Encounter with Angry Woman who HATES Goldendoodle

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

I apologize in advance for awful writing but I am enraged with what happened to me yesterday. I thought to share it and to see if other people have encountered any similar situations and what they did to deal with it.  

I am writing this to share a very strange experience with a very hateful woman I've had yesterday at the dog beach-Dunes Park at New Smyrna in FL.  What kind of person walks up to a stranger and starts a rampage about their dog's breed? I have a 5-month-old Goldendoodle puppy named Lucky, a pug, and a pomeranian. The pug and the pomeranian love the beach and so we thought it would be a nice way to introduce our puppy to the beach.

So here is EXACTLY what happened: I was minding my own business and playing in the ocean with my Pug and Pomeranian and trying to get my Goldendoodle to come into the water.  Along came this middle aged woman with a brown Husky. She asks if we had a Goldendoodle because he was really wet so it was hard to tell what he was.  I was having a hard time getting Lucky to come into the water because he was a little bit scared.   She says "Oh your dog probably doesn't have webbed feet and if he doesn't he won't like the water." She then commands me to look at his foot to look and he does have webbed feet.  And YES he has webbed feet!! Then she proceeds to tell me that Goldendoodles are not a breed. What I have is a mutt and with mutts they are very unpredictable. I said that he is an F1b Goldendoodle with 75% Poodle and 25% Golden Retriever and both breeds have webbed feet.  Then she says "people can call them whatever they want but at the end of the day your dog just isn't a breed and what you have is a mutt." I am pretty pissed at this point and wanted to leave but I let her finish because I didn't want to be rude. 

She goes on to tell me how unlike my dog, her dog is a SHOW dog from a well known Husky breeder with predictable traits.  Goldendoodles are not recognized by the AKC and they should NEVER be but that might change with the young generation.  She complains how the young generation is not well mannered (I'm in my late 20s btw). The young entitled generation, aka my generation, doesn't want to work (yes a common complaint against millennials *eye roll*).  We want a dog that doesn't shed and have that retriever sporty dog personality, but in the end, we don't have a breed.  People are trying to get Goldendoodles recognized by the AKC and trying to change traditions. Your generation is lazy and that's why you end up with mutts.

Why go up to a complete stranger and antagonize them when they are trying to have a nice day at the beach?  She finally tells me that she is a vet tech but proceeds on the tirade about mutts.  At that point, I finally got fed up and told her that what she said was offensive. I get no apologies and she becomes indignant. I told her to please leave.  She doesn't leave and sits 10 ft away from us and so I thought we should go.  As I get up to leave she tries to continue to yell at me she says "Opinions are like a******* and everyone has one."  

I've rescued all my dogs with the exception of the Goldendoodle, I felt kind of bad about that but this is plain cruel. I've also fostered of "mutts" from rescues but have NEVER received anything close to this kind of treatment!!  Have any of you dealt with this?  Thankfully I don't like in a small beach town and most of my neighbors love Lucky.  

What kind of psycho has this kind of serious discrimination against Goldendoodles? Why pick on a complete stranger? What should I do to prevent this from happening again?  I still want to go back to that beach because I am not going to let one person ruin a place I like. 

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

That was my mom's best guess as to why a stranger would say that. Love the heaven comment. hehe

[Cathy Sauer]

Well Riley does Not like Huskys as he was bitten by one when he was just a puppy. He still growls at all Huskys too. So her choice of breed is matching her personality. Do not mean to put Huskeys down no offense meant

[Sam&Bella]

The same thing happened to Bella when she was little. Then the owner of the husky came up to us and said, "These things happen" and walked away. All while my GD puppy was recovering from this! Didn't even say sorry! I never knew that dogs could identify breeds until she met a husky again, then again, then I was amazed:)

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

Yes this happened with my previous dog.  Strangely she didn't like golden retrievers.  I always thought it was kinda strange. 

Huskys are not recommended to family with children.  They can be too aggressive.  I know this because my fiance's evil stepbrother has a husky.  It is strange, I've never liked any owner with Husky because coincidently all of them are a*******.  All of the Huskys I've met are fine, the owners are not. 

[Sam&Bella]

Exactly! I love the way they look, but I have heard the same. I have found that Malamutes and their owners are way nicer than the ones with Huskys:)

[Diane D]

I would have said to this woman that" webbed feet and pure breed are unimportant to me. Breed characteristics are not always present in every dog. She has a wonderful personality and that's whats important to me." Then I would have said "Have a nice day! " and moved on down the beach.

Since she was an older woman, and your mother brought you up with manners, you probably felt like you had to be  polite and engage with her. However, take it from a 70 year old doodle mom, some people will just plain take advantage of your good intentions. Best to be polite and cut it short and be on your way.

Anyone who would speak about another person's pet like that is not right in the head!

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

Thank you! I found it ironic that she scolded me about young people's lazy manners when she didn't have any herself. 

[Sam&Bella]

I was thinking that too!

[Carolyn Shusterman]

You've received lots of advice on how to handle a wacko.  Always remember you don't owe any explanations to such people.  I would have just agreed with her that my dog was a mutt just like me.  Most of us have parents that come from different parts of the world. We all LOVE our Doodle mutts!! 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

If she wasn't so pathetic it would be funny.  t think she was really jealous of your golden doodle so she decided to degrade him and you.  

Seriously, I am 71 years old and I have an ALD so I guess, by her standards I should be thanking her for throwing me into the younger generation.   I suspect she discriminates about a lot of things other than doodles and never hesitates to voice her opinion.   I imagine she is a very lonely unhappy person.  

I might be mistaken but aren't there are a number of dog breeds that initially were crossbred with other breeds for a specific purpose and over time were recognized as a breed of their own?

[Joyce (Casey & Cody's mom)]

Oh my - I had a similar experience, but must say, my "coon-ass Cajun" temper exposed itself. A couple approached my husband and I while we were walking our dogs at a campground. I was walking Cody - who looks like a poodle and my husband was about a block behind me walking Casey who looks more like a "typical " doodle. They came up to Cody and I admiring the "poodle." I didn't correct them but was just engaged in general conversation when my husband and Casey came up. She asked "what is that'" I told her that he was a Goldendoodle. Oh - she went OFF into a tirade about him just being a mutt, etc, etc. I stood it as long as I could - all the while my temper was rising. My husband recognized the signs (he-he) and tried to move me away. Not gonna happen! I finally told her - "yep - you are right - he is a mutt BUT - he is MY mutt - I pay his vet bills, I pay for his high priced grain-free food, I groom them, I pay for their training and until you take over all of these expenses - your opinion means s*** to me" "And oh by the way - that poodle that you were admiring is the litter mate brother of the "other" mutt." As she started spuddering, my husband put his arm around me and gently led me away from them. I REALLY wanted to run into them again during our stay, but they left the next morning.

[33bn7f8evnuyd]

Yup! That was what happened to me.  My temper was rising until it boiled over. My fiance saw the signs and tried to move us away haha! I wish he defended me though. Instead, he said, "Didn't you notice I was inching us away and completely ignored her?"  I really was gonna say something more to her but I figured it wasn't worth my energy because I probably wasn't going to change a deranged person's mind.