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.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Well said, Karen. I worry, too, when people get on here talking about coat type, etc. like they are shopping for the perfect dog from the Sear's catalog.  I also hate to see people saying that doodles are perfect dogs...perfect with children, other dogs, etc. These generalities hurt Doodles in every way. They each come with their own personality!!

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

When people find out what kind of dogs I have I always hear "oh, I heard they are great with kids" and I quickly tell them that Ollie was rehomed with kids because he may or may not have been great with them.  Or they say "that is great that they don't shed" and I quickly tell them how much time/money I spend on keeping their beautiful coats looking beautiful and mat free. Sometimes I feel like I am activitely trying to convince people not to get doodle but that really isn't my intent.  I just dont want to see another doodle show up on DRC or petfinder. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Purebred fanciers always point out all of the disadvantages of their breeds to potential owners, and they obviously love their dogs. They want any owner of their chosen breed to be fully prepared for all aspects of life with the breed, the positive along with the negative. That's the best way to be sure that each dog ends up in a home that's a good fit for him. There is no breed that's right for every single person and every single living situation, and pretending that doodles are somehow an exception to that is doing a disservice to both the humans and the dogs.  Why would anyone who really loved doodles want to set one of them up for failure like that?

[Camilla and Darwin]

Exactly, I've met a few terrier fanciers and I've never heard them say "oh they are super even tempered and easy to handle, no worries!" LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep. People who really love a breed don't want to see one of them end up in the wrong home. The best example of this is the now classic "Don't Buy A Bouvier" written by one of the best known Bouvier fanciers and breed club members. It is reprinted on just about every good Bouvier breeder's website. http://home.sprynet.com/~bouvweb/dontbuy.htm

It starts out with

I give my permission freely to all who wish to reprint

and distribute it in hopes of saving innocent Bouviers from neglect and

abandonment by those who should never have acquired them in the first place.)

Interested in buying a Bouvier? You must be or you wouldn't be reading this.

You've already heard how marvelous Bouviers are. Well, I think you should also

hear, before it's too late, that BOUVIERS ARE NOT THE PERFECT BREED

FOR EVERYONE.

There are different breeds for different needs. There are over 200 purebred breeds

of dogs in the world. Maybe you'd be better off with some other breed. Maybe

you'd be better off with a cat. Maybe you'd be better off with goldfish, a parakeet,

a hamster, or some house-plants.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO THE BREED

*CHIEFLY* BY ITS APPEARANCE.

And so on. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if a doodle breeder had the courage to say that?

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

I really think this is a great discussion, especially when some people are thinking about the "perfect dog" to give their children for Christmas (which we all know is a horrible idea), but those people aren't on here.  I think we're preaching to the choir as we've "been there, done that."  How do we reach those potential buyers??  Breeders aren't going to quit advertising their doodles as the "perfect dog" -- it's their business and most puppies for the first several weeks of their lives are close to perfect.  What do they do besides eat, sleep, and poop??  It's when we get them home and away from their mommas and littermates that the fun begins!  Thankfully, most of us recognize our dogs' imperfections and love them any way and I think we could do a "round robin" and we would all love each others' dogs as our own.  Loving what others choose NOT to love is sometimes more difficult, but there are rescuers out there that have absolutely no problem doing that. I'm thankful for DRC and other rescue groups for putting "non-perfect people" together with "non-perfect dogs" to find "perfect" love.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You never know, Doris. There are a lot of lurkers around, lol. Maybe someone who is "researching" getting a doodle will stumble upon this discussion. If we keep putting it out there, even when it feels like we're talking to ourselves, we're bound to educate somebody!

And speaking of being thankful, we are grateful to you for fostering and helping your lucky fosters find their way home. Rescues can't rescue dogs without loving foster homes like yours.

[F, Calla & Luca]

So true about foster families. And your no slouch yourself Karen. I know you have fostered and still work for the DRC.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not too much any more, since JD's been so ill. I'm mainly around for moral support, and occasionally, to kick somebody's butt, lol.

[F, Calla & Luca]

There's only so much one can do and you have more than done your share.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks, F.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

You're my go-to person for so many things and I love you for being there for me!