Goldendoodle owners who play the blame game

Goldendoodle owners who play the blame gameWhy do some Goldendoodle owners play the blame game over the internet when they fail to not follow proper protocol with their breeder and something occurs with their purchased pet? A Goldendoodle customer contacted me last night saying that her Goldendoodle had a seizure earlier that day and when I started to ask her questions, she immediately became nasty and said "We've had problems with this doodle since the day we bought him!".

Funny. This was the first time I had even heard from this customer, yet alone receive any documentation from a veterinarian much less her signature upon the purchase contract that we provide to every customer. She purchased her Goldendoodle from me 8 months ago and the doodle was four months of age when she purchased him. I still have two doodles from that particular litter who have been in perfect health. So far, we've not had any negative responses regarding "health issues" from anyone else who purchased from that same litter. When she made the comment that she had been having "health" issues with her Goldendoodle from the first day she purchased him, I then asked her why was I just now hearing about a problem? If she had been having problems from "day one" as she claimed, why was she just now telling me about it after eight months has passed? She got angry and began playing the blame game and when she would not answer my questions, I hung up the telephone. She then called back and my husband answered the phone and she told him she was going to tell everyone on as many websites as possible what a bad breeder I was.

I find it completely absurd that someone would purchase a Goldendoodle...or any pet for that matter....have issues they felt had a 'genetic' factor involved and fail to contact the breeder immediately and then go all over the internet to smear their name posting one sided stories just to gain public sympathy. I found one comment that this customer wrote, claiming that I was NOT sympathetic and that I did not show any empathy towards their doodle's plight.

Below is a portion of her comment: "Dee had NO Empathy at all and only got defensive about it not being her fault (which we did not call about fault). She didn't care at all what the vet said and keep in mind this puppy came from her dogs. We are heartbroken because his condition does not look good yet she simply hung up on me tonight. I am in disbelief. I have never bothered them about the many digestive problems Teddy has had since we got him at 4 months old or the hip problems he has but with the neurological problems I wanted to get her guidance and instead I got her yelling and hanging up on me. She has added to our pain. I would NEVER allow someone I care ab out to purchase a dog from them. EVER. Think twice about it !"

I found her comment baffling because she posted this as a one sided story. This customer fails to mention quite a few things. The first thing she failed to mention is the fact that she never once contacted me regarding any "digestive" or "hip" problems. Her Goldendoodle has a seizure and now all of a sudden he's had numerous OTHER health issues since "day one" ?? This is like going and ordering a huge steak dinner....eating almost all of it and then getting the waitress to bring the manager over so you can tell him or her how disgusting the food was and that you want him or her to do something about it. I've added to their pain? How is this? I fail to see how I have added to her or her family's pain. She claims she called to obtain "guidance" from me as a breeder and that I yelled at her and hung up on her? This isn't what transpired nor did I yell at her at all. I began asking her questions when she told me that her Goldendoodle had a seizure.

I wanted to know what led up to the seizure or what had transpired with her Goldendoodle prior to the seizure. What flea preventatives was she using? I've warned even on my website for people not to use topical flea preventatives on their Goldendoodle because it can cause seizures with this hybrid. She immediately said to me that she was "warning" me about the seizure because her vet told her that seizures were genetic. That's interesting especially given the fact that we've never had a Goldendoodle have a seizure while in our possession and we've never had a single Poodle or Golden Retriever have a seizure except for one time when my vet came out to our home and gave one of my Golden Retrievers a rabies vaccine and she immediately had a seizure from the vaccine and puffed up like a chow chow!! Within less than five minutes of the vaccine. This was NOT genetic. This was caused by something.I tried to ask her questions and instead of answering my questions, I was accused of not being sympathetic and she is the one who got nasty over the telephone of which caused me to hang up the phone. I am not sure what reaction she thought I was suppose to have as a breeder. Start crying?? Start saying, "Oh my god, you poor thing!" I don't know. As a breeder for thirteen years, I have to stay rational and ask questions if I am going to attempt to get to the bottom of an issue and what may have caused the issue. I don't know what she expected me to say or do but if we are both irrational, nothing will be accomplished. I asked her why didn't she call me in the very beginning if her Goldendoodle was having all of these problems and why am I just now hearing about them?

