We took Rusty hiking the other day, (Picture Here) and he had a blast.  It was only a few miles and he walked in heel the entire time.  He walked between us and only broke heel to go potty.  It has been awhile since we walked with Rusty in heal, but he had no trouble and enjoyed every minute of it.  After our short hike we let Rusty run free as I snapped a few pictures of him running towards me.

We make an effort to take Rusty to hike or play at least once a week to expose him to different environments.  The other days Rusty gets his exercise  by walking the neighborhood or playing fetch in the backyard.

Most of the time Rusty does not pay attention to the TV,  however when  Rusty hears another dog coming through the TV he is all ears.  We have watched Rusty stare at the TV for minutes at a time if there is a dog in the scene.  He also enjoys watching other animals.   He will watch with such concentration that it appears that he is comprehending the dialog.   As soon as the animal / dog leaves the scene Rusty’s interest in lost.   He as never barked at the TV or ran up to it, he simply watches as if he was another human in the room.   I wonder if I should change the channel when there are aggressive dogs or dog fights on the TV, I don’t want to give Rusty any ideas.

Has anyone else caught there dog / Goldendoodle enjoying a little TV time?

We recently took Rusty on his first boating trip.   Earlier this summer we bought a ski/speed boat and this past weekend Rusty went out on his first ride.   We were unsure how he would react but to our surprise Rusty loved every minute of it.   He was almost too comfortable, jumping up on the engine cover while we where traveling 40 mph.

Rusty never showed any signs of getting sick.  While cruising the lake he would lay on the back seat or find his way under the bow to take a little nape.  Rusty like many other Goldendoodle loves to swim, however he is afraid to jump in.  Even when everyone was swimming Rust would sit on the swim step and bark in frustration, never jumping into the water.  We look forward to many more boating trips in the future.   I am also trying to find ways to encourage Rusty to jump in off the back of the boat.

A smart Goldendoodle Story.

Rusty  ( Male 2 1/2 year old Goldendoodle ) amazed me today with how smart he is.  We store our boat in a large warehouse and Rusty has only been there once before today.  You enter the warehouse from a door on the side, our boat stall is near the center.  Rusty ran 50 feet ahead of me and stopped at our boat and waited for me to open the door.  Remember Rusty has only been to the warehouse once before, about two weeks ago.  Thats not all, Rusty lost his tennis ball last time we where there and I spent 5 minutes looking for it while he waited in the truck.  Today after opening the doors to get the boat Rusty came running back with the tennis ball he left two weeks ago.

Goldendoodles are an amazingly smart breed.   I have not seen a smarter dog and I am not just saying that because he is our pet.

Rusty shaking his ball out of a bush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BGaYY3PmDc

This weekend I took Rusty with me when I went to photograph wildlife.  There was a limited amount of wildlife so I ended up photographing Rusty most of the time.  He was having the time of his life running in every puddle he could find.  He ran up and down the trail ahead of me the entire day.  I normally do not take Rusty with me when I go to photograph wildlife. He ends up scaring all the wildlife away before I can get close enough to capture a shot, but the weather has been poor and Rusty needed his play time.

Goldendoodle Running Down the Trail.

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Rusty has fallen into a nice routine in the mornings and it makes going to work much easier.  Every morning we wake up and get ready for work, Rusty will continue to sleep on the bed until he hears the refrigerator door open.  He pops up out of bed and sits right next to me as I make lunch for the day, hoping that I will drop a peace of lunch meat his way.  After we have made lunch it is time for Rusty to go outside and go poddy.   He runs around for a minute then pees and poops and runs back to the front door.  As soon as he comes inside he heads for the kitchen and lays on his dog bed.  He waits in the kitchen even if we don’t put the gate up right away.  He knows that we are off to work and he just goes back to bed in the kitchen. There is not fighting him, he knows the routine.

Today we took Rusty for a walk (more like an all day hike/playtime)  and he loved every minute of it.  After returning home I did my usual scan for ticks on Rusty.  Right above his eye I notice a tick.  Upon closer examination we discovered the tick had not attached itself to the skin yet.  The tick was crawling on Rusty, we lucked out.  This shows the advantage of scanning your dog every time you take them on a walk were ticks are present.  If I would have waited another day we would have had to pick the tick out of the skin, and Rusty doesn’t like that.

It is very important that your Goldendoodle has play time.  It has been raining off and on the last few weeks and Rusty’s play time has been less than normal.  When dogs do not have the ability to exert their energy they can become disobedient and troublesome inside.   We try to take Rusty out at least 3 or 4 times a day for a short period of time to let him run off his energy. We play fetch with his tennis ball or Frisbee and take him on walks around the neighborhood.

We can tell when Rusty has not been getting out enough.  He becomes hyper inside and barks at all the noises outside.  It is important to make sure that your Goldendoodle has toys to play with inside as well.  Rusty stays busy chewing on his bones and rubber chew toys.  I often play little games with him inside to keep him entertained on rainy days.   If your Goldendoodle does not have toys inside they might find a “toy” like a sock or a blanket on the couch.

A couple things to keep in mind when choosing a toy for your Goldendoodle are :

1. Make sure the toy is appropriate for your pet.     (We know Rusty will chew threw most chew toys )

2. Noise ( Some toys make noises, it might be cute for the first few days but it can get old when you are trying to watch TV)

3. Size ( Toys can be t0o small or too large for your Goldendoolde)

4.Cost ( If it is a chew toy that he/she chews up in a day it is going to get expensive)

5. Every pet will treat each toy differently ( Some dogs love a toy while other pets hate the same toy)

6.  Experiment to find what your Goldendoodle likes best.

Rusty has always loved the water.  When we first got Rusty I was curious to see if he was afraid of the water.  The standard poodle that my brother has will not swim, he only goes in as far as he can touch the bottom.  The first time we brought Rusty to the pool he went right in, down to the first step and off he went swimming in circles.  He as never looked back since then.

Goldendoodle puppy at the pool

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