Case Profile: The Doodle
In this case profile, we revisit one of the most popular groups of dogs on the planet, and one of the types of dogs that we see most often for behavioural issues - the poodle crosses. I’m talking Cockapoo’s, Cavapoo’s, Australian Labradoodles, Goldendoodles - and all the people who didn’t realise that “hypoallergenic” comes with the small print of “vocal, high energy biting dog”.
Let’s take some time to breakdown the doodle dogs.
BREED(S): Cockapoo, Sprockerpoo, Cavapoo, Cavapoochon, Australian Labradoodle, Labradoodle, Bernedoodle, Goldendoodle.
Owners most commonly see me for: Vocal reactivity, overstimulation, Resource Guarding, Separation Anxiety.
Most Common symptoms include: Vocal barking and lunging, over excited jumping and barking, grabbing at people and clothes, overstimulation around touch interactions and food.
Occasional symptoms include: High levels of fear and anxiety, aggression towards family members or territorial aggression.
Case Breakdown: It would seem odd that such a large and genetically diverse group of dogs would have such a common set of issues. After all, whilst technically the poodle is a common breed denominator, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the genetically predominant dog in many of the poodle cross dogs that we work with. So what is it that all of these dogs have in common? Their owners.
Fundamentally the thing that all of these dogs have in common is that they are sold as suitable for families and first time dog owners, which as a demographic tend to behave in a similar way with their dogs, and follow a similar training funnel that results in most of the issues that we see as professional behaviour specialists. In essence, the poodle cross represents “all of the things that go wrong if you follow the standardised status quo training process”.
The mistakes follow a common pattern:
Buy a dog on the basis of breed, primarily for its aesthetics and secondarily for its breed stereotype, rather than focusing on the genetics of the parents and the temperament of the individual dog within the litter. (This ends up creating a mismatch or variable incompatibility between what the owner needs and the personality of the dog, e.g a nervous dog in a busy family, a high energy hunting dog for an older retiree, a pushy or overly confident dog with anxious inexperienced owners).
Smother the dog in excitement and over-the-top affection, during the first hours, days and weeks of owning a new puppy (first time dog owners and children are very good at this!) resulting in an imprint where family represents overwhelming and uncomfortable levels of excitement and invasion of space - that in the long term, your dog will lose tolerance for and struggle to regulate.
Take the puppy to the vet, who tells you that you should limit your dogs exercise to 5 minutes for every month of their age to limit the risk of injury, then proceeds to scare the life out of you with horror stories of every time a cockapoo picked up something in their mouths and needed a major operation. This causes two problems - a severe lack of exercise leading to a pressure build with a young dog that gets increasingly frustrated, and paranoid owners that snatch everything off their young dog and begin to sow the seeds of resource guarding behaviour.
Sign a 3-6 month old puppy up for 6 weeks of puppy classes in the local hall, with an inexperienced ‘hobby’ dog trainer that introduces extremely high and overwhelming levels of stimulation as ‘normal’ - dogs climbing and jumping all over each other, giving the dogs lots of food for everything, talking in a high pitched voice, being overexcited - with a breed predisposed to being excitable and overstimulated.
It is the combination of all of the above that set an unhealthy foundation which rapidly becomes unmanageable as young dogs pass into adolescence, and where the problematic results of that that same poor foundation begin to rear their heads. If poodle cross breeds share one thing in common, it is that they are not resilient to emotional inconsistency - whether that takes the form of over excitement, frustration, uncertainty of anxiety - they absorb it all and respond negatively to it.
Dogs are psychologically very different to people, in a great many ways - and our dogs ability to understand, mirror and accommodate for us does not make them the same. And doodles are not the most forgiving when it comes to not understanding dog psychology.
No, your Doodle is not a Tiny Human
For all the ways in which doodles may seem to be highly designed for their compatibility with people and human centric personalities, it is a fatal flaw to be so disrespectful as to not treat them as dogs. Dogs are psychologically very different to people, in a great many ways - and our dogs ability to understand, mirror and accommodate for us does not make them the same. And doodles are not the most forgiving when it comes to not understanding dog psychology. You must learn with any dog to control your energy and body language, express yourself mindfully, manage and claim your space, negotiate silently. You must learn to understand how dogs perceive patterns and associations, and how they navigate the world as predatory animals. More often than not, doodles go through a training process that hinges on the same principles that taught Sealions and Dolphins to balance balls on their noses and jump through hoops - and these are not processes that have any respect for the animals psychological wellbeing. So - learn dog psychology, and how your doodle perceives the world.
No, Excitement is not Happiness. No, your dog doesn’t have ADHD. They’re overstimulated, stressed out, and addicted to your ‘drip-fed’ reinforcement.
Most of the ‘excitement’ that we see dogs practice is either a mask for high levels of stress and anxiety, or neurotic, pushy, demanding behaviour. It is not normal or healthy for a dog to exist at high levels of over excitement on a regular basis, any more than someone who lives off energy drinks to get through the day. The psychological, physiological and emotional strain of overstimulation its something that moat doodles struggle with a great deal, and the truth is that more often than not, its a mirror of the environment they are living in. Constant excited touch, constant treats, constant anxiety and excitement in the way we talk.
Detox Your Doodle to discover their personality.
There are three key things that doodles often receive in excess, to the point that it can have a marked negative effect on their psychology - food, excitement and affection. Many of these dogs have been so overwhelmed from such a young age that few owners have any idea how different their dog could be. If your dog lives in excess, practice the following:
24 Hours of silence. Don’t use sound to communicate with your dog. Humans are SO noisy.
2 weeks without treats. Stop using food to remote control, bargain, bribe and distract your dog. You’d be amazed at how many problems you have inadvertently caused because you constantly ‘reward them for being a good boy’ with food.
Only give gentle touch affection (massage) to your dog when they are fully sitting down or lying down. Sounds easy - but more often than not is extremely difficult with an overstimulated dog (if they get up, you have to stop giving affection!)
Slow-mo your movements. Stop moving in such a frantic, over the top way. On average, we have to get our clients to move 4x more slowly than normal until their speed is appropriate.
