Encounter with Angry Woman who HATES Goldendoodle

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

I apologize in advance for awful writing but I am enraged with what happened to me yesterday. I thought to share it and to see if other people have encountered any similar situations and what they did to deal with it.  

I am writing this to share a very strange experience with a very hateful woman I've had yesterday at the dog beach-Dunes Park at New Smyrna in FL.  What kind of person walks up to a stranger and starts a rampage about their dog's breed? I have a 5-month-old Goldendoodle puppy named Lucky, a pug, and a pomeranian. The pug and the pomeranian love the beach and so we thought it would be a nice way to introduce our puppy to the beach.

So here is EXACTLY what happened: I was minding my own business and playing in the ocean with my Pug and Pomeranian and trying to get my Goldendoodle to come into the water.  Along came this middle aged woman with a brown Husky. She asks if we had a Goldendoodle because he was really wet so it was hard to tell what he was.  I was having a hard time getting Lucky to come into the water because he was a little bit scared.   She says "Oh your dog probably doesn't have webbed feet and if he doesn't he won't like the water." She then commands me to look at his foot to look and he does have webbed feet.  And YES he has webbed feet!! Then she proceeds to tell me that Goldendoodles are not a breed. What I have is a mutt and with mutts they are very unpredictable. I said that he is an F1b Goldendoodle with 75% Poodle and 25% Golden Retriever and both breeds have webbed feet.  Then she says "people can call them whatever they want but at the end of the day your dog just isn't a breed and what you have is a mutt." I am pretty pissed at this point and wanted to leave but I let her finish because I didn't want to be rude. 

She goes on to tell me how unlike my dog, her dog is a SHOW dog from a well known Husky breeder with predictable traits.  Goldendoodles are not recognized by the AKC and they should NEVER be but that might change with the young generation.  She complains how the young generation is not well mannered (I'm in my late 20s btw). The young entitled generation, aka my generation, doesn't want to work (yes a common complaint against millennials *eye roll*).  We want a dog that doesn't shed and have that retriever sporty dog personality, but in the end, we don't have a breed.  People are trying to get Goldendoodles recognized by the AKC and trying to change traditions. Your generation is lazy and that's why you end up with mutts.

Why go up to a complete stranger and antagonize them when they are trying to have a nice day at the beach?  She finally tells me that she is a vet tech but proceeds on the tirade about mutts.  At that point, I finally got fed up and told her that what she said was offensive. I get no apologies and she becomes indignant. I told her to please leave.  She doesn't leave and sits 10 ft away from us and so I thought we should go.  As I get up to leave she tries to continue to yell at me she says "Opinions are like a******* and everyone has one."  

I've rescued all my dogs with the exception of the Goldendoodle, I felt kind of bad about that but this is plain cruel. I've also fostered of "mutts" from rescues but have NEVER received anything close to this kind of treatment!!  Have any of you dealt with this?  Thankfully I don't like in a small beach town and most of my neighbors love Lucky.  

What kind of psycho has this kind of serious discrimination against Goldendoodles? Why pick on a complete stranger? What should I do to prevent this from happening again?  I still want to go back to that beach because I am not going to let one person ruin a place I like. 

[Cathy Lohan]

you're like me!!!!

[Carol Vineyard]

Wow!  Who pissed in her Wheaties!  What a........you know the word! She must have very low self esteem to think that she needed to belittle your choice of dogs, while hailing her pooch as king of something. 

If she works in a vet office, I certainly wouldn't want her looking down her long (probably crooked and covered with warts) nose at every dog that comes in, because most dogs are mutts.

[Cathy Lohan]

I would have told her off!!! I wouldn't have been nice at all...I would have not used nice words either!!!Good thing it wasn't me who ran into her!!!