The customer then said, "Well what was I suppose to do..bring him back?" Uh...yeah. If this Goldendoodle began having problems from the first day they bought it....that is exactly what they were suppose to do! Call me and bring it back for an exchange! Not wait eight months down the road and then bombard me with multiple supposed issues that I was never aware of. This customer has failed to submit veterinarian documents. If her Goldendoodle had hip issues, she failed as a buyer to provide me with hip x-rays and other veterinarian documentation. This customer failed to submit DNA to the company to prove whether or not her doodle's issues are genetically related and not customer/owner neglect or environmentally caused related. So now this customer wants to rant and tell everyone what a "bad", "uncaring" breeder that I am and gain internet sympathy even though she is completely negligent in following proper procedures based upon the contractual sale. She has never provided us with her required signature upon the sales contract; she has not complied in sending us proof of altering as well as proof of veterinarian incidents. She has never called me one time to mention she was having any issues with her Goldendoodle and she has failed, as a buyer, to abide by the contractual purchase agreement.

Now she wants to play the blame game over the internet.If a person makes a contractual purchase and they fail to abide by the contract or fail to follow the breeders' protocol of letting them know when an incident occurs that the buyer feels has a genetic factor involved, why is it suddenly the breeder's fault and why is the breeder suddenly the bad guy or girl? It completely boggles my mind that a customer would play the blame game over the internet especially given the fact the customer is in the wrong by not following proper procedure and protocol. It is further mind boggling given the fact the customer hasn't done any testing whatsoever to even show a genetic link or component to whatever issues are affecting their canine. They just automatically assume their dogs' problems are genetically related. Her comment originally to me and even in her internet complaint was the fact she said, "Keep in mind that this puppy came from her dogs". And??? So the puppy came from my dogs...and what's the point? We still have this customers' brother and sister who have remained in complete good health. There are other siblings out there whose owners have not mentioned a single problem. The same two parent dogs have had offspring before and we've never heard of a single incident from past customers who bought a puppy from the same two parents. Neither parent dog has ever had health problems...so I fail to see the point in the comment that was made by this customer.I find it completely interesting that people like this particular customer play the internet blame game to gain sympathy from complete strangers and only share one side of the story. She wants to make ME look like an ass and warn people about buying a Goldendoodle from me when she has completely failed to prove that her doodle's issues are my fault or the dogs' parents' genetic fault. She's failed to tell the story in its entirety, removing herself from any fault or blame. If she had wanted me, as a breeder, to assist her, she would have contacted me when her Goldendoodle had the first supposed issue and would have provided me with as much information as possible which would have included providing me with as much veterinarian info/history, etc..as possible. This customer didn't call me to gain my "guidance" or assistance. This customer called to play the blame game.

*About the author: Dee Gerrish of Goldendoodle World has been writing extensively about the Goldendoodle hybrid since 1999. More can be obtained on her website at http://www.goldendoodleworld.com

Top ten reasons why you should adopt an adult Goldendoodle

Top ten reasons why you should adopt an adult Goldendoodle

When its time to adopt a Goldendoodle, what reasons have you chosen to adopt a puppy instead of an adult dog? If your someone who has never considered adopting an adult Goldendoodle, perhaps some of the top ten reasons down below will pursuede you to consider it? Many people do not realize just how much work a puppy really is, and too many people carry the assumption that they won't be able to bond with an adult dog. Adult Goldendoodles bond just as quickly and easily as a puppy. I've even heard the reason of not considering an adult doodle because people assume a puppy is easier to train! Sorry. That is not even correct. There are many advantages of adopting an adult Goldendoodle, but down below are just a few of them:

