THE DOODLE DOGS

The cross breeds of Yellow Labrador Retriever x Standard Poodle, Chocolate Labrador Retriever x Standard Poodle, and Golden Retriever x Standard Poodle, are Delightful Dogs but can be a challenge to own because of their wiry ways and grooming needs. (We have only trained pure bred Black Standard Poodles and Black Labrador Retrievers at Anna Lee. We have never had a black doodle dog; which is probably a blessing! lol).There are also smaller Doodle mixes of Minature Poodles and Labrador Retrievers  but they are also a challenge to own and train because of their hardy nature.  No matter what the dog, his condition affects his training and hence your life.

Doodle Dogs, like many of the designer mixers, can have a lot of allergies. Some of these prove to be less allergy and more coat and ear care issues, but if all else fails and it is allergies, diet and environment must be adjusted. Including your own personal care products that rub off on the dog or which he can smell. Here is a thought, I wonder if  Doodle Dogs look for hypoallergenic owners!

Seriously Nana!

Looking at the coat of the DODDLE MIXES:
You have the coat of the Retrievers and the coat of the Poodles. There be issues especially with ears. They will get hot and stinky if you do not care for them. You must care for the doodle dogs ears meticulously because you have a very heavy leathered ear full of hair. Moisture and yeast can be a problem so it is vital to get airflow around the ears. Removing hair as in a poodle grooming, is the best solution. Clear as mush coat from the ears as is possible and thin out or shave the face cheeks.

There are two schools of thought on tweezing, vets don't like it but they are not groomers, are they. As a Professional dog handler I will tell you that is is best to do, but then only if done correctly. If there is and abundance of hair in the ears bell, like there is in pure bred poodles...then it should be tweezed. Even is not tweezed in the canals, the flap should be shaved under and over, the bell should be shaved away and the bell itself swabbed with cleaning solution and properly dried.

Some Veterinarians fail to show owners how to properly care for the ears when they prescribe solutions for mites or yeast. When putting drops in the ears, you must wipe the excess away,  using a clean tissue wrapped around your finger. Wipe all the parts you can see of the ear, but do go down deep. Just do it like you would clean your own ears. Use  a cotton dauber to wipe around the folds and creases of the dogs ear bell. Itchy ears can be mites, yeast or allergies etc, but they can also just be lacking cleaning, so regular grooming is the rule for doddle doggies.  The chocolate and vanilla doodles are less heavily coated that the golden doodles. The coat is thinner but the care is still required weekly.

Also if you have mats on your dog, any mats any dog, you are not grooming it properly so get rid of the coat or look after it. Dogs experience a lot of pain from coat mats and the condition of the dog affects its ability to learn and perform. Mats also make a dog miserable and inclined to be snappy.
I cannot say enough about your duty to groom your dog. Every Saturday if there is any poodle involved in the mix. Watch cartoons while you groom. BTW the STAND STAY exercise...IMPORTANT.

CHOCOLATE DOODLE PUPPY 6 months

About training Doodles, Start leash work immediately because they have a powerful constitution once they grow up. They are strong and stoic animals. 

There are ways to gets adults to stop tugging on the leash. Again it is the effectiveness of your corrections that count. And timing.

GEORGEOUS CHOCOLATE  DOODLE BERNARD 

GOLDEN DOODLE BOUNCE

DOODLES ARE GREAT FUN

FULL COAT GOLDEN DOODLE

SUMMER COAT HAIRDO
WITH DOODLES,, LESS HAIRE ON THE EARS THE BETTER

FULL COAT REQUIRES A LOT OF CARE TO STAY HEALTHY

FULL COAT WINTER, IMPORTANT TO KEEP EARS CLEAN, AND DRY

DOODLE FREEDOM

ONCE DOODLE DOG IS WELL TRAINED, RUNNING FREE IS A PLEASURE

GOLDEN DOODLE SPRING TRIM DOWN

 THE DOODLES Have very specific needs as regards coat, eyes, ears, throat , and training

GOLDEN DOODLE POODLE HAIRDO POODLE LOOK IS BEST TO KEEP EARS HEALTHY

GOLDEN DOODLE AND COCKAPOO COHABIT WELL

COCKAPOO SMOOCHIOS LAYLA!
ENGLISH COCKER SPANIEL X MINIATURE POODLE

COCKER SPANIEL ACTING POODLE

!

CHOCOLATE DOODLE

CHOCOLATE DOODLE
CHOCOLATE LABRADOR RETRIEVER x STANDARD POODLE

CCOCKAPOO  SHAKESPEARE AND VANILLA DOODLE KOKO

By and large the toughest thing with the DOODLE DOGS is controlled walking. They can be huge pull n tuggers.