[Collette Bonvillain]

That is just crazy. Some people... Wonder what was up her butt lol

[Jaime and Barley Barker]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. I've encountered some snobbery, including from the trainer in my obedience class when one of my doodles was a puppy. Some people are very protective of their breeds. Based on dog-breed books that I have, most recognized dog breeds have been descended from other breeds to produce desired traits. In fact, I can't recall any breeds in my books that aren't connected to other breeds in their lineage. Unless the person owns a pure wolf, most likely they have a dog that was bred and bred until reliable traits were isolated and repeated. I usually respond with that logic. Someday doodles might be recognized. But who really cares as long as you love your dog?

I agree that the woman was crazy. I'm in my late 30s; according to some sources, I'm a millenial; to other sources, I'm a late generation Xer. Regardless, I look younger than I am. I was harassed by a woman in the local library because my phone rang. She created a scene and told me that people like me were responsible for sexting and murder. I turned my phone off, but she made more of a scene than my ringing phone had. I complained to the front desk about her, and she was asked not to come back. Apparently, she wasn't from the area but had been asked to not return to her local library because she harassed other people. In summary, I think she was an unhappy, unpleasant woman, like your beach lady. In the end, I feel sorry for people like that. It sounds like you handled the situation respectfully. Fortunately, I've found in life that the nasty people are few and far between. ;)

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

Omg thank you for sharing your experience. I felt like this woman had a serious problem with me and the dog.

[Jaime and Barley Barker]

You're welcome! I forgot to mention that part of the library woman's tirade against me was about my generation, which I guess is how she linked me to sexting and then to murder. Very strange experience.

Some people are so insecure and unhappy that they build themselves up by putting down others. Some people also thrive on negative attention. Just remember: it's her problem and not yours!

Your story also reminded me of a lady I met in obedience class. She made sure to tell everyone that her purebred pup was an expensive English golden retriever shipped over from the UK and why this breed's line was superior to the American one...and basically all of the other puppies in class. Well, it turned out her superior pup had an issue with submissive urination and spent much of the class time peeing every time someone looked at it. My inexpensive, inferior, domestic pup managed to get through each class without peeing on himself.

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

You are awesome! I love the irony in it all.  Seriously, I think every generation says the past one sucks. My fiance said to simply ignore these naysayers.  I had told the crazy lady that there are a lot of good progress made by the younger generations and there are good and bad.  I don't think age really matters, it is simply people. Snobbery and discrimination knows no age in my experience.  I love both your stories.  The only thing age has taught me is to be thankful for my friends and family because the world is full of endless crazy and generally, you don't have to go very far to experience it.  Thanks again for sharing your story about the library woman.  That woman at the library is another level of deranged!  No one should say that to anyone!  Sometimes, I feel as if I'm the only one experiencing nasty people...like there is something wrong with me. It is good to know that people are all kinds of special. 

Your English Golden retriever story is hysterical. I had lived in London, specifically Westminster, for a year working for Member of Parliament. I would take the underground all the time and see homeless people there with their "English" Golden Retrievers. Homeless people use them as protection and safety. You know what they call them over there? Just Golden Retrievers and they all look the same but different from the ones in the states.  I'd like to add you as a friend on doodle forum :)

[Jaime and Barley Barker]

Agreed! It sounds like you had a great response. And no, you are not alone, and there is nothing wrong with you. I'm pretty laid back, and I think some people have felt free to be snarky because they assume they can get away with it. I've learned to try to treat people the way I'd want to be treated or try to treat people better than I've been treated. I like the saying, "Consider the source and rise above it." And above all, keep a sense of humor.

Your experience in London sounds like a neat one, though I'm sure it was sad to see people living in the underground. I'm glad that some of the people you saw were able to have dogs as protection and I'm sure as loved and trusted companions. I used to live near Madrid because I worked as a Language Conversation Assistant in a bilingual school. And yes, please add me as a friend.

[Donna Bay & Buzz]

I myself may have been momentarily speechless with disbelief however when she blurted out the a******** comment, I think I would have followed that with, yes m'am, and you're the biggest one I've yet to encounter. Ugh.  what an a********* indeed!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LIKE! 

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

OMG!!! I was!  My jaw dropped and I just didn't know what to say and all I can come up with was please leave LOL  I need to work on my come back!