Do you find a dog described as “loyal,” “protective,” “discerning,” or a “one family dog” appealing? Is increased crime in your area leading you to consider a guard dog for your home?
Today's episode teaches you how to decode what these terms mean about a particular doodle mix or dog you're considering adding to your family and if your day-to-day life is a good fit for that breed- before you take them home.
Read the Transcript:
(autogenerated)
Doodle breed dogs are easy to love, but can be challenging to parent I'm doodle expert. Coringa your heart also known as the doodle pro and I'm here to help doodle parents have a more fulfilling and rewarding experience with their doodles. No one has professionally worked with as many different doodle breeds or has more experience with doodles than I have. And I love to share my expertise and a fun,
compassionate, and nonjudgmental way. From my years of work in education, in the pet care and dog training industry, I have an incredible network of skilled training grooming and veterinary professionals to share their knowledge with you and give you the doodle specific answers you're looking for. I hope you enjoy today's episode as I help you parent your doodle like a pro I am of half Irish descent and grew up in Florida.
Well, growing up in Florida in the eighties and nineties, yes, I'm dating myself meant that being tan was the ultimate sign of beauty. All of my friends would go to tanning beds all of the time, and they would get little stars or hearts or Playboys stickers to put on their stomachs to mark the progress of their tanning at the tanning beds or the beach.
Even if they're beach lovers, they usually went to the tanning beds. On top of it, we knew a little bit about the correlation with skin cancer. Most of our parents didn't use sunscreen on us at all and were out tanning themselves. So it wasn't as obvious of a risk as it is now. And spray tanning wasn't as much of a thing then,
but I don't think people would have done that anyway. It was really all about having a deep, bronze glow. Well from being of Irish descend, my skin is not built that way. I am what some I call melanin deficient. If you look at my arms or legs, you could map the ventricular system and see where all my veins are when I was growing up and in college at Florida state university,
where tanning was just the way to be gorgeous, I would be called Casper being made fun of for how pale my skin was. I have since come to grips with this, but I knew that I wasn't matching the ideal beauty standard. Then when I went to get married years ago, I think we're coming up on our 15 year anniversary. Now I wanted to feel my most beautiful and being raised as a Florida girl.
That meant to be tan. Well, I also knew, and when I go into the sun, I just get Pinker and redder until I burn peel, expose the whiteness again, and then Pinker and rhetoric again for my dermatologist clients. I apologize now for making you hear this. I swear. There's a point. So when I went to prepare for my wedding to do all the things that would make me feel the most beautiful for our wedding day and our pictures,
I got a membership to the tanning club and I started at one minute, just so you know, for those who are smart and have never been to indoor tanning, most people do 20 minutes. I had to start at one. I did one minute for a few days a week. And then a couple of weeks later, I got up to two minutes.
Then a couple weeks later, I got up to three minutes and it took, I think two and a half months for me to be able to sit in the tanning bed and not obviously burn for 15 minutes. I never even made it up to 20 minutes. I now have a red headed, beautifully ginger haired son, who I think his hair is so handsome.
And he also will never be able to be bronze. Like my Italian cousins in Jersey, who I envied so much. It is just our genetic ceiling. That is our genes coming through. And luckily the standards have changed a bit and people know more about tanning. I once had a boyfriend who said to me, you know, you'd be really beautiful in a different era.
I know we didn't stay together long after that, luckily, but my point is coming from my history and my lineage. It is just not in my genes to be able to tan. And that brings me to my doodle story for you today. I heard from a fantastic client who just loves his family. They love their large golden doodle and he loves his wife and kids.
And he shared with me that just next door has been really freaking them out. And he's seeing stories of men jumping out of bushes and grabbing women. And he just wants to know that his wife is safe and protected. So as he said to me, I'm looking for a cane Corso, but they shed I'm looking for something that doesn't shed, but would be just as protective.
And he started by asking about what my thoughts were about giant schnauzers. We've had giant snoozers as clients, as we take care of all sorts of breeds that don't shed. And we've also had giant noodles. So it's a combination of the giant schnauzer and the standard poodle as well. And I love them, but when someone's looking for the right fit for their family,
I want to be honest with them and let them know what will your day to day life look like? So I recommended that he look at the AKC breed standards page. So you could just go to AKC and Google the breed that you're looking at. And as you're here talking to the doodle pro, you likely are looking at different doodle mixes. So that means take into account the combination of the poodle and what that other breed is.
So you're going to look at them separately because it can be a mixed bag depending on the breeder and how much, if you're doing FNB, et cetera, how much of the poodle versus the other breed is dominant in their genes and their lineage. So I recommended that we review the AKC standards so I could be objective with him. And first we looked at the giant schnauzer.
