[elh1015]

Hi there!

This is Marley the F1 labradoodle with my daughters. We re-homed Marley in November 2006 not long before she turned 1 year old. The great thing about that is most of her basic training was done and for first time dog owners that was great! Her previous owners house-trained her, and she can sit, shake and go to her bed on command.
It has been so interesting to lurk on these boards and read such funny stories and discover how alike these dogs are! The Doodle 500 takes place almost nightly in our house and I could spend all day picking up socks (and sometimes underwear) from around the house! Although I haven't read that anyone has come home to dirty diapers eaten and shredded up all over the living room floor. (ICK!!)

So my questions-

She is so smart she can tell when we're going to be leaving and refuses to go outside. I have tried to have a treat in my hand to lure her outside and then reward her. She won't go for it. Isn't this how she she should be conditioned to learn something? I just tried a kong toy and she licked all the peanut butter, but then didn't care to try and get the treat out or play with it. We usually end up having to trick her or drag her outside. She actually can be left alone in the house and do fine now that we know to keep the counters clear, doors to rooms closed and dirty diapers out of reach, but our preference is for her to be outside. Sometimes she won't even follow me outside just to play. She's rather good at holding her bladder apparently...
We have now discovered that when she has been outside she must be bored (even though there's probably 8 toys outside for her) and she's digging.
I think the only thing she truly likes to play with is other people or dogs. She does like pig ears, and we had not purchased a new bag since we last ran out. They just don't last more than maybe 10 minutes with her so how else can I give her incentive to go outside and keep her busy if we're not home. 3 days a week she's inside most of the day as I'm telecommuting at home and she lays around all day and doesn't even come up to me to engage me in playing with her.

One other thing- she's been jumping up on people a lot with 2 children and guests (many of them children too) we don't like that. Plus in the evenings she also will climb up on your lap when sitting on the sofa and play bite (I can tell it's not aggressive). I told my husband his yelling at her will probably not help. Does this come down to just needing to be sure she's well exercised in the daytime so she's tired at night?

Thanks!
Erika

 

[Raleighsmom]

Welcome Erika and Marley to the land of the Doodle-heads! hahaha
Marley sure is a beautiful doodle!
Is there a reason you prefer Marley to be outside? Is she in a fenced in yard? Doodles are very smart and perceptive....obviously she knows when you're about to leave, and for some reason, only known in her Doodle brain, she dosen't want to stay outside....maybe something has frightened her, and she feels more secure inside! If she's able to hold her bladder, and if she hasn't caused any damage, I would tend to think about
keeping her inside when you're gone...you never know what 'spooks' a dog...
As for jumping, our Raleigh does the same...he's 5 months old, and very tall...we don't like his jumping either, and someone posted on this forum that when you see them coming at you and are ready to jump up, put your knee up....Raleigh jumps once when I come home from work, and that's it! He seems to get the fact that the 'knee' means 'NO JUMPING'..which I always say as I raise my knee...
Good luck with Marley...your daughters are beautiful too!!!

Kathie, Raleigh & Molly

 

[blueteal]

Hi Erika
Nice to meet you and welcome. Wow Marley is so beautiful and how wonderful that you gave her such a loving home.

Denver(my doodle) does not like to be outside by himself, he wants to
be where we are at all times. When we go to work he is crated and
he is fine with that. You mentioned that your baby is actually ok to be
left inside your home but not what you prefer. I am just wondering if she can be left inside(crated perhaps) and then you may not have the digging problem which can come from her being bored. As far as the jumping up on people that takes time and maybe start with keeping her lead on when people come to visit so you can control her movement. You can have her sit and keep your foot on her lead so she can not jump up. We still have to do this with Denver now and again as he gets very excited and wants to jump up and kiss everybody. :lol:

Sue

 

[elh1015]

Hi and thanks for the replies!

If my husband were to ask the question about why put Marley outside it would be "because she's a dog and she should be outside". He does love Marley but lately he has not been keen on her energy level, I think he would prefer a fat old dog that lays at your feet. He's the primary one who gets jumped on while sitting on the couch and often our 1 year old is asleep on his chest when it happens and Marley's front paws basically pin her to his chest. Not good. It's usually at these times when she readily runs outside (at night in the dark) and she gets a bit of energy out and comes back inside.

We do have a nicely fenced in back yard with room for her to run around and play. We actually spent a lot of money putting up a kennel and dog house in the yard for her because the first thing people told us about getting a dog was creating a space for her to consider her safe place. We have since learned that she does well inside and outside she doesn't try to get out of the yard and we don't bother with the kennel. She came from a home where she was never crate trained or kennel trained. At over one year, is a crate really feasible? So I have no really good answer for why she should go outside other than it would seem better for her to play around outside than be in the house for 9+ hours alone. She doesn't entirely refuse to go outside, but she consistantly won't go when we're leaving the house.

