Worried about choosing goldendoodle breed

[Elizabeth Anderson]

I'm hoping that I can get some opinions from experienced doodle owners. I thought I'd researched pretty thoroughly when I chose the goldendoodle breed - I wanted a friendly, happy dog who would be good with my 5 year old. I chose a Northern California breeder who I found a recommendation for on this site. Shortly before our puppy choosing day, I read threads by people who said this is an extremely high energy, stubborn, hard to train breed. It really scared me. We went down and chose a puppy yesterday - he's a mini, although he's big and will probably get to 55 pounds the breeder said. I only had an hour to choose and was very confused, and scared after seeing all these negative reviews of the breed and especially minis, and we chose the male who the breeder said was more boisterous than his sister but not a wild child. Anyway, I know puppies are hard, but we contiually need to keep him from jumping up and biting and humping and destroying things and barking, and while I'm fine going through this with a puppy, I'm now questioning my choice to get this breed as I don't want to deal with a too high energy, stubborn dog who's hard to train for the next 15 years and am having thoughts about returning him before we get in too deep. I'm signed up for puppy training in a month (he's 10 weeks old) and contacted a trainer today about private training so I can get started right away, but I guess what I'm wanting to hear is whether there are people out there who regret getting this breed of dog after they've matured past puppyhood. I know this isn't the most likely forum to get those kinds of views, but thought I'd ask anyway. Or I'd love to hear from others who were concerned about this negative reputation but stuck it out to end up with a sweet, manageable dog in adulthood. Also, how long before things calmed down with your puppy? Thanks for any advice!

[Elizabeth Anderson]

Just wanted to say thank you again to this incredibly supportive community and show off my little guy with the first still picture of him as our new profile shot. Snowy and my family (with the exception of our cat) are doing so well. We have a wonderful trainer who says he's a really good puppy. He learns so fast and is so sweet. We're challenged with getting him to eliminate outside but working hard on it. One of us is always home, so he's getting tons of love and attention and support transitioning to our home. We are completely in love. What a change from that first day when he was out of control and I was terrified. Thanks again for helping me through a hard beginning!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

You will get through it - so glad these replies have helped you.

And my input is that I cried quite a few times when we brought Peri home thinking "what the he&* have we done???".  She was a very challenging puppy.

We did obedience training the entire first year and another round right before her 2nd birthday and she passed her Canine Good Citizen at that point.  Put in the time and it will pay off.  This breed is energetic and can be needy (they love their humans) - but their love is so amazing I wouldn't trade my doodle for anything.

[Lynette Main]

I have thre e Goldendoodles.All very easy to train. They are like kids ,love to play,eat,sleep. And the first two years are the hardest.They have to learn the rules.Be sure to get nurtured.it helps. Good luck...

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

I am so glad to hear that things are going better..thanks for the follow up post.

[Julie and Charlie]

8-16 (or more) weeks is a very tough age for puppies. It seems like they need care 24/7, ok, maybe a little less than that! 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. They're cute, but oh my, I jokingly referred to that period as post-partum depression.*

Doodles are, by and large, an energetic breed. Just like any puppy, though, it's going to take hard work in training, patience, and love. Hang in there, it will get better. Ask someone to help you- even if a friend takes him for an hour, I found that helped me.

*Yes, I understand PPD is very real and scary for human mothers. But I think this was a similar feeling.

[Jayme K]

Hi Elizabeth. If it's cold feet you're having, I completely understand you! I have a just 10 wk old F1b goldendoodle puppy, his dad was a mini poodle and mom a standard f1 goldendoodle. The breeder was great, did the temperament testing and he was shy and submissive when I met him. 3 days later, holy terror. ;) I am not going to give up on him and I know, as everyone has said below, that it's all about training. But my frustrating is in find the best kind of training. I'm reading books, forums, and am not sure how to best approach things with my lil dude. I liked Ian Dunbar's approach and started feeding him his kibble by hand and for doing good things but now he won't listen to me at all if he knows I don't actually have a piece of kibble in my hand. And that after only 5 days!! I also do the NILIF and make him sit or wait before I pet him, let him outside, etc.... But he is stubborn and smart and challenges me constantly. He knows his non-marker, cht, but growls if I give it to him and he doesn't want to listen. The good news is he is crate trained and loves his crate. I like that he's smart but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. As a teenager, we raised a great dane and a springer spaniel mutt and neither of them were anything like this little dude. Luckily there are great forums like this! I think about every 3 days, I have a serious meltdown and think how am I ever going to do this?! I am guessing my biggest problem is expectations on time as well, I am expecting this little guy to learn a lot and he is only 10 weeks. Anyways that was long winded! But if anyone has helpful advice on training approaches or just inspirational words, they would be very welcome. :) And Elizabeth, have things improved in the past few weeks? 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jayme, Join the Puppy Group on DK. You will find valuable information there from other people going through the same issues. We also have a Training Group. Good luck!

[Jayme K]

Thanks Laurie! I'll do that. :) 

[Elizabeth Anderson]

Hi Jayme,

Oh what an adorable puppy you have there! Snowy is 13 weeks now. So many of the responses I got here were really supportive in this thread - reassuring me that as long as I could give our dog the time and training we'd have a great dog, which I really needed to hear. I also think it was helpful to me to know what we were getting into - having a dog that would require a lot from us. It has worked great for us to hire a personal trainer once a week to work with us one on one. I too am reading books, but there's nothing like having someone very experienced with training dogs with me showing me how to do it and watching me do it too, seeing how he and  I interact personally, being able to ask all the little questions for the things that are coming up for us. Every week Snowy is getting the things I'm teaching more and more. It's really rewarding. This is a huge investment of time right now, but I love this dog - he's brought so much life and fun into our house. I wasn't sure I could do it, and I'm still not sometimes when I have so little time to do my regular stuff, but I know we'll find our way and that we'll figure out how to all fit into each others lives in a way that works. I understand the meltdowns - I still have my "what have we done" moments when he's being particularly challenging. It's helpful to know others are going through it too. Great reading your post!