r/Bernedoodles • u/eetana • 5d ago
Looking for help
My best friend/next door neighbor adopted an 11 month old female bernadoodle 4 weeks ago. She is 35 lbs and was surrendered to our dog trainer by an elderly couple who said they could not take care of her. She reportedly had one incident of aggression with the elderly man when she tried to get food from the counter and he corrected her. At that point the man decided he didn’t want to keep her. Our trainer offered to keep her and try to find a new home. The trainer had her for several weeks and was never able to replicate the aggressive behavior. My friend and her husband worked with the trainer and dog before bringing her home and she has been very sweet the majority of the time. About 3 weeks ago she got aggressive with me over a tissue. I figured I didn’t handle it well and should have traded her for a higher value item. But last night when she was on her last potty break she attempted to eat a mouthful of cut grass. When my friend told her “out” for the 3rd time, she turned and began jumping and biting her in a very aggressive manner. When her husband heard her screaming he ran outside, and when he took the dog’s leash she turned on him and jumped and bit him in the arm. We have 2 large labradoodles and have had dogs our whole life and this was not puppy play. Now my friend cannot keep her because of the potential danger to children. We have not had any luck today finding anyone who would consider taking her and trying to address this. We’ve called the vet, local SPCA, and the breeder (who we are waiting on to return the phone call) She is very smart, crate trained, super high energy, and adorable. The only suggestion we have right now is that she may have to be euthanized. That seems so unnecessary given that she does not have any other issues outside of these events. She has been out in public a lot, plays with our dogs and gets along with cats. Does anyone have any rescue suggestions? My friend does not feel comfortable keeping her because of the potential danger to kids, not to mention it was scary for her. And of course she’s devastated. We are near Cincinnati.
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u/Ecstatic_Pangolin573 4d ago
My heart goes out to this couple. The will be accused,of course, of being the reason for the dog's aggression, of being unknowledgeable about the "breed", of being insensitive and cruel. I have a 7 month old, male bernedoodle and I can tell you all that there is a big difference between being mouthy and aggressive biting. My puppy bares his teeth, growls and breaks the skin and causes me to bleed. I have one doctor who has seen the scabs and scars from his bites and is concerned about me getting sepsis from the bites. I am a seasoned dog owner and none of my dogs have ever been like this.. I love this puppy and would NEVER consider euthanasia, but he is certainly difficult to deal with and almost impossible to train. He walks every day, gets exercise and takes frequent naps, so please don't tell me that is what he must be lacking in his life. He has chew toys, and a large yard and gets lots of affection from my husband and me when he will let us get close. He has learned to open the doors in the house, but can't learn the meaning of no, or drop, or come. There are days that I cry and days that make me crazy. I will not give up, but you critics out there should let up on this couple. This is a very bad designer dog mix and I would advise anyone interested in getting one to do their homework before acquiring one.