Photo/s of the day. Pumpkin and Moet.

[moonvoice]

So I went to Glen's parents house yesterday,
they were babysitting Glen's brother's dog Pumpkin,
a young golden retriever x poodle.
She is perhaps the sweetest dog I've ever met in my entire life.
And extraordinarily charming and well-mannered for a 7 month old.
If I could have a dog with her temperament, I might be the happiest person ever.


She's just had her Summer clip.










Moet doing his best beached-seal impression, while watching the seals on Frozen Planet

Comments

[lichen]

Moet makes me so happy. he reminds me so much of Buu. :D

[moonvoice]

Aw. Yay cats! :)

[starstrider]

In my experience, doodles (doesn't matter if their Bermadoodles, Goldendoodles, or Labradoodles, they all seem to have the same temperments/personality types) are indeed extremely sweet. I've never seen a doodle get angry, and we get a *lot* of them in daycare. In fact, they're often overly submissive, which can be just fine. The only thing is that all of the doodles I've ever met--with very, very few exceptions--are extremely clingy and don't have much of an understanding of human personal space. I'm sure that can be worked with to an extent, but their first inclination is always going to be putting their mouth/body up against yours. I do think Goldendoodles are more intelligent than the Labradoodles, though, plus I think they have a better coat. They do have LOTS of energy, though!

[moonvoice]

I didn't find Pumpkin clingy at all. Desiring of human affection, yes, but if you didn't give her attention straight away if she came up for a pat, she usually wandered off twenty seconds later, perfectly happy to amuse herself. She was also really low on energy. WAY lower than Lumi, for example. And apparently she has been that way since they got her at 8 weeks. I mean not 'really' low, she's not a quiet retired greyhound. But she is more than happy with a half hour walk every day, some socialisation (she was in puppy preschool and I think is now in obedience classes; though they're not diligent with training), and that's about it. Certainly one of the quieter dogs that I've ever met (I've met a borzoi who was quieter).

Even when playing tug with her, a game that can over-excite a lot of dogs, even puppies, she was always happy to play, always enjoyed it, tail wagging (her tail wagged a lot!) - but she never got hyper or overstimulated, she stopped when you stopped, and was not remotely pushy. She's an amazing dog. Some of that will be the natural temperament she had when they got her; but her training and wonderful owners have a lot to do with it as well.

[white_rabbit]

Puppyyyy! :D I am hoping with the way Leeloo is progressing she will be as well-mannered as Pumpkin at 7 months. Right now she has to just get over randomly chewing our blankets. Hrmph.

[moonvoice]

I'm sure Leeloo will be! :D She sounds like a wonderful dog.

[silverjackal]

The puppy is adorable. You can see what a sweet girl she is in her expression in the first photo. One of my cousins actually has a Goldendoodle puppy as well (she's always been allergic and therefore had poodles before), and her girl is also apparently both very sweet and very clever. I suspect that Goldendoodles come out less obliviously energetically hard than Labradoodles, but I frankly don't have a large enough sample to say that conclusively. It's interesting to see the intersection of different breed traits, because I would expect a Goldendoodle to be as high energy as a Labradoodle (given that young Goldens can be very, very energetic!) but apparently that's not the case.

Moet reminds me of an older person at a park or concert, observing everything while comfortably perched, legs and arms crossed. :D

[moonvoice]

She really is tremendously sweet, I mean, Glen's always said so, but I like to be able to judge these things for myself. You're not the first person to have said that golden retriever x poodles come out less energetically hard than labradoodles (though I believe the ALA is breeding Australian Labradoodles to have a similar soft temperament). To be honest, I wanted a golden retriever x poodle a great deal based on such reports, but there are virtually no 'breeders' in Western Australia; not surprising, given how relatively uncommon golden retrievers are here in favour of other breeds. Even Brad got his from the Eastern states, because they're just not around.

That being said, even labradoodles aren't that common here, even the BYB version. Thank goodness - really, because it's not like we need a ton of designer breeds in general. But we have one recognised ALA breeder here, and on a site where all and sundry can sell their puppies in Perth, about one labradoodle litter comes up every month and a half. If you want any mastiffs, staffies, king charles cavalier spaniels or maltese (or crosses of any of these), you'll have a great deal more luck.

[silverjackal]

There's another aspect to consider here, too. I don't know what it's like in Australia (or at home, for that matter in re: my cousin's dog) but I've heard multiple people remark on how how cancer-prone North American Golden retrievers have become. Both work and show lines, and apparently all manner of different cancers. :( Not surprising, I suppose, given how very popular the breed is, and how much BYB and close inbreeding has happened, but I've heard this independently from enough people (some into showing, some with pets, and some in the working gundog fancy) that I've added Goldens onto my "remember to caution people because they're a genetic minefield" list.

