My Non Perfect Doodles

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Appealing, adorable, non shedding, easy to train, great with kids and other dogs etc etc etc.  I love perusing the various doodle websites and am a sucker for cute videos of sweet doodle babies.  This feeds the same need in me that has me oooing and aaahing over adorable baby pictures.  But I often leave these sites with a heavy heart. How realistic are these claims?  How much is sales hype? How much is this selling a dream?  For non shedding read copious and frequent grooming and if you can't/won't do it yourself then insert very expensive frequent trips to groomer.  You get the picture.  A quick glance through some of the groups here will do any prospective buyer the world of good.  Good Breeders/Bad Breeders?  Giardia, parasites, genetic illnesses, injuries, vet insurance the list goes on and on.....

So for those of you who love puppies here is a little snippet of my day.  I got up at 6 am to bring Boris out for morning pee and poop. It's freezing cold here by the way and he spends 15 minutes finding the perfect spot while I shiver.   Back to bed we go and Riley and Boris are now on the bed and I can't find any place to put my feet. At 8am we all get up and it's breakfast time.  Boris goes out to poop and comes back in with poop trailing all over his behind.  I am in a terrible rush but spend half an hour cleaning poop off him so I miss breakfast.  This involves using my fingers to remove poop as the shampoo is doing little to shift it.  During the day my partner comes home to feed and let the boys out.  I collect them at 3pm and drive them 40 minutes to day care so they can run off some of that energy while I do some work.  At some point during the day I collect the worm meds and order dog food  ($140 gone like a flash out of my account.)  I get home and we spend ten minutes doing some much needed training as Boris is learning bad habits from his brother and is jumping up.  I am going away for three days on business on Wednesday and this has necessitated lots of planning so the boys remain well cared for and get plenty of exercise in my absence.

My boys are easy, they get on with everybody and are total love bugs BUT they are hard hard work.  Our lives revolve around their needs.  Every thing we do or plan takes them into account.  For websites to be realistic they need to ask hard questions.  It's one thing buying the 'perfect' puppy.  It's quite another achieving that expectation.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

So true!!  Unfortunately, too many people get a puppy (doodle or otherwise) because it's cute and cuddly - with little or no idea of the intense amount of work, time, and money owning a dog requires.  I'd like to think that a massive education campaign could/would make people stop and think before they undertake the "full-time job" of responsible dog ownership - and choose not to get a dog if they know they don't have the resources to adequately care for an animal.  Although some people might take notice of such a campaign, it most likely would be like "preaching to the choir".  Those that already believe in responsible pet ownership would say, "Amen!", but those that really need to hear, won't.  After all, to them "it's just a dog". 

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

It is hard work raising and caring for a pup, from childhood to adulthood.  The claims we read are as realistic as we are.  I don't need a website to tell me that my dog is going to be a lot more work than I am used to putting into caring for anything.  I do need myself to be honest about what it takes to raise a pup, time wise as well as financially.  If I can't be honest that I have to groom this dog everyday and then vacuum up enough hair to create a pal for her than there is not a website out there that can convince me of it.  If I make this purchase while I am "in puppy love" I probably am not being entirely honest with myself.  What I AM grateful for is these great websites that answer my questions now that I have my doodle.  Mine is an F1 and a serious shedder, she costs tons in toys to keep her occupied.  The first week we had her we dropped $500 into making a roomy enough fenced in yard for her and that didn't include the free labor from my hubby.  She takes up a lot of my time and I am grateful for her. 

 

I admit there are a few times that I think it would have been better to rename her P-I-T-A (pain in the a$$) but again, the website is not responsible for asking those hard questions, I am.

 

Hope by now your day has calmed a bit and you are enjoying the good points of your pup.  They do get a bit trying on occasion and having the clean-up detail you were stuck with this morning would put me in not the best mood as well.

