Goldendoodle Service

Well, I did it. With much trepidation, I took Ebony in for her first real haircut. The new tangle comb was great at removing the mats but unfortunately it did nothing to prevent them. It was taking me an hour a day to comb through her beautiful long wavy Goldendoodle hair.  It was so silky smooth and long that it easily matted.  I was nervous, because sorry Poodle lovers, but I have never really liked the way poodles looked. When they are all poufed and primped out they just looked too prissy to me.  I am not one of those spiffed and polished gals, think more of an earth momma so my shaggy companion suited my style.

When I first picked her up, I have to admit my heart sunk a bit. There was no denying that she was a poodle! It could have been much worse. I told the groomer to leave her beard  and not make any poofs on her and he paid attention to my requests. Unfortunately, she tended to matt up worst around her neck and her abdomen so those areas needed to be trimmed the closest. He did a good job blending in the really short neck hair into the longer hair on her face and chest. Well, I figured that this haircut would greatly cut down on the “what kind of dog is that?” question.  Too me, she looked all poodle. I was wrong, we hadn’t been in the grocery store five minutes when someone came up and asked me if she was a Bouvier Des Flandres.

Ebony isn’t looking all that happy with her new haircut either. There is no way that she was going to smile for these pictures! I, on, the other hand was quite pleased when I got a good look at her from the side and I saw some of that loveable goofy, albeit intelligent, shaggy dog. I just think we are more the au naturale kind of girls.

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Ebony is a big ol’ floppy mop of hair these days, and unfortunately has a LOT of mats.  We are frequently stopped in public so people can tell us how beautiful she is and her long wavy black hair is gorgeous. I tend to be on the wavy long haired side myself and I was hoping to be able to keep her Goldendoodle hair long until the weather warms. It wasn’t difficult to stay on top of the mats when I was feeling well, but it has been a real challenge this winter and spring, even with my neighbor’s help.  The mats are the worst around her neck where her collar hits her, and on her chest and belly where the straps on her service vest lie.  I broke down yesterday and scheduled her for a haircut on Monday, which I am really nervous about. I trust the groomer, its just that I just love the shaggy  Goldendoodle girl look and I hate a really formal traditional poodle look. I want to keep as much as the gorgeous hair as I can until the hot weather comes.

I was stroking her neck, as we were standing in a line, and got despondent about another mat that I  found.  I tried some other pet stores in search of something that would help me with these gosh darn mats in her hair. I purchased a Instant Mat & Tangle Remover and I have to say “WOW”. It has a two rows of 1″ bristles in a ‘V’ formation.  I was surprised at how it gently worked out her mats.  In about 10 minutes, I had two large handfuls of mats and hair from using the brush and Ebony was still sitting very patiently while I worked on the mats around her neck.  While grooming her chest, she started to get a bit antsy. It could have been that it was more tender there, her patience was starting to wear thin or my hands were getting fatigued and not as careful.  After about an hour break, we resumed her grooming and were able to get another large handful of mats out. Now if you don’t have a Goldendoodle, you might be thinking three handfuls?!?! That poor dog must be a wreck!  Well none of the mats were big enough to be visible, all were less than an inch in size.  Her hair is 3-6″ long and since she doesn’t really shed, Ebony can fill up a brush when combed, just like her owner!  We still have more to do but I was delighted by the grip on this brush. Usually my hands wear out after a few minutes but I could hold this one much longer. As long as I was careful with the brush, making sure to hold her hair next to skin and start on the far side of the mat and work my way towards my hand next to her skin, she had no discomfort.  I am so pleased that I was able to comb out so many mats instead of just cutting them out.

We will be keeping her grooming appointment on Monday to trim the areas where her vest straps and collar are.  But with the Instant mat and tangle remover, I feel much more confident that I will be able to keep at least some of her hair length.  Let’s hear it for long haired ladies!

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When I picked out Ebony, I didn’t really understand that I was doing something to reverse Black dog discrimination. I picked her for several reasons, and one of the important reasons was the fact that she was black.  Being disabled, price was a factor and the black goldendoodles were less expensive. MaryAnn at Starview Kennels explained that the demand wasn’t as high, so she discounted the black puppies. The black goldendoodles were hundreds of dollars cheaper than the golden ones.  Didn’t make sense to me, she was cute as a button and I wanted black to contrast with my golden guy at home.

