Best Family Dog Ever

[brownie]

We adopted our labradoodle, Trixi, when she was six months old. She was not "trained", but the breeder had worked with her. She was beginning to understand hand signals for "sit" and "lie," and she tended to not have accidents when crated. This was enough for us to begin her training. We walked her, rewarded her for using the great outdoors to do her business, and used training treats to do some work on commands. When we were at work, she enjoyed some freedom with a run and a dog house to get out of the weather. At home, she could spend time inside if she was by our side. If we let her out of site, she would find a spot to have "an accident".
Trixi learned all kinds of commands, and many tricks. She picked up voice commands after a while. There were only a few problems that we had.
The first was the "running" problem. We had a nice piece of property, and we would have liked to let her off the leash when we were outside, but she would sniff or chase, and not return. After she was fixed, this improved, but the problem was not solved. It took many walks on a leash to show her the boundaries. She also had a scare with a car once. This really changed her behavior, but the boundary walks were most important. She has a great memory, and an incredible capacity for lessons.
One night, we arrived home late. We let Trixi off her run. She spotted something off in the yard, and went after it. I started to go after her, but it looked like it might be a skunk. I pleaded for her to come back, but she was transfixed. She had to have surgery to remove the quills from her nose and under her eyes. Luckily, there was no permanent damage. She never went near porcupines again. In fact, one entered our garage and ate our wooden bench, and she never made a peep; she hid.
Later, I had the chance to find out what would have happened if it had been a skunk. Unfortunately, my husband was out of town. Trixi found the skunk, and she chased it. Soon she was running loops around the house to try to "run off" the scent on her nose. She would dive nose-first into the grass to wipe it off. It didn't work. Luckily, my daughter had a friend on the phone who was the ultimate outdoorsman. I told her I had no tomato juice, and I didn't know what to do. She asked him, and he quickly replied "green Palmolive". I had to crate her to make her stay still. I poured the liquid down her back, and started rinsing with the hose. She was frantic at first, but she calmed down. When it was all rinsed out, I had to put my nose right up to hers to even detect the skunk smell. She was happy. She never bothered another skunk.
There was no learning curve with the bear cub that came into our garage. She knew it was bigger than she, and she kept mum in her crate while it ate her food.
Now the last problem, the "accidents". Trixi wasn't really having "accidents". She knew the difference, but she didn't want to go outside. This was a problem because we wanted her to be a part of the family, we wanted her inside with us at night, and we wanted to keep our home in good shape. It was frustrating, because she was good most of the time, but then we would find a mess. Sometimes it would take a while to find it, and that was really frustrating. One night, she did it again. It was completely shameless because we had taken her out. She also knew how to communicate with us when she did want something. I decided to put the menstrual diaper on her with a maxi pad. She hated it. She was not comfortable. She got the message. We didn't have "accidents" after that.
Today Trixi is off leash all day long. We have a bed in the garage for the daytime, and she has a doggie door from the garage to the outdoors. She knows when we are coming home, and she waits in the driveway. She sleeps indoors at night, and she is inside with us when we are home. We can speak to her in full sentences, and she listens. She not only does tricks, but plays games with us. She is sweet, smart, playful, and respectful. We learned one trick that helped to make her even more endearing. She can be sheered nicely by the groomer. This gives her the look of a lean, sleek, and smooth lab, but she is much more soft and clean. She is easier to care for, nicer to pet, and she enjoys the attention she gets for her beauty and cleanliness.
Trixi is an excellent swimmer, and really enjoys going out on the boat. She is the most social dog. She loves attention from humans, playing and wrestling with other dogs, and likes to go for hikes and walks in the woods. She turned 5 in January, and while she still has the strength and speed that make her a great playmate, she has an adult disposition. I guarantee nobody has a better dog than the labradoodle. I have to wonder, are all labradoodles as wonderful as our Trixi? I would really like to hear from you because we don't know any other labradoodles, but all of our friends love Trixi.

[tuffystar]

Welcome! I did not know what your name is? Is it Brownie, I am not sure.

Start reading stories about our labradoodles and you will see just how wonderful these dogs are. My dog Tia is so in tune with me that when I am ill she is right there to help me. Also you can see in Questions that you are not alone with some of the problems you have had. I love the diaper idea! Tia was totally housebroken when I started letting her sleep with me. Every time she moved I took her out and she never went in the house again. They are totally smart and in tune to ther owners!

