Whats With Golden-Doodles!

[OntarioSheltie]

As you may recall, I was furious with a neighbor who let their golden-doodle attack Ginny when she was young. He went after her and when I confronted her she acted very indignant and said he was trying to play. She wore me down and convinced me that I was wrong, when he went after her again. This time it was obvious, poor Ginny was screaming and he picked Ginny up in his mouth. I kicked him and yelled at him till he let her go, then I blasted my neighbor who apologized profusely. No physical damage was done but its taken months for her to get over her bad experience.

Well its happened again, this time with Sadie and another Golden Doodle in the neighborhood. My neighbor was playing ball with all the dogs (4 in total) and there was a man with a small child and golden doodle playing ball with some other neighborhood kids. Our ball when near the G.D. and when Sadie went to pick it up he lunged at Sadie and grabbed her by the neck. She fought back but the G.D easily weighed twice as much as her and pinned her on her back. It was very quick and ended in a few seconds so it was done by the time I started running over. The guy that owned the G.D. barely reacted at ALL, he looked up, saw what happened and then went back to his son. He didn't leash the dog or say a word.

A little while later he leashed his dog when the kids left, then sat with his son watching us. As our dogs ran after the ball, the G.D. lunged aggressively at the dogs. What does the guy do, HE LETS IT OFF LEASH! I yelled over to him immediately "If that dog so much as touches one of my dogs I'm going to kick it!" The guy completely ignored me and we left the park a few minutes later.

Some people! If it was me I would have been horrified if my dog did something like that. If my dog showed ANY aggression toward other dogs I wouldn't let her off leash when children or other dogs where around.

Sadie was fine, btw, if she wasn't I would have had words with the man right away. Thankfully, she's not sensitive like Ginny and the incident didn't even phase her.

Has anyone else found these dogs to be dog aggressive? Do standard poodles tend to have dog aggression issues? I haven't had many issues with golden retrievers...

 

[tofu pup]

I would suspect that a large part of it is the sort of person who buys a "goldendoodle"... in my experience, they're usually first-time dog owners, two-income parents, and want "just a nice dog" for the children (but something more "special" than a Golden or Lab). They usually don't have a ton of dog-savvy or spare time and they seem to think that "good with kids" means the dog will raise itself.

Both of the instances you list sound like situations where a bratty dog + ignorant, borderline-rude owner = scary situations. I don't think it's that they're mean dogs (although the average goldendoodle breeding-program doesn't seem to be terribly stringent), so much as it is that they tend to be owned by clueless people.

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

Do standard poodles tend to have dog aggression issues? I haven't had many issues with golden retrievers...

More a lack of respect than aggression. My landlord has one, and she (the dog) has no respect for other dogs. She pounces them and pins them to the ground. She had been doing that to my landlords Shelties for a while. Jacky (my landlord) had always just told her "no, stop that", but never really got physical with her, and the Poodle never took her seriously.

The day I caught her with the old-lady rescue Sheltie pinned underneath her, I very harshly corrected her. She got lifted up by the sides of her neck, off the floor and screamed at, then unceremoniously thrown out of the room and the door slammed in her face. She was seriously pissed. But she never did it again. : )

I thought it was just her, but I have seen a lot of reactive standards, so I think it's the breed.

 

[OntarioSheltie]

I thought it was just her, but I have seen a lot of reactive standards, so I think it's the breed.

'Reactive' is the perfect description of these two dogs.

There was no brocken skin in either instance and they weren't out for a kill, the first time with Ginny it seemed more like he was trying to dominate her (stupid dog, Ginny is shy with new dogs and had already rolled over onto her back in submission) and the second time with the other dog it seemed like he was trying to be possessive of the toy.

At least the first neighbor eventually saw that she was wrong about her dog, even though it was never properly corrected initially. She keeps a close eye on him now, he's only ever off leash with big dogs and she walks him with a gentle leader.

The second person was just completely ignorant. I'll be watching out for him.

 

[Cindy]

Stanard poodles

The ones I know are very dominant dogs.
Obviously, with the wrong owner that can equal trouble.
And the avg golden doodle owner is looking for a trendy and easy dog.
Gavin stays away from them all on his won.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

I would suspect that a large part of it is the sort of person who buys a "goldendoodle"... in my experience, they're usually first-time dog owners, two-income parents, and want "just a nice dog" for the children (but something more "special" than a Golden or Lab). They usually don't have a ton of dog-savvy or spare time and they seem to think that "good with kids" means the dog will raise itself.

Both of the instances you list sound like situations where a bratty dog + ignorant, borderline-rude owner = scary situations. I don't think it's that they're mean dogs (although the average goldendoodle breeding-program doesn't seem to be terribly stringent), so much as it is that they tend to be owned by clueless people.

I think you hit the nail right on the head!
All Golden Doodles I ever met where nice enough dogs but completely out of control hyper, and the owners think it is just wanting to play and don't understand why dogs may want to react!
Toffee beats one up at the park REGULARLY, that idiot keeps on coming over, because the dog kinda feels no pain and is hyper AND stupid

 

[Megansmom]

Being I am a little biased towards Golden Retrievers, (had one for 12 1/2 years), it's ALL about the owners and the breeder, as with ANY breed. It's "breeders" like those, the cross breeders who mess with the genetics of the normally sweet, mild mannered, doscile Golden Retriever and turn them into snippy snappy less than intelligent dogs.

The Goldendoodles or crossbreeds you all are describing are an embarassment to the true Golden Retriever breed. For that matter, should NEVER be compared to a true pure bred Golden!

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Being I am a little biased towards Golden Retrievers, (had one for 12 1/2 years), it's ALL about the owners and the breeder, as with ANY breed. It's "breeders" like those, the cross breeders who mess with the genetics of the normally sweet, mild mannered, doscile Golden Retriever and turn them into snippy snappy less than intelligent dogs.

The Goldendoodles or crossbreeds you all are describing are an embarassment to the true Golden Retriever breed. For that matter, should NEVER be compared to a true pure bred Golden!

so true!!!
I like Golden's, I like Poodles.. I just don't tend to like Golden Doodles, it's a bit of a travesty in my opinion

 

[Chris]

I swear, if that had been my Sheltie, I think I would have strangled that GD. Then I would have "explained" to the owner what manners are!

 

[Sharon]

Golden Doodles

Sting plays with a GD everyday and she is a sweet dog but she was also raised right by her owner.I like the one Sting plays with but in general do not care for them at all.I actually called someone last nightn that was selling them in the paper and being the smart aleck I am was asking her all kinds of questions like did the parents have all the clearances and did the parents have any titles and why was she asking 595.00 for a mutt.She was none to happy with me.