mean doodle

[Rebecca bratter]

Has anyone had their doodle suddenly decide they don't like you anymore.  I've always been Madiba's favorite and she's super attached to me.  Follows me everywhere and we always jog together.  Suddenly in the last few days she won't let me pet her and she just wants to be with her dad.  Her dad works from home and I leave every day but we've had the same routine since we've had her in May. Is this temporary?  I feel rejected, sob sob. My little girl suddenly is a daddy's girl.  We started crating her again at night, because she roams around too much but her dad puts her in the crate, for some reason she's mad at me.  Anyone else have a moody doodle?

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I can only second the good advice that Jane, Joanne, BG, Karen and Sally have given you.  Consistency, simplicity, using what you've learned in training class in a variety of environments including your home (training class trains the trainer, you!), and setting your puppy up for success. That means putting things the pup shouldn't have out of her reach until she has a firm understanding of "leave it" or "don't touch" or whatever words you use consistently. 

But one thing I'd like to add is that dogs copy behaviors --especially doodles, maybe because of their super sensitivity.  I thought I was a little crazy when I first started to observe this in my own doodle but recently The Whole Dog Journal ran an article on how dogs learn new behaviors not only by imitating other dogs but by imitating US!  Maybe your husband thinks that yelling at the dog, etc. is the way to show leadership but it's not.  It only confuses her and in time she will copy that behavior and you will have a reactive unstable dog.  I know you want the best for Madiba and you love her very much so I hope you can both get on the same page and see every interaction as a way to build on her training and trust. I also hope you can find a good trainer to help you both work through the "teenage" years.  It will pay off in so many ways. Plenty of physical exercise and mental games are a must for dogs this age (but no jogging please until she's fully grown).  Don't worry about who likes who best -- work on being the leader and guardian Madiba deserves. It's so true that our dogs make us better people:-)  Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Rebecca bratter]

Thanks everyone for your responses, there's lots of good pointers and tips in here and a lot for me to think about.  My take aways are:  punishment and yelling are verboten in our household from now on.  I talked to my husband about this last night.  We need to work more on training, not just agility and keep up the positive reinforcement.  I got up today and took Madiba for a vigorous jog through our little town, going to try and do that every morning, she was over the moon excited and happy.  I told my husband to pick everything up off of the floor and I supervise to make sure this is done.  I will not confuse her by letting her chew on my old shoes anymore, only doggy things.  I think we can work this out.  Today she was not mean to me at all but she is definitely going through something.  She apparently had a very full and vigorous day at doggy day care yesterday and played for about 4 hours and she was wiped.  She always gets a good report.  Now she is mopey and hates when I leave, she's always hated that but she's mopey.  When she knows I'm leaving, she won't let me pet or touch her.  I know it's not right to humanize dogs but she does seem a bit down lately.  If you can't tell I do love this little doggy to death and she knows it.  I just want to wrap up by saying thanks to everyone for the input and concern and I am so happy to keep receiving future tips but also, I am in no way in an abusive relationship nor in denial or anything.  I was surprised that the conversation went that way.  I agree the attitude towards Madiba is not right and we are correcting it but my husband is a wonderful and loving man. He is not from the US, he's been here 30 years but he's from a different culture where like many, the man should be macho.  So I want to focus on Madiba and not me! I am happy and fine, I just can't have any more yelling nor mean gestures towards my little girl, especially since we are now looking at adopting another doodle from a shelter.  Thanks again everyone. 

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Great to hear that Rebecca! Enjoy your pup!  She is so cute!