Now we have to play kind of detective and decoder when it comes to these breed standards. These are written by people who also love these breeds, but there are different breed dogs that are suited for different environments. And he's looking for a family pet that also provides a level of protectivity, which we'll discuss more. So for the giant schnauzer, it had terms such as loyal,
strongly territorial and alert. So to me, those words read as very, very difficult to train and socialize to the same level of sociability as the golden traits of his current dog. Just like I could slowly build up my quote base tan. When I was trying to use the tanning bed, I had to be very deliberate and very intentional about being slow and gradual.
And I was never able to hit the same level of tan, bronze being in the tanning bed for 20 minutes without burning as my beloved Italian cousins in New Jersey. I think they came out of the womb or tan. Then I was after my, I had finished my whole process, trying to prepare for my wedding and just not being able to see the veins through my skin.
So when we're looking at those breed temperaments, those are what they're being bred for. So if you were in an environment that you weren't looking for a family pet and you weren't having strangers come over and you weren't having guests being strongly territorial could be very appealing. If you are in a rural area with farm land and you want a dog to alert you when somebody is coming onto your property,
them being prone to barking and always being discerning. If it's a family member or not, can be really valuable. Now, when a dog is loyal, that means they are loyal to family members exclusively. They do not tell the difference between a man jumping out of the bushes and a nanny coming over to take care of your child. Their line is,
are they a family member or are they an unfamiliar person? A stranger to them is danger, no matter who. So this gentleman has a lovely teenager, young teenager and little boy. So that means those kids are going to want to have friends over. And they're going to want to have company come over and play. Every time a friend comes over to visit that is going to be an unfamiliar person intruding on that dog's territory.
So when you are thinking of, is this the right family pet, you want to think about what your day to day family life is with that dog. When he is discussing a man jumping out of the bushes, that could be training a dog for protection. But the dog that he's looking to invite into his family would be a part of his family in his home with these young children who are going to have company over and guests.
And if he's thinking about having a dinner party, how comfortable is his dog going to be? If that genetic ceiling is lower, he also asked about Bouvier ears. If you look at the AKC description of them, the terms are excellent watch and guard dog, and strong-willed top of the line working dog. It would be very, very difficult in his urban setting with young children,
a very successful career, busy working to be able to give the fulfillment and enrichment that a top of the line working dog would need in order to have a healthy, mental and physical dog. Plus you're dealing with a dog that is more difficult to socialize to strangers. So these are fantastic questions. When you are looking at what you're looking for to add a breed to your home.
Luckily for those of us who love doodles, we bring in some wonderful traits of multiple breeds, but when we do so, we want to make sure that we're accounting for the traits of both breeds. So when you're looking at a doodle, if you're looking at an Aussie doodle, you need to look at the Australian shepherd traits and the standard poodle or a miniature poodle traits that are being mixed in it can be a mixed bag.
And you want to work with your breeder to see what temperament are they breeding for beyond just the colors of their coat. Another common dog that people consider when they're looking at protective breeds, that's really growing in popularity is the Neapolitan massive. If we are to play detective looking at the AKC breed standard for that, the terms that jump out at me are loyal and not aggressive or apt to bite without reason.
Now, what I can tell you is every dog that bites has a reason when it says without reason who is the judge of that, we're working with a dog who they're identifying the loyal piece. So that means that they do not like non-family members and they're not comfortable with them. And is that reason enough for that dog to bite? So when you're looking to add to your family,
and you're looking to add a pet to your family, these are great conversations to have. You can also talk to a local trainer who can help you discern, is this what we're looking for? When we're thinking about adding a pet to our day-to-day life, I love this family and I love that he wants to protect his wife and we'll do whatever it takes to do.
So I also want his wife and children and him to feel comfortable in their own home with the breed that they select. I'd love to hear your thoughts and let me know what you think and why you chose the breed mix that you did. I also want to let you know that I have abandoned any notion of tanning on purpose. Now I have come to accept the skin tone that I have,
and if I really want to feel fabulous. When I went to one of my cousins in New Jersey's Italian wedding, I got a spray tan. So for my dermatologist's listeners, I've learned. Thank you. Thanks for joining us beyond this episode of the doodle pro podcast. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
And I invite you to follow me on Instagram at the doodle pro for behind-the-scenes peaks at all of the adorable doodles. I work with daily ever drop your doodle off at the groomer and wish you could be a fly on the wall and your groomers break room. Here's your chance. We interview groomers across the U S and gave them a chance to give real talk anonymously on what frustrates them and what they wish we doodle parents knew about doodle brushing,
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