Does Your Doodle Shed?

Depends on what you’re talking about. And what the heck is a doodle, anyway. A doodle is a mixed breed dog that is at least half poodle, usually mixed with a Labrador retriever, “Labradoodle” or a golden retriever, “Goldendoodle”. They are a very popular hybrid dog, because they are super cute, and have a marvelous personality. They are often said to be non-shedding and hypoallergenic. But don’t count on it. They are, after all, a mixed breed, and will exhibit characteristics of both parents. They may be more poodle-y or more retriever-y.

Our doodle, Bayley, is a Goldendoodle. She is a backcross (F1b), meaning that her mother was a goldendoodle that was bred back to a standard poodle, making Bayley essentially 75% poodle.

Now Bayley doesn’t shed her fur, but she sheds everything else in nature. Depending on the season, she sheds mulch, catkins, grass clippings, leaves, dirt, and even snow. Her cottony soft fur acts like a magnet and attracts absolutely everything in the yard and woods to her. Then, as soon as she passes through the door, the magnetic polarity reverses, and she promptly sheds everything all over the house.

Something to consider if you are a neatnik and are looking for a no maintenance dog. But if you are looking for the most devoted, fun loving, affectionate, and adorable companion, then keep the broom handy, and go for it.

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Recipe for a Pupsicle

To begin, start with one goldendoodle and add 20 inches of fresh, clean, new fallen snow.

Mix well for two minutes.

(Please accept my apologies for the orientation of this video. The Road Warrior left town with the camera, so I had to resort to my iphone for video. I held the phone wrong. Click on the little square at the bottom right of the video to view full screen, and hit escape to return.)

Enjoy

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The Shell Game Trick- How to Teach it to Your Dog

After I posted Bayley’s video of her performing the “Shell Game”, I had several dog people say they’d like to try it with their dog. I thought it might be useful if I shared a few tips that we learned while working out the bugs in this trick.

1. Its best to use clay pots with a drain hole. They are heavy enough that the dog can’t tip them over, and the hole allows the scent of the treat to come through.

2. Start with one pot with the treat under. Wait for the dog to touch the pot with his nose. This will come naturally. Reward the first nose touches with lots of praise. When he is doing this consistently, add your command, such as “find it”.

3. Get more demanding and wait for the dog to touch the pot with the paw. I think natural frustration on the dog’s part will make this happen. Bayley kept nudging the pot with her nose. I had to brace the pot with my hand to keep her from pushing it or knocking it over. Eventually she tried to move it with her paw. At first contact with paw, praise and reward.

4. Keep doing just this one pot for a day or so, or until the dog consistently touches the pot with the paw. You want to dog to have a clear understanding that he is supposed to touch the pot with the paw to get the treat.

5. Next introduce a second pot. At first, just place it next to the “treat” pot and don’t move anything. Encourage the dog to sniff the two pots and touch the correct one. When he does that consistently, then start swapping the position of the two pots and using your command.

6. Again, when that step is solid, put out the 3rd pot. Let him select the correct pot a few times before shuffling them up.

It really didn’t take more that 2 days for Bayley to get this down. The hardest part was transitioning from the nose touch to the paw touch. She had already been taught to nose touch on command, so we had to get past that. But she loves doing this trick.

TIP: Use very high value treats that smell a lot. I started with weenies, and I would rub the weenie bit around the inside of the drain hole to make the smell stronger. Always use the same pot for the treat, so they all don’t end up smelling the same.

When I bought my pots, they had raised letters on the front. Two of them say “herbs” and the third says “basil”. I always use the “basil” pot for the treat. that way I can easily keep track of the right pot, and I tell people that that is her secret for success, because she always looks for the pot that says “basil”.

Have fun with this and let us know how it goes.

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Bayley the Brilliant Beats the House

A Master at the Shell Game!

Bayley the Golden Doodle has been in continuing education for the last year to try to suppress her natural “effervescence”. Her last class in the current obedience session is tomorrow night and as a requirement to pass the course, the dogs have to perform a trick. This is what we are going to do.
Wish us luck!

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Curly Girl

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Never were truer words spoken!

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Don’t Get Buried Under Your Paperwork

A goldendoodle’s first Christmas

Having an overly energetic puppy can bring a lot of extra stress around the holidays when you are introducing a lot of new and enticing objects to the dog’s already over stimulating environment. I can imagine the puppy saying, “Wow, you’re bringing me a tree! I can climb on it, chew and tug on the branches, lift my leg on it, scratch my back on the lower limbs. And you’re hanging toys all over it! What fun! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.”

And then, if you are the sort that likes to tempt fate and throw caution to the winds, you will put gifts under the tree. Wrapped in PAPER… The greatest puppy attractant in the world. Lured by the temptation to dig his teeth into the wrapping and hear the sound of rending paper, the pup gets close enough to sniff the boxes.

Nostrils flare, tongue lolls… brain registers the delectable scents of candy, nuts, cheese and crackers, and DOG TREATS! A dog’s Nirvana right there under his very own tree.

These were my imaginings… my fears. I wrote a Christmas poem, “The Spirit of Christmas” which I posted here a couple of weeks ago, detailing the scenario that kept playing in my brain.

But all these worries were unwarranted. Bayley totally ignored the tree, the ornaments, and the presents that we placed underneath….Until Christmas morning and we started passing out the gifts.

“Let the games begin”

The sound of ripping paper was unbearably alluring. Bayley wanted to assist in unveiling the contents of the boxes, but her teeth didn’t stop at the paper. Cardboard and plastic were fair game as well.

In the interest of self preservation, we starting tossing the sheets of wrapping paper into the middle of the floor, where Bayley immediately set forth to reduce it to confetti. She occupied herself in this fashion all morning.

Even her Christmas gifts of chewies and stuffies were not as much fun as the Great Pile of Paper.