1. An adult Goldendoodle dog has a fully developed bladder. Puppies have the complete inability to hold their bladder for very long and what goes in, just as quickly goes out. Of course as time progresses and days go by, a puppy will learn to hold their bladder for longer periods of time, but I guarantee that an adult Goldendoodle is much quicker to re-train than to train a young puppy. Perhaps you intend to be with your puppy for the first week or weekend that you have him or her. But what happens after that? Do you a plan? Have you made arrangements for someone to be with your puppy through out the day to let him or her out for potty breaks every hour on the hour for the next six months? Will you be coming home from work to feed your puppy? Young puppies must be fed sooner and more often than an adult dog. If there isn't anyone going to be home during the day to help potty train your young puppy or be there for feeding him or her, I recommend an adult Goldendoodle. Adult Goldendoodles can easily be housetrained even if they’ve never had any house training whatsoever! And best of all, an adult Goldendoodle can hold their urge for going to the bathroom, more than likely, until you get home from work. Adult Goldendoodles usually do not have the urge to chew on things and are usually past the puppy chewing stage. Puppies chew on things more often because they are teething. An adult Goldendoodle has surpassed the teething stage. The teething stage usually lasts from birth to the age of six months. More often than not, it is the young puppy that has chewed cabinets, sofas, shoes, window sills, and clothing, which can cost you plenty to replace! An adult Goldendoodle, when given chew toys and bones to keep him or her occupied, is no longer in a chewing frenzy like a young puppy would be. Now what about size? Regardless of whether or not your breeder told you that your Goldendoodle will grow up to be "X" amount of weight, it is very difficult with Goldendoodles to know exactly what they are going to weigh when they turn 1 year of age. An adult Goldendoodle is as large or small as it is ever going to be unless you over feed him or her. Because Goldendoodles can be of any relative size regardless of what their parents weighed, you really just don't know how big or small your Goldendoodle will be as an adult, if you purchase him or her as a puppy. Most breeders do not guarantee sizes with hybrids simply because their actual size is unpredictable. I had heard of someone in Germany who was promised a "Mini" Goldendoodle prior to buying it from a breeder in the states and having it shipped to them. My friend in Germany told me that supposed doodle turned out to be over 50 pounds when it was one year of age! I see nothing "Mini" about a fifty pound dog! Too many breeders out there promise their potential customers "miniature" sized doodles knowing full well that Goldendoodles do not fall into size categories like purebred dogs and may grow larger than they believe they will.

If you live in a condo or apartment where size retrictions are in place, what will happen if your puppy turns out to become a much larger dog than you were promised? Are you prepared to re-home your doodle simply because it became larger than you had been told it ? I highly recommend an adult Goldendoodle if you have size restrictions due to renting policies.

2. Adult Goldendoodles are able to focus for longer periods of time. Puppies have a very short attention span. Ask any dog trainer and many will tell you that it is easier to train an adult dog rather than a very young puppy. Another issue is that your puppy must have all of its vaccinations before he or she can enter obedience classes. The advantage to adopting an adult Goldendoodle is that they already have had all of their shots and they are ready to go immediately into training classes. Don’t give in to the old wives tale that an adult dog won’t bond to you, or that you can’t teach an old(er) dog new tricks. Both of these assumptions are entirely false. Dogs are very capable of learning new tricks no matter their age. Every day is a whole new day for a Goldendoodle! Bonding with an adult Goldendoodle that takes place during training (or retraining) is every bit as rewarding as it is with a young puppy. Another advantage is that your Goldendoodle will sleep through the night and young puppies always want to go out for potty breaks, no matter what time it is! Adding a young puppy to your household is like adopting a brand new baby! Lack of sleep is common for people who adopt puppies rather than an adult dog!