[BG and Gavin]

A timely post Nicky.  We had my bestie and her husband and their two girls (aged 8 and 11) here for the Santa Claus parade, a pizza party and overnight on Saturday.  Another couple and their 16 year old daughter joined us as well.  I was so very proud of Gavin and how he behaved.  I mean really proud.  Gavin is a great dog.  However...during the day on Saturday, in preparation for company and the fact that his evening walk would not happen, my DH took Gavin on a very long walk and ran the stuffing out of him at the park.  Company oohed and ahhed about how great he was, and he truly was.  However...as the girls hugged him and made overtures about getting a dog just like him I cringed a bit.  I cringed a lot more when dad followed up in a tone that suggested that he was considering their request "are they all this calm?"  "NO!!"  You see I remember the "crazy lab" they had many years ago.  I told him in no uncertain terms that what he was seeing was the result of about 1.5 hours a day of walking for the past three years, four training programs and daily obedience exercises.  And I would really only classify Gavin as a medium energy dog - a high energy dog would need more.  With their busy lifestyle of two working parents, kids in school activities, dance lessons, church groups etc. they would never be able to put that kind of time in.  There are no short cuts.  As Cesar would say "exercise, discipline and affection" are the keys to success.  Maybe there are other breeds that are "lap" dogs, but high energy sporting breeds like labs, goldens and poodles have high needs IMO.

[BG and Gavin]

P.S. To punctuate my point I took both kids and Gavin on a long walk in the morning while the adults were still gathering their wits after a late night.  You have to do this twice a day no matter what, I told everyone!

[F, Calla & Luca]

My two really have never gotten as much "walking" exercise as many here. But they do get let out into the big yard often and get lots of exercise there some of the time. Some times they are very rambunctious and chase and fight with each other. Other times even Luca won't chase a ball much. I try to give them the opportunity and let them do what they want/need to. But yes, a dog is a lot of work at time and a very serious commitment.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

And perfect timing for a reality check Nicky, Christmas brings out all those "Puppy Impulse Buys".

But I know your boys are perfect in every way!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ah Nicky, amen!

[Camilla and Darwin]

This is so true! 

[Sue & Lily Grace]

This is all so true. I am not working and there are days I am exhausted by 9pm. Training, walking, exercising, and keeping up with the grooming and this puppy is only 15 weeks old. Dogs are a huge commitment and a huge financial expense just getting through the puppy shots and preventative meds, ear cleaners, brushes and toys to keep them somewhat busy.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Stay tuned. I have a post about my well-trained, non-shedding, self-grooming, CGC certified,  four year old seasoned doodle,  that may just surprise you.

I think I will post in the Training Group because, I need some of your  all -honest opinions and guidance.  I just am too tired tonight to make sense. 

Perfect, my asstro-not.

And, let me say this, the dog may just well be perfect, the owners are not.  No, I was not referring to you ( whoever you are) because I've included myself in this one.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Amen!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The DRC has rehomed over 650 doodles in the past less-than-four years, and at least half of them found themselves homeless because their original owners did their "research" on breeders websites and fell for the unrealistic hype of the "perfect" dog, then abandoned the doodles when the reality didn't match the fantasy. On the other side of this sad situation, every day someone joins the DRC website hoping to adopt "a real live teddy bear", as one misguided woman put it.

People who don't really even like dogs all that much and aren't sure they want to live with one are pursuaded that "these dogs are different". No fuss, no muss, no mess, perfect. These people seem to believe that the puppy will come into their homes already perfectly behaved and sit quietly in a corner like a stuffed animal until someone has time to play with him. Nobody seems to understand that retrievers need a ton of exercise, a poodle needs tons of grooming, and both need a ton of training. Nobody seems to realize that "smart" in a dog translates to "able to figure out how to do what he wants and what you don't want".

I am so tired of hearing "the outgoing, people focused friendliness of a retriever with the coat of a poodle." If you have a pregnant friend, can you tell me which parent the baby will most resemble or whose personality traits he will have? How could anyone know which traits from which parent any individual puppy may get?  For that matter, poodles are extremely outgoing, people focused, friendly dogs. Most of our doodles seem a lot more like poodles than like retrievers to me, in terms of temperaments. And NO dog is born automatically loving children, or anyone else, lol.  

What is particularly frustrating to me is that the very people who are most concerned with things like size and non-shedding coats choose to take a gamble and purchase doodle puppies when they could be assured of these things by choosing a purebred dog instead. When a puppy's whole future seems to depend on how his coat turns out, it makes me very worried and sad for him. After all, he might be the sweetest, best natured little guy in the world, but he can't keep himself from being a shedder or having his color fade.

JD is truly a perfect dog. A heavily shedding, oversized, chronically ill, absolutely perfect dog. What a shame for them that his previous owners didn't see that.

Thanks for posting this, Nicky. I have no doubt that your guys will both achieve perfection, too.