Part of the reason that I named her Ebony was the whole play on a black Goldendoodle. Ebony is constantly being misidentified as a Portuguese Water Dog or a Labradoodle. When I correct people and say that she is a GOLDENdoodle, they are surprised. One customer in Home Depot even argued with me and told me it was impossible to have a black Goldendoodle and that if I was too stupid to know what kind of dog I really had, that I had no business owning her! Although not as rude as that one customer, I have had many strangers question me as to why in the world would I want a black goldendoodle.  I have been shrugging it off but today I came across a couple of articles on black dog discrimination that really opened my eyes to the severity of this problem.

Kim Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States states that black dogs stay the longest in shelters and are the hardest to adopt out. Madeline Bernstein, the president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles agrees. “They’re the hardest to adopt out, they’re in the shelters the longest and therefore, they’re most likely to be euthanized if nothing happens.” There can be a number of factors contributing to Black Dog Syndrome, including superstition, visibility, folklore and the stigma attached to some breeds like Rottweillers.

Black Pearls of the Dog World is a web site devoted to black dogs, promoting their rescue and adoption. This web site addresses some of the misconceptions about black dogs, highlights black dogs awaiting adoption and shares success stories. If you are considering adopting a dog to train as your service dog, I know lots of people do, please consider checking out Black Pearls. Also check out Homeward Bound, a rescue organization for Golden retrievers AND Black golden retriever mixes.

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Ebony’s Puppy Kindergarten Graduation picture. She wasn’t wild about wearing that graduation cap but she did great with her Sit-Stay to get the picture.

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Now that my Goldendoodle puppy has her service dog in training vest, I thought it was time to start taking her out.  Since I have to go to the doctor’s office regularly and I want the office to really support this partnership, I decided to take her.  She got pretty antsy when I was checking in at the counter.  She needed a couple of corrections to sit at my side.  Once we were sitting in the waiting room, she sat in front of me. She would turn her head if the kids squealed but she would immediately respond to Watch me.  I didn’t let anyone but the office receptionist pet her.

We were in the waiting room for almost 40 minutes but she only got up a couple of times and always sat right back down. When they called me, Ebony dug her heels in.  I had to drag her the first eight feet before she finally starting walking next to me.  She was confused with my climbing on the scale to get weighed and it took me awhile to get her to sit out of the medical assistant’s way.  She was good in the exam room until they pricked my finger for a blood test.  I don’t think that I flinched but she definitely reacted to it. She stood up and got really close to me but she did not try to interfere.

By the time the doctor came in, she was pretty tired. She just kind of splatted on the floor.  Very impressive! hehe Overall, the trip was a success.  Primarily, it gave me a good idea on what we need to work on. 

• Distractions
• Down-Stay
• Visit
• Positioning of sit

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The puppies were hyper excited at the beginning of Petsmart puppy class today.  We were supposed to be demonstrating Sit-Stay and Down-Stay.  There was a family standing outside the ring and the three children were a huge distraction for my goldendoodle puppy.  Still, Ebony did great on the Sit-Stay.  It took two tries to maintain the Down-Stay for 15 seconds.  Then, we focused on meeting others.  Ebony did really well with this. Jumping has never been an issue for her.  I would give the comment Visit and she would sit and wait for the person to pet her.  We had to tell some of the store employees that could not pet the puppies. I would tell the person no then get Ebony to Watch Me.  She did great!

Next Jennifer, our excellent trainer,  laid out some toys and some nice stinky bones in one of aisles.  We were to walk with a loose leash down the aisle. If the puppy pulls at the leash for one of the objects, they were told Leave it and we were to keep going.  The first time, Ebony strained for one of the bones but immediately responded to Leave it. She walked perfectly down the rest of the aisle, ignoring the objects. We repeated this three times, each time Jennifer moved the items closer together.  Each time, my cute puppy walked on a nice loose leash and ignored the tempting objects.

