New Doodle Owner Question

[Sean Gallagher]

Hi all,

We are picking up our first family dog, a Goldendoodle, on Thursday morning.    The doodle will be 10 weeks old.  I have 3 children (10/6/2) and wanted to see if anyone had any tips on the best way to acclimate our new addition with the kiddos?   Obviously a lot of supervision will be done, just wanted to see if anyone had tips.    This site is great, i've been reading up on all the topics in the puppy madness group!   Thank you.

[andrea shayegani]

My kids are 11 and 8 (twins). Apart from making them partially responsible for feeding, walking and picking up after our puppy, I am adamant that they don't undermine any of my training efforts eg, making him too wild and nippy, feeding him from the table or distracting him while he is toilet training. My guy is 5 mos and STILL attracted to every possible toy, sock, pencil etc. they leave around. So, they really need to pickup their stuff bc it's dangerous for the puppy and sucks for them to have their toys destroyed. Congratulatons, it's so much fun for all of you!!

[Sean Gallagher]

Thank you! 

[Mary & Madison]

Have fun!!!!

[Jenn and Bogey]

Welcome and congrats on the new puppy! I have three kids (7,5,2) and a 19 week old labradoodle. My biggest concern was the puppy with my youngest because of nipping and jumping. My oldest two I taught them to act like trees if the pup jumped up on them. They stop all interaction and ignore. Luckily our pup is not very mouthy and if he did get mouthy it was usually a sign he was tired. What worked best for our family was tether training. I bought a caribiner and clipped his leash to my belt loop. I was able to keep an eye on him, it helped with potty training and it didn't give him a chance to jump on my youngest. When I couldn't tether him to me, he was in his crate or ex pen. As puppies, they nap a lot. He'd get a morning nap and an afternoon nap. My breeder told me that most of the time when puppy owners feel overwhelmed or frustrated it's because they allowed their pup too much freedom before they have earned it. Now that he is older and is ringing the potty bells, when we are in our family/kitchen area we let him roam around. We've blocked the hallway so he stays in that area. So he has more freedom, but I am still able to keep my eye on him. If I can not keep my eye on him, he is in his crate. The other good thing about keeping him in one location is that's the only area I have to make sure stays picked up. My son loves Legos but the new rule is they have to stay upstairs so the puppy can't get them. Congrats again! Puppies are a lot of work, but they bring so much joy!

[Sean Gallagher]

Good info, thanks much.

[Joann Valerio]

Curious...what is an ex pen?

[Jenn and Bogey]

An exercise pen. This is the one we have. We had another one but I like this one much better. It has a door and is shorter.

[Sue]

My best advice would be to limit your new pup in your home. Lexee is only allowed on the main floor of our home. This way whenever the kids or puppy needed a break, they kids could retreat upstairs or downstairs. There were no toys on the main floor, which made it easier when she was free to roam....no toys to chew except hers... We were told by our trainer that children are not "leaders" to the puppy so that all forms of training had to come from the adult(S) in the home. We also did not allow any mouthing on humans. As soon as Lexee would mouth us, we would immediately walk away from her....they are smart dogs and she quickly learned that they take off when I nip.....at 7 months, there is no more mouthing, nipping or chewing of things....She is a great dog but I put in A LOT of work with her so that I could enjoy the rest of our lives together....best of luck and come back to this site often...there are so many great tips and suggestions for all your doodle questions...

[Sean Gallagher]

Thank you for the tips. Lulu has been mainly on the 1st floor aside from sleeping in her crate in our bedroom. The kids have been doing a lot better with her now. Well the 2 year old is a different story!! :)

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I don't have kids but when my little cousins are visiting I try to tell them to be calm and talk calmly (crazy thought with kids i know lol!). Puppies feed off of your energy so if the kids are screaming and running and frantically waving their hands- your puppy will get crazy too! Same thing goes with training, if you or your kids are getting angry or frustrated, your puppy with pick up on that and become frustrated or nervous. I used the crate as "break time" or "time outs" for me and the dogs. If i needed a mental break or the puppy needed to reset I would put them in the crate for maybe 10mins and then bring them back out. This also helps with crate training because then neither of my boys associated the crate with me leaving, they just knew it was break time and they had to quietly play with their toys in there. Hope this helps! Congrats, and take lots of pictures, they really grow so fast!

-jess,loki and moose

[Sean Gallagher]

Thank you! Very helpful!