you need to keep this one, Gail”.

Yes. We would LOVE to keep this puppy boy, but the greatest gift I can give Ryker (and all our Poodles) is a home of his own. And so, Ryker is now available for adoption….

About those “health issues”….. Ryker’s Veterinarian records showed his family was dealing with skin irritations, hot spots, runny eyes, itching, vomiting, diarrhea, paw chewing and constant licking.

Records also clearly show that his worried family tried various dog foods, different shampoos, antibiotics, salves, eye drops and even a cortisone shot; but nothing seemed to help.

Ryker’s concerned breeder did not have any problems with Ryker for the 5 1/2 months before he was adopted. When Ryker was tearfully returned to her, she had no idea why things were going so wrong. Also, there had been NO PROBLEMS with any other puppies in Ryker’s litter. So Ryker was surrendered to us with hopes and plans that we will figure out what IS going on.

We have evaluated this boy and found a deeply loved playful puppy. This is a very friendly, loving, sociable, smart Standard Poodle who loves everyone and everyone loves him! He has a very gentle and tender disposition with exceptional intelligence for such a young Poodle. He has had some obedience training and will: “Come”, “Sit”, “Down” and will “Stay” until you release him from that position.

His skin, face, feet and body are clean and clear with no signs of irritation. He has not shown any signs of itching, licking, scratching, nausea or vomiting even as we have changed his dog food. WE FOUND NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS BOY!

Then Ryker and I met with our Vet and were able to discuss his situation. We learned that Ryker had ear infections in both ears.

Then after a quick test (Florescence Dye Test), which consisted of a special green dye dropped into each of his eyes, our Vet was able to immediately determine that Ryker has an EYE condition known as “Medial Canthal Pocket Syndrome”.

Ryker went to our groomer who removed all the hair in his ear canal and SOME of the hair on his ears which helps the internal ear canal receive more air. This is very typical for large dogs with LOTS of heavy ear hair.

She also felt that perhaps some of the itching and hot spots Ryker had suffered from was due to previous grooming jobs. This boy has a very thick and heavy coat which needs to be kept short. Otherwise, a grooming blade can and will get HOT while the hair is being removed. Ouch!

Ryker’s next visit to our Vet found that his ear infections were gone! However, another “Fluorescein Dye Test” was done and Ryker failed again. The tear ducts on both eyes are not correctly working at all; his eyes were getting worse!

So, an appointment was made with Dr. Larocca: http://www.animaleyespecialtycenter.com/ and on Wednesday, we found the answer to Ryker’s eye problems!

While his nasolarcrimal (tear) ducts were successfully flushed clean, there was such a severe inflammation of his eyes due to a condition known as follicular conjunctivitis. (link on our web site)

This is an inflammation that results in the development of follicles on the back side of the third eyelids. This type of inflammation is usually a result of some irritant or allergic response to the eye. When the follicles form, it results in a chronic and recurrent inflammation. Ryker’s follicles were very severe and likely the reason the third eyelids were protruding.


Both Ryker’s eye lids were treated by debriding the follicles to help resolve his inflammation (English interpretation: the eye lids were scrapped clean).

Ryker will be on an eye medication for 2 weeks which will resolve the inflammation and allow the third eyelids to heal without reforming the follicles! What a special and wonderful patient Ryker was! HE WILL BE JUST FINE! Ryker is now pain free and should have no more problems.

Ryker’s 1 million, trillion, billion, zillion dollar adoption fee helps pay for just some of the Vet work including his tests, medications, heart worm testing, Home Again micro chip registration, worming, Advantix ii treatment (yes, the wood ticks are out!), and all his shots are up to date. His teeth are just perfect!

Ryker has been a good boy in our home (house trained). He was also professionally washed and groomed. What a handsome boy!

We will be including his AKC papers, a bag of Merrick dog food, several bags of treats, a big new doggie bed, leash, collar, some toys, all his Vet records, and lots of information to help your adoption start off on the right paw forward.

O.K. To the right family, his adoption fee will be $750.00 plus $52.00 Minnesota State Sales tax, which will also help pay for some of Ryker’s expenses. This is a very rare opportunity for the right family with Standard Poodle experience. Ryker is just fine with other dogs, but is looking to become a family member and not a companion to another dog. Please no small children (under the age of 5) or cats.

Applications are now being accepted from our on-line page, or e-mail me and I will send you Ryker’s “Application For Adoption”.