I pick up my 1st Doodle Today!

[Kari & Swayze]

I found this site when researching labradoodles. I have been looking for a dog for 2 years but just havnt found the right combination of personality, allergies, size, etc. Sunday I met a beautiful 2 year old boy named Mazy. We fell in love with him! His fun, playful nature but ability to listen impressed us greatly!

Friday morning I go pick him up and we get to start spending the day playing and learning to leave the cat alone. I am a little worried about him being too hyper but assume that its going to die down as he gets over the "newness" of everything.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on bonding/training your new dog so everyone is happy and feels loved. Share your story of how you met your Doodle!

(I'll make sure to post lots of pictures soon!)
Thanks!

[Doris]

I adopted Bodi at age 2, so I don't have any puppy advice. But, congratulations!!!  Can't wait to see pictures!

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Congratulations!  What's Mazy's background?  It might help us to offer suggestions if we had a better idea of where he was coming from.  I'm very excited for you and I hope you have many wonderful years with your new Dood.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Congrats on your new doodle, it is very important to be consistant with training, socialization, and of course play time.  When I got my 2nd doodle Oliver, I brought Sasha along for the whole process of getting a new puppy, she even helped us pick our puppy.  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive so Sasah and Ollie had time to get to know each other and bond before we got home and they have been best friends ever since.  The best command to teach your doodle is leave it if he starts to bother the cat.  Having some really good smelly treats works while training.  Good Luck and looking forward to seeing some pictures :)

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Congratulations. Wishing you many years of happiness with Mazy.  Hard to offer suggestions without more info on his personality and background but the "look," and "leave it" are a good place to start.  Take him lots of places to socialize him and bond. And enjoy him!!  My playful two year old still believes that if he chases the cat, the cat will chase him back -- but the "leave it" command works well.  But this took awhile.  Can't wait to see your pictures.  He sounds like a love.

[Adina P]

Bonding happens via living together, spending time together (playing, training, hanging out in the same room).

Best advice for training is to find an obedience class in your area and join it.  Then stick to through several levels of obedience.  I choose training classes/trainers based on what the trainer has accomplished with his/her own dogs and how well trained and obedient they are...if they are reliable off-leash and other such training criteria.  Training class is for YOU--for you to learn how to train your dog once you get home and while you are walking and when you take your dog places.  Training class is NOT for your dog.  Just like medical school is not for patients, it's for the doctors that will work on patients =)

Hyperness.  Well...time will tell.  You may have a hyper dog or you may have a dog that just is all wound up due to things changing for him.  I Have one uber mellow one and one uber hyper one.  Training can give you control over behavior and allow you to tell your dog what to do (lie down and chill out!), but it won't take the energy away.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

You are a little worried about being too  hyper.  I can only compare my dog ( not other hyper dogs) to what you are describing.

I often call Spud hyper but he is a lot like what you are describing: Friendly, curious, and  a zest for life.  If he was a human,  he would be that optimistic co-worker who claims the day is young, so much to do, and let's do something new  :)

So, I see "hyper" most days as a really good sign.  For him,  there is more to teach, more to explore, more to learn.  For me, it helps me get out, do new things, see  new places just because of him. I really have enjoyed my days more because of having my dog.

We deal with his energetic issues by playing a lot of fetch. After all, he is a retriever and that is what he wants to do.

We have a Chuck It fetch toy and many many many times a day we run him by retrieving the ball.  When he has that energy expelled he is ready to train, go for rides, or lay by our sides.

Just get him exercised and you will find ' hyper' is easier  to deal with more than most dog issues-aggression, barking, biting... you get my point.

Congratulations!

[Kari & Swayze]

Sounds Fun!

I appreciate the encouraging remarks. As much as he's a retriever, the whole retrieving part seems to have skiped this generation. lol

Mazy runs after the ball or toy and then runs back just as excited. When I let him outside he likes to just run the perimeter of our yard. Then come zooming at me like she's going to bowel me over but dodges last second. It's pretty funny!

Thanks for the tips!

[Leslie J]

Enjoy your new companion!  How wonderful!  As far as hyper... some dogs are only hyper when excited- Cocoa sleeps most of the day, but when a visitor arrives she becomes a hyper, bouncing ball!!!  We're still working on the "meet and greet" training :)  I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of Mazy!

[Vivian & Mojo]

My 5 and a half month old Labradoodle puppy is hyper since the day I brought him home at 8 weeks. I take him on several walks a day and wear him out and that helps relax him. I also play fetch with him and or start a training session if he gets wound up between walks and that will shift his behavior. When all fails and his is just too wound up I put him in his create for some quiet time and he will take a nap.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

Congratulations to you and Mazy. This is a wonderful site to get as many questions answered as needed. Good luck.

[Cristiana Witkowski]

Congratulations on your new "baby".  Although this is the first puppy I've had, I'd think the answer to any successful bonding with a dog is training/discipline, socialization and exercise.  Can't wait to see pics.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Congratulations!  We have a labradoodle we got as a pup and a goldendoodle we got as a two year old rescue.  Neither are really high energy like our Springer Spaniel who is almost 9 years old.  Our adult rescue goldendoodle was not hyper at age two when we got him.  He was 'needy' in getting attention and kept bumping us with his nose to get petted. He was curious and a bit anxious. He was housebroken, however he lifted his leg inside a few times as he settled in and did a lot of marking outside.   Two of our dogs immediately put him in his place in the pecking order but he and our Springer had some arguments.  After two months, I saw some settling in, after six months even more and when I looked back after a year, I realized that Clancy had given a huge sigh and  really settled in and knew that we were his forever home.

The first thing we did with him was made him sit and wait until we put his food down and released him to eat it.  He figured that out pretty quickly because we kept picking it up if he moved toward it.  This taught him that we were in charge and also helped us get him used to being interrupted with food.