JENNERS THE WHITE DOG

JENNERS

Jenners was obtained from the Calgary Humane Society where they believed she was a whippet cross. Well, no she wasn’t a whippet cross at all but there it was. She lived out the rest of her life at Anna Lee’s because she had been traumatized such that she needed skillful handling and was not suitable to move on to another home.  She was spooky for sure and had been in a puppy mill. Having pups taken in such a place mentally and physically destroys a dog. When we first got her she was a sad mess. Sometimes I question the motives of rescue groups which seldom clean dogs up adequately. Jenners was a perfect example of that. She was extremely broken down in the back end and she was filthy not having been clean up since forever. We soon became very good friends and she nursed me through many late work nights. One funny thing I recall about her was the time she swiped a bag of bread and a bag of hot dog buns out of the groceries as they were being brought into the house. She had wolfed it all down in half a second and hid the evidence by stashing the empty bags under her bed cushions. She was very quiet too. We never heard her bark; don’t know if she could bark actually. 

When a rescue dog has been through a lot, it can take months to see who they really are. Much time is needed just for observation and in gaining the dogs trust. Humans are not usually on their favorites list. They just need lots of resting in the private enclosure and crate, going on leash walks, visits to the outdoor expen and back in to the private enclosure, new toys and chews, grooming and all the perks. Training cannot begin until the dog is healthy and secure and in emotional control. The training to and from the crate to the outdoor business area and controlled walk on the leash is about all the training for a couple of months.

THE DOG FROM NOVA SCOTIA



THE WAYWARD BUDDY BROWN about four yrs.

The Dog from Nova Scotia, Buddy Brown, was rescued from Newport Station near the town of Windsor.  He arrived in Calgary August 29, 1998 via Air Canada cargo. His case came across Dog Nana’s desk (a table in a bar on Springfield Road in Halifax); the story being that Buddy would have to be destroyed for biting and uncontrolled behavior. Since there was no money for a vet to do the deed, Buddy was due to be shot by one of the men he bit. A helpful family relative. Clearly a road trip from Halifax to Newport Station was required to determine the full scope of the situation. If Buddy was in fact crazy and in need of being dispatched, there were better ways to do it other than shooting, and Anna Lee would sponsor the better way.

The road trip from Halifax to Windsor is beautiful, full of history and opens up lots of new stuff to explore like the Bay of Fundy, the Evangeline trail, Fort Edward, and the Annapolis Valley. How to impress a flat lander!  All kinds of things to discover. Nova Scotia is a fantastic beautiful place. And there are a lot of dogs there too, so that is good.

Buddy lived in the unfenced back yard of a house that was situated alongside a busy roadway. He was chained,  and locked and chained again, day and night to a makeshift dog house/ storage shed.  He was insanely bounding to the end of the chain barking and snorting, in the midst of bones and dead things, dirt, logs and wasps, without fresh water or a bed. He was in immensely poor circumstance, even though he was probably very loved at one time in his life. He had been a "girl friend/boy friend lovey dovey play house gift". He was thoroughly surprised when Nana suddenly strode up to him and from just beyond the reach of his chain patted his chest. She said, “What a noisy boy”. Buddy sat back and took a long look.

Once the training collar and the six foot leather leash were on his neck, Buddy went charging into a straight headlong tug. Nana gave him a whip lash correction, harsh and exact. She abruptly changed direction and pace, Buddy hustled to catch up and when they finally stopped, he looked down at the chain and clip on his neck, followed down and up the leash with his gaze and came to rest on Nana’s face.   Buddy thought, “Who the hell are you and when are you leaving? I’d like to chase the train please.”

Buddy’s downfall was he would constantly escape his confining chains, run at large and raid the neighborhood. He was a plague. He played chicken with cars, chased the trains and people, especially kids on roller blades and molested other dogs. There was a playground on the other side of a hedge which lined the back of the property where Buddy lived. Kids at playground would lose their ball in the hedge; rustle around looking for it, driving Buddy mad. His chains held him back but he was still very threatening to the children. Pheasants living in the trees nearby had learned the limited length of Buddy’s chain and they also tormented him as they picked and pecked along the ditches. There was a food freezer in the storage shed. It was there that Buddy bit his last victim who was removing a turkey from the freezer to take to the house for cooking. Buddy figured the freezer was his to protect from non-pack members.

Nana took Buddy for a walk on leash. He was a fast learner. After talking to Buddy about all these things, Nana could see the only way to save him was to get him out of there. If the man did not shoot him, someone else would. The Canadian Kennel Club people would not help Nana with a single thing because Bud was not a pure bred dog (the bitches)so Nana found help from the CBC radio in Halifax,  from Matt Griffith at Air Canada halifax who helped with cargo fare, Dr. Neil Pothier a vet from Digby NS who helped with a crate deal and pills, and Buddy’s owners, who even though Buddy escaped one last time and took off, managed to catch him and drove him to the Halifax  airport on the appointed day.

From the journal, getting him accustomed to the crate.

Before she left ahead of Buddy, (they could not get the same flight) Nana made a second trip back to Newport station, to drop off the crate, leash and collar and airline ticket for Buddy. Since he had never been in a crate before, he had to try it out to be sure it would not be a crazy fight at the airport. He did very well and at the airiport his owners had no trouble with him. His flight to Clagary with a stop in Toronto was twelve hours. On arrival at Calgary International, he popped out of the crate a peed a lake on the nearest parking lot post. He never looked back and became a famous trained dog. Buddy the Dog from Nova Scotia. 

Buddy in Calgary at Anna Lee Kennels

Trained, groomed, well fed  and enjoying freedom