Introductions

[Bonne Bouche]

Welcome to puppy madness! I think it would be a great idea to all post a little about yourself and your doodle. Photos are ALWAYS welcome.

Thinks you might want to share:

1) Your Name/Doodle Name 

2) Location

3) Doodle type (goldendoodle/labradoodle; mini/standard; F1/F2)

4) Doodle age/weight

5) Photo

6) Anything else

Would also be great to come back here as your doodle ages to respond to your comment and post updates for age/weight/photos etc.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Awesome. Never seen a flat doodle before.

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

Nice looking pup. He must be flat coated retriever and poodle. Is that right? I once had a dog whose best friend was a flat coated retriever.  I also recently met one here in Kimberley.  Beautiful breed.  This is a great site for all doodle advice and more. 

[Silvia Römer]

Thanks. :)

Yes you are right.

[Kim Saldana]

Hi! I'm Kim & This is Cash (as in Johnny! :))

We live in Springboro, OH

Cash is an F1B

He'll be 12 weeks old tomorrow & his most recent weigh in was 20.3

We also have a 1 1/2 yr old Dood - Sierra!

[Diane Lai]

1) Diane Lai/ Indigo (Indie)

2) Raleigh, North Carolina

3) Aussiedoodle F1.  

4) Currently 4 months old.  She was 16 pounds at 13 weeks.  Estimated to be 50-60 pounds fully grown.

5) It is so comforting to read about some of the same issues I have been dealing with and know that she will get better as she gets older.  

[Tara]

Hi!  My family is ecstatic to finally have our doodle home. 

1) I'm Tara, my daughter is 10 year old Rowan.  The pup's name is Pickle.

2) We live in the San Francisco Bay Area

3) Pickle is a medium/large medium ALD (expected to be around 45 lbs)

4) He is 9 weeks old and weighed a little over 9 lbs as of Monday

[Diane Lai]

Beautiful kids :)

[Kaitee and Orwell]

That is the best gift you could have ever given Rowan. 

[Fiona]

Hi,
Max joined the family yesterday. He's just a tad excitable!
Dublin, Ireland
Standard F1 labradoodle
8 weeks
I would welcome any tips on how I get him to stop chewing at the kids ankles and chewing pretty hard....

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

Welcome. I thought Yarrow was a little monster a few months ago. Now she's 13 months and such a gentle creature. Back then I had bleeding fingers and holes in my clothes from one overly exuberant pup. My first thought of advice is to have specific toys for playing every puppy's favorite tug of war. But also have lots of treats to also use the game to teach 'drop it'. I kept Yarrow confined to the kitchen area while she was learning house rules and potty training. When she would hurt me while trying to engage me in puppy biting games I would Yelp and leave the room, just out of her sight, for about 30 seconds. Then I'd return while she was still wondering what just happened, and sit on the floor. She would come up to me and I would calmly talk to her about being gentle. It's going to be natural for your pup to want to chase and nip. Try to have the children wear him out with a ball or something. Rule number 1 is that a tired puppy is a good puppy.

[Fiona]

Thank you. It's so nice to hear that monsters can turn nice! And you know he's not a monster with me, just with the kids. I do think I have been focussing on confinement/crate training a bit much so tonight I took him out to the garden and let him go berserk for a while. He's a clever boy and got the message when I yelled "ouch" and walked away. The kids are the real problem. They are so excited to see him when they get home and he becomes excitable and badly behaved in seconds flat. I told my 5 yr old to turn her back on him and stop play which she did, but he lunged at her calf while her back was turned, bit hard, broke the skin and left her in tears. I has to pull his jaws apart to get him off her. He doesn't seem to want to chase anything she throws, he it wants to chew her ankles and hard. I can see her getting more despondent as time goes on which is so tough considering she's dog mad be this is her first dog. So I just need to figure out how to get the kids to make him realise they are higher ranking than him and not equals.

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

Perhaps your kids might like to watch episodes of dog training tips either on TV, DVD, or online. I don't have any kids in the house, but I found Yarrow such a challenge that I spent as much time as possible looking for advice from many sources. I like Victoria Stillwell, Zack George, and Cesar's Leader of the Pack, to name a few. It might also be of benefit to them to see how undesirable things can get if the pup does not receive proper guidance. There are two children on my street who would get very excited to see Yarrow. I noticed that Yarrow's energy went from 3 to 10 in a second. I'm sure you'll get some great advice from others here on DK who have experience with puppy madness and children. In fact, re-post your question in Puppy Madness!