3. What you see is what you get. Or is it? This is not always for Goldendoodles. Some doodles are very active as puppies, then mellow out considerably as they age; others may be very cuddly and passive as puppies, then suddenly develop into a neurotic mess with so much energy you wonder what happened! An adult Goldendoodle's personality is thought to be pretty much set........especially the baseline personality and temperament. While there may be some kinks to work out, they can be worked out with re-training much easier than a puppy turning into a wild stallion as an adult. Shelters are full of dogs that were wrongly picked out by people who didn't follow the advice from their breeder or because they were an improper match with the buyer. Every puppy is cute. But some turn into disastrous mistakes especially if they were not assigned to the buyer by the breeder and there wasn't any consideration taken by the buyer as to what type of dog would have really been a better match for their household or life style. Just as there are bad dogs with good people, there are good dogs with bad people. Mistakes can be avoided if great care and consideration is taken before adopting. Some people only take price into mind when adopting a Goldendoodle. They take into consideration other important factors like pedigree and lineage. A lot of people want to pick out their own dog and sometimes that can be the root of the problem. A lot of people only buy a particular dog simply because the price was right. They never took other factors into consideration.

4. If you’re a fan of the Goldendoodle, getting an adult dog may not be as easy as you think. While Labradoodles seem to be a dime a dozen, thankfully the Goldendoodle has not yet fallen victim to the shelters or rescue agencies like the Labradoodle has. Some doodle rescues take in dogs from shelters and breeders. Doodles who may have lived in comfortable, loving homes prior to coming to yours may have lost their family due to a tragedy in their family or because of our economic woes. With our falling economy, many people are losing their homes and have fallen victim of having no place to live and the inability to continue taking care of their doodle. Don’t assume that all rescue doodle dogs are street urchins with no training who will not withstand being on a leash or being brushed. Then there’s the added bonus of getting a doodle who is a good representative this hybrid. However, not all shelter dogs come from economic woes. Some dogs are in shelters because the owner couldn't handle the dog or afford to have it trained and they simply abandoned the animal to the street. I've personally found several of my dogs...not Goldendoodles...on the street and rescued them because I couldn't bare the thought of them living on the street starving to death. Back in 1996, before deciding to purchase my Golden Retrievers from a breeder, I had visited several animal shelters. While there were many terrific, health dogs in the shelter, there were many sick dogs there too. Adopting from a shelter can turn out to be a good thing, but then again, it isn't always advisable that your next dog come from a shelter. We ourselves have some adult Goldendoodles available who are looking for a home simply because too many people pass dogs up if they become a particular age. I've never understood it, but it is a reality. I've literally had people pass up a puppy out of a particular litter to adopt another puppy from a younger litter, simply because the other litter was 2 weeks younger than the other one! It doesn't make sense to me as a breeder, but that is what some people do. Dogs age by the day. It is very unfortunate when they are over looked simply because they are this or that age. It's silly.

5. Have you taken cost of raising a puppy into consideration? If you haven't....you may want to consider this. The first year of owning an adult Goldendoodle is entirely less expensive than raising a young puppy. All those trips to the vet to give your new puppy much needed vaccinations quickly add up. A young puppy must recieve "x" amount of vaccinations and deworming medication over a period of time. Your young Goldendoodle puppy will need a vet visit every few weeks for these regular vaccinations. Then by age six months, your Goldendoodle puppy will need an adult parvo booster, rabies vaccine and other vaccinations, not to mention it will be altering time! Depending upon where you live, spaying or neutering can cost quite a bit! I once had a customer of mine who sent me a copy of their spaying bill that was well over one thousand dollars! I was floored! Then I've seen some bills come in that were very low in cost. So depending upon your area, you may have found a veterinarian who won't cost you an arm and a leg for this procedure. Depending upon where you obtain an adult Goldendoodle, he or she may already be spayed or neutered at the time you adopt him or her. We require all of our adult Goldendoodles to be spayed or neutered if they are six months of age, prior to their new family taking them home. This is the only way we can be assured the procedure will be completed. If the buyer can show us that their veterinarian will give them a better price for the procedure and they go ahead and pre-pay their vet for the procedure, we will sometimes make an exception and allow their own vet to perform the procedure. Some breeders just want your money and don't care what you do with the dog once you take it from their possession. But my point is, most of the time, the advantage to adopting an adult Goldendoodle is the fact that they are ready for altering and will have already had all of their vaccines and deworming. You have to also take into consideration that if you intend to immediately take your Goldendoodle out into the public, your puppy has a higher risk of contracting deadly communicable canine diseases whereas an adult Goldendoodle has already built an immune system and has already had all of its vaccinations. An adult Goldendoodle is far more protected against such diseases than a young puppy.

