Questions about Goldendoodles

[Andrew Davis]

I'm looking to get a goldendoodle over the summer before I start my new job. I'm getting married in September and want to surprise my fiancee with a doodle as sort of a wedding gift. We've always wanted a dog but just haven't been able to get one until now.

 

Both of us will be working, and while I want a Goldendoodle, I don't want to be unfair to it if it's going to be seriously affected by our absence during the day.

 

So for you owners, mind answering a few questions for me?

 

• Do you live in an apartment? How does your Goldendoodle handle it?
• How long is your Goldendoodle left alone each day?
• How much exercise do they need?
• How much do they bark? Can you train them to stop barking?
• How difficult was the training period?
• How big has yours gotten?
• Where did you get your Goldendoodle?
• How much does it shed?

For the most part I think that aside from the time away from home issue, we'll be able to provide the right environment for the dog.

 

It's killing us that apartment life and work life seems to interfere with having a four legged companion, so it'd be great to hear from some owners.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna is an F1 medium goldendoodle (golden X mini poodle) - 8 months old

 

• Do you live in an apartment? How does your Goldendoodle handle it?
  • No, we live in a house.  Luna likes to wander, don't think she would like an apartment.
• How long is your Goldendoodle left alone each day?
  • Up to 8 hours, usually only 4-5.  She is in an ex-pen with her crate, water bowl and some safe toys (kongs).
• How much exercise do they need?
  • Daily at least 1 good 30 min walk and 2-3 play sessions of 20-30 mins each.  Ideally a play session with another dog or a walk at the local dog park.
• How much do they bark? Can you train them to stop barking?
  • Only to alert (someone is outside etc.) and yes, it's easy to stop her just with "Shh"
• How difficult was the training period?
  • Still working on it, but she is a very quick learner
• How big has yours gotten?
  • 35 pounds so far, we are predicting 40 pounds fully grown
• Where did you get your Goldendoodle?
  • A local breeder (Ontario, Canada)
• How much does it shed?
  • Quite a bit, but she is still growing in her adult coat.  I use the lint roller a lot!

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I work all day, I have a Goldendoodle and Labradoodle both dogs stay in the crate all day.  I am fortunate enough to live close to work so I run home on lunch to let them out for a potty break when they were very young puppies.  Now that Sasha is 17moths old and Oliver is 9 1/2 months old I leave them all day in the crate because they sleep most of the day.   I am gone about 8 hours and they do fine, and never had any accidents.  Both dogs have no problem going into their crates, it was all part of their training.  If you make the crate a "happy" place it will be their "den" and since dogs are "den" animals this can be a good thing :)

They are full of energy when I get home so I either take them for a long walk or let them go nuts running/playing in the back yard.  If you are going to live in a apartment I would check to see if there are dog parks in your area, not that I am a fan of dog parks but if you find a nice one with people that have nice dogs then its a good thing.  Its a great way to exercise and socialize your dog. 

 

Barking - Both my goldendood and Labradood are not much barkers AT ALL.  Sasha will bark when she hears something outside but Oliver only barks when he wants his toy that Sasha is playing with otherwise I don't hear a peep from him.

 

Shedding - Golden=NO, Lab= yes

Size: Golden=45 lbs, Lab 55+ and still growing

Training - Golden = extremely smart!!!! so smart it is scary, very easy to train.  It takes about 2 wks to train her on a new trick.  Know my movements like when Im leaving for work or going out, she runs in her crate when I grab my car keys :)

Exercise = Both of my dogs are very active and need exercise !!!

 

 

[Gregg Aprahamian]

Ok, I have a big problem here...my puppy hates the crate. Hates when we leave the house and just cries and barks when we close the door. Settles down quick enough, but he wants nothing to do with the cage.

I did so much positive reinforcement with it, feed him and water their ONLY ALWAYS! Leave snacks in there, toys, etc. Just runs away when we are about to ask him to go to the cage or put him in. Help!

[Camilla and Darwin]

I would start a separate discussion, but first definitely search "puppy hates crate" or something similar in the discussion forum, as there have been TONS of discussions on this exact topic. Your will probably find what you are asking there. :-)

example, here is a past discussion: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness/forum/topics/new-pup...

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Hello,

 

We have 2 doodles (a labradoodle and a irish setter/poodle mix):

 

• Do you live in an apartment? How does your Goldendoodle handle it? No we have a house.  Dexter would be totally fine in any living situation.  Kirby has more energy and I think he would be a handful if we didn't have a yard to let him out in. 

 

• How long is your Goldendoodle left alone each day? We have 2-3 days a week where one of us works from home.  However on a work day, they are alone (together) from ~8-5.  Our dogs are fine with our schedules.  They are used to it and don't even care when we leave for work.  Of course they are excited to see us when we get home.  We took turns coming home at lunch every day for Dexter until he was ~8 months old.  After that he was ok to go the full day.

 

• How much exercise do they need? Our doodles are almost 5 so it's much less now than before.  Now if I walk them 2 miles a day they are totally beat.  On weekends we try to take them on at least one outing (dog park, hike, etc).  When they were puppies they needed a lot more exercise and they needed to run and not just get a walk.

 

• How much do they bark? Can you train them to stop barking?  A fair amount, but having 2 of them does not help :)  One will get going and then the other one joins in.  We realize Dexter is most of the problem because he's a little instigator.  We are still trying to work on the barking issue.  I think having just 1 dog would help cut down on the barking.

 

• How difficult was the training period?  The puppy time was rough for us.  Dex was a little devil but by ~10 months he was much better.  He did potty train quickly, he just had some nipping issues.  However he is now the sweetest most loving dog ever.  We adopted Kirby at 1 yr old and he was already potty trained.  He has some minor issues from his first home but we've worked through most of them.

 

• How big has yours gotten? Dex is ~75 lbs; Kirby is ~55 lbs

 

• Where did you get your Goldendoodle?  We got Dex from a breeder, Kirby was a rehome (we found him through a friend who knew his breeder).

 

• How much does it shed?  Both shed very lightly.  I vacuum about once a week and mostly to pick up dirt.  We like to keep their coats relatively short and they really don't shed at all when their hair is short.