What should I expect when I get my goldendoodle puppy home? How will he behave? How can I be sure I’m doing this puppy raising thing well? That is a great question and one that we can help answer. We know what Luna was like as a puppy, and very likely her pups will be quite similar! Here are a few tips for navigating those first 6 months.
Exercise is a must – You must be able to let your puppy get plenty of exercise to minimize poor behaviors (like chewing, digging, etc). At least two 15 minute walks a day should be planned into your routine, and a longer excursion or ample time in a large backyard to run around should be a goal as well. Goldendoodles also love the water. You will find they are eager to go be active with their owners on hikes, long walks and swims at the beach.
Training – The goldendoodle is an easy dog to train. The combination of the intelligence of a poodle and the obedience instinct of a Golden Retriever make these dogs are very easy and quick to train. They can even be used as service dogs. They are also great at playing fetch.
Diet – We have seen through research ourselves that many goldendoodles have mild food allergies. Luna particularly has an allergy to beef that we quickly discovered in her first year. We recommend for these puppies that you avoid any beef products their first 6 months, then introduce it very slowly and wait to see how it is received. It can take up to 6 weeks of eliminating a food from a puppy’s diet before you truly can know if that was the cause of an issue, so we recommend keeping an eye on it at introduction.
Grooming, Ears and Maintenance – Goldendoodles (and any floppy eared breed) can suffer from regular ear infections if their ear hair is not well maintained. We recommend regular grooming with ear hair plucking to ensure that gunk cannot build up in those ears and cause an infection. It took us about a year to figure this out before we realized the cause (all that hair in those ears), and now have had zero issues with taking her to the groomers every 8 weeks. You will need to regularly groom, brush, and even cut off any matted hair if your doodle ends up having that curlier coat.
Social – These dogs are ‘man’s best friend’. While Goldendoodles love to play and interact with people and kids (mine regularly plays tag with our kids in the backyard), they are also some of the best cuddle buddies. Expect to receive and give lots of love to these animals. Leaving them isolated at home with little to no interaction with humans or another animal may result in destructive behaviors or depression. They can also be very sensitive to your emotions and you find them trying to console you on a bad day.
Potty Training – It took a solid month or two for Luna to understand that outside is the best place to go. We recommend you crate your pup at night, with 1-2 potty breaks during the night, to teach them to hold it and not go where they sleep. During the day, we put a bell hanging from a lanyard on the doorknob from Day 1. We let her out every 2 hours or so for 5 mins consistently saying “Go potty, go potty” and then ‘Good go potty” as she was going with lots of pets and praise. She quickly learned to go tap that bell with her own paw when she needed out (wow! how smart) and now knows that “Go potty” means to go do the thing. Goldendoodles are eager to please their owners, so lots of praise and reward for requesting to go outside is all it takes for them to get the hang of it.
Biting & Play – This is a very ‘bitey’ breed in terms of play. And while their bite doesn’t actually hurt because they are so soft-mouthed, it can be a hard habit to break if encouraged at a young age. We recommend not playing with your puppy with your bare hands in this manner, rather always play with your puppy using an object or toy as the item they can ‘bite’ or use to play tug-o-war.
Chewing – Chewing is not much of an issue for these puppies so long as they are getting regular exercise and are not cooped up all day. While chewing was at a minimum for us, we did find that Luna the things she did want to chew were wooden objects and paper. We would regularly find kleenex boxes just torn apart, or drumsticks chewed up. We rarely found shoes, furniture or anything more valuable destroyed.
Digging – This breed can LOVE to dig. I have spoken to other doodle owners who have mentioned the same thing. Our best recommendation is to provide a place in your yard where they CAN dig, and to ensure that the area fenced does not contain anything too precious that they might destroy. If it does, we recommend you fence it off to protect it. I have read of cayenne pepper sprinkling also helping to protect plants or certain areas, though we have not tried it ourselves. To discourage digging in a particular spot, simply move some of their dog poop to that hole and let it sit for a few days. They will not want to dig where their poop sits.
Guard Dog Behavior – This is fairly non-existent with Goldendoodles. They are not typically a guard dog, and in fact are very likely to do nothing except greet an intruder with a lick. While some who seek protection or even a natural alarm system may be disappointed in this, the positive side of it is they rarely bark at people, noises, or other strange things to enter the home. Luna is SUCH a silent dog, that at first we thought maybe she had hearing issues. We have found that she is just a very quiet dog and will only bark playfully if another dog instigates such play behavior. For us, that has been a big bonus!
With all our puppies, we wholeheartedly welcome you to contact us after your puppy is in your home with questions or advice if you find certain traits or characteristics are concerning or confusing you. We are here to help even after they are in new homes!