I saw a doodle at our local humane society today!

[Ginny Nightingale]

I went to our local "no-kill" shelter to volunteer as a dog walker/ trainer today. I am retired now and want to donate some time to the shelters nearby--we have one for cats and dogs, one just for cats and one for horses! Anyway, there was a "poodle mix" there and I immediately got very interested in meeting him. He was medium in size, maybe 50 pounds and was mostly black with some brown hairs mixed in and a white spot on his chest. He was about 1 1/2 years old.He has been shaved, but the hairs left felt very coarse and stiff, but have a wave to them. The hair on his face was soft and much curlier. It looked like he would have a beautiful coat with some care.

I asked to walk him and do a bit of obedience training and this poor guy didn't have a clue. He wasn't bad on the leash and would sit if you held up a treat, but that was about it. He appeared to be a bit less intelligent than many doodles are and didn't make much eye contact at first. However, I saw some improvement even after just a few minutes of working with him. He was very high energy, though, and needs a lot of attention--I hope the new owners are up to it. 

The shelter has many leads on a new home for him, so he won't be there long. I am going to try to work with him a bit more before he goes, since there will perhaps be a better chance that he won't be returned by his new family! Hope this ends happy!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

:) Nice story. Wonderful work you are doing with your retirement. Sounds like you touched a soul today. Hoping he finds someone just like you who finds the same qualities you found and gives him a beautiful new life.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Ginny,
have the shelter put on the cage care the web address for DK and DRC for support. It will make a world of difference for the new family to know that the world is full of doodle lovers and supporters!

When I call shelters and they tell me they have possible adopters, I ask them to put on the cage card "high energy', a walk around the block just won't do it"; 'coat can be high maintainence' in expense with a groomer. would hate the new family to think a doodle is an 'easy' dog to have in their family. Most people have no clue and you are so right, 'returns' are just not acceptable for the dog.

YOU are a fantastic person to take on the role of trainer to help this dog!!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Don't you think that some of that attention neediness may be from this whole strange unsettling shelter experience? I can tell you that there are two levels of intelligence at my doodle home. Ned is stubborn but you can see him thinking and weighing options. Clancy is just plain stubborn and, other than food related rules, he takes much longer to 'get it.'

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Poor thing, he has to be so out of sorts in the shelter :-( God love you for volunteering your time and working with him. If you get any photos you know we would love to see them. Hopefully, his new family will join DK :-)

[Ginny Nightingale]

Great suggestion to give them doodlekisses.com and DRC sites. I am just starting there and they don't know me too well, but i will try to convince them to let me know who the new people are so that I can help them out. They do seem to be very honest about the dogs and their needs at this place. Maybe they could include the names of the sites as suggested if I can't personally be involved. My trainer, who is so wonderful with dogs, is the chairperson of the board and she runs a tight ship! So, I know they are doing the best they can for the dogs.
I agree that this poor guy is pretty confused and needs to run around and play! That could make him seem less capable--but, apparently, he was in a home where the woman just didn't even think about training until now and then didn't have the patience to work with him so late in the game. But we all know that he can change and will be fine with a family that knows dogs. Poor Bob! (His name is "Robert Smith"--can you believe that?! I call him Bob) I will sneak a camera in the next time I visit, if he is still there.

[Frannie & Callie]

If he's really furry, they may have named him Robert Smith after the lead singer of The Cure...

[Ginny Nightingale]

Oh, never heard of him--because I am OLD! But they did have a picture of a hairy rock star type guy from the internet on the cage sign along with his name--so there you go. He seemed to like the name Bob just fine. He actually looks A LOT like your profile picture of Callie! She is so cute!

[Lisa {Zoe's Mom]]

Cool beans! What a wonderful thing you are doing not only for this doodle, but for all the dogs there. You will greatly benefit from it as well. Keep up the great work.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Ginny, have you gone back since this post? How's it going with Bob