At the end of the class, we turned to a trick.  To teach her to shake, Jennifer had us tap the back of the leg where it attaches to the foot. Once the puppy raises her foot, they get a click and a treat.  I was really tired at the end of the class and I was getting confused as to how to transfer from the tapping of the leg to holding out my hand to shake. Ebony was also confused and we could see her thinking about it and trying to figure out what I wanted.  By the end of class, she would put her paw on my hand about 50% of the time when I said Shake.

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Ebony is always the star when it comes to the Stay command in puppy class.  That is, as long as she is sitting.  Down-stay is a real challenge for her.  She is slow lie down but then she hops up after about five seconds. A 30 second sit-stay is really easy for her it is just the down-stay that she has a hard time with.  I think that part of the problem is that she still needs a hand signal of pointing to the floor to lie down. When I give her the treat or pet her for lying down, I am bending over.  As soon as I stand up, she pops up. It is the same problem if I am standing up or sitting down.  I need to figure out how to reward the down without bending over.

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Thank goodness for the leave it command. She gets to hear it a lot. The good news is that she seems to be tiring of the wastebasket as treasure game. My goldendoodle puppy has set her sights on something much more interesting, the cat’s food.  Long ago, when Fergus was a puppy we built a pedestal for the cat’s food.  It kept it off the floor so he quickly learned that was off limits.  Last year at the age of 18, the cat started to develop arthritis and could no longer jump on the pedestal. Fergus still thinks anything on the floor is fair game so we built her stairs up to her food pedestal. 

Ebony, the smart goldendoodle puppy  that she is, has figured out how to knock the dish off the pedestal by  climbing up on her hind legs and batting it down. So she is tall enough to do that but still small enough that she can also climb up the steps to the pedestal. If she hears leave it, she will skulk away. As soon as we are out of the room, she will slink back and try it again.  She literally licks the floor clean around the pedestal.  We have one dining room chair blocking the stairs and a second one blocking the pedestal itself. Still, if she has more than a minute unattended she will try again, even if the cat food dish is empty! I am perplexed because I can tell her to leave a dog treat on the lawn and she will totally ignore it. Cat food seems to be an entirely different story.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would be delighted to hear them.

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Although Ebony has had the task of ringing the bells to go inside down for quite awhile. Today was the first day that she rang the bells to go outside by herself. I was almost beside myself with excitement.  I think I scared my poor goldendoodle puppy with my enthusiasm but I was so glad to have this break in her house training.  Fergus was so easy to house train but she has continued to have the occasional accident inside if I am not totally diligent. This was the first time that she took the initiative to let me know that she needed to go outside.

Its amazing how the little things in life can so totally make your day!

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Today was Ebony’s second puppy vet visit. She did great, we were able to finish up her puppy vaccinations. Her minor goldendoodle puppy health issues like the waxy ear build up and her vaginitis were greatly improved.  She is a little on the skinny side but her fecal tests were normal so I am to start feeding her FOUR times a day!

I made a dual appointment with Fergus to have his hot spots checked once again.  He had three new hotspots that needed shaving and treatment. I also had some lumps that I thought were fatty tumors checked out because one of them had started to bleed.  The vet said that they were warts and he was scratching them, making them bleed.  He has a wonder SoftE collar but Ebony is very adept at untying it for him and in the few minutes it takes for me to notice he has it off, he has scratched and chewed himself raw again. I had removed all wheat from his diet last week and although it didn’t seem to make much difference in his itchiness, the vet says no more wheat.  Both dogs are flea-free but my poor golden retriever’s skin allergies persist.  We left with oral and topical antibiotics and steroids.  It was an eye popping, jaw dropping $300+ vet bill AFTER my disability discount! I was in tears because my poor golden has been so itchy once again and very worried about what this vet bill, one-third of my monthly income was going to do to the budget. Now I won’t be able to afford the intermediate dog training course at the end of this month.  It will be a top ramen kind of month for me but I am confident that my dogs will receive the care that need to be their healthiest, even with the Golden Retriever predispostions. I thas really helped reenforce my decision to not get a pure bred this time and go for the hybrid vigor of goldendoodles.

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