I love how informative your introduction is. Welcome!

[brownie]

Wow! Your Tia looks exactly like my Trixi! They could be twins. I have to get some pictures. Thanks for your reply. I will be checking out more stories.

[blueteal]

Welcome to Doodleland
Your baby sounds wonderful especially after all the other animals she has met...wow
Have never heard of the skunk solution, good to know as we have lots of them hear and although
Denver has always backed away I can see Ryder trying to push his luck .........bahahahhaaaaaaaa

[anny51]

Welcome to the forum...easy to see how much you love your doodle . Yes, we all think doodles are pretty special...beautiful, intelligent, funny, NAUGHTY Hope you enjoy being on the forum...lots of like-minded people to talk to and loads of help and advice if you need it

I'm really glad we don't have porcupines and skunks in NZ....I feel sure that Charlie would be regularly having his nose de-spined, and he's prety good at generating his own bad smells

[Raleighsmom]

A big welcome to the forum Brownie, Trixi and family!!! She sounds like an absolute love! Hope you get to post pics of her, so we can all enjoy the new Doodle in town!!! I enjoyed reading your intro, and especially the 'Palmolive Green' solution, which thank God we haven't had the opportunity to use!!!

[tuffystar]

...

[brownie]

Thanks for all of the warm welcomes! I finally added my picture of Trixi. I have many better pictures, but not on this computer. This picture makes her look brown, but she is actually very black. It was the lighting. I will add another picture later. I have videos too. Is there a place to add those?

[lindamarie]

Welcome to our wonderful community of people and doodle's!

I have to giggle when you ask if all doodle's are as wonderful as Trixie!! :P Look out! Because you're about to get every single one of us up on a soapbox RAVING about our own doodle!!
They really are the best dogs in the world, IMO.
In fact, I was prepared to do my bi-monthly post on how much In doodle love we are!. Thanks for saving everyone from having to listen to me!
All I can say is that today, my husband and I were fully enamored with Bogart.....AGAIN.....and maybe just a tad morethan every single day.
If anyone could've heard us, they would've thought us nuts......."OH! Isn't he the sweetest!?"......"Aw........look at is face." .........."He is just the best dog we've ever had!!" and o on and so on.

So glad to have you onboard! Look forward to knowing you and Trixie better!

[MaxandMe]

helllooooooooooo welcome and what a GREAT INTRO!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word,sometimes giggling and going WOW!!!
Trixie is special , precious, cute, smart , loving , curious and wee bit of devil hahahhaaaaaaaaaaa

LOVE how you dealt with "stuff"............and i must say Labradoodles and Goldendoodles ( i have one of each )
are such awesome and unique dogs!
and yes they do tend to understand complete sentences as they mature.......isn't it great?!

can't wait to see TRIXIE's pics and hear more too!!

PS Kathie you know you just jinxed yourself with that statment, when's your birthday? i'll mail you some palmolive

[brownie]

Here are a few more of my pictures. Note that Trixi's tongue is ridiculously long in the summer. :P I will definitely dig out more pictures soon.
I guess my doodle is is not one of a kind in wonderfulness afterall, but she is from a wonderful breed, and because they are so smart, they are real individuals. So, we should all have some unique photos, stories, and insights. Thanks again for the warm and fuzzies!
P.S. I would love to hear about the Goldendoodles too. My sister got hers a few months ago, and I am wondering if she will be like Trixi. I knew she would pick the Golden...I have dark curly hair, and she is a blond. People always seem to get dogs that look like themselves. The funny thing is that I had decided on getting Trixi before I ever saw her. I guess it's just fate. It's also fate that I happened to be a green palmolive user (and had some in my kitchen) when Trixi got skunked!

[tuffystar]

Long tongue= Doodle trait! Check out subject time for tongue pictures!

I missed it how old is Trixi? She does look like Tia in one of those pictures. Tia is almost 2 years old now and she is 25 inches tall and 82 lbs. She is 8 lbs over weight but we are working on that.

I think we are going to love hearing much more about your baby! Oh yes one more thing your doodle is the most wonderful doodle in the world to you and that is how we all feel. That is how it should be don't you think?

[brownie]

She is 5. How time flies

[tuffystar]

How big is she? You got yourself a keeper there for sure!

[brownie]

She is 69 pounds. The vet is very happy withy her physique. She has been that size for quite a while. How big is Tia? She is younger, but I think she must be her full size by now