I *really* hope it's different both where you are, and in Europe. What a horrendous thing to have to live with, if one loves the breed. (Or rather, one doesn't have to live with it, but breeders are hardly going to practice the extreme caution and careful outcrossing required to rectify the situation, and even if some do fixing it would take multiple generations, and several decades.)

[moonvoice]

Golden retrievers are so uncommon here specifically in Western Australia (with working lines even less common than show lines), I'm not sure how bad overbreeding has become. I daresay it'd be worse for labradors here, which are way more appealing as a breed to most people here. Labrador puppies and crosses come up all the time. But, case in point, the amount of registered and non-registered golden retriever litters up in WA for the past two weeks has been a sum total of none. I'll be interested to see how much that changes over Christmas.

In that sense, I don't think a great deal of BYB / inbreeding happens here for the gundogs (with the labrador as the exception).

You can see how many registered puppy litters are 'on the ground' at any point in Australia here: http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/puppies.asp - it's not 100% accurate, but it gives you an idea of a) how few litters there are in Western Australia compared to other states, and b) what breeds are more popular than others. And no Goldens are available in WA so far. Staffies top the list every time. The newspapers full of BYB bullshit favour the staffies and mastiffs as well, and the bullies and bull arabs.

We are a weird people. ;)

[silverjackal]

We are a weird people. ;)

Heh. Nothing wrong with Staffies!

As for being overbred, sadly that depends a lot on the size of the foundation stock, too. If they were genetically constricted (i.e. very few dogs originally imported, from a limited number of lines), one ends up with an equally bad coefficient of inbreeding because everything is backbred to the same number of founders. If there is *any* sort of genetic weakness that tends to be brought out and exacerbated that way. Breeding properly is not a simple thing, which is something that many people who are seriously involved with dogs really don't even appreciate. They're looking at how a dog and bitch will complement each other, and what it will bring to their lines, but they're looking in the immediate short term, not "what's the genetic load from this stretching back forty years" and "how will this translate forward in time?".

[moonvoice]

As for being overbred, sadly that depends a lot on the size of the foundation stock, too.

That is a good point, and one I frequently forget. I imagine this can compound issues in Australia in general where the cost to import dogs from the Northern Hemisphere is very high, and always compounded by the fact that dogs - no matter where the come from (barring New Zealand) - must spend three months in a lifeless quarantine, risking the development of behavioural problems in that time, as they are not allowed to interact with each other during that time (aside from barking incessantly), and may only have one visitor, once a day, for a limited time (barring staff cleaning cages and so on). It's the strictest quarantine in the Western world, I think. It works on one level, we don't have rabies here, and many other diseases found elsewhere; but on the other level, when it's important to breed for temperament as well as conformation, that three month quarantine can be tough on some of the breeds.

The advent of being able to important frozen semen has really changed diversity in bloodlines, and it's very common and popular here, because it's usually cheaper than alternatives. But some breeds seem to be more conscientious than others; I'm not sure frozen semen has been introduced much to golden retrievers here, for example. Though it has very much for bloodhounds and finnish lapphunds to keep the pool diverse.

I don't mind staffies, though I find them a bit... well, they're just not for me. They're so popular here, that I forget that elsewhere in the world they're considered 'violent' breeds, since I just think of them as loving, super friendly, super muscly family dogs. Heh. All the ones that I've met have been goofy and loving, and I see them everywhere when I walk. Running alongside bikes, being walked by the whole family, going on a jog with some jock, etc. I think my dislike is actually more aesthetic than anything, I just don't like 'muscly' anything - from really 'built' men, to dogs, to... *thinks* other muscly things. Lol.

[silverjackal]

Temperamentally I actually really like Staffies (and the whole bully breed complex). What's not to love in such genial dogs? But aesthetically I agree with you. They remind me of swine, honestly, and bulk aside you know I also prefer pricked ears over hanging. Essentially the bully breed complex equates to everything I find unattractive in the canine world, in re: looks -- though at least they have a muzzle, as opposed to those poor flat-faced things. I also don't like the very close, scratchy coat, and the fact that they don't have good insulation for colder weather is a no-go for me as well while I live where I do. I refuse to put a coat on a dog unless s/he's ill or something, and here with the amount of time I prefer to spend outside, even in winter, a bully would need a coat. To each their own with preferences, yes? :D I'm sure there are people who would be disgusted by the shedding I live with, and annoyed by how "on" and watchful the dog is (complete with barking).

[perlandria]

I grew up with a shnoodle. I can not recommend mixed breed poodles enough. They are love!

[moonvoice]

A great deal of them have terrible behaviour problems, depending on where they've come from; but I don't mind the poodle crosses, probably because I also like poodles a great deal! Especially the standards. Take them out of their dorky fashion clips, give them a regular clip and get them out in a park and they're much more fun. I've considered poodles in the past, but Glen doesn't like them based on their dorky fashion clips.

[toeknuckles]

That photo of Moet is the sweetest, most heartwarming thing EVER. I want to kiss his little feet.

[moonvoice]

He would let you! :D