Introducing Obie

[Judith]

Obie and I recently joined and I've really enjoyed reading posts from other doodlelovers! The more I read, the luckier I think we are; my husband and I researched it all on the internet and after failing to adopt a rescue, ended up buying a six month old F1 mini labradoodle from a breeder.

Obie had lived outside in a kennel in the country with his sister most of his life and so was not habituated to household living and is still getting used to the things in a house; he's pretty skittish after being with us for a month, and I wonder if others have seen this in their pups. Obie is not afraid of people or dogs, just THINGS, like my pocketbook, a shopping bag, anything new in a room - and he does notice ANYTHING new! I bought him a little dog pillow for the tv room, and he will not go near it yet! Our neighbor's shitzu came in, went straight to it and curled up in it! My work as a psychologist has come in handy in helping Obie with desensitization and classical and operant conditioning - yay Pavlov and Skinner! (Obie will do almost anything for the tiniest piece of cheese!) I would love to do some clicker training with him, but he's terrified of the clicker noise, so I may try a ballpoint pen click. I was also interested to read about grooming doodles; Obie needs some combing to avoid matting around his face, but if I get close to him with a brush in my hand, he bolts, even after practically sleeping with the brush for a week!

At almost 8 months old, our pup is about 25 pounds. His mom was a yellow lab and his father was a miniature poodle. He's definitely our sweetie!

[Richard Crowe]

Holly is occasionally frightened by strange things which she doesn't recognize but, not to the extent that Obie appears to be. Recently, the wind blew off the vinyl cover of our barbecue. The black cover landed on the lawn and when Holly saw it laying on the grass, she barked and would not go near it. I think that this type of behavior is typical in dogs. Unfortunately, Obie was not exposed to a variety of new sights and sounds as a young puppy and is having a bit of a hard time to adjust.

Desensitization and operant conditioning should help. Holly was terribly frightened of large dogs when she was younger. We have sent her to a doggie daycare where she was introduced to dogs of all sizes. At first she was skittish around the big dogs but now thoroughly enjoys her daycare days. She is also much better around large dogs in a non-day care environment.

There is a car show every Friday evening from May to October in Escondido, CA, on Grand Avenue. It is called "Cruising Grand" and is extremely popular. There are crowds of people, loud bands playing music of the 1960's and loud engine noises. Its a lot of fun for people but can be frightening to dogs who are not used to the activity and noise. My last big dog, who was a very level headed and mellow Golden Retriever/German Shepherd/Wolf mix positively freaked out at Cruising Grand. However, she was an older dog when I brought her there and, since I live in a rural area, was not used to noises and crowds.

Early-on, I decided to condition Holly to noises and crowds. I have been taking Holly to Cruisin Grand since she got her final set of shots (I was very careful of exposure before her shot series was completed). Everyone at the show seems to want to pet Holly and give her positive attention. As a result, Holly is not skittish at all around crowds or loud noises. She probably thinks that everyone turned out just to see her and give her attention.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

In our puppy classes, socialization was the 1 thing that was highly stressed to us parents. I took Samantha into town (easy for me since she came to work with me everyday) where I gave treats to policemen, bus drivers, wait staff at the diner, firemen (they actually allowed her to sniff the heck out of the trucks) and so many other things in a small town. She had a blast but for each different person with different uniform was a little bit unnerving at first. But giving them treats to give to her helped her get over that real fast! Her biggest fear bus the buses and trains - so we sat on a bench inbetween the train station but also the street NJTransit buses would come barrelling down the street. After several sessions of this, neither the train or buses scare her - she does stop to look but doesnt attempt to flee.
Samantha did not have the start in life that Obie did but I really believe that given time, treats and exposure all these 'scary' things will just become part of daily life that he will learn to accept.

With respects to the scary grooming you do - try starting with just holding the brush in one hand and treats in the other. work up to holding the brush next to his face, then 'brush' his face with backside of the brush, hopefully you will be able to brush his face without him being distressed. I must tell you that Samantha still drops her head to the floor as soon as I start brushing her head. If she could she would run also.She gets a quick once over everyday since she looks like a raggamuffin if I don't and she comes to work with me everyday. I dont think she will ever enjoy it but she does tolerate me and the brush - that's all I can ask.

Happy New Year!!