I had to overcome my natural OCD tendencies to keep the room neat and tidy…. to put each piece of paper as it comes off a gift into a trash bag, to gather all saveable bows into a box, to collapse all gift boxes into a pile for use next year. And you know what, I had a blast. One of my best gifts of all was watching my pup having the time of her life on her first Christmas.

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Paw Print Cookies

It’s not too late to make an extra special Christmas gift for your doggie friends. Bayley and Mayzie want to share the recipe for their favorite cookie.

Mayzie and Bayley dress as “Sandy Paws”

To make these treats, I press their paw into each cookie.

Just kidding. But they did serve as models for me to make the paw print press.

I used Sculpey Polymer clay to form the cookie press. This clay is available in any hobby store, easy to work with and then just hardens in your oven.

Dogs love these cookies. We made up several batches to give to all our doggie friends for Christmas presents. They do have wheat flour and corn meal in them, so if your dogs have any sensitivity to these ingredients, then you might want to use a different recipe.

THE RECIPE — Makes about 7 dozen

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast
½ cup dry milk powder
3 tsp beef bouillon granules
3 cups water

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine white flour, whole wheat flour, oatmeal, cornmeal, garlic powder, brewer’s yeast and instant milk. Stir in 2 cups water. Mix the ingredients well using your hands. The dough should be very stiff. Gradually mix in the remaining 1 cup water to make a bread-dough consistency.

3. Form dough into balls and press with the bottom of a drinking glass. or roll out to a ¼ to ½ inch thickness on a floured board and cut with a cookie cutter. Place the biscuits on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake the cookies 45 minutes, turn oven off completely but do not remove the biscuits. Let the biscuits sit in the oven overnight or for 8 hours. Store biscuits in an air-tight container.

So here we go. Let’s make some Paw Print Cookies.

These cookies cool in the oven overnight or for 8 hours, so it’s a good idea to start making these in the evening.

Start by combining all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

I found that when using the paw print press, the oatmeal gave too much texture to the dough and the pressed paw print wasn’t all that clear. So I ran the oatmeal through a food processor to grind it up a bit.

Whole oatmeal

ground oatmeal

Don’t grind it as fine as flour. It should still have some texture to it.

As for the brewer’s yeast, you don’t have to add it if you don’t want to, but it is purported to have a lot of health benefits for dogs, from a shinier coat, less shedding, enhanced immune system, and a flea preventative. When I went to the health food store to buy it, it was only available in a huge tin, but the sales person showed me a product made just for dogs called “Pet Guard yeast and garlic powder”. I use 2 tablespoons of this powder rather that the 1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast and 1 tablespoon garlic powder. And you can sprinkle this on the food everyday for added benefits.

Once you have all the dry ingredients in the bowl, stir them up well.

Now add the 2 cups of water and start squishing.

This is a great way to get out some of that holiday frustration that you’ve been holding in. The dough is very stiff and my hands get really tired before the dough is finally mixed. Start gradually adding the remaining cup of water until all the flour is incorporated.

Roll the dough into little balls, about the size of a walnut.

These cookies are not going to spread or rise, so you can place them close together. Just allow enough room for pressing them flat.

I use the bottom of a glass to flatten the balls to a thickness between ¼ inch and ½ inch. Then I press each cookie with the paw print press.

If you don’t have a paw press, you can leave the cookies just like this. Or you can roll the dough out to the same thickness and cut with a cookie cutter. I have a 3½ inch dog bone cutter that I sometimes use.

Put the cookies in the 300 degree oven and cook for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cookies inside overnight. They will still be soft at the end of the baking time, but by morning, they will be hard and crunchy, just the way your pup will like them.

R-R-R-Ruff Ruff (Yum Yum)

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The Reindogs of Twin Creeks

“Oh, Geez, Mayzie. Here we go again with the dress up”

“What the heck is this thing on my head, anyway?”

“Mayzie, you look ridiculous! Is that what I look like?”

“Well, the heck with this!”

“Uhh, Bayley…I don’t think you were supposed to do that.”

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The Spirit of Christmas

By Donna Parkman (me)
A parody of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore

The Spirit of Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all we could see
Was the wreck of the presents unwrapped ‘neath the tree.
The stockings which hung from the chimney with care
Were missing, the mantel now empty and bare.

The tree, how it twinkled, was down on its side.
The star, not so merry, was cracked open wide.
The ornaments, so lovely, now covered the floor.
We stood with our jaws dropped and shut the front door.

The moon, as it shone on the living room rug,
Convinced me that this was the work of a thug.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear
But our dogs wearing tinsel and smiles ear to ear.

The pups had been nestled all snug in their beds.
Their bones and their toys were encircling their heads.
We were gone only moments, not more than an hour
Now our holiday joy had gone suddenly sour.

The dogs had been good, they had both earned our trust.
Now the damage was done, expectations now crushed.
But they did not know what they’d done had been bad.
They were just having fun, so we could not be mad.

Their joy was contagious, they danced all around.
They were happy to see us, we could not feel down.
We gathered them up and we gave them both kisses,
And told them we know when we’re gone that they miss us.

We righted the tree, the star hung in two pieces.
The stockings were found all intact, but with creases.
The ornaments, lovely once, now were all broken,
But any mad thoughts that we had went unspoken.

The season’s for family and those we hold dear;
For giving and sharing with those far and near.
The doggies reminded us stuff is just stuff.
The spirit of Christmas is love is enough.

In anticipation of decorating our tree and Bayley’s (the goldendoodle) first Christmas, I started envisioning the worst possible scenario that could happen. This poem is my nightmare.

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The Zombie Apocolypse

Bayley’s Zombie Army

As you can see she goes right for the brain to immediately subjugate them to her will.

New Recruit

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