broken hearted

[mary]

Hi,

I'm deeply torn up over having to get rid of my 16 week mini golden doodle. He was the sweetest, calmest,cutest puppy ever!  We got him at 12 weeks. He was 4 1/2 lbs. of love. 

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced their puppy growling and biting. Our puppy did on 2 incidences. Due to having an 8 and 9 year old, granddaughters and neighborhood kids over, we decided to give him to a single lady that doesn't have kids.

It truly boggles our minds since he was so laid back and loving. We did socialize him with other people from the beginning and an occasional dog at the park. Never a problem. 

We spoke to different behaviorist, each gave us different answers including that he is unpredictable, therefore to keep him away from kids.

I've cried all my tears out.

Mary

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

What do you mean by "growling and biting"? That's what puppies do every day. That's how they play and also how they teeth. Every one of our Doodles goes thru that. It's called being a puppy.

[mary]

The 1st time he was laying next to my 8 yr. old son. I gave him a new treat. My son went to pet him, he growled and showed his teeth, my husband went in to get him, he bit him. I took all treats away. I was hopeful this was the end and he was protecting his treat. Three nights ago,my 9 yr. old son was on couch eating a slim jim. Puppy tried jumping up on couch, my husband said my son kept telling him no and pushing him down with his hand, puppy showed teeth and bit him. 

[mary]

Wow!  going through old threads here... Susan Linko is the breeder I bought him from. There are negative comments about her on here!

[mary]

This was different from the everyday play biting and growling.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

To me it sounds like your puppy resource guarding (try searching that on DK, there have been many discussions on it with dogs doing similar things, I would also search this in the training group) and this is a very normal puppy/ dog thing that just needs to be handled with proper training. For a behaviorist to call him "unpredictable" would make me question the behaviorist because of course he's unpredictable, all puppies are! They are babies and are just learning the ropes of the world and need to be corrected and praised as needed. Also I completely agree with Lori, all puppy bite and growl in fact my two boys sound like they are killing each other when they play, its just how dogs are. 

I'm not sure if this helps at all since it seems your have re homed your baby already, but I am sorry for the situation you are in, I could not imagine having to give up a little puppy.

[mary]

This has been pure heartache!  Im sick, can't sleep. Me and my husband have been going back and forth on this!  We all loved him so much, but if he bit (not playing), twice, wasn't there a chance of it happening again?  What if he bit harder and drew blood, stitches??

I believe we should probably get a dog, not a puppy, that hasn't shown aggression. 

I definitely want a flat hair golden doodle  again. Ours was a mini and going to grow only to 10 lbs. Was the cutest thing ever.

[M Kol]

Sorry this happened to you and your family. It can be hard. I think intensive training can be a key component of being able to keep a puppy or dog.  I agree it probably could have been resource guarding and or resource confusion.  It sounds like the puppy could have been testing its limits, and saw your son as not being an alpha.  I do think personality is a part of any puppy or dog behavior too.  I have heard a dog will not show its true personality until about 3 weeks into being transitioned to a new home.  At that point, training is crucial to establish order and discipline so the puppy or dog knows its place, as they are naturally social climbers.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I couldn't agree more, the first few weeks are almost a "honeymoon" period and then they test limits to see what they are and where they fit in.

[Stella]

I'm surprised your breeder didn't have a clause in your contract that the puppy had to be returned. All good breeders require you to return the dog to them if you can't keep it. All puppies growl and bite, they will test you with their behaviour to see what they can get away with, it is normal behaviour. It is too bad that this didn't work out for you, but maybe for the best, busy household and young children often don't work out well for smart, high energy dogs like doodles :(

[mary]

I didn't receive anything from breeder!  I called , text many times to get records of his dob and his shot records.

[mary]

Never received anything

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

This just seems so premature to give up on a new puppy.
Sorry it didn't work out