Golden Retriever brain and Poodle body

[Lynda Kamrath]

Groucho Too has a new experience yesterday and is feeling the reprocussions today. My husband takes the dogs out to the start of the trails where he rides his bike at Ft. Ord, and I meet him there after my weaving class to take the dogs for a walk or to the dog park. Yesterday, he got there early so he took the boys for a pee break while waiting for me and they scared up a jack rabbit. The big rabbit ran into a fence and started digging to try to dig under it, but Groucho nabbed him immediately (his first catch of anything living) and the jack rabbit leaped clear over both dogs and took off. They chased him for a couple of blocks and he escaped. The dogs kept searching everywhere for the rabbit and even continued trying to find something to chase on our walk. Very out of character for Groucho, he stayed by me for our 40-minute walk and then sat by me at the dog park. At bedtime, he was noticable limping and both my husband and I checked him out thoroughly, but could find nothing. We have attributed it to his golden brain and his poodle body.

[Karen & Lucy]

That is funny because Lucy is constantly hunting with her nose to the ground every time we put her out. She will "sneak" around looking for something and goes crazy if she picks up a scent of something. She always has to have something in her mouth to bring to us or whoever comes to the door. My DH is always telling her, "Lucy it must be awful to be a great retriever in a poodle body" LOL LOL LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's just too bad the jackrabbit wasn't swimming! LOL

[Lynda Kamrath]

Can jack rabbits swim?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't think so; it was a joke in reference to the fact that poodles were originally water retrievers.

[Leslie and Halas]

I was curious, so I looked it up. Apparently, they can swim! I never would have thought that. But they dog-paddle, which I think is kind of funny. If I were a jackrabbit, I'm not sure I'd jump in the water to evade a predator when I could run 30 mph. I guess it would make sense if the jackrabbit was being chased by a cheetah, but then he'd probably jump in the water right into the mouth of a hippo. Poor jackrabbit, he never saw it coming...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL- the things we learn here on DK!

[Karen & Lucy]

Ann, I thank you so very much for the explanation of the poodle. I dearly love them and my DH, I think, is just kidding when he says that to Lucy. You know how everyone thinks of poodles as being foo foo dogs and their owners just want them as "pretty" dogs. I am going to read your wealth of information about poodles to him so he knows that our Lucy IS from great hunters and retrievers. My DH is a hunter and is always telling Lucy that he is going to take her out hunting some day. I did know about how smart poodles are, but certainly did not know all of their other attributes!!!!!!! Thanks you so much. See, we learn something everyday.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yes Ann, we are definitely poodle lovers also, but they are all so different. Actually we trained on poodles and they are what led us to doodles. We had Barney, a miniature poodle, for 17 years, and Bruno, a brown standard poodle, for 13 years. Barney loved the water but Bruno wouldn't touch the stuff. We got Hondo as a companion for Bruno when his old companion died and it has been doodles ever since (but that was only five years ago). Groucho Too is about as poodle as they come (F1b goldendoodle) and it was funny to see him in hunting mode. I'm taking them back out today so it will be interesting to see how he acts. His memory is great even though he may not be a very good hunter.

[1qrgkdwnfqccb]

it is funny that you all are having this conversation because my hubby & i had the same one concerning how smart and how that is what a poodle was bred for, is hunting and retrieving ....we got into this conversation becasue my husband wanted to get a lab to go with him pheasant hunting..i told him to get izzy field trained...hubby says: and i quote "i love her but i am NOT going out in the field with a bunch of guys with a DOODLE" i got mad, a dropped the subject....time goes by....we get tucker...same conversation, i thought maybe because he was a male dog and brown in color, that might make a difference in his pea sized brain....nope, same thing, i get mad and drop the conversation again, only this time i say no labs...the shed too much!! ( i have nothing against labs, but that was the only excuse i could come up with!) if you can't hunt with 1 of the dogs we have and were bred to hunt & retrieve than you don't need a dog to hunt with....here is where the story gets funny....hubby comes home from work the other day and wants me to check into field classes for tucker ( huh, no fair to izzy) i agree with a smile and ask why the change in his mind....he just so happened to be talking to a guy at work, and guess what?? hubby was making fun at the fact that i wanted to have him hunt with a "doodle" and the guy looks at him funny and said, "you would be stupid if you didn't field train those dogs! my whole family hunts with labradoodles, they are the best hunters i have ever worked with!!" when he told me this i just smiled and walked away, gloating in my glory!!!
i was just glad that he was man enough to admit that he was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!

i thought you all would enjoy that story!!

[Paula]

Poor guy! At least he had the guts to admit his change of heart. Don't you just hate it when they hear someone else say exactly what you said in the first place and then it is suddenly ok?!? sigh...

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

You are lucky to have a Poodle Brain in your Doodle! One of our Golden Retrievers "retrieved" a live duck, out of a city park in Houston , and cost us a $500 fine, about 20 years ago! (Destruction of city property)

At least a Poodle can differentiate between "dead" and "live"! LOLOL

[Lynda Kamrath]

That is hilarious! I could see that happening with Groucho Too. Hondo would never, ever, ever retrieve something out of the water, alive or dead. But Groucho . . . that is something else altogether. Actually I don't know what to label his parts. He is mostly poodle, but he hasn't seemed to have the capability of thinking most things through. He just goes for it! Pure, pure love, but not the cleverest dog around.