 

[Lucydoodle]

Just tell your husband to give a little time and in a couple of years he probally will have a labradoodle thats a little calmer and would rather lay around the house. We have a 7 month old doodle and I think the best thing we ever done was crate train her. My wife stays at home and i work but even with her home crates are a wonderfull tool. Even with her home Lucy spends quiet a bit of time each day in her crate. This prevents a lot of roaming around the house bord and chewing up things. Lucy was 8 weeks old when we got her and we used the crate from day one and it was a breeze after the first couple of nights. Im not sure how hard it would be with a one year old but I definately would consider it. I think the number one thing to remember is never leave them alone to get bored and rome about unatended. This is usually when the chewing and digging takes place. Maybe this helped and welcome aboard. I too am new to this board.

 

[MaxandMe]

HI Elh105 and welcome!!!! nice to meet you, your kids and doodle Marley.

I wonder if there's a possiblity something once scared marley outside? like before you got her.
either way doesn't matter really. what matters is that in 4mos marley has learned to trust you and given time may eventually go outside alone. for now if marley is fine inside the home ...is there any reason you can just let her stay in the house? Crate training an older dog can take a few weeks or longer depending on the dog. but it can be done with love patience and time.

OH as for your husband on couch with your baby...have you tried teaching marley NOT to go on furniture?? just a thought.
Our max and peanut are NOT allowed on any furniture except our beds.
it works out great this way was i will sit on the floor at times to play with them etc...but when i have company no one get bugged by a 20lb and 50lb doodle.


jumping: i take my leg up and don't hit them just block them with it. If they persist then i simply walk away and totally ignore them almost crossing my arms going hmrummppfff hahaha like i am upset.\and simply walk out of the room. Works like a dream.

doodles are real people dogs...they want to be where YOU are and not alone.

Another thing...how much of Marley's past did you learn when getting her?

 

[Jac]

Hello, welcome! Your children and Marley are beautiful!
You never know what caused Marley's reaction to going outside when you leave, perhaps it is just because she is smart and knows that is what will happen...it might be that she was forced to stay outside in bad conditions at some other time in her life...with no way to get shelter...it may be fear or all of these things. Nonetheless, you do need to find a way to get her to do what you feel is appropriate.
I wonder if she senses your reluctance?
I know that with our doodle family (hubby, me and 5 dogs) my dogs will obey me when I whisper. They can be barking like mad, I whisper, "quiet" and all 5 sit, look at me and wait. When I release them from the quiet command, they may start again, but they stop the minute I tap on the door or wall. When I leave and come home, the dogs are waiting in the hallway or at the door, but not barking.
My husband, on the other hand, allows them to jump on him, kiss his face, fight with each other for attention, etc. He lets them get on the sofa and when I tell him they can't do that, he GENTLY say, "you need to get down, Rosie" or something like that...whereupon Rosie cuddles closer to him. I look at her and say "down!" and off she goes!
So, I think it might be a matter of teaching Marley that you are the alpha dog and when you say "out" she goes out. It may not be a treat issue.
What you might need to do is to get a trainer to help you through these issues and all of you, from you, your husband and every one of your children, need to train her so that she understands her place.
This isn't a mean thing to do...my dogs love me very much and I love them. I never get mean or abusive. They just always want to please me, they hate to see me angry or hurt. I think that Marley would be the same way, but you need to teach her...and it isn't easy.
She already IS trained...she KNOWS that when you go, you put her out. She doesn't like that result, so she won't go outside. She knows that you are going to offer rewards and even physically try to put her out...but she also knows that she doesn't have to. Somehow (that is the hard part) you need to reach her and teach her that being outside is required.
All dogs have different motivation...you and Marley have your own way of communicating. A trainer can observe you and help you figure it out.
Jumping was easy for us, once we read on this forum how to do it. We had tried everything...but nothing worked. Kneeing didn't because they were all jumping at once (plus I don't like that much...) I read that when the dog jumps up, you take ahold (gently but firmly) of both paws, hold them as high as you can without hurting the dog, but making her uncomfortable. You can keep talking to her in a happy voice and just hold her there...she will try to pull away, may even try to bite your hands a little, hold them until you feel that she has figured out she didn't like that! Continue to do it every time she jumps up. And when she has 4 on the floor, praise and love her. (No treats required...)
It took only 2-4 times for each of our dogs to learn not to jump.
We have also taught them to "go to your spot" (any spot we point to) and "stay in your spot"...that is different from "down" and "down stay". In their spot, they can do what they want, play with a ball, eat a treat, nap, stand, sit, scratch...so long as they stay there.
When they leave, you drag them back, ordering them to "stay in your spot". They quickly learn. The important part of commands is that you have to release them from the command. So, after a while in their spot, clap your hands and say (in a happy voice) "release!" and then give them praise and love, then let them wander and play.
Whew! Sorry...very long, too long!

 

[Cheryl]

Welcome aboard Elh105. Frankie also likes to jump on people when they come in and he likes to jump on some people more then other people. I tried putting up my knee, but he just would keep on jumping higher, but what does work for me is when people come in and he starts getting excited, and jumping we have them turn there back on Frankie and believe it or not, he will not jump and he will settle down after about 5 minutes. He really does not like being ignored. As for the play biting, Frankie gets in that mode, but we just walk away from him for about 5 minutes and he will settle down. There is alot of great advice on this forum, so hopefully something helps you. Frankie has already gotten alot calmer especially within the past 2 months. Just give it time and patience.