6. Most adult Goldenododles are already socialized. Young puppies have no self control and must be corrected by dogs and humans to learn how to interact with others. Adult Goldendoodles who have been socialized with other dogs have already had run-ins with their peers, so they know how far they can push the envelope. Goldendoodles in general want to keep the peace and this is what socialization is about. Goldendoodles, even as puppies, play rough with each other. This is a learning process they go through with each other. When a puppy gets out of hand, it is up to their siblings or mother or the breeder or owner, to correct their behaviour so that they learn that aggressive play is not okay. Adult Goldendoodles are more aware of themselves in social interactions with kids, other dogs, and you.

7. When you adopt an adult Goldendoodle, you have instant companionship. Puppies tire easily because you have to think of them as being equivalent to an infant. They have a very short attention span and while cute, the fact is, puppies just want to eat, sleep, poop, pee and play for about 30 minutes before having to repeat the cycle all over again. Another thing to take into consideration is the fact you have to wait until your puppy has their last round of shots before being allowed around other dogs. Puppies also can’t run very far, and are easily knocked around or injured by small children. An adult Goldendoodle can handle themselves easier around small children who may not know that pulling on ears or tugging on the tail can injure a small young puppy. Adult Goldendoodles are more coordinated. Puppies are untrained, and must eliminate, eat and sleep often. An adult Goldendoodle is basically plug and play!

8. If you’re considering adopting a Goldendoodle puppy to save a life, consider this. Most people get swept away by the cute factor of puppies. All puppies are cute no matter what breed of dog they are! That's just a fact. Many people go to shelters looking for a puppy, therefore most puppies in shelters have a much better chance of being adopted than most adult dogs. Adult dogs are less likely to find a home than a puppy. I still haven't figured out why this is a fact, but it is an unfortunate one. When you decide to not adopt an adult dog, and if it's in a shelter, that dog is more than likely running out of time and yes, if you decided to adopt an adult dog from a shelter, then you are saving its life. Why not save a life that is running out of time, with fewer chances at being adopted?

9. Adult Goldendoodles are very grateful when adopted and integrated with a family who has children. Nine times out of ten, a Goldendoodle dog enjoys having children to adore them and play with them. A Goldendoodle is a very loving, intelligent dog regardless of their age. They are usually very happy go lucky type of dogs who can become a great asset to your family no matter what age they are. Many people make the mistake of not considering an adult Goldendoodle basically because of inaccurate assumptions.

10. If you've decided to add a Goldendoodle to your family, good for you. The Goldendoodle, no matter what age that he or she is, is a wonderful hybrid who will provide your family with many years of happiness. But don't forget that regardless of what age your dog is, they are a huge responsibility and dogs nowadays are not cheap to raise. Since becoming a breeder for Golden Retrievers in 1996, we've watched our expenses and costs continue to rise and at the same time, people are still out there wanting to pay 1996 prices. We began our Goldendoodle program in 1999. Believe it or not, we are still selling our Goldendoodles for the same price today....2009...as we did in 1999....but people continue to ask us to take less. In these hard economic times, we'd love to be able to take less, but vets and the stores where we purchase our supplies from won't accept less. Everything has gone up in price and fewer people are adopting dogs since they are losing their jobs and their homes. If you can not afford to adopt from a breeder, do consider to adopt from your local shelter and don't forget that adult dogs are in need of a loving home just as much as a young puppy. An adult Goldendoodle can give you just as many years of happiness as a young puppy can. The best thing of all is that you won't regret your decision for adopting an adult dog. Think of all the good that has come from this decision!

**About the author: Dee Gerrish, of Goldendoodle World, has written extensively about the Goldendoodle dog since 1999. She is one of the original founders for the Goldendoodle dog in the southern region of the United States and was the first breeder in the United States to register the Goldendoodle dog with a ligit kennel club, Universal Kennel Club International. More of Dee's articles can be found on her website at http://www.goldendoodleworld.com/