No, it’s just a goldendoodle. I’m sorry to get your hopes up. This pup even has the top-knot that screams water spaniel, but it is not.
However, this pup looks a lot like the Tweed water spaniel or Tweed water dog. The ones around Ladykirk in Scotland were said to be sandy or tawny in color, which is exactly why they were chosen to be crossed into the strain that became the golden retriever.
The Tweed water dog was said to look almost exactly like a reddish or yellow curly-coated retriever, which makes sense considering it was a cross between the St. John’s water dog and some strain of water spaniel, which is exactly how the curly-coated retriever got started.
Compare this curly-coated retriever puppy with the goldendoodle pictured above. They are quite similar, aren’t they?
Most poodle-golden crosses are recrossed back into the poodle. This increases the likelihood of not having much shedding. However, if you cross back into the retriever, well, you can get pups with golden-type coats, pups with poodle-type coats, and dogs that have some water spaniel characteristics. Both the water spaniels, then, rather obviously derived from the poodle-type English rough water dog crossed with setters and land spaniels.
Very cute picture. You commented on my blog about teaching your dog to sit at a distance from 150 – 200 yds away. How do you signal this from such a far distance? How did you train? Thanks.
My dog is voice trained, but a signal is sometimes still necessary for that distance.
My dog tends to generalize well, but to get to learn the command outside of the traditional context, I started teaching her to sit when I was in any position. A lot of dogs won’t sit unless their handler is standing. After I got her sitting from various different positions, then I started training distance.
My dog runs to the door when I say “Let’s go for a walk, so when she runs to the door, I started saying sit, before I got to the door. Then I started to incorporate the remote sit into the walks. Sitting steady for a few seconds or minutes was rewarded with more off-leash walking.
It took her two months to get really proficient at it.
Thanks, I will definitely try that. I practice the basic commands (sit, down, stand) from various positions (whether I am sitting on the ground, in a chair, standing, with my back turned to my dogs, etc.) and in different locations (training outside, in the dog run, etc.). My 1 year old has a very decent grasp of the command down (from all distances, handler positions, etc.), but I’ve put more time into this one – so I guess now I need to focus primarily on sit. My 7 month old is mellow and not very focused on me at least, (i.e. the personality of the type of golden retriever you mention in your blog as the type you do not like) and I’m still trying to figure out ways to motivate him, short of fasting him the day of training class!
What level is Noah’s retrieving instinct?
He’s only 7 months old, so I would keep working on him.
What line of golden is his background? Normally, the smaller poodles are very easy to motivate, so it has to come from the retriever side.
He does not come from field lines. I don’t think Noah’s retrieving instinct is very strong – It is stronger than my maltese/poodle mix’s retrieving instinct, but that’s not saying much. He will retrieve every once in a while, but is certainly not “ball obsessed” like some labs and goldens. He is mouthy like a retriever and he loves to carry things in his mouth (i.e. sticks, leaves, etc.).
I wanted a mellow, friendly dog that would be great for therapy work with children. He loves children and he would rather sit quietly with them and be pet than off running with his dog friends at the park.
He is willing to work for me, but only up to a certain point. He gets bored quickly and is food motivated to a certain extent. Sometimes he prefers to play with a stick over grilled chicken. I have found that he responds well to clicker training though. I plan to keep him in group classes until he’s 2 – 3 years old. I would like to introduce him to agility and maybe he will like this more than obedience. However, I would like him to earn the equivalent of the AKC’s CD title. You’re probably right about the smaller poodles – my maltese/poodle mix is very easy to motivate and loves obedience and performing tricks. He loves to work. He is not a high-energy dog, but he is very attached to me and will do anything, as long as it’s with me.
The Mixed Breed Dog Clubs of America do have an obedience trial system that awards those titles: http://mbdca.tripod.com/
The AKC is proposing letting mixed breeds into its obedience trials and agility, but they will be competing in separate classes.
Retrieverman’s right on. You might also try a sit in motion (from heel) as a way to help your dog generalize the idea.
This is a picture of my dog! Was so surprised to see him online when doing a Goldendoodle image search. Anyway, his name is Brody, he’s 3 now, and looks very different from this puppy picture. Cutest, sweetest, and best dog I’ve ever had. Not sure how my DOODLE ended up on GOOGLE, though….. :)
hmm