Do doodles play best with other doodles?

[Frannie & Callie]

Last night, I hosted a dog party at my house. In addition to Callie and Bixby Foster Doodle, I'm also keeping my friend Hallie's dogs Sydney (a 13 year old lab mix) and Bella (a 4 year old g-d only knows, but she's cute mix) while she's out of town (turns out that it's not so easy to walk 4 dogs and to keep them from eating each other's food!). Well, yesterday was a scorcher so I invited my friend Robyn and her 8 month old doggie Louie (a shi-tzu/spaniel mix) and my neighbors Ryan and Dana and their 5 month old goldendoodle puppy, Einstein all over to play inside, where there's cool water, ice cubes, and air conditioning.

 

So...six dogs in my tiny little townhouse. Let the games begin!  First, everyone played keep away with the antlers. Then, tennis balls were thrown and stuffed animals were tugged. All dogs were having a good time but I noticed that the three doodles (Callie, Bixby, and Einstein) played together more than they did with the other dogs, and they played with each other in a different way than they played with any of the others. None of the other dogs laid on each other and played "land shark" (which is what I call the all doodle ear and beard biting game where you see so many teeth that if you didn't know your dood, you might be a little alarmed!). The doodles liked to play chase with each other, round and around the coffee table and then, as if they had discussed it, they would all change directions very suddenly.

 

Callie always likes to play with any playful dog but it was just last night that I noticed that she really has a totally different doodle play with other doodles and was curious if anyone had similar experience.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Yep, there are 3 doodles at Peri's daycare. If they are all there at once, the staff tell me that the 3 of them play the entire day and ignore every other dog. Don't get me wrong, Peri will try to play with any dog, but she gravitates toward doodles. She plays rougher with doodles too.....that ear and beard biting is so funny :) Oh and she also goes gaga for Wheatens - do you think this is because they look kind of similar?

[Frannie & Callie]

Could be...wheatens can look very doodley. Lady Peri would have had a wonderful time with the dood crew last night!

[Anna and Achilles]

Very interesting question, Do you think it could be a size thing?

[Frannie & Callie]

I don't think so...Bixby is huge (65-ish lbs), Callie is medium (45lbs), and Einstein is still a baby (25 lbs). They're like the three bears from Goldilocks!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Not necessarily size IMO because Peri's a mini and her favorite doods are gigantic - Astrodood, the big red dog, is her boyfriend.

Do y'all ever notice your doodle will stop and stare at another doodle? Peri does - even if we don't know who they are. She doesn't do this as often with other breeds.

[Frannie & Callie]

Astro is so cute! I bet he and Peri make an adorable couple.

Here's something funny that Bixby does...I have a full length mirror in my room and several times a night he will walk over to it, scratch at it, and bark. He SO badly wants to play with that big doodle he sees there!

[Carol and Banjo]

That's so cute! Banjo does the same thing with the mirror on the back of my bedroom door. He barks at himself and has even bumped his teeth against the mirror! I love when he backs away and does his "play bow". I keep thinking he'll figure it out.....but it's the same routine every time!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin does this too! Every single night, as soon as it's dark enough for a reflection on our patio door, Darwin will spend about 30 minutes staring at himself. He picks up his toys, carries them over to the door, and play bows. Then the reflection of himself play bowing gets him excited, and he basically gets the zoomies, running back and forth from the kitchen to the door. It's hilarious to watch!

[Yvonne N]

And Adood loves his Lady Peri and big bro Timbow. Cannot wait to have the three together again.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've heard a lot of people say their dogs prefer other dogs who look like them, lol.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I have definitely noticed that Darwin plays harder, and longer with doodles. He plays with other dogs, but not at all like he does with doodles, or golden retrievers. Maybe it's the playful attitude. They have similar temperament, translating into the same type of play preference?

[Carol and Banjo]

I can't believe this post! We had Banjo out last weekend where he met lots of people and a dozen or so different dogs. He was friendly with most, indifferent to some....BUT the most interesting thing was the way he reacted to a Wheaten we met! DH and I thought it might be a GD but soon learned it was a Wheaten....well, we've NEVER seen Banjo play SO well with any dog! They acted like long lost pals. They both had a great time.....I hated to break it up but the owner of the Wheaten had her hands full between grandchildren fishing and her dog. I'm so curious to know what this is about!!!